Sport, Famous sportsmen in Slovakia

SPORT

Sport is a very good form of relaxation and is important for our physical and mental health or just for keeping fit.

Sport has a strong impact on person's health, character and personal qualities. There are lots of benefits of sport (physical activities):

■ it keeps you fit physically and mentally, it helps you get rid of stress, relax actively, it's refreshing

■ you can lose weight, it can improve your health

■ during sport events you can meet a lot of new people

■ you can find out how it feels to be a winner or loser

■ it can improve the efficiency of our heart and lungs, improve breathing, blood circulation, lowers blood pressure, increase muscle and bone strength, prevent some diseases, reduce pain...

There are different kinds of sport: indoor, outdoor; winter, summer; water; dangerous; team, individual...

Outdoor sports are following: golf, skiing (cross-country, down-hill, slalom, ski-jump), climbing, marathon running, hiking, mountaineering, horse riding etc.

Indoor sports include: table tennis, gymnastics, chess...

There are also sports that can be played both indoor and outdoor, such as tennis, ball games (basketball, volleyball), ice hockey...

Water sports are: swimming, water skiing, diving, water polo, yachting, canoeing or rowing.

We can also divide sport according to the season they are practised:

Summer sports help us to stay in shape and enjoy the sunny days. There are different kinds of activities you can perform. Playing football, street hockey or basketball are more typical for teenagers while jogging, water sports, tennis, hiking or beach activities are loved by people of all ages. We can also do athletics (sprint, high jump, long jump, javelin throw).

Typical winter sports are skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, cross-country skiing, ice skating, speed skating, sledging, bobsleigh, biathlon, figure skating... 

According to the number of players

If we play an individual sport, we only have ourselves to listen to, we do not have anybody else to rely on. It can be an advantage but sometimes a disadvantage as well.

Team sports are becoming really popular among boys and girls. They can develop cooperation between individual members – if you don't cooperate, you don't have a chance to win. It's not important to be the best in the team, but to win as a team. However, one teammate may think he is better than the others. You learn how to deal with different personalities when you practise together. You can be replaced by someone else when you are injured or tired. There's less pressure on you (people aren't always looking at you), you can rely on the others, help and support each other. On the other hand, you can possibly make a mistake and the whole team loses – you have to cope with these situations.

Individual sports: skiing, figure skating, biathlon, swimming, cycling, tennis, golf, running...

Team sports: ice hockey, rugby, football, tennis, water polo, basketball, volleyball…

Places where you can perform sports: football pitch (field), ice rink, boxing ring, tennis court, swimming pool, golf course, ski slope, athletic field (track), gym, sport stadiums, sport halls, fitness centres, ski resorts…

Some sport equipment: helmet, kit (jersey), ball, goal, puck, skates, pads, neck guard, mouth guard, gloves, racket, skis, swim suit, goggles, ski wear, running shoes…

There are some ordinary activities which can keep us fit: dancing (at the disco), walking to school, aerobics, jogging, swimming, helping at home (cleaning floors, digging in the garden, hovering...)

Rules during the exercise: it isn't good to exercise after meals, if you feel tired or ill, if it is very hot or cold... You should start with a warm-up at first – it helps you prevent injury and pain later. During and after the exercise you should drink a lot of water.

Young people like doing different kinds of sport: aerobics, jogging, swimming, skiing, body building, ice hockey, football.

One of the most popular sports in the USA is basketball. Millions of people like to attend matches, watch them on TV and cross their fingers for their favourite NBA teams (Chicago Bulls, L.A. Lakers, L.A. Clippers). Another popular game in The USA and Canada is ice hockey. There exists NHL (National Hockey League) which consists of several teams, such as Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals etc.

Many sports have their origins in Great Britain. Rugby, cricket, darts, tennis and boxing were invented there. The national sports in GB are cricket, golf, football or lawn sports. We can find some famous sport events in Great Britain: Wimbledon (Grand Slam Tennis Tournament), The British Open Golf Championship, The Grand National (horse-race)…

OLYMPIC GAMES (summer and winter)

- they are the most important and famous international competitions, in which only best players participate. It is honour for them to represent their countries. They are held every four years in different countries. They first took place in Olympia (ancient Greece). Pierre de Coubertin revived this idea – he is the founder of modern Olympic Games. The most important idea of the Olympics is not to win but to take part. The logo of the OG are 5 rings in different colours, representing the unity of 5 continents. As there are always lots of people from the whole world OG are always under threat of the terrorist attacks, therefore maximum security is needed.

There are some adjustments – the Paralympics Games for athletes with some disability and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes.

There are also some other sport competitions: world championships (football, ice hockey...), Stanley cup (NHL), Champions League (football), tennis tournaments (US Open, Australian Open), Europe championships...

Famous sportsmen in Slovakia

- Summer Olympics (medalists): Peter, Pavol Hochschorner (canoeing – water slalom), Michal Martikán, Elena Kaliská (canoeing - water slalom), Jozef Gonci (shooting), Martina Moravcová (swimming), Zuzana Štefečeková (shooting)

- Winter Olympics: Anastasiya Kuzmina, Pavol Hurajt (biathlon), Radoslav Židek (snowboarding)

- tennis players: Daniela Hantuchová, Dominika Cibulková, ice hockey players: Marián Hossa, Marián Gáborík, Zdeno Chára, Jaroslav Halák..., footballers: Marek Hamšík, Filip Šebo, Róbert Vittek, Vladimír Weiss.., cycling: Peter Sagan, Juraj Sagan, Peter Velits…

In our country ice hockey is a very popular sport. It has many fans. It is played in ice hockey stadiums or arenas. It is a game played on ice between two teams who try to hit the puck with the stick into the opposite team goal. The team that scores more goals is the winner.

If you want to be a successful sportsman, you need to have some important abilities and skills to do different sports: you need to have feet, heart and head...

– coordination, flexibility, balance, muscular power, stamina, endurance (výdrž), strength, physical condition, speed, talent, hard work, strict diet, effort, devotion, discipline, strong will, the sense for fair play…

Positive and negative attributes of being a professional sportsman

■ it brings the sportsmen fame, a lot of money, but, as they want to be the best it sometimes leads to overtraining, or doping, which has a really negative impact on their health

■ during important competitions the sportsmen are tested and may be disqualified - this has a negative impact on their career. 

■ some of the sportsmen find it difficult to cope with wealth, fame and popularity, they lose their privacy, they are always followed by paparazzi

■ young sportsmen devote all their time to sport, don't study and in the future they may be injured and have to stop doing it, but they have no education

■ lack of free time, they have to sacrifice a lot, but, on the other hand, they become idols for young people

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