Sports Equipment

Thinking back on my childhood is always a pleasurable experience. One of my favorite activities as a child was elementary school gym class. I loved the games we would play, but more than anything I enjoyed running around with the other kids and laughing.

When you get older, you your life becomes so structured. You have to dress a certain way, abide by a strict schedule and pay bills. Comparing your adult life to your childhood really makes you appreciate the freedom of those younger years. I am embarrassed to say this, but sometimes when I smell the stale scent of sweat I am reminded of my elementary school gym mats and the good times I had bouncing around on them.

Putting up a play area for kids is a great idea especially if your kids are energetic all the time. A play area can be indoors or outdoors. You can purchase some equipment such as a trampoline, a gym ball, and some jump ropes so the kids can stay active and have some exercise. Physical inactivity is one of the causes of childhood obesity. It is thus encouraged that kids be engaged in some form of sport or activity.

To ensure the safety of the kids as they run and jump around, gymnastic mats can cover the whole play area. The mats can provide cushion in case of falls. The walls can be padded with mats, too. Also, make sure that younger children aren’t left by themselves. The older kids might be too rowdy and might accidentally bump or hurt the younger ones.

If you’re tired of traditional workouts and can’t stand the musty smell of the local gym, maybe it’s time you try something new. A ballet bar can be installed in your home and provides ample opportunity for exercise.Here are two exercises you can do using a ballet bar:

1.) Pretzel: On the floor, you position one leg in front and the other leg slightly behind your hips. Then, using the bar in front of you, you lift the back leg off the floor. This exercise shapes the side of the butt and it also trims down love handles.
2.) Flat back: Sit with your back up against the wall. Grip the bar with both hands and then raise your legs off the floor. This workout targets your lower abdominal muscles.

Opening ceremony

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing will be held in the Beijing National Stadium, and begin at 8:00pm CST (12:00 UTC) on 8 August 2008. It has been announced that Canada’s Celine Dion and Taiwan’s Jay Chou would perform during the opening ceremony.

On July 21, NBC announced the Opening Ceremony would include performances by a cast of 15,000 and declared it would be the most spectacular Olympics Opening Ceremony ever produced.

Sports

This pictogram depicts Athletics.

Medals of the 2008 Summer Olympics: silver (left), gold (center), bronze (right)

The program for the Beijing 2008 Games is quite similar to that of the Athens Games held in 2004. The 2008 Olympics will see the return of 28 sports, and will hold 302 events (165 men’s events, 127 women’s events, and 10 mixed events), one event more in total than in Athens.

Overall 9 new events will be held, which include 2 from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women will compete in the 3000 m steeplechase for the first time. In addition, marathon swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometres, will be added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis will replace the doubles events. In fencing, women’s team foil and women’s team sabre will replace men’s team foil and women’s team epee.

The Beijing Organizing Committee have released pictograms of the 35 Olympic disciplines. This set of sport icons is named the beauty of seal characters, due to each pictogram’s likeness to Chinese seal script.

The following are the sports to be contested at these Games. The number of events to be contested in each sport is indicated in parentheses.

Written in part with Wikipedia: