SPORTS+and+RECREATION

Sports and Recreation Ping-Pong By: Peter B.

Have you ever played Ping Pong before? Have you ever seen it on TV during the Olympics? Well, Ping Pong, also known as “table tennis”, became popular in China about 50 years ago during a period called the Cultural Revolution and now is the most popular sport in China. It became popular because everyone started playing it during the Cultural Revolution, it is easy to play, and everyone and anyone can play it.  Ping Pong became popular during the Cultural Revolution because it was one thing everyone could play, even if you were poor. It was cheap; all you needed was a paddle, a ball, and a flat playing surface with a net.

Another way it became popular is because it is so easy to play. There aren’t many rules and there isn’t much equipment for you to be able play. For the reason that of this a lot of people wanted to play because anyone could become a talented player.

The last reason it became popular is “ping-pong is a national pastime and has city parks filled with tables” in China (Table Tennis as a Real Sport). This means since everyone could play most people did just that. They would go to the park and instead of playing pick-up basketball or football like you probably do, they played Ping-Pong .

Sumo Wrestling By: Pat B.

How about Sumo Wrestling. I know you have made fun of the Sumo Wrestlers and called them fat, but actually it is an extremely hard sport. It has a very rich tradition that dates back thousands of years if you could believe that, it has a crazy cool lifestyle and it also has very strict, but also very leineint rules. It is a very interesting sport, exspecially when the matches are good.  The tradition that Sumo Wrestling has is one that is great. And by great I mean that it dates back many many years, like thousands of years. It was originally made in Japan and it still is one of the biggest sports in Asia. Its purpose is to one show who is stronger, but also to praise their gods.

The way that they praise their gods is by throwing salts into the ring it is suppose to bring the gods down to them for help through the match. Another thing that is sort of supersticious is that they sumo stomp the ground because they are getting rid of all the demons. If you mess these up, then you are disqualified, but no one really does. The rules are very simple from there though. The object is to either knock your opponent down or out of the ring. You can slap but you can not kick or punch.  The lifestyle is also pretty amazing too. You wouldn't think that the sumo wrestlers would get much love from all the citizens but they actually do. They are like our football and basketball players. They are big time celebrities and it shows through the special treatment they ge t.



Chinese Track and Field By: Randy S. Have you ever run or watched track before? Well to people in China track is a very big thing and many people watch track. The people who run track in China are very big and very well known. You see how important track is to China through the history, events, and the most famous runner in China, Liu Xiang. The importance of track is shown though their history. It all started with the Olympics in 1936 with Fu Balou who had taken China to the finals in pole vault. China had taken a 139 man team to the Olympics in the 11th Olympic Games. Out of those 139 men 69 of them were part of track and field (athletics). The one man that did make it to the finals was a pole vaulter named Fu Balou. He had jumped 3.8 meters in pole vault which comes out to 12.46 ft which is about 3 times your size. He didn’t come in first but placed highly and made China proud because he was the only one to make the finals.  History of track doesn’t only show how important track is to China, the amount of events shows the importance also. Do you know how many events are in track? Many of you probably don’t and it’s actually a total of 47 track and field events. That’s a lot of events that people can participate in. Since there are so many people in China they need a sport that appeals to everyone and everyone can do. That means that they need a lot of events for the country of China to cheer on for or run for. By having so many events it makes it easy for records to be broken. Did u watch the past Olympics (Beijing). Well there were 2 major records broken and that invites a lot of excitement for the people of China to watch. This makes people want to watch the Olympics again 4 years later and see if another record will be broken.

The events are a huge part of Chinese track and its importance but there is one man who resembles Chinese track. That is Liu Xiang who is a 100 meter Olympic hurdler. Do any of you remember him from the last Olympics? He was the one man that everyone from China wanted to see. In 2004 he ran a very good race and that got the Chinese people into him and they loved him greatly. Before he ran in the race he had injured his heal which had taken him out of the race. The people of China were very upset and they weren’t happy. Some of you may know Yao Ming, but to the people in China Liu Xiang is even bigger. He was the most known man in China and to the people of China he was their hero.

By having track as a sport in the world it has helped many people get jobs and entertains many people in China. This is all shown through the history, the events, and one famous man Liu Xiang.  

=// <span style="color: rgb(51,51,51); font-family: Times New Roman;">Ping Pong equipment (Online Image) available:http://www.robbinstabletennis.com/minitt.jpg Ping Pong Tables in city parks (online image) availablehttp: // worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/13/1263358.aspx = = Playing Ping Pong (online image) available []= =<span style="color: rgb(38,42,44); font-family: Times New Roman;">"Table Tennis as a Real Sport." __Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com__. 24 Feb. 2009 []. = = <span style="color: rgb(38,42,44);"> "Nihon Sumo Kyokai Official Grand Sumo Home Page." 23 Mar. 2009 []. = = "Sumo." __Japan-guide.com - Japan Travel and Living Guide__. 23 Mar. 2009 <http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2080.html>" = = " Sumo Wrestling." __Crystalinks Metaphysical and Science Website__. 23 Mar. 2009 []. = = = <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51,51,153); line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Fu Balou Pole Vault [Online Image<span style="color: rgb(51,51,153);">] Available [] March 23, 2009. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51,51,153); line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Liu Xiang 100 meter hurdles [Online Image] Available [] March 23, 2009  <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51,51,153); line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial;">Track Starting Line [Online Image] Available<span style="color: rgb(51,51,153);"> [] March 23, 2009 Works Cited <span style="color: rgb(38,42,44); font-family: Times New Roman;">"China and the Olympic Movement -- china.org.cn." __China.org.cn - China news, weather, business, travel, language courses, archives and more__. 01 Mar. 2009 <http://www.china.org.cn/english/olympic/211765.htm>. "A nation's hopes rest on Liu Xiang's shoulders - Times Online." __Times Online | News and Views from The Times and Sunday Times__. 01 Mar. 2009 <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4483582.ece>. "SPORTS." __INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE__. 01 Mar. 2009 []. <span style="color: rgb(51,51,51);">