1 . 41-year-old Tracey Matayian is one of those Maasai women who fought hard to become the first-ever Maasai female referee. In an interview, Matayian said during her formative years, she couldn’t hide her passion for football and would join local boys every time she saw them play, which resulted in her being called names by other girls and occasionally getting scolded by her parents for keeping too much male company.

Matayian later joined a teachers’ training college. After graduating from college, she worked with Compassion International and would often encourage children of both genders to play football.

“It was then that I got an opportunity to referee a game between Rongai Football Club and Compassion International. There was no other referee at the time and since I was readily available, I went ahead to referee the match,” she recalled. Matayian added that after the game, she was eager to do more than just play and train the young children as she was also cultivating a lively interest in refereeing.

She would later help form football teams for both boys and girls from the local clubs. “The game occupies them as they get to spend time in the field, especially during the period they were home due to COVID-19. Football is a game of rules, and thus it ends up drilling discipline and character into young boys and girls,” said Matayian. She added that many of the youths were previously living an aimless life on account of laziness, but through football she has managed to occupy them.

Nevertheless, her efforts to follow her passion have not gone without challenges. Her dress code was criticized all the time. “This became a big issue for some people. They always complained that I was not respecting our culture by wearing shorts. But I have no option, since that’s the official dress code for the game. I often explained this to my beloved people, but it took a long time for it to be accepted by my community,” notes Matayian.

2 . After staring at a computer screen for hours at a time, the body often gives us a clue that it is stressed: unbearable neck and back pain. To fix the problem, you might have gotten advice to focus on posture, but exercise research points to another strategy as well — taking short-term exercise throughout the day to relieve tension and stress in the body.

Fitness specialists at NASA, an agency where people work in high-stress seated positions, developed a set of 20 one-minute exercises to prevent pain that anyone can do at their desk. “Movement is hydrating (补水) for connective tissues and joints, changing the stiffness that arises from too much sedentary behavior.” says Dr. Helene Langevin, director of the National Institute of Health, which recently funded more than a half-dozen studies on connective tissue and pain. “Taking small breaks and moving around throughout the day prevents your body from congealing (凝结),” Langevin says.

The NASA program included seated marches, standing calf raises, push-ups with hands on the desk, and neck, shoulder, and back stretches. “Your body is always talking to you,” said Marceleus M. Venable, a personal trainer in Washington D.C. and co-author of the NASA exercise program. “Your hands cramp (抽筋), you have hip pain and neck pain ... it’s saying: ‘Hey, can you stretch me?’ ”

No one set of exercises works for every body. Rather, people should focus on movements that challenge areas of weakness, strengthen multiple parts and that they enjoy, says Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and author of the book Move Your DNA. “It’s not as simple as asking everyone with back pain to do these four moves,” says Bowman. “It’s just like dietary nutrition. You need a range of movements that make the body strong from head to toe.”

In July 2023, Langevin published a video, demonstrating some of the movements she recommends, including taking one arm in a large gentle circle, while stretching the neck in the opposite direction and then repeating the move in the opposite direction, and on the opposite side. “Even if you are feeling sore, gentle motion can be soothing.” she says, “For musculoskeletal (肌肉骨骼) pain in general, movement is a really good thing.”

5 . How to watch Cubs and White Sox exhibition games?

Want to watch the Chicago Cubs and White Sox (two baseball teams) “summer camp” exhibitions? Here’s what you need to know.   

When do the Cubs and White Sox play?

The teams are scheduled to play practice games against each other at 7:05 p. m. Sunday at Wrigley Field and at 7:10 p. m. Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

On Wednesday night, the Cubs host the Minnesota Twins at 6:05 and the Sox welcome the Milwaukee Brewers at 7:10 as a prelude(前奏) to season openers set for next Friday.

What channels will the Cubs and White Sox be on?

If you live in the Cubs TV market, you’ll find their games on Marquee Sports Network, its app and website, assuming you subscribe to a cable, satellite or streaming service that has a carriage arrangement (转播权)with the new channel.

Sox games are on NBC Sports Chicago, its app and website if you have a service that has a carriage arrangement. Both channels will have both Cubs-Sox exhibitions. Although they will be blacked out inside the Chicago TV market and the Indiana TV market, ESPN also will carry Sunday’s Cubs-Sox rehearsal and MLB Network will have Wednesday’s Twins-Cubs battle.

Where will announcers(播音员)call the games from?

ESPN’s Jon Sciambi, Chipper Jones and Rick Sutcliffe (who’s an occasional Marquee contributor) will work Sunday’s game remotely from their homes the way the network has handled its coverage of South Korean ball games.

NBC Sports Chicago’s Jason Benetti and Steve Stone will announce all of the Sox games, including Sunday’s at Wrigley, from their booth setup at Guaranteed Rate Field, as they will all season regardless of where the games are played. Ditto for Marquee’s Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies working at Wrigley Field regardless of where the Cubs are.

The home team’s TV crew will be responsible for producing a videotape everyone can share. So games from Wrigley will be produced by Marquee and games from Guaranteed Rate Field will be produced by NBC Sports Chicago.

6 . Basketball, baseball and soccer are classic sports that people will always enjoy. And yet we keep changing popular games like these in new ways to keep them fresh.

This game is played in swimming pools with two teams of six players. Each player wears flippers (蛙鞋) and uses a stick to hit a puck (圆盘). Each team earns points by hitting the puck into its underwater goal. Other team members must be ready to take the puck when a team member goes up for air. That makes underwater hockey a true team sport.

Another fun game to watch, cycleball is like indoor soccer on wheels but with only two male players for each team. Each player rides a special bike designed for the game. Like soccer, a team must put the ball in a goal. However, there is a catch. The ball can only be touched with the bikes’ wheels or the players’ heads. This game requires a lot of practice to learn the skills needed.

A sport can also be revised by mixing it with another game. In chessboxing, two players compete with each other on the chess board and in the ring. First, their minds are tested in a game of chess. Then they use their strength in a round of boxing. They repeat this for 11 rounds. The winner beats the loser in chess, knocks him out while boxing or gets more boxing points.

This exciting sport is part volleyball and part soccer. But unlike both of those sports, players jump up and down throughout the game. That’s because it’s played on an inflatable (可充气的) volleyball court with a trampoline on either side of the net. One player bounce on the trampoline while up to four others stand around it. A team can touch the ball six times before sending it back across the net. Each player may touch the ball once with arms or twice with other body parts.

Though these sports may not be common, give them a look or even a try.

7 . As we age, even if we’re healthy, the heart just isn’t as efficient in processing oxygen as it used to be. In most people the first signs show up in their 50s or early 60s. And among people who don’t exercise, the changes can start even sooner.

“Think of a rubber band. In the beginning, it is flexible, but put it in a drawer for 20 years and it will become dry and easily broken,” says Dr. Ben Levine, a heart specialist at the University of Texas. That’s what happens to the heart. Fortunately for those in midlife, Levine is finding that even if you haven’t been an enthusiastic exerciser, getting in shape now may help improve your aging heart.

Levine and his research team selected volunteers aged between 45 and 64 who did not exercise much but were otherwise healthy. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group participated in a program of nonaerobic (无氧) exercise—balance training and weight training—three times a week. The second group did high-intensity aerobic exercise under the guidance of a trainer for four or more days a week. After two years, the second group saw remarkable improvements in heart health.

“We took these 50-year-old hearts and turned the clock back to 30-or 35-year-old hearts,” says Levine. “And the reason they got so much stronger and fitter was that their hearts could now fill a lot better and pump (泵送) a lot more blood during exercise.” But the hearts of those who participated in less intense exercise didn’t change, he says.

“The sweet spot in life to start exercising, if you haven’t already, is in late middle age when the heart still has flexibility,” Levine says. “We put healthy 70-year-olds through a yearlong exercise training program, and nothing happened to them at all.”

Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, says Levine’s findings are a great start. But the study was small and needs to be repeated with far larger groups of people to determine exactly which aspects of an exercise routine make the biggest difference.

8 . Tell us your story

“China and Me, Five Years from Now”

Dear friends, You’re welcome to tell your China story. As China is well on its way to achieving its 14th Five-Year Plan goals, the country is more open ever and more appealing to every member of society. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to capture your memorable moments in China through your lens or put them into words? We would be so happy to hear your voice in this contest. Please feel free to share your memories and impressions with us by article or video. Just check the contest procedures below and let’s get started!

About the contest Co-organized by authoritative organizations This contest is hosted by China Daily and is co-sponsored by the Bank of China and the Society for International Human Resources Development of the Institutions of Higher Learning (SIHRDIHL). Prestigious award ceremony A prestigious award ceremony and online forums will be held in July in Beijing. Awesome prizes await you While reviewing the submitted works, online forums will be held for international students. Also, China Daily website will set up special areas for collecting and displaying works.

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