Sport is an Essential Part of Life
Alexey Zhelubenkov
Form 11 M
Sport is an Essential
Part of Life
Dubna – 2004
Contents.
1. Introduction ……………………………3
2. Sport in my life ………………………..4
3. Sports in Russia ……………………….6
4.
Sports in
Great Britain
………….……..7
5.
The Olympic
Games …………….…….9
6.
Sports and
Healthy Way of Life ….…..11
7.
Conclusion ... …………………………13
8.
Bibliography ………………………….14
Introduction
Sport is not only for champions. All over the world people of
different ages are very fond of sports and games. Sport not only helps people
to become strong and to develop physically but also makes them more organized
and better disciplined in their daily activities. It makes healthy mind in a
healthy body. People who go in for sports are always in good mood. Sports help
them to keep in good health.
Sport for different people means different things. Some
people go in for sport seriously and achieve high results. They make sport
their profession. They are professionals. All the others who go in for sports
in their free time are amateurs. Some of them jog in the morning, do morning
exercises all the year round. They go in for winter and summer sports. Still others
do not go in for sports. They are sport fans. They go to the stadium or sit in
their armchairs at home shouting for their favourite teams or athletes.
We all need to exercise. Even if you do not plan to make a
career in sport you still have to practice. Regular exercises give you more
energy. That is why many people who suffer from general tiredness should take
more exercise than more rest. Exercise makes you feel and look better. The best
exercises are those which involve you in repeated movements. They are: walking,
jogging or swimming. Bending and stretching will add flexibility and feeling of
lightness. Skiing is a symphony of snow, sun and movement; the air is champagne
to the lungs. No wonder skiing has conquered the world. It recruited millions
of followers.
Sport in My Life.
As for me, my life is impossible without sport. I agree that
sport helps people to stay in good shape, keeps them fit and healthy. Anyone
who knows my family can say that it’s strange that I am a table tennis player,
because my father plays volleyball. He was the captain of the students’ team of
Moscow Lomonosov’s University. When I was 6 years old, my father began taking
me to the gym. While he was playing volleyball, I was running, climbing up the
Sweden wall, etc. But all the summer before going to school, I stayed in our
yard, playing ping-pong. There were two tables in the yard. I was the youngest,
only 7 years old, so the older boys often defeated me and I lost the matches
more often then won them. Sometimes I cried. In September my parents suggested
me going to the table tennis club. Of course, I agreed. Some boys, whom I
played with, also decided to join this club. That is how it began.
Many times I was the first in the Central zone which includes
17 regions of Russia. Some years ago I took the third place in all-Russian
national competitions in my age group in pairs. Though table-tennis is an
individual game, there are team competitions too. I like to play team-games.
While playing in the team you always feel support of your team-mates.
But you mustn’t think that I am only interested in table-tennis.
I am also fond of volleyball, basketball, biathlon, but of course, I am fond of
football most of these sports. In summer I always play football with my friends
in the yard or sports ground. I enjoy shouting for my favourite team “SPARTAK” sitting
in front of the TV-set. I don’t know why I am a Spartak fan. Maybe, because my
father likes this team, maybe, because it is the most popular team in Russia. I
always take to heart our national football team’s results. It is true, our
football is not having its best time now, but I am sure that soon the time will
come when we will be proud of our football team as well as our country in the
whole.
Sport in Russia.
Russian and especially Soviet sports have many glorious
pages. In all times our sportsmen have been the strongest in many kinds of
sports. Athletes from Europe and Asia, Africa and America have always been
afraid of their Russian opponents. People all over the world know such names as
Larisa Latynina, Valery Borzov, Vladislav Tretiak, Irina Rodnina,Vladimir
Salnikov and of course Leo Yashin, who was recognized as the best goalkeeper of
all times and all nations.
In the Soviet Union junior sport was well-developed.
There were many sport clubs, stadiums, grounds and gyms all over the country.
Many competitions between schools took place in every town. In our clubs the
best coaches worked. Among the sports popular in our country are football,
basketball, swimming, volleyball, ice hockey, tennis, gymnastics, and figure
skating. A person can choose sports and games for any seasons and for any
taste. Unfortunately the situation has changed to the worse in the nineties. If
an athlete wants to reach a good result he has to train abroad. Many qualified
coaches left Russia, because of the material factor. The number of free sports
clubs for children reduced greatly. More children’s clubs became paid ones.
Many stadiums and gyms were changed into markets and shops. Some talented
athletes can’t regularly participate in competitions because they must go to
other towns and live there at their own expenses, paying for the tickets,
hotels and meals with their own money. Sports equipment and sports clothes are
rather expensive, too.
But nevertheless Russia has remained the greatest sport power.
Our skiers like Larissa Lazutina and Lyubov Egorova, swimmer Alexander Popov,
wrestler Alexander Karelin, gymnasts Alexey Nemov and Svetlana Kchorkina,
hockey player Pavel Bure and tennis player Eugeny Kafelnikov and others with brilliance
defend the honour of our national flag.
Sports in Great Britain.
The British people like every one else like sports and games.
They are called sport-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither
play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports. Sport
plays such a large part in British life that many idioms in the English
language have come from the world of sport. For example, “to play the game”
means “to be fair” and “that’s not cricket” means “that’s not fair”. Britain
invented and developed many of the sports and games, which now are played all
over the world. There are different sports societies and clubs in Great
Britain. Thousands of people devote their leisure time to outdoor and indoor
games, athletics, cycling, mountain climbing, boxing and other sports. Horse-racing,
dog-racing and motor-racing are among the most popular sports in Britain. They
gather many spectators.
Football is the most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some
amateur teams but most of the teams are professional in England. Such teams as
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are well-known all over the world. The
Cup finals is one of the most important football matches of the year in
England; it is always played at the Wembley stadium, near London, which holds
100,000 spectators. The matches between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
also excite great interest.
English people like to play cricket. To many
Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. They think that
summer without cricket isn’t summer. Cricket is the English national sport in
summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt
and white long trousers. It is played with balls, bats and wickets. Girls play
cricket too.
Golf is a widely spread all over Great Britain game. The Scots are sure the
golf is a Scottish game. It is played all the year round.
Many people in Great Britain like to play table tennis. Englishmen
heard about table tennis in 1880. Then the International Table Tennis
Association was formed and the international rules were worked out.
Wimbledon is the center of lawn tennis. Nowadays every
summer in June, the British hold the International Tennis Championship at
Wimbledon. It’s a great honour for every tennis-player to be the champion of
Wimbledon.
Horse-racing is a popular sport in Britain. A lot of people are interested
in the races and risk money on the horse which they think will win.
In England great attention is paid to sports in all the
schools, colleges and universities. English boys like running, swimming and
rowing. Boxing is very popular sport, too, to say nothing of football and
cricket. In girls’ schools grass hockey is the most popular game.
Olympic Games
The
world’s greatest international sports games are known as the Olympic Games.
The
Olympic idea means friendship, fraternity and cooperation among the people of
the world. The Olympic movement proves that real peace can be achieved through
sport.
The
Olympic Games have a very long history. They began in 777 BC in Greece and took
place every four years nearly twelve centuries at Olympia. They included many
different kinds of sports: running, boxing, wrestling, etc. All the cities in
Greece sent their best athletes to Olympia to compete in the Games. For the
period of the Games all the wars stopped. So the Olympic Games became the symbol
of peace and friendship.
In
1896 the first modern Olympic Games took place. Of course, the competitions
were held in Greece to symbolize the continuation of the centuries-old
tradition. The initiator of these Games was a French Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
In
1896 the International Olympic Committee was set up. It is formed by the
representatives of all countries which take part in the Olympic Games. The
International Olympic Committee decides upon the programme of the Games, the
number of the participants and the city-host for the Games. Over one hundred
and fifty countries are represented in the International Olympic Committee now.
Besides, each country has its National Olympic Committee.
Since
1936 the opening ceremony is celebrated by lighting a flame, which is called
“The Olympic Flame”. The Olympic emblem is five interlinked rings: blue,
yellow, black, green and red. Any national flag contains at least one of these colours.
The
ancient Greeks had no winter sports. Only in 1924 the first Winter Olympic
Games were held in France. Now they are being held regularly. Summer and Winter
Games are held separately. There are always several cities wishing to host the
games. The most suitable is selected by the International Committee. After that
the city of the Games starts preparations for the competitions, constructs new
sports facilities, stadiums, hotels, press centres. Thousands of athletes,
journalists and guests come to the Games, and it takes great efforts to arrange
everything. There is always an interesting cultural programme of concerts,
exhibitions, festivals, etc. for each Games.
Russia
joined the Olympic movement in 1952. Since then it has won a lot of gold,
silver and bronze medals. In 1980 Moscow hosted the Twenty-Second Olympic Games.
The world knows glorious names of our Olympic champions such as Lydia
Skoblikova, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov, Alexey Yagudin.
2004
is an Olympic year. The 28-th Summer Olympiad will take place in Greece in the
city of Athens. Russian athletes are getting ready to take part in it. We hope
that they will be a success and win many Olympic medals. We are sure that many
new names will be added to the list of our Olympic champions.
Sport and Healthy Way of Life.
To be healthy is very
important. You can work, learn and have fun only when you are healthy. Health
is the man’s greatest wealth. Of course, you can inherit some problems from
your parents. But you can always keep your health if you want to.
We are healthy when all
parts of our bodies and of our minds work together properly. We cannot be happy
unless we feel well.
The ancient Greeks knew
the value of good health. They even named one goddess Hygenia, which means
goddess of health. The Romans spoke of a health in a proverb:” A healthy mind
in a healthy body”. The body does a great deal to take care of itself, but it
is possible to help the body to work at its best.
The human body is much
more complicated than any machine. No machine can do all the things the body
can do. No machine will work for 70 years or more, day and night, requiring
only air, water, food and a few simple rules.
The first rule of healthy
way of life is to have normal weight, not to be overweight. One of the ways to
keep normal weight is to regulate your diet. A person needs vitamins and fibre.
One must eat fruit and vegetables every day. Too much food makes you fat. Fat
and sugar give a lot of energy. If the energy is not used it becomes fat in
your body. If you eat sweet, fat food, even from time to time, you have to
exercise regularly. Physical exercises help people keep fit, have a good gait
and figure. They also help you lose weight and work out energy. It is not good
to be as thin as a stick, but extra weight can cause serious problems, such as
heart problems and diabetics.
There are a lot of
advertisements both on TV and in newspapers of different pills and drops which
can help you become slim and slender in two weeks. But all those pills cannot
work a miracle.
Bad habits, such as
smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs, can ruin your health. Regular sports
help people to avoid these bad habits. What exercises are better? Swimming,
jogging, basketball, football, table tennis, skiing or morning exercises? It’s
upon a person to choose.
As for me. I eat what I
want and as much as I want, and I don’t care how much to eat, because I go in
for sport every day and use a lot of energy training and competing.
Conclusion.
“Sport
means life.” These are
the words of a well-known French scientist and the sponsor of the first
modern Olympic Games Pier de Kuberten. It’s difficult to argue with it. Sport
has become an essential part of our life. It has great effect on our health and
creative work for many long years. Sport is one of means of bringing up a
healthy and harmonious person. It is also a means of uniting people in the name
of friendship and peace.
Literature.
1. Выборова Г.Е.
Пособие к базовому курсу. Москва: Аст-Пресс, 1998.
2. Банкевич Л.В.
Спорт. Москва-С-Петербург, 1990.
4. Ulva French. London. Blue Guide. London: a&c Black, 1991.
5. A Book of Britain. С-Петербург: Просвещение, 2001.
6. Sport. English. No.8 Первое сентября 2.2004.Page 21-26.