lukmachara: ?..Sports?.. ? ?Sports Here in Philippines?

Do you like sports?Are you a player or maybe an athlete?Where do you mostly like to play?What sports do you like to play?

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents? half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor, or if a fault has been called by either the umpire or service judge or, in their absence, the offending player, at any time during the rally.
The shuttlecock (or shuttle) is a feathered (or plastic, mainly in uncompetitive games) projectile whose unique aerodynamic properties cause it to fly differently than the balls used in most racquet sports; in particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Shuttlecocks have a much higher top speed, when compared to other racquet sports. Because shuttlecock flight is affected by wind, competitive badminton is played indoors. Badminton is also played outdoors as a casual recreational activity, often as a garden or beach game.

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent?s court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return.Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all ages.

Swimming is the self propulsion of a person through water or other liquid, for survival, recreation, sport, exercise or other reason. Locomotion is achieved through co-ordinated movement of the limbs, the body, or both. Humans are able to hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as an evolutionary response.Swimming is consistently found to be amongst the top recreational activities undertaken by the public,
and in some countries, swimming lessons are a compulsory part of the educational curriculum. As a formalised sport, swimming features in a range of local, national and international competitions, including featuring in every modern summer Olympics.

Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground. This is in contrast to walking, where one foot is always in contact with the ground, the legs are kept mostly straight and the center of gravity vaults over the legs in an inverted pendulum fashion.A characteristic feature of a running body from the viewpoint of spring-mass mechanics is that changes in kinetic and potential energy within a stride occur simultaneously, with energy storage accomplished by springy tendons and passive muscle elasticity.The term running can refer to any of a variety of speeds ranging from jogging to sprinting.

Table Tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent?s options to great advantage.

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a 90-foot diamond. Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate?s hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. At the turn of the 21st century, the game was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries, making it the world?s most popular sport.The game is played on a rectangular field of grass or green artificial turf, with a goal in the middle of each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by driving the ball into the opposing goal.In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms (unless the ball is carried out of play, where the field players are required to restart by a throw-in of the game ball), while the field players typically use their feet to kick the ball, occasionally using other parts of their legs, their torso or head. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition. The Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and have evolved since then. Association football is governed internationally by FIFA?F?d?ration Internationale de Football Association (English: International Federation of Association Football)?which organises the FIFA World Cup every four years.

The long jump (formerly commonly called the ?broad jump?) is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point. This event has been an Olympic medal event since the first modern Olympics in 1896 (a medal event for women since 1948) and has a history in the Ancient Olympic Games.

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team?s court under organized rules.[1] It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964.A scene of Volleyball play in Ervadi village.The complete rules are extensive. But simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a ?rally? by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team?s court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.
The rally continues, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either (1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent?s court and winning the rally; or (2): a team commits a fault and loses the rally. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include:
causing the ball to touch the ground outside the opponents? court or without first passing over the net;
catching and throwing the ball;
double hit: two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;
four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team.
net foul: touching the net during play.
foot fault: the foot crosses over the boundary line when serving
The ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push (short contact) the ball with any part of the body.
A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because these plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting, and specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures.

Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the competitive gymnastic sports are governed by the F?d?ration Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Each country has its own national governing body affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic sports. It typically involves the women?s events of uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and vault. Men?s events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.
Other gymnastic disciplines include: trampolining, tumbling, rhythmic gymnastics, aerobic gymnastics and acrobatic gymnastics. Participants can include children as young as four years old doing kindergym and children?s gymnastics, recreational gymnasts of ages 5 and up, competitive gymnasts at varying levels of skill, and world class athletes.

Softball is a variant of baseball played with and a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented in 1888 in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground, softbund ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies? baseball. The name softball was given to the game in 1926. A tournament (1933) at the Chicago World?s Fair spurred interest in the game. The Amateur Softball Association of America (founded 1933) governs the game in the United States and sponsors annual sectional and World Series championships. The International Softball Federation regulates rules of play in more than 110 countries, including the United States and Canada. Women?s fast-pitch softball became an Olympic sport in 1996, but it (and baseball) was dropped in 2005 from the 2012 games. Despite the name, the ball used is not soft. It is about 12 in. (30 cm) in circumference (sometimes larger for slow-pitch), which is 3 in. (8 cm) larger than a baseball. The infield in softball is smaller than in baseball; each base is 60 ft (18 m) from the next, as opposed to baseball?s 90 ft. (27 m). There are two types of softball: in the most common, slow-pitch softball, the ball, sometimes larger than the standard 12 in, must arch on its path to the batter, 10 players make up a team, and bunting and stealing are prohibited; in fast-pitch softball the pitch is fast, there are 9 players on a team, and bunting and stealing are permitted. Softball rules vary somewhat from those of baseball. Two major differences are that the ball must be pitched underhand?from 46 ft. (14 m) for men or 43 ft. (12 m)for women as compared with 60.5 ft. (18.4 m) in baseball?and that seven innings instead of nine constitute a regulation game.

Sepak takraw ?sipa?the national sports here in Philippines) or kick volleyball, is a sport native to the Malay-Thai Peninsula.Sepak takraw differs from the similar sport of volleyball in its use of a rattan ball and only allowing players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball. It is a popular sport in Southeast Asia.In Malaysia, the game is called sepak raga or ?takraw?. It is also thuck thay (Lao: ?twine? and ?kick?)while in Thailand it is sometimes called takraw. In Myanmar it is known as chin lone. In the Philippines, besides ?takraw? it is also known as sipa, meaning ?kick?.Similar games include footbag net, footvolley, football tennis, bossaball, jianzi and sipa. These similar games all involve keepie uppies.