Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert
MY VISION AND THOUGHTS: INTERNATIONAL SPORT NEWS
The Beard Identity
Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert October 2013
In the 1980's, it all began with the 'Playoff Beard' in the world of ice hockey. The players said when the team would reach the playoffs, they wouldn’t shave. By every player having a beard, they showed that they were one together. The beard was a presentation of standing and fighting together with masculinity. This hype has shifted from ice hockey to baseball.
It has become a recent illness for the baseball team, the Boston Red Socks. The hype of letting their beards grow is a way for them to identify themselves and towards their fans. Each individual beard of each player has its own story, uniqueness and name, e.g. the Siesta, the Wolf, the Ironsides and the Saltine. Though these beards maybe their own, each player can be presented back into an identity of a civil war leader, around the 1850's, which was one of the most important times in United States. For example Dustin Pedroia, who looks like general Robert E. Lee. Therefore he is carrying the identity of Robert E. Lee on his chin and this is an additional power characteristic to his own. Mike Napoli having the beard as president James Garfield is another example. So these world famous baseball players grasp back to past big and influencing leaders, to make their own identity stronger.
In October 2013 at the World Series of Baseball, the game between Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, was not only about the homeruns, the beards were also a highlight of the game.
I personally think that beards in sport is a great way of not only presenting personal identity, of being masculine and together one, but it is also a connecting back to the American roots (civil war leaders), their nation.
Marathon Running
Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert October 2013
At the marathon of Amsterdam on the 20th of October 2013 a man instantly died of a heart attack in the last kilometer of the marathon. Being a frequent runner myself I do question if running for such an incredible long distance is good for the health of the body. It is not the first time that people die, caused by the grand impact of running a marathon.
Having done some research on the topic ‘is marathon running healthy?’ I have discovered that running a marathon not only causes hart attacks but also stomach and intestine problems. Especially the knees are affected by running for too long and too fast, as knees aren’t built to experience constant booming for hours. What is proven is that a marathon is 7 km to long, as the human body used all carbs after 35km. After that the body starts to nurture from body fat and this is the time where most runners start to experience problems.
Though sport doctors state that a marathon isn’t unhealthy, if the runner has trained for years. This is also supported by marathon runner and expert Dick Beardsley, he says: ‘’ The key for it is to train for it properly and if you train right, proper nutrition, proper equipment, proper shoes’’ Many people don’t have the knowledge on what ‘’healthy’’ preparation is. It is not only feeling fit, it is about having a great condition, eating nurturing food and having well trained muscles and flexible and strong ligaments and too many people don’t have this knowledge.
I’m critical about running marathons, as I can’t imagine that pressuring the body to the fullest for a long period of time is healthy. Every second day running for 20 minutes to 50 minutes on a mediate speed, to get healthy and fit should be fine, but for more than an hour on an extreme speed is too much for the human body.
Slopestyle Sochi 2014
Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert October 2013
Finally after many years slopestyle skiing and snowboarding has been added to the Olympic Games. The first Olympic slopestyle skiing and snowboarding will be hosted in Sochi 2014. The FIS commission has done a great job at convincing the IOC by adding this new sport is a great opportunity for many young and rising athletes in the extreme sport world. By enhancing slopestyle skiing and snowboarding it is proven to be a rising sport and needs more recognition.
So many sports have been around for decades and just like life, new adjustments need to cross our path once in a while. It is not only a new eye-opener for the Olympic Games and its audience, it is also a whole new challenge and opportunity for the world of freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
By accepting a new sport to the Olympic Games, it is by the same token also inviting new athletes to show the world their talents and targeting a whole new and different audience. The different audience is in my opinion the younger generation, the youth. I can speak from experience, as I was part of the freestyle world and can confirm that the Winter Olympic Games will become more popular. Furthermore I appreciate the fact that the freestyle world has been invited to join the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014, as it presents that diversity is still a main value of the Olympic Games.
Boycotting Won't Help
Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert October 2013
This year the president of Russia, Vladimir Poetin, decided to introduce a new law, the law against homosexuality.
The news writes that boycotting the Sochi games will not make a difference. which is true to the extend that there is probably no chance that president Poetin will change his mind, but it will definitely open the eyes of more people.
Of course it is a great gesture to boycott the Games to protest against Vladimir Poetins decision, and is understandable as that law doesn’t agree with their culture, norms and values. But to be honest, if countries decide not to come and perform at the Olympics Games in Sochi, this will for sure not chance the new law against homosexuality.
By creating a law against homosexuality, it is not only excluding a part of the countries society and having respect for one another, but it is also against the charter of the IOC; Rule 50, which states "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted" (Whiteside, 2013), and the mindset of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games were originally created to honor the Gods but most of all to bring people together through and with sport.
In my opinion gay people are not different then other people who fall in love for the other sex. Homosexuals have the same feelings, thoughts and are as passionate in their chosen sports as hetero people. Just because they develop feelings for the same sex, doesn't mean that they aren't good at what they are doing. This is a naive thought and it can ruin the countries respect, trust and honesty towards each other and relating to the Olympic Games it can cost them a lot of medals by not letting them perform.
At last I retrieved a quote from the article Bode Miller: Russia's gay rights issue is 'embarrassing' by Kelly Whiteside, who interviewed Ashley Wagner who stated: “I think it's so embarrassing that there are countries and people who are that ignorant. … As a human being, I think it's embarrassing," the four-time Olympian said. (Whiteside, 2013)''. I fully agree with Ashley Wagner, because if my country (the Netherlands) would create a law against homosexuality, I would feel embarrassed to be a Dutch girl. Excluding people, who share the same norms, values, thoughts and desires, would mean to me that we are not one nation. The Netherlands, thank god, is a country that does accept gay people, think of the Gay-Pride hosted in Amsterdam every year, and therefore I’m proud to be part of the Netherlands.
Bigorexic
Coco-Lili Kraaijeveld van Hemert September 2013
Mostly what is posted on blogs, magazines, or newspapers is how girls are slowly destroying their bodies refusing to eat (anorexia) or other illnesses like bulimia, … but what has never really brought to attention is how the boys and men are affected of how male are presented by the media. Scrolling through the online newspaper I came across this article called: Rise of the Bigorexics: The 'muscle dysmorphic' men sacrificing their health in pursuit of 'magazine cover bodies' (link posted below), which is about men being influenced by the media vision of a real man. According to the media images a ‘perfect’ man has perfect abs, biceps and triceps and an overall flawless trimmed body. More and more men go to the gym and work out and cultivate on protein shakes. Their muscles are growing and growing, but it is never enough. This is called ‘Bigorexics’, in other words ‘muscle dysmorphia’, which is the term of thinking that one is thin and not trained enough to fit the image of the magazine cover bodies.