Sports are very good for active relaxation and are important for our physical and mental health. There are lots of types of sports and games. We can practise outdoor or indoor sports, individual or team sports, summer or winter sports, in the mountain or in water and many others. Outdoor sports are for example: golf; skiing – cross country, down-hill, slalom, ski-jump, free style, giant slalom; sledding, windsurfing; marathon-running; fishing; climbing; hiking or tourism; mountaineering; horse riding; rallies. Outdoor sports can be divided into two categories: individual and team sports. Team sports include ball games – as basketball, football, volleyball, handball, baseball, softball, rugby and others, individual as athletic which includes – sprint, high-jump, long-jump, javelin throw, ball throw, shot-put, hammer toss, walking race, steeple chase, pole vault, decathlon, triple jump, discos throw etc. People often called athletics the Queen of all sports. Other sports like tennis, shooting, skateboarding and skating – figure skating, speed skating and roller-skating - may be practised both outdoors and indoors. There are also aquatic sports: water skating, swimming, diving, water polo, yachting, canoeing, rowing, kinds of swimming are breast stroke, back stroke, crawl, butterfly. People all around the world participate in sports. Ball games are popular all around the world. Many people go to the hills or mountains for skiing. American football, rugby and especially baseball are very popular in America. The ball used in rugby is called egg shale ball.

SPORTS IN BRITAIN

Many sports have their origins in Britain, which is why Britain is sometimes called the cradle of sports. For example two types of rugby – named after the towns where they came into being, modern game of hockey, cricket, darts, tennis and boxing. Golf has its origins in Scotland. There are the major sports events in Britain: Wimbledon, The British Open Golf Championship, The Grand National – it is the best known horse race - steeple chase, it is in Liverpool.

The British have always been a nation of sports lovers and they are interested in all types of sports today. Many people consider cricket to be the most typical English sports but the most popular British sport is football. Nevertheless for most Englishmen cricket represents something that is traditionally English. One of the most popular kinds of sports is lawn tennis; there are many clubs in every town and in all parks with public courts where tennis may be played for an hour on payment of a few pence. Swimming is very popular too and there are not many facilities. However, the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge University on the river Thames is one of the most popular sports events of the year. Golf is also very popular in Britain. Athletics in Britain is traditionally on a high level. Athletics and gymnastics are practised in school but many towns have running tracks for public use. Winter sports such as skiing are generally impossible in Britain except Scotland because climate there is not suitable for them. The British are very fond of watching horse or dog racing. One famous horse race is in Escot and there all women must have hat.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Now there are two types of the Olympic games – summer and winter games. Each of them is every four years; it means that in fact the Olympic games are every two years.

The first Olympic games were only in Greece and only men could take part, war had to finish and there had to be peace. The events were running, discus throw, javelin throw and performance poets and songs – the musical instrument was the lyre. The idea was harmonious development of personality.

Pierre de Coubertain founded modern Olympic games in 1896 and their idea is: It is not important to win but to take part. Now in Olympic games there are only sports events. There are big problems with drug abuse, because many of sportsmen want to win and it is not important for them how. There are many kinds of drugs – in athletic, weight-rifting, bodybuilding and gymnastic they use steroids for example. In cycling and running they need stamina, in shooting they take b-blockers – because they want to have steady hand. But when somebody uses drugs there are also a lot of dangers such as liver cancer, women aren’t able to have children, the body is exhausted but the person doesn’t know it and thinks that he is in good condition and sometimes it ends with the death of sportsman.

Other very important sports events are: the World or continental Championships and Cups in various sports.

At school in our republic, children have physical training (PT) lessons mostly two or three times a week. When the weather is good, students can go outside and can play football or practise athletics. During winter they usually go to the sports halls or gyms where they practise gymnastics, volleyball or table tennis.

Each of us can be a sportsman but not everyone can be a good one. A good sportsman has to be healthy and is better when he is non-smoker. He should do everything to excel in his sport, listen to his coach and devote most of his leisure time to it. He has to train very hard and should have a fair character.

MY RELATIONSHIP TO SPORT

I think that I am sports person. I practise sports only for me. I was a member of a sports club when I was at basic-school. I played softball for a year and half. I quit because I found that at high school there wasn’t enough time for it and because I played in Poruba, which is about an hour's journey each way. Last year on December 31st, I ran in the New Years Eve Running in Hrabová and this year I would like to run again. During the year I practise different kinds of sports. From summer to autumn, I play football with small boys from my neighbourhood and in winter I play ice hockey with our neighbours who are older than me and I am the only girl. They don’t think of me as a girl but as an equivalent rival. I like in-line skating; I practise it mostly with my brother or with my friend Petra. I like also cycling and when the weather is nice I go to school on my bike and during the summer I like to cycle to our weekend house or to the Žermanice dam. I like also swimming but I don’t like to travel for a long time to get to water so I mostly went to my cousin’s swimming pool. Since last year we have a big swimming pool in the backyard of our house. In winter, I like to ski but it is a problem because nobody from my immediate family practises it and I have to go with my uncle and cousin.

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