Навигация
2.2.2. Bowling
Bowling was a very popular sport in New York City in the middle of the nineteenth century. A newspaper said there were more than 400 alleys in the city in 1850. It then declined for a time. One reason may have been that the larger pins made it too easy. The prevalence of gambling was another factor. Bowling, like billiards, was considered semi-respectable, at best.
When nine clubs from New York City and Brooklyn formed the National Bowling Association (NBA) in 1875, one of its purposes was to standardize rules. Just as important, though, the clubs wanted to eliminate gambling among their members.
The NBA didn't last long, but the rules its member clubs established are still the basic rules of bowling. A similar New York-based organization, the American Amateur Bowling Union, established in 1890, was also short-lived.
Meanwhile, German immigrants helped to popularize the sport in the Midwest, especially in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. With inter-club and inter-league bowling on the increase, equipment and rules had to be standardized nationally.
As a result, the American Bowling Congress (ABC) was founded as a genuine national federation of clubs at Beethoven Hall in New York City on September 9, 1895. In 1901, 41 teams from 17 cities in 9 states competed in the ABC's first National Bowling Championships in Chicago. There were also 155 singles and 78 doubles competitors.
Under the leadership of the ABC, bowling quickly became both popular and respectable. Gambling was virtually eliminated--partly because of prize money offered not only by member leagues, but also in ABC-sanctioned regional and national competition.
With the sport cleaned up, women were attracted to bowling in large numbers. The Women's National Bowling Association, founded in 1916, conducted its first national championship the following year. The association was renamed the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) in 1971.
Approximately 60 million people in the U. S. go bowling at least once a year. More important, about 7 million of them compete in league play sanctioned by the ABC and/or WIBC.
A steady stream of young bowlers has been a major reason for the sport's continuing popularity throughout this century. Bowlers of high school age and younger originally came under the jurisdiction of the American Junior Bowling Congress, an ABC affiliate. That organization was replaced in 1982 by the autonomous Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA), which sanctions league and tournament play of bowlers through college age.
Although collegiate bowling is rarely mentioned in the media, many conferences offer team competition and championship tournaments. National championships have been conducted since 1959 by the Association of College Unions (ACU) and since 1962 by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Bowling was an exhibition sport at the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea [9, p.23-24].
2.3. Sport for the disabled
Disabled Sports USA was founded in 1967 by disabled Vietnam veterans. It was then called the National Amputee Skiers Association. In 1972 the National Amputee Skiers Association (NASA) was broadening its mission. No longer solely serving skiers, NASA needed a new name. They chose to call themselves the National Inconvenienced Sportsmen's Association. In 1976, NISA became the National Handicapped Sports and Recreation Association. The NHSRA name stuck until 1992 when the organization was renamed to National Handicapped Sports. In October 1994, after polling the organization's 80+ chapters and affiliates, the National Board of Directors approved the most recent name change to Disabled Sports USA.
According to Executive Director Kirk Bauer, "Disabled Sports USA" was selected for the following reasons:
1. The word "disabled" brought the organization in line with current language used by the federal government. "Disabled" has become more universally accepted than "handicapped."
2. Disabled Sports USA has become an organization of global importance. Disabled Sports USA fields teams to compete in the World Championships for track and field, cycling, volleyball, and swimming. It is now necessary to use "USA" rather than "National" to reflect this change in scope.
3. Almost all of the US Olympic Committee-member National Governing Bodies for able-body sports have "US" or "USA" within their name (such as USA Basketball, US Skiing, and USA Volleyball). Disabled Sports USA is a Disabled Sports Organization member of the U. S. Olympic Committee.
DS/USA now offers nationwide sports rehabilitation programs to anyone with a permanent disability. Activities include winter skiing, water sports, summer and winter competitions, fitness and special sports events. Participants include those with visual impairments, amputations, spinal cord injury, dwarfism, multiple sclerosis, head injury, cerebral palsy, and other neuromuscular and orthopedic conditions.
Disabled Sports USA is a nation-wide network of community-based chapters offering a variety of recreation programs. Each chapter sets its own agenda and activities. These may include one or more of the following: snow skiing; water sports (such as water skiing, sailing, kayaking, and rafting); cycling; climbing; horseback riding; golf; and social activities.
Rehabilitation professionals and even the Federal Government recognize the importance of sports and recreation in the successful rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. When first faced with the reality of a disability, many experience a loss of confidence, depression, and believe their lives have ended. They are often alienated from family and friends because there are no shared positive experiences. Sports and recreation offers the opportunity to achieve success in a very short time period; to use this success to build self-confidence and focus on possibilities instead of dwelling on what can no longer be done. The ability to participate in a sport, such as cycling; skiing; and sailing, to name a few, provides the opportunity to reunite with family and friends in a shared activity.
As an extension of the rehabilitation process, Disabled Sports USA offers competitive programs in summer and winter sports. Competition improves sports skills. It allows individuals to experience the excitement of competition and the thrill of victory, as well as the agony of defeat. These experiences help prepare individuals after rehabilitation to face the adversity of a disability in their lives and to learn to bounce back in the face of challenge and change.
As a member of the United States Olympic Committee, DS/USA sanctions and conducts competitions and training camps to prepare and select athletes to represent the United States at the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games are the Olympic equivalent competitions for individuals with disabilities and are recognized by the International Olympic Committee. For those who want to achieve their highest potential, opportunities are available for national and international competitions in alpine and Nordic skiing, track and field, volleyball, swimming, cycling, powerlifting, and other sports. The highest achieving athletes in each sport can qualify for the Paralympics [12, www.dsusa.org/about...].
Похожие работы
... pursuits that determine and typify the British way of life. GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT Britain lies off the north-west coast of mainland Europe. Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Great Britain comprising England, Scotland and Wales. Although Britain is a unitary state, the constituent countries have separate national identities, variations in culture and ...
... hour pushing up structures that a dozen years ago would have been inconceivable." By mid-century, Harper's predicted, New York would be a world capital "unrivaled in magnitude, splendor and power." A month later, the City Council took a giant step in that direction when it granted the Pennsylvania Railroad the right to carry out a construction program to join its western and Long Island lines in ...
... (unless they come into conflict with laws). It should try to convince the people of its views by organizing public discussions and debates. A final point concerns the impact of the state's political course on the development of biopolitics in Russia. A moderate middle course, based on a compromise between the reformers and the moderate conservatives, the central and regional political ...
... second half of the 20th century. As more Americans watched sports on television, the sports industry grew into an enormous business, and sports events became widely viewed among Americans as cultural experiences. Many Americans shared televised moments of exaltation and triumph throughout the year: baseball during the spring and summer and its World Series in the early fall, football throughout ...
0 комментариев