Tag Archives: athletics

Oct22

finally, a sport i can master!

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Living room acrobatics earn Peruvian inaugural Balloon World Cup

Anyone who has ever leaped over a couch to prevent a party balloon from touching the living room floor can now dream of parlaying those skills into a World Cup triumph.

Inspired by a series of viral videos and organized by Barcelona soccer playerGerard Pique and internet celebrity Ibla Llanos, the inaugural Balloon World Cup took place in Tarragona on Thursday.

Francesco De La Cruz emerged as the first champion after beating German Jan Spiess 6-2 in the final on a 8×8 meter court littered with living room furniture as well as a small car.

“I am very, very happy, I thank God that I have been able to achieve this,” said the Peruvian teenager.

The rules of the game are simple. Players have to hit the balloon in an upward direction and they score points if their opponent fails to prevent it from touching the ground.

Teams from 32 countries took part including an American team of Antonio and Diego Arredondo, whose videos of the game they played with their sister, Isabel, at home in Oregon were a huge hit on social media and inspired the tournament.

“We played the game as kids, and then, during the start of quarantine for Covid, we wanted to play it again,” Antonio Arredondo told Reuters.

“We started arguing with each other over if it hit the ground or not, so we started taking videos in slow-mo to see if it did, and then finally it got to the point of ‘Let’s post this video of us on Tik-Tok.’

“When I woke up the next morning, it was completely viral, like a million likes, and then after that we just decided to keep playing and played more and more until one of our rounds got the attention of Ibai and Pique.”

 Without sport, footballers turned to video games in 2020

Pique, who won a soccer World Cup with Spain in 2010, was delighted with how the inaugural tournament had gone. “It’s been amazing, it’s something totally different, sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things,” he said.

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“and with just 4 minutes gone, the score is already 0-0.”

-ian darke

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credits: reuters

Mar26

run.

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et, longtime sporty friend of mine

signed up to do a quick 5k this morning

prior to our bookclub brunch

and was surprised to learn

that she was somehow stuck doing a 5-miler

due to a ‘volunteer miscommunication error’

and toughed it out, arriving  on time.

please note the difference in her demeanor, expression, and body language

in the photos

before (above)

still running and realizing the mileage

and

after (below)

arriving at brunch and enjoying a breakfast bud light.

here’s to her mighty spirit.“either you run the day or the day runs you.”

-jim rohn

Sep15

you win some, you lose some, though you’re not sure which one happened.

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i love everything about baby soccer. the babies, so cute in their jerseys, and shin guards and special shoes, are running up and down and off the field, looking for parents, saying hi to siblings and relatives who come to watch, stopping to pet a dog, following a shiny object, laying on the field crying,  shrieking occasionally, taking water breaks from the exhaustion of standing on a line, asking to go to the playground just over the fence, running for sudden bathroom breaks – the fun is endless. coach does his best, just trying to harness everyone into one area and make sure they have a shirt on. he is patient and kind and cares about his budding athletes.

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here, my grandbaby b scores a goal, and then the reactions come. she stares at it wondering what is going on, and other players respond accordingly; check for a boo-boo on a leg, hang on parents, turn their backs, stand and look down the field, and one even run towards her, after the fact. it is truly a sport unto it’s own. there is no ego, no celebration dance, just pure wonder. 

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