legs

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PAN AM Wrestling Footwork

pan am wrestling          Wrestling is a picture of how precarious life is in conflicts. Bouts for control begin ritually in the ‘neutral position’ with wrestlers standing on their feet.  The goal is to ‘take down’, to ‘par terre’ the competitor. This expression comes from French ‘tomber par terre’, meaning ‘to fall to the ground’. A wrestler tries to unseat the feet of his foe, to take him down to the mat.  The victor literally exposes his opponent’s back. In the ultimate posture of defeat, he is face down.

During the bout, wrestlers stay flexible and alert; balance is essential. Feet grip the mat as they circle each other, probing for indications of weakness or vulnerability.   Rubber-soled shoes mimic the traction of bare feet.    At times their prowling appears lockstep as they look for an opportunity to pounce.  Of the two Olympic wrestling styles, Freestyle is more dynamic and allows for aggressive use by and against legs. Greco-Roman wrestling involves brute strength, though legs cannot be forcefully active.

Points Measured by Feet

A ‘throw of grand amplitude’ is a takedown from the neutral position. One wrestler brings his rival off the mat, controlling him so that his feet go directly above his head.  This is a five point move.  When a wrestler escapes from underneath his dominant opponent and gets to his feet and faces him, he scores one point. If a wrestler continually flees and avoids contact, his competitor may be awarded one point. And if a wrestler put a foot off the mat onto the protection area, he is called for being out-of-bounds.  His opponent gets a point before the match resumes.

At the conclusion, the wrestlers ritually stand on their feet and shake hands. The referee announces who has accumulated the most points, though both would have put in the hard yards.

Go to – http://www.toronto2015.org/schedule

Resources: 

http://www.toronto2015.org/wrestling

http://artnetweb.com/iola/mrnetart/rules.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_shoe

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/olympics-guide-wrestling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)

TRAINING – COMPETITION – PODIUM

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PAN AM Volleyball Beach Footwork

pan am volleyball beach          The switch isn’t automatic. Even an experienced indoor player needs practice finding her ‘sand legs’ in beach volleyball.  Sinking and stumbling as she learns to jump and run barefoot on (possibly hot) sand is a humbling new beginning. Eventually, her muscles stabilize and she gets used to landing on both feet. Movement forwards, backwards and sideways on the sandy court becomes second nature.  By the time her focus is on entirely on strategy, her light footwork barely disrupts the level sand. The court surface isn’t the only difference. Indoor volleyball has six players per side; beach volleyball has two. The pair must pass, set up, spike, block and serve to their opponents.

“Peeling” – Fast Footwork on Defence

Mid-rally decisions are frequent. If a beach volleyball player can track an incoming attacking ball, she steps forward and blocks it back. If she decides a block isn’t possible, she quickly ‘peels’ into a back court position.

In a ‘Cross, Step, Hop’ combination movement,  the player starts from a ‘loaded position’ with knees bent, one foot in front of the other.  On the right side of the court, her right foot is in front and on the left side her left foot is in front. She

  • Pushes off front foot with open body to the court,
  • Crosses outer leg with inner leg,
  • Takes an aggressive step away from the net, and
  • Swings into a large hop to face attacker. (1)

Go to – http://www.toronto2015.org/schedule

Resources: 

http://www.toronto2015.org/beach-volleyball

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772587/

http://www.volleyball.ca/sites/www.volleyball.ca/files/Coaching_Entraineurs/Resources/COACH-BasicBeachTechniques.pdf

http://www.volleyball.ca/sites/www.volleyball.ca/files/Coaching_Entraineurs/Resources/COACH-TheBasicsofPeeling.pdf

www.avca.org/…/Fundamentals-of-Sand-Volleyball-Part-3-Blocking.pdf  (1)

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)

     TRAINING – COMPETITION – PODIUM

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PAN AM Handball Footwork

pan am handball          The referees keep their eyes on the handball players’ feet. They look for violations of the rules. For example, the ball must not touch below the player’s knee and certainly, kicking is not permitted. Players are restricted to three steps while holding the ball. If they exceed that limit, the referees card them. Handball players organize their movements to receive the ball on the left foot in front move. Then on their final of three steps, they have optimal take-off energy to pass or take a shot on goal. It is a “left, right, left” or “fake, drive, jump” pattern.

Watchful offside betters focus on the goalkeepers.   This is a high-scoring game, for example: 28 to 23, 38 to 33, and 35 to 32. With all the fast-moving offensive action, goalkeepers are on their toes for the entire game. They are busy but not bustling. Their moves are slow compared to their team mates.  But when the ball arrives it is a good bet that they spring into action.

Goalkeeper’s Footwork

Balance and instant reactions are important. Goalkeepers start and return to ready position with feet shoulder-width apart, weight on the balls of the feet and knees slightly bent. They move side to side in small even steps following the ball, reducing angles when an attacker advances. Feet spring with hands up and out to save high shots on goal, feet slide and go wide for low saves. Two informally-named footwork styles in response to low shots:

  1. The Yugoslavian style:

The goalkeeper takes a deep side step with his whole leg and same side hand movement. Body weight transfers to that leg and its foot is ‘open’; the inside of the foot is ready to stop the ball.

  1. The Scandinavian style

Sliding on the heel of the leg closest to the approaching shot on goal, the goalkeeper extends one or both hands towards the foot of that leg.

Go to – http://www.toronto2015.org/schedule

Resources: 

http://www.toronto2015.org/handball

http://mnteamhandball.blogspot.ca/2009/08/few-words-regarding-footwork.html

http://livesports-betting.com/are-you-a-handball-passionate/

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Handball

http://teamhandball.ab.ca/clientuploads/goalkeeper-First+Step.pdf

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-handball-goalkeeping

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)

      TRAINING – COMPETITION – PODIUM

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Lego Leg

prosthetics lego leg

As a child, Christina Stephens filled her parents’ basement with Lego castles and pirate ships. When she put her Lego-building skills to work last month making a prosthetic leg out of the children’s toy, she became an Internet sensation.

Stephens, 31, lost her left foot in an accident this winter and decided to combine her clinical expertise as an occupational therapist with her own experience of losing a limb to help others dealing with amputations. Stephens began a series of YouTube videos and a Facebook page under the name “AmputeeOT,” in which she addresses issues that many new amputees struggle with. Among them are how to swim with and without a prosthetic, deal with phantom limb pain, and clean an amputation site and prosthetic liner.

But it was her construction of a prosthetic leg out of hundreds of Lego pieces that made her an Internet star. The YouTube video has more than 1.3 million views since it was posted in early July. Stephens plans more videos, and she has a second Lego leg — “Lego Leg 2.0,” she called it. This one has moveable pieces — but it’s still for show only.

“Part of what I want to do with my videos is de-stigmatize amputation and make it less scary,” Stephens said.

Quoting: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/womans-lego-leg-video-hit-inspires-others

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Cambodian Competition for a Prosthetic Limb

prosthetics Cambodian Miss Landmine

A 2009 Cambodian beauty pageant for disabled women was full of land mines from start to finish. Testing taboos, a Norwegian theater director wanted to draw attention to survivors in a war zone. Twenty women scarred by decades of war were to parade their amputated bodies for the chance at a new prosthetic limb. The organizer had the support of the government’s mine action agency.

Days before the debut of a photo exhibit, a lead-up to the live pageant, there was much indignation and all support collapsed.  The cancelled pageant provoked controversy even in its aftermath.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/cambodian-beauty-pageant-for-disabled-full-of-land-mines/article1314939/

http://miss-landmine.org/cambodia/

Photo Source:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=david+longstreath+Miss+landmine+beauty+pageant&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=624&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=X4ZeVKL9N

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Bespoke Limbs

Prosthetics Bespoke limbs

Sophie de Oliveira Barata works out of a bright white, semi-disheveled northwest London studio surrounded by feet and fingers, legs leaning against walls and hands that look real enough to shake. With a background in art and special-effects makeup, she worked for eight years for a prosthetics manufacturer before deciding to become a creator of bespoke limbs. “It meant I could use my creative skills and do something massively rewarding,” she said, dropping an oddly appealing man’s foot in my lap. “Making an alternative limb is like entering a child’s imagination and playing with their alter ego,” she said. “You’re trying to find the essence of the person.”

In 2011, Sophie de Oliveira Barata started the Alternative Limb Project and soon found interested clients. She created one leg with a stereo embedded in it, another with removable muscles and a third, among others, that housed minidrawers. Recently she began collaborating with artists skilled in animatronics, 3-D printing, metalwork and carbon fiber.

“After losing a limb, a person isn’t the same,” de Oliveira Barata said. “So this is a form of expression, an empowerment, a celebration. It’s their choice of how to complete their body — whether that means having a realistic match or something from an unexplored imagination.”

Quoting:    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/11/03/magazine/03limbs_in.html?_r=0

Photo: Ryan Seary – formerly an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, US military

http://installationmag.com/alternative-limb-project-extreme-extremity/

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First Step in Prosthetic Construction

prosthetics construction sunnybrook hospital

Toronto’s Sunnybrook Centre for Independent Living (SCIL) has a 25-member team of prosthetists, technicians and other experts. SCIL helps complex trauma patients regain independence and mobility with customized prostheses and individualized rehabilitation.

Prostheses are made in the on-site lab. The first step in creating a new limb is to make a socket in the stump or residuum. The artificial body part attaches inside the socket. The prosthetist takes detailed measurements of the residuum and then creates a cast of it – similar to that for a broken limb. When that cast dries, plaster is poured into it to make a form of the limb. The form is then carefully smoothed down and filed until it becomes an exact replica of the residuum. The amputee is fitted with a test socket and a limb and learns to walk with this set before the definitive socket and limb are finalized.

Technician Paul Russell says there is “a bit of an artistic feel and flow,” as some amputees need their sockets to be very strong and others want them to be light. “You’re trying to walk the line between something that’s strong enough and something that is not too heavy.”

Patients often develop a strong, lifelong bond with their prosthetist. The more the experts get to know the amputees, the better they are able to create sockets that work for their lifestyle. Getting the artificial limb for the first time can be a life-changing experience.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/advsunnybrook/sunnybrookfeatures/prostheses—constructing-hope/article20223132/

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The Standing O

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“Stood there, applauded that: Does the standing ovation really mean anything any more?” asks J. Kelly Nestruck of the Globe and Mail.

It’s time to face the facts: The standing ovation is dead in North America. Yes, the standing O is finito.

Theatregoers get up on their feet and clap at the end of plays more than ever, it’s true – but that’s exactly it: The gesture is no longer exceptional. You’ll find people standing and applauding after great performances and less-great ones and sometimes even after lousy ones.

Audience behaviour is constantly evolving and I personally prefer to stand at the end of a long show, if only to stretch my legs. I almost always rise as soon as the person in front of me does, if he or she blocks my view of the curtain call, anyway. The alternative – sitting grumpily and staring at a stranger’s backside – seems unnecessarily willful. The only time I stay seated, ironically enough, is when a show has so completely bowled me over that I feel unable to move.

There are those artists who do recognize that standing, clapping spectators are now merely standing, clapping spectators – sometimes they are wildly enthusiastic, sometimes they just want to beat the traffic – but who can’t stand the shift in semiotics. They would prefer audiences stay seated unless they’ve really had their socks knocked off.

Quoting Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/nestruck-on-theatre/stood-there-applauded-that-does-the-standing-ovation-really-mean-anything-any-more/article8838629/

Photo Source:

https://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DxSfU-qiHOa78AHlh4GIBQ&ved=0CCQQsAQ&biw=1228&bih=589&q=standing%20ovation%20on%20their%20feet%20images

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Staying Physical Fit in Space

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Maintaining strong muscles is a big enough challenge on Earth. It is much harder to do in space where there is no gravity. 

So, how do astronauts stay fit in space? They can’t simply lift dumbbells. To minimize the physiological effects of microgravity, NASA has equipped the International Space Station (ISS) with specialized fitness equipment:

  • COLBERT –  a space treadmill  
  • CEVIS –  a stationary bike
  • ARED –  a device that simulates weightlifting

Astronauts spend up two-and-a-half hours a day working out on the ISS. Even with this regime, those who spend long periods in space return to Earth with muscular atrophy, cardiovascular deconditioning, and bone loss that can be difficult to reverse. According to NASA, 180 days in space can decrease:

  • muscular strength by 11 to 17 percent
  • muscular endurance by 10 percent
  • bone mineral density by two to seven percent.

 

Quoting and photo source:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422096,00.asp

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Remembering the Boston Marathon – One Year Later

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The headlines retell the story:

 

“Make your Dream of Qualifying for the Boston Marathon a Reality.” 

http://runnersconnect.net/boston-marathon-qualifying/

 

“Boston Marathon Map (2013)”

 https://www.google.ca/search          q=running+the+boston+marathon+course+2013+map&espv=2&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=L601U8PxIOvE2QXAlIDIAQ&ved=0CGQQsAQ&biw=585&bih=595

 

 “TERROR AT THE MARATHON.” ( Globe coverage of the April 15, 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon and the events that followed.)

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/specials/boston-marathon-explosions

 

“War Zone at Mile 26: ‘So Many People Without Legs’” (by Tim Rohan)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/witnesses-describe-scene-of-carnage-after-blasts-at-

 

“Victims of the Marathon bombings.”  (list of names, ages and types of injuries)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/specials/boston_marathon_bombing_victim_list/

 

“Courage in the Face of Chaos: EMT Response to the Boston Marathon Bombings.” (by  Chris Nelson)

http://www.aed.com/blog/emt-response-to-the-boston-marathon-bombings/#sthash.KBTEsWMy.dpuf

 

“At the End, the Telltale Runners’ Bags.”  (by Mary Pilon)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/sports/at-the-end-the-telltale-runners-bags.html?_r=0

 

“Thousand-mile relay to bring donations to Boston Marathon victims.” (by Tim Ghianni)

http://www.newtoncitizen.com/news/2014/mar/27/thousand-mile-r

 

“Boston Marathon Winner Will Donate His Medal.” (by Michael R. Gordon)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/sports/boston-marathon-winner-will-donate-medal.html?_r=0

 

Photo Source:   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/sports/at-the-end-the-telltale-runners-bags.html?_r=0