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What Are The Advantages Of Being Tall In Sports

Sports blogger

Sir Steve Redgrave has launched a campaign to find tall athletes to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games.

Redgrave, Minister for Sport Richard Caborn and UK Sport began the “Sporting Giants” search in Trafalgar Square.

And Redgrave told BBC News 24: “Within the sports of rowing, volleyball and handball we need people with height.

“If you pass the series of tests you will get drawn into the young start programme and will be brought through with the national team.”
UK Sport is aiming to encourage individuals between the ages of 16 and 25 of 5ft 11in or above if they are female, or males taller than 6ft 3in, to apply to their scheme.

Caborn said: “Sporting Giants will give taller athletes the chance to reach the peak of their potential by trying sports both new and old, introducing them to the high-performance environment.

“The home crowd will want to see the best of British talent when London hosts the Olympic Games in 2012. This campaign will help us to meet those high expectations.”

Tall people are looked up to. Many admire them. They themselves maybe very self-conscious of their height, but many feel it is an asset. No doubt, tall people do encounter some difficulty in movements, like they find it difficult to use public transport, or their legs stand out too tall on the bed, but in sports their presence is welcomed.

There are many advantages of being tall and one among them is participating in sports. Being tall does not bar you from taking part in sports. Many tall people excel in sports and do not think their height is a disadvantage.

What are the Advantages of Being Tall in Sports?

They can participate in certain games better such as basketball, volleyball and tennis. Their height helps them to place the ball in the basket and long arms helps them to serve better in tennis
Long legs help them to do well in running sports. They can run fast as they can take long strides and reach the destination on time. They can go much ahead of the others
In swimming also long arms and legs are an advantage. The strokes can be long and wide
Tall people are considered to be good leaders in sports. In school itself they are noticed and given leadership responsibility
In certain games such as basketball, volleyball, fencing and water-polo; they enter these games without any competition. Their selection process is easy. In other words they are selected very easily
They are tall in stature also. Their personality comes across well. They appear to be more self-confident and their self-esteem is high.
Mobility is also high. Since they can take long strides easily, they are very agile.
Sportsmen like being tall. They receive a lot of attention and stand out in the crowd. Their height is an advantage to them in certain sports and they do take up challenges more confidently. So one need not feel too conscious of ones height. One can try ones hand at such sports, where being tall is not considered to be a hindrance.

For further details on being tall in sport and lots more on being tall, visit http://www.beingtall.com

How online retailers may topple the high street sports brands

Sports blogger

When people think about sports equipment, they often think of the high street shops, such as J.D Sports or JJB, but these shops are losing their advantage over online shops and losing it fast. A key example of this lies within the variety of stock; we know that the high street shops are more inclined to prioritise the sale of leisure clothes above sports equipment and what little equipment they have rarely extends beyond football, and even then its mostly balls, gloves and nothing else. Sure, you can buy the occasional rugby ball or basketball jersey, but beyond that I feel that these types of shops are letting us, as consumers, down.

Online retailers are beginning to take advantage of their lack of stock by being able to order to meet consumers needs be they from high popularity sports like football or snooker, to lesser played sports like croquet. Equipment can now be bought for sports that require a lot of space, like contact sports, and how pray tell, will the high streets keep up with that? Even niche hobbies can be catered for nowadays, with archery equipment being readily available on a number of retailers websites.

Lets not forget that the online shops also obtain their stock for less due to a lack of distribution costs, and often youll find this advantage being pressed indicated by the low prices of the products. With that in mind, surely it cant be too long before the main retailers decline and disappear.

Another problem I have noticed with these high street sports retailers is their lack of kits for sports teams. Many a time Ive had to search online for any football shirt that wasnt decorated with a logo of the top four teams in football, so say you were a fan of Tottenham Hotspurs living outside of London you have next to no chance of finding one. A similar problem to this is the lack of local teams kits. Of the many sports shops in Accrington, for example, there are no shirts for their local team Accrington Stanley, not a major problem I know, but its these little niches that may well contribute to the decline of the high street sports shops and will certainly lead to the increase of prosperous online retailers.