Comprehensive Sports Guide: Rules, Conditioning & Equipment

Athletic mastery depends on understanding official gameplay rules, optimizing equipment technology, and implementing sport-specific conditioning drills.

Soccer player kicking ball towards goal, ground view

Types of Kicking in Soccer

With no opportunity to use your hands as a field player in soccer, kicking provides your means of advancing the ball for a dribble, pass or shot. The more types of kicks you master, the more weapons you have during a game.

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Male gymnast with chalky hands

Why Do Gymnasts Use Chalk?

In every gymnastics facility, a large tub of powdered chalk is as common as bars, beams and mats. During practices and meets, gymnasts liberally dust their hands and legs with chalk to absorb sweat and improve their grip strength during events.

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Boy playing baseball

6- to 7-Year-Old Baseball Batting Drills

The batter takes his stance and the tension in the stands rises as the pitcher throws the first pitch of the game. Then the crowd goes wild as the batter races around the bases, as fast as his little legs can carry him.

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High angle view of a young man holding a basketball

How to Deflate a Basketball

While you will need your basketball to be inflated to play with, several reasons might account for wanting to take the air out of the ball.

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CrossFit: Workout Regimen With A Fiercely Loyal Following

How to Train for Powerlifting

Moving from general gym goer to powerlifter can feel like a big leap. You may be the strongest guy or girl in your gym, but when you step onto the platform with other competitors in front of hundreds of spectators, it can be a daunting experience. This needn't be the case if you're properly prepared though.

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Does Bike Riding Make Your Legs Bigger?

Bike riding is a low-impact activity that can help you burn calories. Although the bike works the major muscles of your lower body, that doesn't mean that your legs will get big. In fact, you may actually lose weight and gain a lean appearance by adding biking to your fitness routine.

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Portrait of a woman practicing rhythmic gymnast performing with ball

List of Gymnastic Events

There are three primary types of gymnastic competitions: artistic, rhythmic and acrobatic. Each is a separate sport. Artistic gymnastics are generally known as just "gymnastics." Men's and women's gymnastics include two common events, the floor exercise and the vault.

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Men playing basketball

What Is a 1 and 1 in Basketball?

Fouls in basketball often send the fouled player to the free throw line to shoot free throws. When a player is fouled while shooting and the shot is unsuccessful, he gets two free throws. However, a player does not have to be shooting to go to the free throw line.

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African American male runner on bridge

Calories Burned in Swimming vs. Running

Swimming and running are both endurance exercises that give your cardiovascular system a challenging workout. If burning calories is your goal, both modes can do the trick. But the total amount of calories burned depends on the intensity and duration of your workout sessions, and the efficiency of your movement.

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Legs of a basketball player

How to Put Grip on Worn Out Basketball Shoes

You have a couple of options for improving the grip on your worn-out basketball shoes. The first is having the shoes resoled by a repair service that specializes in sports shoes. Typically, shoe services include patching and re-stitching the uppers as part of the service.

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Woman playing golf

The Average Women's Golf Swing Speeds

The average female golfer's swing speed is 65 mph, wrote Tom Wishon in "Ten Things You Thought You Knew About Golf Clubs." Because a woman has less upper body power than a man, her swing speeds tend to be lower.

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Young sumo wrestler in gymnasium, portrait

Sumo Wrestler Training

Despite their obese appearance, Japanese sumo wrestlers must endure vigorous physical training before becoming official rikishis, the Japanese term for sumo wrestler.

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Soccer player on lawn

Differences Between SG & FG Soccer Cleats

Soccer players may run between 5 and 7 miles during a typical 90-minute match. So their footwear must be comfortable and efficient. Soccer players must identify the playing surface to select the proper cleat lest they become stuck in mud or have their long studs slide across the too-firm ground.

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Swimmer

I'm Feeling Fatigued After Swimming

Feeling tired after an intense workout makes sense, but lingering fatigue might leave you wondering about its cause. Swimming is a low-impact exercise that allows you to get a good cardiovascular workout without stressing your joints.

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Cyclist riding a bike to the sunset on the highway

How to Calculate Your VO2 Max for Cycling

Competitive cyclists will use their VO2 max as a benchmark to gauge their endurance capacity as well as incorporate the data into a training program. VO2 max measures the amount of oxygen the body can absorb during intense and prolonged exercise. The higher your VO2 level, the better your cardiovascular fitness is.

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Young women footballers on pitch, rejoicing victory, surface view

Rules on Pushing in Soccer

Soccer allows a fair amount of legal contact, although it still falls short of being a collision sport like hockey and American football -- where frequent, deliberate and permissible violent contact is part of the game.

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Collegiate Football on the Field

Tips on Football Walk-On Tryouts

Most, but not all, NCAA Division I and Division II football programs offer athletic scholarships to help reward players who choose those schools. Two types of non-scholarship players, called β€œwalk-ons,” may also join the squad.

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an african american football player in a red and white uniform is jumping up with arms outstretched to catch a football

Main Muscles Used in Football

Football is a sport that requires strength and power in nearly every muscle throughout the body. Both lower- and upper-body muscles are involved in activities like running, jumping, blocking, catching and throwing.

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How to Calculate MPH for Bikes

Riding a bicycle is excellent cardiovascular exercise and a workout that can help you lose weight. At just 10 miles per hour an individual who weighs 200 lbs. burns over 360 calories in an hour of riding. Most people find tracking their exercise helps in achieving exercise goals.

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