1 . A recent study conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) showed that while sportsmanship among players has improved over the years, sportsmanship in the fans and parents has reduced. It has always interested me why people in the stands often feel they have invested more than the actual participants. Is it the time and money invested into private lessons and travel teams? Is it the college scholarship we need our children to earn? Is it the fear of seeing our kids fail? In any event, we, as parents and fans, should all take a step back and determine if we are helping our kids, or undermining the experience.

As a father of four kids who enjoys participating in athletics, I have to remind myself that it is okay when my kid misses a shot, strikes out, or doesn’t play good enough defense. That fact is, it is their game and their experience, and my playing days are over. A good reminder for me when I feel that my kid needs my advice from the stands comes from the great John Wooden, basketball player and head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles. He once said, “Young people need models, not critics (批判者) .”

Instead of being upset with what my kid is not doing well, or how an official has “cheated” our team, I should focus on helping my kid learn to respect the other team. I should watch my language and the negative comments that could come from my mouth. I should respect the officials and not argue every call that is made. Perhaps most importantly, I should support my kids’ team, win or lose.

Life is tough, and life is not fair. Like life, sports are tough and not always fair. Yet sports can be a wonderful training ground for life’s challenges. Just like we win some and lose some in sports, we also deal with plenty of successes, challenges and failures in our lives. Let’s try to be good sports in both the winning and losing situations and during our successes, challenges and failures.

2 . It’s no secret now that the more time we spend on social media, the more we feel dissatisfied with ourselves. We tend to compare ourselves to influences and celebrities- so it’s easy to understand how that can affect our confidence.

But, how often have you found yourself comparing your life to your friends? Engaging with social media shared by our friends can be more damaging than looking at content shared by celebrities, new research has found.

The study looking at how social media affects body image found that any social media engagement was significantly associated with lower “appearance satisfaction”. Additionally, it found that engaging with content posted by people the participants knew was more than twice as damaging as looking at content posted by strangers, including celebrities.

Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, believes this is partly because we know it’s hard to attain the lives of celebrities or influences, but when we’re comparing ourselves to our friends, it feels like we should- or could-live the way they do.

“One possible explanation is that people may perceive a post showing appearance as being much more attainable if it comes from someone they know, adding expectation or pressure on the person engaging in the post, ” he said. “At the same time, people may be more critically engaged with posts by the likes of models and celebrities, and therefore perceive the images they share to be more unrealistic."

This is not just confined to body image though. We all have one area in our lives that triggers(触 发)us. Maybe you’ve been searching for a new job for months and you find yourself on social media, envying your school friend who just landed their dream role. Maybe. . .

All this is to say the obvious: we only see part of people’s lives -and if it’s getting you down, you’re probably comparing your insides to other people’s outsides. Everyone has their struggles and life is indeed not perfect for anyone. So, put down your phone, get offline, be thankful and try to live your own life.

3 . Tennis, basketball, soccer, swimming — these are examples of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of sports in the world. People in every country play some kind of athletic game. Why do people spend so much time and energy playing sports?     1    

Good health is one big advantage to playing sports.     2     Scientists in Finland discovered that even between twins, the exercising one had more muscle, more energy, and healthier hearts and lungs. The one who did not play any sports had less energy and more fat.

    3     Another reason is that they want to be social. People who play on a team become friends with their team members and meet players from different teams. Sports games become enjoyable social events, not just competitions.

An additional reason for playing sports is that it makes people feel good. It does this in two interesting ways. First, playing sports makes people feel good about themselves.     4     Second, when we exercise, our brains produce chemicals that make us feel good. When people run around for two hours playing a basketball game, they often feel great even if they lose the game.

There are a lot of other reasons why people play sports, but studies show that the biggest reason is enjoyment. When asked why they play sports, most people said they play because it’s fun.     5    

Do you want to be healthy, socialize, feel good, and have fun? Play a sport.

5 . Are you looking for some good places for you and your four-leg friend? Here are some for you.

Tahmoor Gorge (峡谷)

The number and quality of swimming holes in this valley immediately take us back to some of our favourite places in Kakadu national park. The only difference here is that you don’t need a four-wheel drive, so the best way togo to the gorge is walking. This pet-friendly walk follows the Bargo River through an open gorge that gradually drops to a deep gorge. It is a popular place for locals on weekends. The further you run into the gorge, the less people there are.

Sirius Cove, Mosman

Sirius Cove is one of many quietly beautiful places along the Taronga Zoo to Balmoral Beach walking trail (路线). The deep, U-shaped bay, with a large grassy area, is popular with picnicking families and their dogs.

Kutti Beach, Vaucluse

We heard about it from a friend, but it is so hidden that it is not easy to find the entrance. Follow Wharf Road until it dead ends at the Vaucluse Amateur Sailing Club. Go right up to the building and look left. There is a very narrow set of stairs leading to the beach. Go down the steps and open the gate at the bottom. Follow the narrow road along the wall to the sand. The best bit? It’s dog-friendly.

MacKenzies Beach, Tamarama

From whale watching hot place MacKenzies Point, follow the sloped (斜的) road to MacKenzies Beach, a dog-friendly, short-time beach that only appears every couple of years when the right combination (结合) of wind and sand on the normal rocky reef. They say you aren’t a local until you’ve seen sand at MacKenzies.

7 . Forty-five minutes was considered an appropriate amount of time to supply 12-year-old me — and 20 other teenagers — with enough information about eating disorders to last us through high school. A documentary shown on a dusty VHS tape that had obviously been in use since the early 2000s, about two girls suffering from anorexia and bulimia, had been my only source for eating disorder awareness for five years. No reflection time followed, no discussion was started, and no questions were asked.

Flash forward five years I still know nothing. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I learned, via TikTok, that my daily diet of 1,000 calories is barely enough for a two-year-old, let alone a developing teenager. Despite being educated in America’s sixth best county in education, I only had a single image of what an eating disorder looked like: a skin-and-bones teenage girl with sunken eyes. Schools are clearly ill-equipped to educate students on eating disorders and how they can prevent them.

Teenagers have failed to learn about the most common eating disorder in the country because it isn’t taught in many school curriculum: binge eating disorder (暴食症). It is more common than anorexia, affecting 2.8 million Americans, including 1.2 percent of all adolescents. Additionally, it’s reported that males make up 40 percent of those with binge eating disorder, which contradicts the existing opinion that only women are affected by eating disorders.

Instead of learning about eating disorders, my junior health class taught me how to count my calories. According to registered dietitian Christy Harrison, “disordered eating patterns began with calorie counting.” Despite this, health classes across the country continue to require students to track their daily calorie intake.

We need a developed and well-informed eating disorder curriculum. After all, the damage of a seemingly harmless 45-minute video may last someone a lifetime.

8 . Four Best Outdoor Winter Activities Around the Midwest

Don’t let winter freeze you out. When the outside ices over, Midwesterners should take advantage of it. Look through our list and find the season’s coolest activities.

Once you walk, the ice talks, or rather, sings. When you step onto a frozen lake (remember, the ice must be at least 4 inches thick), it responds with different sounds. Even in the stillness of winters, the lake reminds you it’s still here—and still alive.

To all Queen Elsa’s fans: Your palaces are waiting for you. Ice artists here have carved walk-through castles with underground passages, slides and frozen fountains looking like natural formations. At night, colorful LEDs light up the ice. Take a seat on an ice throne—the cold never bothers you anyway.

Live out your Beijing 2022 fantasies at the Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park. Three-time Olympian Frank Masley designed an 850-foot long track where green hands are accepted. Sleds can reach speeds of up to 30 mph on it. Come and enjoy this unique experience!

In the clear blue sky, a school of fish is streaming in the wind, tailed by a hungry, fierce dragon. Look up, and you’re floating in a fantasy world. Look down, and you realize you’re grounded—on solid ice. Clear Lake’s Color the Wind kite festival began about 20 years ago to brighten up dull winter days.

9 . Just two months before his senior year in high school, Foster Andersen was riding a motorcycle in his hometown of Henrietta, N.Y., when he crashed. The accident left him in a coma. He remained in a hospital for seven months.

In the nearly 40 years that have followed, Andersen has to use a wheelchair. He can write when a pen is intertwined in his fingers, but he needs an assistant to help him with everyday needs. However, a quick survey of his achievements shows not one, but two college degrees and a huge network of people who call him friend. And probably the best example of Andersen’s spirit is his nonprofit group Shared Adventures. Last summer the organization celebrated 21 years of bringing recreational and social activities to people with disabilities.

“It’s founded on the belief that recreation, fun, challenge and opportunity to the outdoors are necessary parts of a healthy life,” Andersen said. “We are the only year-round program that offers such a wide range of activities to people with physical challenges and special needs.”

Cycling is on today’s schedule. A group of about 50 people gather at the campus of California State University for a 25-mile ride along the California coast.

Besides cycling, Shared Adventures offers year-round classes in yoga, gardening and art. It also hosts many social events, such as a winter holiday party.

The most well-known event is called Day on the Beach. Last year, nearly 1,200 volunteers and participants gathered on the Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz to give participants a rare opportunity to surf in the Pacific Ocean.

Wendy Bell, a disabled yoga teacher and Day on the Beach participant, said the event is the best example of the great experience the organization offers. And Shared Adventures helps her in another way. “More than half of the people I meet are through Shared Adventures, so it provides something that can be hard to find elsewhere,” she said.

10 . American public schools offered transportation for their students long before the modern school bus. In the 1800s, many students attended one-room schoolhouses in rural areas where few people lived. Some students walked; others used horses or sleds to get to school. Over time, school districts used a system of horse-drawn wagons to pick up students and take them to school. In time, horse-drawn wagons gave way to cars, which picked up students before school and delivered them near home at the end of the day.

The first school buses that carried students didn’t look much like modern ones. A school bus from the 1920s, for example, looked like a long car. School buses gradually grew larger to hold more and more students. The yellow color of modern school buses was chosen because it was easy to spot. When buses stand out on the road, drivers see them and stop in time to allow students to board safely. Today, the law says that American school buses must be painted a color called “National School Bus Glossy Yellow.” The bright color helps drivers recognize school buses immediately.

Modern school buses are far safer than before. Bus drivers receive stricter safety training. What’s more, school buses have seats that help keep students safe in the event of a crash. Seat backs are made to absorb an impact when a school bus is hit hard. Buses may also include flashing stop signs, which alert drivers that students are getting off or on the bus. Some buses have cameras that help drivers see what’s happening inside the bus and outside.

Nowadays, some school districts are beginning to make changes to buses that help the environment. For example, one school bus in New York has an electric engine that doesn’t pollute the air. The bus can travel for about 120 miles (190 km) before it needs to be recharged. School buses can also cut down pollution by replacing private cars. The average school bus can drive fifty-four students, which keeps about thirty-six private cars off the road. This fact, along with newer, greener technology, can help keep the air cleaner.