The Sport of Squash
In this essay the sport squash will be looked at, at a local level for
me and at higher levels through the National Governing Body, England
Squash. More specifically England Squash will be examined to see how
it is funded, what schemes it runs i.e. how it helps to develop the
sport for all players, from the top level to the disabled.
Local Level- In Truro in Cornwall there is one privately run squash
club that provides a lot for its members. There is a junior coaching
session on Saturday's and there are internal leagues for juniors and
adults of all standards to enter and play each other. Team squash is
for the more able player where tough games are played all over the
county. There is a healthy development system in hand and coaching is
readily available for any member. There is also a school in Truro,
which provides two courts for all pupils and any members.
Unfortunately the local authorities have not got a club open
themselves to the general public and so it is difficult for the
majority of people to play, this is one negative point about the
provision in Truro.
There is a similar set-up with many other clubs in Cornwall, on the
following page there is a map of all the courts in Cornwall, many are
clubs and many have thriving junior sections as well. As you can see
from the map that there are a great number of courts in Cornwall and
many are open to the public and so in most places the general public
can play and so generally the provision is good in Cornwall.
National Level- England Squash itself is funded by Sport England
National Lottery grants and by subscriptions paid from members.
England squash is currently engaged in a number of development schemes
to increase the number and standard of people playing squash. The
development side of England Squash has a clear structure to it, it
consists of one National Development Manager, five appointed Regional
development officers and then there are County development officers
There can be no question that sport and athletes seem to be considered less than worthy subjects for writers of serious fiction, an odd fact considering how deeply ingrained in North American culture sport is, and how obviously and passionately North Americans care about it as participants and spectators. In this society of diverse peoples of greatly varying interests, tastes, and beliefs, no experience is as universal as playing or watching sports, and so it is simply perplexing how little adult fiction is written on the subject, not to mention how lightly regarded that little which is written seems to be. It should all be quite to the contrary; that our fascination and familiarity with sport makes it a most advantageous subject for the skilled writer of fiction is amply demonstrated by Mark Harris.
The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.
Morrow, D., Keyes, M., Simpson,W., Cosentino, F., & Lappage, R. (1989). A Concise History of Sport In Canada. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body of tennis. Established in 1881, the mission of the USTA is to “promote and develop the growth of tennis.” The mission statement serves as the guiding principle for all activities of the United States Tennis Association. The USTA is the largest tennis organization in the world. It operates with the assistance of 17 section associations, serving more than 665,000 members and 7,800 organizational members.
Racquetball is played by two or four players. When played by two, it is called singles and when played by four, doubles. A non-tournament variation of the game that is played by three players is called cut-throat.
This report is going to be on the game Ice hockey. A game of hockey is divided into three twenty minute time periods that are called periods. Between each period there is a fifth teen minute intermission. In hockey there are several ways a game may end if there is a tie at the end of regulation. The pros use one twenty sudden death period in which the first to score is the winner. In the amateurs they use a shoot out in which five players from each team are selected and allowed to go one on one with the opposing goalie and which ever team scores the most goals after all five members for both teams have taken their shot they are the winners. If there is a tie after this it keeps repeating until a winner is crowned.
Mintel. (2010). Family ties key for children’s sport . Available: http://academic.mintel.com.atlas.worc.ac.uk/display/552523/?highlight. Last accessed 2nd January 2014.
Coakley (2009) starts off the chapter by introducing how participation in organized sports came about and how gender roles played a major role early on. He describes how most programs were for young boys with the hope that being involved would groom them to become productive in the economy. Girls were usually disregarded and ended up sitting in the stands watching their sibling’s ga...
Jarvie, G. (2012). Sport, Social Division and Social Inequality. Sport Science Review. 20 (1-2), 95–109.
Abstract: Society is affected every day by many different kinds of sports. These sports often govern society's way of life. People all over the nation turn their TVs to sporting events, such as golf, during the weekends. Scott Stossel states that "more than six million Americans enjoy watching golf on the weekends." Parents use sports as a teaching tool for their children. Kids learn teamwork and discipline from team sports programs and sports have also helped many students with their grades. Kids who want to compete in school sports are taught to keep their grades up or they won't be able to play, but the greedy coaches and schools often look around grades to keep their "star athletes" in the games. Adults have been affected by sports in their bank accounts. Tax increases for funding a new stadium, golf course and even school programs have hurt the middle class Americans. Sports have taken control of small communities and soon will take control of society
Squashing is a new type of fetish that has come about in recent years; it is counted as a sexual perversion. Squashing consists of an obese woman jumping or laying on a smaller person for sexual pleasure. Squashing can put the other person’s life at risk. It can also be harmful to their health; it is not safe for the other person involved. This sexual desire is considered immoral, in my opinion, but everybody has a different view on human sexuality.
Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Rowley, S. (1986). The role of the parent in youth sports. In G.R. Gleeson (Ed.), The Growing Child in Competitive Sport, (pp. 92-99). London: Hoddon and Stoughton.
Sports, a very popular past time today, have been around since ancient times. Greek Olympic Games featured events from chariot races, javelin throws, to wrestling. In addition, a game similar to soccer was played in China by the second century BC. In England, a violent rugby type game was even played to settle feuds between villages. With the development of the industrial revolution and the creation of the first public schools, sports decreased in violence and were played more recreationally and constructively. Basketball was invented to help the youth in New England spend their energy in the winter months. Since the early 1900’s sports have been a key experience in the United States (“History of Sports”). I have played sports for many years, and the experience has helped me grow significantly as an individual.