FREE ESSAY ON INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

International Sports
Polo - How the game is played
A polo match lasts about one and one-half hours and 
is divided into six 7 minute periods or chukkers. Since 
a horse in fast polo can cover two and one-half to 
three miles per period, he'll be too tired to play a 
second one right away. After resting for two or three 
periods, some horses can return to the game. Still, in 
championship polo, a player will come to the field with 
at least six horses. The mounts are horses, mostly 
thoroughbreds, not ponies. The object of the game is to 
score as many goals as possible. There are four players 
on a team and each assumes a specific position either 
offensive or defensive. However, given the enormous 
size of the playing fields, the momentum of the 
galloping horses and the ball's unexpected changes of 
direction, the game is very fluid, and the positions 
continuously change. There are few set plays in polo, 
and good anticipation is almost a sixth sense. With 
thousand pound animals running at speed there is a 
pre-eminent necessity for a right of way rule. The 
central concept in the rules of polo is the line of the 
ball, a right-of-way established by the path of the 
traveling ball. Like the rules of the road, there are 
do's and don'ts governing access to this right-of-way 
and crossing it. Within these limitations, a player can 
hook an opponent's mallet, push him off the line, bump 
him with his horse or steal the ball from him. 
Penalties are awarded as free hits. The more severe, 
the shorter the distance to the goal. The closer hits 
are almost certain goals. After every goal is scored, 
the teams change sides in order to compensate for field 
and wind conditions. A typical score would be 10-7. 
Polo games are played on the flat or the handicap. 
Every registered player is awarded a skill rating from 
C (-2, the lowest) to 10 (the highest). When a match is 
played on the handicap basis, the sum total rating of 
the players on the team is subtracted from that of the 
opposition. Any difference is then awarded to the lower 
rated side in goals on the scoreboard. 
Polo - The history 
Possibly the oldest team sport, polo's genesis is lost 
to the eye of history. An Asiatic game, polo was first 
played on a barren campground by nomadic warriors over two 
thousand years ago Valuable for training Cavalry, the game 
was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages. 
Known in the East as the Game of Kings, Tamer lane's polo 
grounds can still be seen in Samarkand. British tea planters 
in India witnessed the game in the early 1800's but it was 
not until the 1850's that 
the British Cavalry drew up the earliest rules and by the 
1869's the game was well established in England. James 
Gordon Bennett, a noted American publisher, balloonist, and 
adventurer, was captivated by the sport and brought it to 
New York in 1876 where it caught on immediately. Within ten 
years, there were major clubs all over the east, including 
Newport and Long Island. Over the next 50 years, polo 
achieved extraordinary popularity in the United States. By 
the 1930's polo was in the midst of a Golden Age it was an 
Olympic sport and crowds in excess of 30,000 regularly 
attended international matches at Meadow Brook Polo Club on 
Long Island. The galloping game produced athletes who would 
doubtless have achieved greatness in any sport. Cecil Smith, 
the Texas cowboy who held a perfect 10-goal rating for a 
still-record 25 years. Devereux Melbourne, instrumental in 
formulating modern styles of play and Tommy Hitch cock, war 
hero and the best of the best in international competition 
for two decades. In the past 20 years, polo in the United 
States has undergone an unprecedented and remarkable 
expansion. At present, there are more than 225 clubs with 
over 3,000 players. 
Cricket - The rules
There are 2 teams which have 11 players each. They play 
on a large circular or oval field batting area pitch at 
the center. At each end of the pitch is a 28inch-high 
wicket consisting of three vertical poles called stumps 
and two small horizontal sticks called bales.
Wicket is an old word for a small gate. One 
team bats and the other team fields or bowls. All 
eleven members of the fielding team are on the field at the 
same time in various positions. Two members of the batting 
team are on the field at a time, one batsman standing near 
each wicket. One member of the fielding team, called the 
bowler, the bowler throws the ball overran from one wicket 
towards the other with the aim of hitting the target wicket. 
The batsman at that end tries to hit the ball with his bat. 
The aim of the batsmen is to score runs for his 
team. There are 2 ways a batsman can get these runs: 
1. By hitting the ball out of the field. If the ball does not bounce before it crosses
the
boundary he scores 6 runs and if it does bounce he scores 4 runs. 
2. By hitting the ball within the field and running from one end of the pitch to the
other. The other batsman runs in the opposite direction. One run is scored for each
length of the pitch they run.
The aim of the fielding team is to get each batsman out. 
There are 3 main ways a batsman can be out: 
1. If he is caught 
2. If the batsman is run out 
3. If a ball delivered by the bowler hits any part of the batsman and it is judged by
the
umpire that the ball would have hit the wicket if the batsman had not been in the way.
The part of the body usually hit is the leg and so this type of out is called LBW. 
When a batsman is out he is replaced by another member of 
his team. Once the fielding team gets 10 of the 11 batsmen 
out, or the over limit is reached, the 
fielding team becomes the batting team and vice versa. The 
new batting team then has to try to beat the other team's 
score. The game may last for one or two innings for each 
team. The team with the highest number of 
runs at the end of the game wins. 
Cricket - equipment
Bat
For a young boy to learn the art of batting, the choice 
of a bat, of suitable size and weight, is of the most 
importance. It is best for the young batsmen to use a bat 
which feels light rather than one which fells heavy. There 
is little benefit to be had from using a heavy bat too 
early, especially when one is just beginning. Don't get t
aken in by the talk of heavy bats in modern cricket. You can 
use it but only when you are sufficiently strong to be able 
to handle it. 
Pads
Careful instruction should be give by the coach on the 
importance of selecting batting pads that will be suitable 
to young players. Pads should provide adequate protection 
from injury, fit comfortably on the legs, should not be 
cumbersome or too heavy and must not impede or restrict 
quick and easy movement. 
Player Code
Players should always be neatly and correctly dressed. 
All boots should be clean and properly sprigged, either with 
spikes on the soles and heels or with spikes in the soles 
and hardened ribbed rubber on the heels. Bad sprigging may 
easily be the cause of a spilled catch or a run out. A 
bowler will not be able to get a good foothold on a hard or 
wet surface. No player should wear a wrist-watch or ring on 
the field or should one carry a cap in a pocket. A protector 
should be worn at all times by the batsmen and the 
wicket-keeper and the fielders right near the bat. 
Comfortable well fitting socks should be worn. In the case 
of fast bowler, it is quite often good policy to wear two 
pairs of socks. It is recommended that batsmen and keepers 
wear only short socks. Not only do they give a smarter 
appearance but are also more comfortable. Fold the trousers 
in front of the legs and strap the pads tight to them. 
Batting gloves should be worn at all times in all grades of 
the game. This gives the player protection as well as 
comfort in gripping the bat. Bad equipment or lack of 
equipment in a match or at the nets can often be very 
damaging to a player's confidence. Often, players who are 
hurt in the nets would have been spared the agony had they 
been wearing proper equipment. Such shortage of equipment 
can also lead a player into gaining the bad habit of not 
getting behind the line of the ball. No Bowler can do 
justice to himself and his team if his boots are 
ill-fitting, if his toes are being pinched, if the sprigs 
are piercing the material and keep getting at his feet, if 
blisters are being caused by chafing and if toenails are 
being compressed. A proper grip of the ground is also vital. 
Pay a lot of attention when you are buying your first pair 
of cricket boots. Boots must be laced tight to give support 
to the ankles. Blisters must be avoided. An additional 
innersole is often helpful. A little talcum power sprinkled 
into the socks or a little Vaseline applied between the toes 
may help avoid friction and stop the blisters. Aids to foot 
comfort are not sufficient in themselves. Boots must fit 
well. Helmets may become necessary at a later stage when 
young batsmen come across bowlers who are really pacy. It 
would be much better to learn to play the game without them. 
It is not too difficult to adjust to the helmet once you go 
up the ladder and you need the protection of this modern 
headgear.
Rugby - Introduction
Rugby is a popular game played by men and women of
every race, from under age five to well over fifty, in over 
100 countries of the world. In a few of those countries it 
is the national sport - some say religion. The basic game 
involves 15 players. The object of the game is to score as 
many points as possible by carrying, passing, kicking and 
grounding an oval ball in the scoring zone at the far end of 
the field called the in-goal area. Grounding the ball, which 
must be done with downward pressure, results in a try, worth 
5 points. After a try a conversion may be attempted by place 
kick or drop kick. If the ball passes over the bar and 
between the goal posts the conversion is successful and 
results in a further 2 points. Points may also be scored 
from a drop kick in general play, worth 3 points and a 
penalty kick worth 3 points. The ball may not be passed 
forward (though it may be kicked forward) and players may 
not receive the ball in an offside position, nor may they 
wait in such a position. Players may not be tackled without 
the ball. Play only stops when a try is scored, or the ball 
goes out of play, or an infringement occurs. When the ball 
goes out it is thrown back in at a line-out where the 
opposing forwards line up and jump for the ball. 
Infringements result in a penalty, or free kick, or scrum. 
In a scrum the opposing forwards bind together in a unit and 
push against the other forwards, trying to win the ball with 
their feet. Substitutions are only allowed in case of injury 
and there is no separate offensive and defensive unit.