NOT ATHLETICS: Surfing, Skydiving, Skiiing, Hangliding
It's Free Fall. No Exertion.
NOT ATHLETICS: Surfing, Skydiving, Skiiing, Hangliding
It's Free Fall. No Exertion.
too bad he lost at pipeline just two weeks ago...
To Not Athletes,
Your definition of what is a sport needs serious revision. By your definition, swimming would not be a sport because swimmers are not competing against their total body weight due to being supported by buoyancy in the water. Also, by your definition, cycling would not be a sport because the bike's wheels reduce the drag of gravity.
Surfing requires more athletic talent than running. I have enough athletic talent to run a sub 4 mile, which is national class. However, this athletic talent only enabled me to become a worse than average recreational surfer, despite growing up a block from a beach that has produced numerous world surfing champions.
Surfing is very difficult to learn and master. Try it, and you'll soon realize it is a sport.
Although it's hard to call it a sport Phil "The Power" Taylor is probably the most succesful "sportsman" ever. 15 world titles in Darts.
Physics 101 wrote:
NOT ATHLETICS: Surfing, Skydiving, Skiiing, Hangliding
It's Free Fall. No Exertion.
It's amazing the physiques that most of these surfers develop from not exerting themselves.
In general, it seems that although fewer people overall surf, people who grew up living in surfing hot spots often surf as a way of life and have put a LOT of time into developing their skills. So those at the very top of the surfing food chain are probably still comparable in talent to those in more popular sports where most of the participants never get beyond the advanced beginner stage.
Someone who understands physics please explain to Not Athletes the forces exerted on an Olympic downhill skier during competition. Olympic downhill skiers are some of the best athletes in the world. They would always win those events on TV where athletes from various sports competed against each other in assorted athletic events.
Now that I think about it, I would definitely say that Michael Phelps is at least as dominant. Who the HELL wins 8 gold medals in one Olympics? And I'm pretty sure there are more people that can swim then those who can surf.
That makes sufers, stunts experts, very skilled no doubt, but not athletes since they don't generate all of their own forces and/or counteract normal (gravitational) force. For surfers, the moon's gravitational force causes the tide to shift raising the waves, the surfer swims out to the wave, catches it, then rides the horizontal and vertical components of the wave. The surfer does not create either component. Leisure sports are also NOT athletics, Bowling, Billiards, Mah Jong, Poker, Nintendo, Golf. Neither are low-friction sports nor motor sports nor animal riding sports.
not true - google Phil Taylor, darts player
Aussiemiler wrote:
Kelly Slater won his tenth world surfing title this year. No other currently active sportsman, in any sport, comes close to matching this level of achievement. Incredibly, he's almost an unknown in his own country. If he was an Aussie, he'd be the most recognized person in the country.
One major componenet of being a surfing champion is being a great paddler. Top surfers even do interval training paddling their surfboard like a swimmer or running would by alternating sprints with bouts of rest.
But surfers are not timed or graded on "paddling". Swimmers on the other hand are timed from the start point to the end point, at the same altitude in calm waters. The scores for surfers are earned from the point of catching the force of the wave which has been created by the force of the moon on the sea of the earth.
Hey Physics 101,
Besides not understanding what constitutes a sport, you don't understand how waves are formed. The waves that surfers ride are formed by the wind. When the waves, formed out at sea by the wind, reach shallow water they pitch up and fall, creating a wave for surfing. You described how tides work. Surfing and skiing are most definitely sports. Any athlete would recognize that.
It's simple. Surfing, Sky Diving, Skiing are Gravity Sports. Gravity sports, Motor sports, Animal sports, Leisure sports, Surgical Modification (eating contests) sports, Ice sports, etc. are not athletics since the forces involved are not generated by the athlete or involve low resistance. A gymnast, pole vaulter, baseball player, discus thrower, steepler, etc. generates her/his own forces.
So, by your definition, mountain biking, road biking, skiing, rowing, and speed skating are not sports either.
I suggest you pick 10 people at random anywhere in the world (well, lets say, anywhere except Ethiopia) give them these names:
Kelly Slater
Geb
Usain Bolt
I think we all should know what the answer would be.
sports on surfaces with low static friction like speed skating are NOT athletics.
gravity sports like skiing are NOT athletics.
sports on surfaces with high static friction like bicycling and rowing are athletics.
Your opinion does not make it fact. According to the sporting world they are indeed sports.
They're not athletics though. Carems, cribbage, Nintendo, Nathan's Hot Dogs, Rifle Marksmanship, fly fishing, Wet Bikini Contests, deep water fishing, and surfing are sports but they are not athletics.
I never mention those activities. Have you ever seen a speed skater? Both long track and short track speed skaters are some of the fittest, most athletic people on the planet. Your opinion and personal definition can not be applied to what the sporting world agrees to be sports. By your definition, nothing in the winter Olympics would be a sport. You have a very narrow mind!
The tread is about the most dominant "sportsman" on the planet. Now you agree that surfing is a sport, do you believe that KS is the most dominant sportsman on the planet?