Cricket
Although soccer the most popular sport in the world, cricket isn’t too far behind.
With 104 countries part of the International Cricket Council, the sport is stretched across the globe.
Cricket looks a lot like baseball on the surface, but it has many subtle nuances that separate the sports and make it just as interesting.
In baseball, the pitcher stands 60 feet, 6 inches away from the batter and average pitch speed is roughly 90 mph.
Cricket pitchers reach about the same speed, but they deliver the ball from about 45 feet away. This takes a lot of concentration and precision on the part of a batsman.
In addition, baseball fields are diamond-shaped with a quarter of a full circle in play.
Cricket batsmen are allowed to hit the ball anywhere in a circle. Thus, fielders are more spread out and this leaves more room for fantastic plays in the field.
In baseball, games are nine innings long, but cricket games have different ways they can be set up in terms of time.
There are two forms of cricket, one is Limited Overs Cricket, which gives which side 20 overs, or outs, and the other is called Test Cricket.
Test Cricket is the one that most people have probably heard of. Normally, Test Cricket is played during the course of five days, which gives the sport its reputation of long-lasting games.
The best part about cricket is the way the fans follow the game.
Soccer is known for having the craziest fans,but after watching a cricket match on ESPN, I think cricket fans give hooligans a run for their money.
-Bill Hopkins
Fencing
Every child, at one point or another, dreams about being a pirate, a knight in shining armor or Zorro.
Fencing takes all those childhood dreams and puts them into a real life competitive arena.
Fencing is the best non-traditional sport because it’s so hard to master, it takes several years of training before an individual can even compete. Because of this, the national competitions tend to have a lot of talent. This ensures spectators get to watch a quality event.
Secondly, who doesn’t want to dress up and play pirates?
Many traditional sports such as soccer and basketball don’t allow such imagination. But while fencing you can be Captain Jack fighting off the English to get to dead man’s chest.
Whether you realize it or not, fencing has been moving across the globe and into the United States. In the 2004 Olympics, women’s saber, the only fencing event not in previous Olympics was added. In the events first appearancr, the USA won first and second place.
When the games returned in 2008, the USA swept the entire event. The national competitions in the United States are becoming more competitive and have a higher attendance.
Fencing can also earn you money.
Colleges and universities offer many different sports that students can partake in, but Ivy League schools including Harvard, Yale and Brown all have fencing teams that pay high dollar amounts for almost any nationally ranked fencer.
Overall, fencing is a fun and unique sport that improves several different skills including endurance, hand-eye coordination and balance. All of these skills can transfer to other sports as well and can make you an overall better athlete.
-Jeri Kohn
