LESSON 1: SPORTS AS HEALTH ENHACING

For sure, playing sports is a generally a fantastic way to improve your fitness and health. Many
of us may not feel at home pounding away on a treadmill or working up a sweat in the gym, but
we’ll happily chase a ball around endlessly while playing a game of some sort.

For most people, taking part in sport will improve your general health and wellbeing. There are
plenty of reasons why you should become involved in sport with reduced body fat, bone
strengthening, improved stamina and flexibility being some of the reasons why you should take
up a sport.
The following are just some of the many health and fitness benefits of starting out in a new
sport which we hope will apply to whatever sport you opt for:

 Playing sports helps reduce body fat or controls your body weight.  
 Sports allow you will gain the satisfaction of developing your fitness and skills.  
 Sports can help you fight depression and anxiety.  
 Sports allows you to challenge yourself and set goals.  
 Playing sports helps strengthen bones.  
 Sports help aid coordination, balance and flexibility.  
 Many sports can help improves stamina and concentration.  
 Sports allow you to experience the highs and lows of both winning and losing!  
 Through sports you will meet people with a similar interest to yourself and are likely to
gain many new friends.  
 Sports are a great way for families to get exercise together.  
 If you are sporty then you are more likely to have a healthy lifestyle.

Sports fitness requires that an individual take a slightly different approach to improving their
level of fitness. Sports fitness requires an expert level of knowledge of the sport, as well as an
understanding of the physical and mental requirements necessary to succeed. The quicker an
individual gains the knowledge and understanding of a particular sport, the quicker they can
design a fitness routine that specifically focuses on the key aspects of that sport. The goal of
this section of our website is to provide a basic definition of how each sport is played, and
describe the physical and mental requirements needed for one to be successful at that sport .

LESSON 2: SPORTS

Sport includes all forms of competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or

organized participation, at least in part aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and
skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for
spectators. Sports can bring positive results to one's physical health. Hundreds of sports exist,
from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous
participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.

Kinds of Games
 Indoor Games – the games which are played inside a room are called indoor games.
Example: chess, table tennis, snakes and ladders etc.
 Outdoor Games- the games which are played outside such as in grounds are called as
outdoor games. 
Example: lawn tennis, basketball etc.

Classification of Sports
 Physical Sports- an athletic activity requiring skill or physical powers and often of a
competitive nature are called physical sports.
 Mental Sports- a mind sport is a game of skill where the mental component is more
significant than the physical.
 Social Sports- these are the games such as in team games/sports in which we meet
more number of people and increase our social network.

LESSON 3: CHESS

Individual Sports
      - are played by one participant on each competing side.
      - foster a higher discipline, self-confidence, focus and passion

Chess- is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered game board
with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Chess is played by millions of people
worldwide, both amateurs and professionals. 

The objective in chess is to checkmate your opponents king, and there are four potential ways
the game can end:
 First, you can checkmate your opponent.
 Second, you and your opponent can reach stalemate/draw.
 In timed games, each player has a specific amount of time to make their moves.
 Either player may resign at any time and their opponent wins the game.
 
Chess game pieces are divided into white and black sets. Each set consists of 16 pieces: one
king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece
types moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the
pawn. The players of the sets are referred to as White and Black, respectively. 

Movement

 The king moves one square in any direction. The king also has a special move
called castling that involves also moving a rook.
 A rook can move any number of squares along a rank or file, but cannot leap over other
pieces. Along with the king, a rook is involved during the king's castling move.
 A bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but cannot leap over other
pieces.
 A queen combines the power of a rook and bishop and can move any number of squares
along a rank, file, or diagonal, but cannot leap over other pieces.
 A knight moves to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or
diagonal. (Thus the move forms an "L"-shape: two squares vertically and one square
horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically.) The knight is the only
piece that can leap over other pieces.
A pawn can move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file,
or on its first move it can advance two squares along the same file, provided both squares are
unoccupied (black dots in the diagram); or the pawn can capture an opponent's piece on a
square diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, by moving to that square (black "x"s). A pawn
has two special moves: the en passant capture and promotion.

LESSON 4: TABLE TENNIS

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players
hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small
rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net.

Equipment
 Ball- it is spherical and is 40mm in diameter. 
The ball is made of celluloid or similar plastic material. 
It generally weighs 2.7gm.
 Table-  is 2.74 m (9.0 ft) long, 1.525 m (5.0 ft) wide, and 
76 cm (2.5 ft) high with any continuous material so long 
as the table yields a uniform bounce of about 23 cm (9.1 in) 
when a standard ball is dropped onto it from a height of 30 cm 
(11.8 in), or about 77%.The table or playing surface is uniformly 
dark coloured and matte, divided into two halves by a net at 
15.25 cm (6.0 in) in height.

 Racket/paddle/bat- Players are equipped with a laminated wooden

 racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the 
grip of the player. The ITTF uses the term "racket", though "bat" is 
common in Britain, and "paddle" in the U.S. and Canada.
Types of Strokes
Offensive 
 Hit- also known as speed drive, a direct hit on the ball propelling it forward back to the
opponent. 
 Loop- is essentially the reverse of the chop. The racket is parallel to the direction of the
stroke ("closed") and the racket thus grazes the ball, resulting in a large amount of
topspin.
 Counter-hit- is usually a counterattack against drives, normally high loop drives. The
racket is held closed and near to the ball, which is hit with a short movement "off the
bounce" (immediately after hitting the table) so that the ball travels faster to the other
side.
 Flip- When a player tries to attack a ball that has not bounced beyond the edge of the
table, the player does not have the room to wind up in a backswing. The ball may still be
attacked, however, and the resulting shot is called a flip because the backswing is
compressed into a quick wrist action.
  Smash- A player will typically execute a smash when the opponent has returned a ball
that bounces too high or too close to the net. It is nearly always done with a forehand
stroke.

Defensive
 Push- is usually used for keeping the point alive and creating offensive opportunities. A
push resembles a tennis slice: the racket cuts underneath the ball, imparting backspin
and causing the ball to float slowly to the other side of the table.
 Chop- is the defensive, backspin counterpart to the offensive loop drive. A chop is
essentially a bigger, heavier push, taken well back from the table.
 Block- is executed by simply placing the racket in front of the ball right after the ball
bounces; thus, the ball rebounds back toward the opponent with nearly as much energy
as it came in with. 
 Lob- The defensive lob propels the ball about five meters in height, only to land on the
opponent's side of the table with great amounts of spin. The stroke itself consists of
lifting the ball to an enormous height before it falls back to the opponent's side of the
table. 

LESSON 5: BADMINTON

Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it

may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one
player per side) and "doubles" (with two players per side). Badminton is often played as a
casual outdoor activity in a yard or on a beach; formal games are played on a rectangular
indoor court. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within
the opposing side's half of the court.

Objective of the Game

The objective of badminton is to hit the shuttlecock over the net and have it land in the
designated court areas. If your opponent manages to return the shuttlecock then a rally occurs.
If you win this rally i.e. force your opponent to hit the shuttlecock out or into the net then you
win a point. You are required to win 21 points to win a set with most matches being best of 3
sets. Points can be won on either serve.

Players & Equipment

There are two forms of badminton, singles and doubles (it’s also possible to play mixed
doubles). Each player is allowed to use a stringed racket (similar to a tennis racket but with the
head being smaller) and a shuttlecock. The shuttlecock is made up of half round ball at the
bottom and a feather like material surrounding the top. You can only really hit the bottom of
the shuttlecock and as gravity comes into play will always revert the ball side facing down. You
may only hit the shuttlecock once before it either hits the ground or goes over the net.
The court measures 6.1m wide and 13.4m long. Across the middle of the rectangular court is a
net which runs at 1.55m. Running along each side of the court are two tram lines. The inside
lines are used as the parameter for singles match whilst the outside line is used for a doubles
match.
Rules of Badminton

 A game can take place with either two (singles) or four (doubles) players.
 An official match has to be played indoors on the proper court dimensions. The
dimensions are 6.1m by 13.4m, the net is situated through the middle of the court and
is set at 1.55m.
 To score a point the shuttlecock must hit within the parameters of the opponents court.
 If the shuttlecock hits the net or lands out then a point is awarded to your opponent.
 Players must serve diagonally across the net to their opponent. As points are won then
serving stations move from one side to the other. There are no second serves so if your
first serve goes out then your opponent wins the point.
 A serve must be hit underarm and below the server’s waist. No overarm serves are
allowed.
 Each game will start with a toss to determine which player will serve first and which side
of the court the opponent would like to start from.
 Once the shuttlecock is ‘live’ then a player may move around the court as they wish.
They are permitted to hit the shuttlecock from out of the playing area.
 If a player touches the net with any part of their body or racket then it is deemed a fault
and their opponent receives the point.
 A fault is also called if a player deliberately distracts their opponent, the shuttlecock is
caught in the racket then flung, the shuttlecock is hit twice or if the player continues to
infract with the laws of badminton.
 Each game is umpired by a referee on a high chair who overlooks the game. There are
also line judges who monitor if the shuttlecock lands in or not. The referee has
overriding calls on infringements and faults.
 Let may be called by the referee if an unforeseen or accidental circumstance arose.
These may include the shuttlecock getting stuck in the bet, server serving out of turn,
one player was not ready or a decision which is too close to call.
 The game has only two rest periods coming the form of a 90 second rest after the first
game and a 5 minute rest period after the second game.
 If the laws are continuously broken by a player then the referee holds the power to dock
that player of points with persisting fouls receiving a forfeit of the set or even the
match.

LESSON 6: VOLLEYBALL

Volleyball, game played by two teams, usually of six players on a side, in which the players use
their hands to bat a ball back and forth over a high net, trying to make the ball touch the court
within the opponents’ playing area before it can be returned. To prevent this a player on the
opposing team bats the ball up and toward a teammate before it touches the court surface—
that teammate may then volley it back across the net or bat it to a third teammate who volleys
it across the net. A team is allowed only three touches of the ball before it must be returned
over the net.

History
Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, physical director of the Young Men’s
Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was designed as an indoor sport for
businessmen who found the new game of basketball too vigorous. Morgan called the sport
“mintonette,” until a professor from Springfield College in Massachusetts noted the volleying
nature of play and proposed the name of “volleyball.” 

Facilities and Equipment

Basic Volleyball Rules for Playing the Game

  6 players on a team, 3 on the front row and 3 on the back row
 Maximum of three hits per side
 Player may not hit the ball twice in succession (A block is not considered a hit)
 Ball may be played off the net during a volley and on a serve
 A ball hitting a boundary line is "in"
 A ball is "out" if it hits... 
 an antennae,
 the floor completely outside the court,
 any of the net or cables outside the antennae,
 the referee stand or pole,
 the ceiling above a non-playable area
 It is legal to contact the ball with any part of a players body
 It is illegal to catch, hold, or throw the ball
 If two or more players contact the ball at the same time, it is considered one play and
either player involved may make the next contact (provided the next contact isn't the
teams 4th hit)
 A player cannot block or attack a serve from on or inside the 10 foot line
 After the serve, front line players may switch positions at the net
 At higher competition, the officiating crew may be made up of two refs, line judges,
scorer, and an assistant scorer

Skills
 Serve
 Pass
 Set
 Attack
 Block
 Dig

LESSON 7: BASKETBALL

Basketball, game played between two teams of five players each on a rectangular court, usually
indoors. Each team tries to score by tossing the ball through the opponent’s goal, an elevated
horizontal hoop and net called a basket.

History
Since Naismith and five of his original players were Canadians, it is not surprising
that Canada was the first country outside the United States to play the game. Basketball was
introduced in France in 1893, in England in 1894, in Australia, China, and India soon thereafter,
and in Japan in 1900.
While basketball helped swell the membership of YMCAs because of the availability of
their gyms, within five years the game was outlawed by various associations because gyms that
had been occupied by classes of 50 or 60 members were now monopolized by only 10 to 18
players. The banishment of the game induced many members to terminate their YMCA
membership and to hire halls to play the game, thus paving the way to the professionalization
of the sport.

FOULS

Personal fouls: Personal fouls include any type of illegal physical contact.

Hitting
Pushing
Slapping
Holding
Illegal pick/screen -- when an offensive player is moving. When an offensive player sticks out a
limb and makes physical contact with a defender in an attempt to block the path of the
defender.
Personal foul penalties: If a player is shooting while a being fouled, then he gets two free
throws if his shot doesn't go in, but only one free throw if his shot does go in.
Charging. An offensive foul that is committed when a player pushes or runs over a defensive
player. The ball is given to the team that the foul was committed upon.

Blocking. Blocking is illegal personal contact resulting from a defender not establishing position
in time to prevent an opponent's drive to the basket.

Flagrant foul. Violent contact with an opponent. This includes hitting, kicking, and punching.
This type of foul results in free throws plus the offense retaining possession of the ball after the
free throws.

Intentional foul. When a player makes physical contact with another player with no reasonable
effort to steal the ball. It is a judgment call for the officials.

Technical foul. Technical foul. A player or a coach can commit this type of foul. It does not
involve player contact or the ball but is instead about the 'manners' of the game. Foul language,
obscenity, obscene gestures, and even arguing can be considered a technical foul, as can
technical details regarding filling in the scorebook improperly or dunking during warm-ups.

VIOLATIONS

Walking/Traveling. Taking more than 'a step and a half' without dribbling the ball is traveling.
Moving your pivot foot once you've stopped dribbling is traveling.

Carrying/palming. When a player dribbles the ball with his hand too far to the side of or,
sometimes, even under the ball.

Double Dribble. Dribbling the ball with both hands on the ball at the same time or picking up
the dribble and then dribbling again is a double dribble.

Held ball. Occasionally, two or more opposing players will gain possession of the ball at the
same time. In order to avoid a prolonged and/or violent tussle, the referee stops the action and
awards the ball to one team or the other on a rotating basis.

Goaltending. If a defensive player interferes with a shot while it's on the way down toward the
basket, while it's on the way up toward the basket after having touched the backboard, or while
it's in the cylinder above the rim, it's goaltending and the shot counts. If committed by an
offensive player, it's a violation and the ball is awarded to the opposing team for a throw-in.

Backcourt violation. Once the offense has brought the ball across the mid-court line, they
cannot go back across the line during possession. If they do, the ball is awarded to the other
team to pass inbounds.

Time restrictions. A player passing the ball inbounds has five seconds to pass the ball. If he does
not, then the ball is awarded to the other team. Other time restrictions include the rule that a
player cannot have the ball for more than five seconds when being closely guarded and, in
some states and levels, shot-clock restrictions requiring a team to attempt a shot within a given
time frame.