The 29th Sports Meeting in Our School

4 . Do you love outdoor challenges? And there are a bunch of really awesome hiking challenges out there now that will not only inspire you to get outside more and push yourself physically- but also provide you access to an awesome community of hikers and often-times hiking groups focusing on the same challenges.

1. THE 52 HIKE CHALLENGE

The goal of the 52 Hike Challenge is to get you outside moving every week for an entire year. The difficulty and length is entirely up to you. but the point is to get out and to get moving! Register online now and the resources on their website allow you to track your journey as you complete each weekly hike and earn completion badges as you go.

2. WE HIKE TO HEAL

We Hike to Heal is a month-long women's empowerment and wellness campaign that organizes group hikes all over the world on the last Saturday of March. The organization's mission is to encourage women all over the world to tap into the healing and empowering influences within themselves and the Great Outdoors. You can join the movement for free in the link above and find free group hikes that will be happening all over the world.

3. CURE-SEARCH ULTIMATE HIKE

This event is put on by CureSearch on February 4th every year, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure and a way to raise money for children s cancer. To join this event that supports an incredible cause, you attend an informational session, register and get your own online fund-raising page and raise money to support your trek for children's cancer research.

4. THE 365 MILE CHALLENGE

This challenge is great because it is so simple. The goal is to get outside every day and walk a mile. This challenge focuses on small efforts that, over time, have big results and focuses on, creating healthy habits to benefit your mind, body, and soul. To join all you have to do is register , join the Face book group, and start moving.

5 . All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.     1    . They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when their player or team wins.

    2     Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers. What fun it is to jump into a pool or lake, whether in China, Egypt or Italy!     3    . Think how many lovers to skate or ski in Japan, Norway or Canada.

Some sports or games go back thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese wushu, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet.    4    . Water-skiing is one of the newest in the family of sports.

People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game together they often become good friends.     5    . One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.(胜不骄，败不馁)

6 . In the past 70 years, physical activity in America has transformed from a necessity of daily life into an often-expensive leisure(闲暇)activity, and has reformed itself as the basis of people's social position."In the 1950s and 1960s, the body became a problem, and exercise developed — it had to develop-because people realized that we were all going to die of heart attacks," Shelly McKenzie, the author of Getting Physical： The Rise of Fitness Culture in America, told me.

With new middle-class needs coming into new marketing, Jack LaLanne^!s instructional exercise TV show introduced much of the country to the active pursuit of physical fitness in 1951, paving the way for workout tapes from fitness superstars such as Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda.In the 1970s, exercise began to leave the home, both through the popularization of jogging and weightlifting and in more organized ways, such as Jazzercise classes.

No matter how they package it, these businesses aren't just selling physical activity； they're providing people with a way to stick to expectations that the industry itself helped set."Exercise, and especially public exercise, came to indicate mental, emotional, and even spiritual health and virtue," Marc Stern wrote in 2008," In return for the effort, gym-goers attain(获得)the type of body that proves their virtue to all who see them.”

That these physical standards are difficult to achieve is the point."We live in a culture in which being diligent is highly, highly praised," Petrzela, the New School professor, who is working on a book about fitness's place in American culture, told me.

“Many people want to be regarded as people who value exercise, because it shows they're committed to（致力于）self-improvement, and to hard work."Above and beyond movement itself, part of the satisfaction of gym-going comes from performing those values around other people who share them, and from achieving what that community regards as success.

7 . Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.

Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact (接触) with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.

Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories(卡路里) per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.

However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.

As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.

Curling(冰壶)is a winter sport played on ice. Therefore, it’s most popular in northern countries like Canada. Curling is played in the USA by about 15,000 people.    1    Scottish winters were long and there were forms of entertainment. So people began making a sport out of sliding heavy stones on the frozen lakes. The game spread, and in the 1700s curling clubs formed. Then Scottish soldiers brought it to North America.

    2    Men, women, and children often compete on the same team, if they can slide a forty-pound stone down the ice! Both teams slide their stones toward the same goal. After all 16 stones have been cast, the team whose stone has slid closest to the goal gets one point.

    3    The ice is so smooth and the stone is so heavy that even the smallest misjudgment in a throw can make the stone slide much too far or stop too suddenly.    4    Water helps the stone slide, but it can also change the stone’s path.

In curling, a broom is part of each player’s equipment. A good curler must know how much force to use. The player must know the exact conditions of the ice on the court.    5    That may explain why the international Olympic Committee decided to make curling an Olympic sport in 1998.

9 . On a bright early summer morning, many young swimmers gather at a local swimming pool in the state of Maryland. They are members of a competitive summer swim team, and that’s a regular part of their daily life. As they train and cut seconds off their times, which makes them closer to the championship in the following large-scale (大规模的) competitions, they are getting lots of physical exercise and vitamin D from the sun. However, the benefits of belonging to a sports team are not just honor or health related. You can learn useful life skills.

Paul Waas, coach of the swim team, explains, “The discipline (自制力) comes into play when you’re talking about concentrating on the details that your coaches are saying as it makes you faster rather than going up and down the pool the same way you have every time. When you focus on what you’re doing right and what you can do better, then you’ll see the improvement.”

Besides, there is also responsibility, goals and workings within a group. Again, here is Coach Waas. “It’s really great! It’s so fun to watch from year to year. I’ve had kids who as 7-year-olds on the team could barely pay attention in practice and were only interested in who was going first. Now they’ve come back as 8-year-olds, having set some goals and having things that they want to achieve. These skills can help them a lot.”

But playing the sports is not without harm. Some can be hard on the body. Young athletes suffer serious injuries that follow them into adulthood. Coach Waas says that in fact, swimming is different from most others. First, it poses a lower risk of injury. The second one relates to how swim teams are structured. Actually, children are not the only ones who can benefit. Adults can also benefit from team sports.

10 . Until two weeks ago, sixth graders could be found playing football. Recess(课间休息)was a time to play, learn, and exercise. Then, football was banned for being “too dangerous”. Now you'll find us lying on the grass and wishing for something to fill our time with.

Football is a good source of exercise. The TIME for Kids article, “Fighting Fat in Kids,”talks about different ways to fight obesity(肥胖).    1    We need football so we don't grow up to be unhealthy and get diseases like diabetes or heart disease.

    2    With big teams it doesn't leave anyone out like other games Just picture it: Every child in sixth grade can be invited to play together! Whether you are a great player or a beginner, there is always a place for you on the team!

Some people think football is only for boys.    3    Out of 25 kids, including boys and girls, all will say they want to play football. Even my mom and sister love to play. This shows that football is a valuable part of recess and should not be banned.

Football helps us learn important things.    4    Sometimes during the game both teams argue because they think they should get the point. This gives kids a chance to work out their problems on their own and make a solution.

Please allow football again at recess.    5    We will get more exercise, we will build community, and we will learn important skills. These are lessons we need, and as long as we are careful, we can be safe. Please take the football ban away and let us play again.