Breakdancing

After inundating you guys with tons of information about martial arts, I've decided to change it up a bit and take a look into the fast-paced world of breakdancing. Shooting this video took up the better portion of my weekend, but after veiwing the video I'm sure you'll agree with me: It was worth it. Unfortunately, I was limited in what I could put in this video, so there was quite a bit of footage I left out. Overall, it was a fun project and these guys definitely made it fun!
Once again thanks guys for allowing me to get in your faces and put you on the web!
Enjoy.

Lacrosse

In my "Epee Challenge" post I had a reader request some more information on the sport, lacrosse. So I looked it up, got a little information and now am ready to share it with you.
Lacrosse (though it was not known by that name at the time) has its origins in a tribal game played by Plains Indians and Woodlands Natives in what is now the United States and Canada. It was supposedly the first Native American sport.The game became known to Westerners when a French Jesuit Missionary, Jean de Brébeuf, saw Iroquois Natives play it in 1636. The game was then named lacrosse by the French. By the 19th century, lacrosse evolved to a less violent game and more of a sport as French pioneers began competing. By the 1900s, high schools, colleges, and universities began playing the game, and lacrosse was contested as a medal sport in the 1904 and 1908 Olympics. In the 1930s, an indoor version of the game, box lacrosse, was introduced in Canada. It quickly became, and remains, the dominant form of the sport in that country. In the United States, the sport is popular in Maryland (where it became the official team sport in 2004), New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England and other areas along the east coast. lacrosse is a full contact sport, with players wearing complete protective equipment. Thus “checking” - striking opponents’ stick or body with the crosse - is legal and very much part of the game.
Each team starts with ten players on the field: a goalkeeper and three defenders at the defensive end; three midfielders across the midfield line; and three attackers at the offensive end. Each quarter starts with a “face-off” in which the ball is placed on the ground and two “faceoffmen” lay their stick horizontally next to the ball, head of the stick inches from the ball and the butt-end pointing down the midfield line. Faceoffmen scrap for the ball, often by “clamping” it under their stick and flicking it out to their midfielders, who start on the wing restraining line near the sideline and sprint in when the whistle is blown to start play. Attackers and defenders cannot cross their “restraining line” until one player from the midfield takes possession of the ball. A face-off also restarts the game after each goal.Time continues to run in dead ball situations such as in between goals, with two exceptions: when the referees deem it necessary to avoid a significant loss of playing time, for example when chasing a ball shot far away; and in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter of any men’s game.
The next largest international field lacrosse competition would most likely be the European Lacrosse Championships. Held for both men and women, the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF) has been running the European Championships since 1995. Before 2001 the Championships were an annual event, but in 2001 the ELF changed the format to every four years between the World Championship. Before 2004, only 7 nations had ever participated, but in 2004 there was a record number of participating countries, with 12 men's and 6 women's, which made it the largest international lacrosse event of 2004. The next European Lacrosse Championships will be held in Lahti, Finland in 2008.

*Picture provided by Wikipedia (may be seen here)

*Information was gathered from the following sources:
-Wikipedia - Lacrosse
-Wikipedia - History of Lacrosse
-Inside Lacrosse- European Championships
-STX Lacrosse

Mixed Martial Arts

After two weeks of researching Mixed Martial Arts (also known as Cage Fighting) I compiled a small Soundslide for viewers who would like more information on the subject. Tim, the guy who I interviewed for almost a half an hour, was of great help to me; as well as all the people who permitted me to photograph them. You are welcome to view the Soundslide in a separate window here...
or you may watch it below.
Enjoy the show!

The History Behind It

Gabcast! The History Behind It


I did some more research on Judo, checking out sites, going over my interview with Eric Berta, and found out some interesting things about Judo. I summed it up as best as I could and relayed what I found, as well as the meaning behind Judo in my Gabcast.

“When the enemy comes, welcome him,
when he goes, send him on his way."*

*Source gathered from Judo Info

Background on Judo

I was surprised at how passive Judo is. The exercises they did last night were very firm but not violent. There was no punching involved, no loud grunts, and no excessive amount of force. I would best describe it like Eric did, a "soft-contact" sport. When I questioned Eric about how useful Judo was in defending one's self, he said that it's very helpful in self-defense. However, Judo was not meant to intentionally hurt someone very much; Judo is more directed at controlling an opponents movements. Judo techniques are centered around grappling, specifically rolls, throws, pins, chokes, and joint-locks. Despite it being a "soft sport" it is very demanding, in the fact that one has to be in complete control of their body as well as someone else's. The Judokas (the people that practice Judo) wear white or blue cotton uniforms called Judogi (which means Judo uniform in Japanese) for practicing. The Judokas are ranked by their skill and comprehension of Judo by colored belts. Despite the fact that I didn't see any Judoka black belts, it was still interesting to listen and watch. Above right I have a picture of two Judo students in the middle of a grapple.

Judo

Judo (柔道, jūdō^?, "gentle way") is a martial art, combat sport, and philosophy which originated in Japan.* I went to a Judo class tonight after getting a hold of the UF Judo Club President, Eric Berta, and getting his permission to be there to take pictures and talk to some the guys. They started out with stretches, working the upper body first and working their way down. Watching them I thought it was very time consuming, they were very thorough even stretching their toes! They continued on by doing twists, rocking on their backs, and doing tumbles from one side of the mat to the other. Now the stretches I just described may seem very easy to the mind's eye, but it was tough. After they stretched, they wrestled with each other to practice their techniques. Then they took a break so one of the club officers, who had a black belt, could teach them a new technique, from there they would practice it on each other. I talked with Eric for a little bit and asked him what he liked about Judo, he said the fact that it was so demanding was what made it enjoyable; it was a challenge for him.

*Definition gathered from Wikipedia

Further information...

I have yet to decide what sport I want to start to blog on, but I started my research nonetheless. I went on to the University of Florida Recreational Sports page to find out when they meet and where I can go to check it out. I also pulled up the page of the different sports club coordinators and officers that I can contact so that I can get an insider view on exactly what they do. I'm pretty happy with the information I found. I can hardly wait to call up some people and find out just exactly what I'll be able to do (if they'll let me do anything.) With sports clubs you have to sign up by a specific time and be on the registrar to be able to take part in the activities. I haven't done that, so at the very least I know they'll let me watch. However, what I really want to do is immerse myself in it, so that when I write about it I'm writing from personal experience.

Epee Challenge

I was talking with a friend earlier today about my project for RTV3280. I explained to her what I was doing, in regards to blogging on unusual sports, and I named off a few sports I hope to tackle (i.e. fencing, underwater hockey, and lacrosse). She replied that the sports I had mentioned weren't all that unusual. I agreed and then describe exactly what I wanted to blog on "sports that weren't widely talked or known about, such as football, basketball, and baseball." People love to watch the World Series and the Super Bowl, but few people have heard or know of an Epee Challenge for fencing. That is what I hope to go into detail about. I want to broaden people's perspective in the world of sports so that the word "sports" will also bring to mind not only football, basketball and baseball, but also other variations of sports.

Gymnastic Meet

Last night I went to the Florida Gators gymnastic meet; they were competing against Auburn. Having never gone to one before, I was amazed. It was awesome to see what those girls could do with their bodies. Each and every one of them were so toned and lean, of course they have to be to make it easier for them to do what they did. They were very precise and balanced. I kept thinking the entire time: “I wonder if I could do that.” But after they did the bars, I knew I couldn’t. They jumped back and forth so effortlessly; they made it look too easy. It must take so much time and diligence to be able to do that. Something I don’t have too much of. Yet all Florida’s efforts paid off, they beat Auburn 197.650 to 195.625. Watching the meet last night made me even more excited to explore unusual sports and the people that do them. Now I just have got to decide what sport I want to survey first.

Rec Sports

It took me a week to figure out what I was going to blog on for my Multimedia Class. I saw the pamphlet lying on a bench near Weimer Hall and I knew that is what I wanted to blog on: Recreational Sports Clubs. Not just any kind of sports, the unusual kind; break dancing, fencing, underwater hockey, lacrosse, and Tae Kwon Do. The kinds of sports clubs that some people look at and think "that would be cool to try." I'll be looking into the kinds of strange recreational sports that some students are involved in. I'll also be getting the majority of the sports clubs from the University of Florida Facilities and Programs Guide. Hopefully, I'll also get a few pictures of me doing some of the sports as well!