You are here: Home >Posts Tagged ‘sport

Rock Climbing – What You Need To Get Started

Getting started on rock climbing might be a complicated task, with a list of the things that have to be used. It is easy to learn just to enjoy this adventurous sport. However to make it easier, joining an indoor gym is the best way to learn about rock climbing. It is better to have a professional rock-climbing trainer teach you the skills and methods so that you can take it outdoors and climb the rock face you have a desire to climb.


The things that are required when beginning with a rock climb are very basic and it first begins with the fitness of the climber, i.e. so long as they can fit in the harness they can top-rope. Rock climbing can be learned faster if the person is in great shape. It is a combo of balance and co-ordination and rock climbing is quite helpful in motivating people to stick to the fitness and weight lifting program. The training that is received in rock climbing is needed to be personalized, the certification are not give but the environment in which rock climbing is carried out is quite risky and the equipment is as well. So have an experienced hand in training you can be a bonus and the best part is that the safety rules in rock climbing are so easy that they can be picked up quickly. The instruction in an indoor gym is mostly free.


The equipment to climb is not needed to be purchased if the climbing is done at a local gym. The climbing shoes, harnesses, the belay devices and the locking carabiners are provide free of charge. If you are considering rock climbing as a regular sport, then purchasing a good pair of climbing shoes, harnesses and a belay device with the locking carabiner can cost anywhere between $150 to $300. It all depends on the brand, quality and style of equipment that has been selected.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

What Really Is A Paintball Marker?

One of the terms you may run into early on while getting involved in the adrenaline pumping sport of paintball is “paintball marker.” So what is a paintball marker? To put it really simply, it’s the paintball guns. Many players refer to them as “markers” because the paint balls the guns shoots “marks” the target. A paintball marker might also be called a paintball gun or just a paint gun. After the safety mask, which is always the most important piece of equipment, the paintball marker is the next most important since there can not be a game without it.


The first paintball game was played in 1981 in Henniker, New Hampshire. Nine players took part, and the sport of paintball was born. The earliest models of paintball markers were uniform (after all, this was just the beginning of the sport). Now there are literally hundreds of choices between various makes and models of paintball markers. Some are very cheap, some are extremely expensive. No one could have imagined the huge variety in choices.


One of the first decisions you’ll want to make when using paintball markers is to decide what type of action you want from your paintball marker. By action, this refers to the way that an individual paintball marker fires. There are three types of actions that cover most of the cheaper and basic lines of paintball markers: pump action, semi-automatic blow back, and hybrid blow back. Each type of action makes a paintball gun work very differently, so think about how quickly you want your marker to shoot and how much work you want to do to make it fire. Obviously the pump action is the slowest, while the other methods offer better rates of fire.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

An Overview of Base Jumping

BASE jumping is not a sport for the faint of heart. Athletes who practice this extreme sport climb to the top of tall buildings, canyons, or other structures; jump off; enjoy a period of free falling; then open a parachute and coast to the ground.

The acronym BASE stands for building, antennae, span, and earth; which make up a comprehensive list of what kinds of fixed objects BASE jumpers plummet from. Span is a term that includes all sorts of bridges, or any other structures that span over a valley or chasm. Earth means anything from cliffs to mountains to canyons.

BASE jumping is very dangerous for a variety of reasons, but the most common causes of injury and death have to do with failure to maintain a clear area around the athlete during the jump and/or the landing. If the wind is against them or if they make a mistake during the launch of their jump, athletes sometimes collide with the object that they have jumped from. Because BASE jumping areas are usually not designated for this guerilla-style sport, the makeshift landing targets that jumpers aim for are rarely large enough to allow for a safe jump. As a result many BASE enthusiasts meet with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they haven’t been able to steer themselves to the landing area in time.

Many people compare BASE jumping to bungee jumping without a bungee cord, but it is actually much closer to skydiving without an airplane. Jumpers practice many of the same techniques that divers use to maintain stability and altitude awareness while they are in the air. Before becoming a BASE jumper, an athlete must complete a full course of skydiver training. Once they have their full skydiving certification, the next step for anyone interested in BASE is to find a mentor in the jumping community who can teach them how to take on these ambitious freefalls. Only experienced divers can even contemplate a BASE jump because this kind of unguided and somewhat unpredictable activity requires razor sharp awareness of altitude, along with stellar free fall technique.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

The History Of Skateboarding

Have you ever known how skateboarding came to be a sport? The history of it is quite interesting. It started out in the 1950’s and many believed it would just be one more passing fad that people took part in. While it has had peaks and valleys since its introduction, skateboarding has proven it is much more than just a passing fad.

The first skateboard was quite different from today’s skateboard. They offered a handle bar on them, just like many types of scooters that we see on the market today. This handle bar is what allowed these early skateboards to be maneuvered and controlled. However, it didn’t take long for the idea to remove the handle bar to come along. Many believe this early idea was the result of the popularity of surf boarding at the time.

By the 1960’s, the most popular one was the Roller Derby Skateboard. It was actually introduced in 1959 just ahead of the competitors. However, it took many of these companies to keep up with the demand for them. It is estimated that between 1960 and 1963 more than 50 million skateboards were sold. Keep in mind that we didn’t have the technology that we have today in order to mass produce such items in large buildings.

When the skateboarding official contests were started by manufacturers in 1963 it only further fueled the frenzy to have one. So what happened that slowed down the craze for skateboards? There are two main reasons that cause the sales down. First, the economic status of the United States began to slow down so people weren’t able to buy as many extras as before. Second, many so called experts out there were talking about how unsafe skateboards were.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS