Title: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: infinity_zero on October 14, 2013, 10:02:35 pm Central Daylight Time Being Australia, two of my favourite sports have to be AFL (or NRL if you're stupid or live in NSW or QLD) and Cricket.
However my favourite sport to play (partially due to being rather good at it) is Squash. I've played squash semi-professionally for a short period of time when I was 18-21 but as there is little money to be made in Australia playing squash, I never really got too serious into it (nor was I quite good enough or dedicated enough to really get to the next level of playing). My best results actually came when Iwas living in Canada for a while, and made it to the Quarter Final and Semi-Final of two consecutive PSA events. Now I work as a squash centre manager, and play the local premier league where I am. AFL however, is possibly the greatest sport ever devised. This sounds like a ridiculous claim, and very bias (which is it), but hear me out first). The type of athleticism required for AFL is different from every other sport (with the possible exception of Gaelic football). Not only do you need to be able to jump high (most of the draft players have vertical standing jumps of 70+cm, the best recorded being 85cm, as a point of reference Michael Jordan had a vertical standing jump of 120cm), run for long continuous periods of time (almost AFL players would be able to do the beep test past 15. Olympic gold medallists for 1500m typically get around 17), sprint (most running 20m in under 3s from standing start, as a reference point, Usain Bolt ran the first 20m of his 100m record breaking sprint of 9.59 in 2.88s), but they also need to be able to tackle efficiently and consistently. It's a great mix of agility, endurance, speed, efficiency, power, and toughness. Hence greatest game ever devised. Cricket.... well I love cricket cos I'm Australia, was brought up loving cricket, and Australia were pretty damn awesome at it when I was growing up (not so much now), but also because some of the best Cricketers in recent Australian history are from Tasmania. Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: Dracian on October 15, 2013, 12:33:50 pm Central Daylight Time I'm not much into sports but AFL would be American Football League? Don't know what NRL (maybe National Rugby League?), NSW, and QLD are. Could you spell those out for me so I know what you are talking about lol?
Wow you sounds really good compared to me. I started playing squash just to get entertaining cardio lol. I never tried to get better at the game, just liked hitting a ball and running from side to side trying to hit it again. Eventually stopped playing when my dad got so much better than me that I couldn't even get a work out in. It became obvious that he wasn't playing for cardio, but to beat me lol. Never even seen a cricket match, don't know the rules or even how it's played lol. Didn't know it such a beloved sport in Australia. About the only sport I like watching is UFC, though I don't get many opportunities to watch since I don't want to order them on Pay-per-View. Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: infinity_zero on October 16, 2013, 06:56:54 am Central Daylight Time AFL is Australian Football League, nothing at all like American Football! NRL is National Rugby League (despite being played in fewer than half the states/territories of Aus). QLD is short for Queensland, NSW is short for New South Wales (both of which are Australian States).
I originally played Tennis as a kid until I was about 12, and started playing squash due to my Dad having played when he was younger. I wish I'd grown up in the US though, as Squash is a little bit more recognised over there, and I might've had a chance of getting a scholarship for it. Cricket is probably the most watched sport in Australia. AFL and NRL would have better crowd attendances, but they're split amongst the states (SA, WA, Tas, Vic all watch AFL. NSW, Qld, ACT all watch NRL. With a bit of crossover of course). I've never been that keen on UFC, I don't mind it, just not really my thing though. The documentary "The Smashing Machine" is really good though, it's about the origins of UFC, I'd highly recommend watching it. Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: ArkticDark on October 25, 2013, 01:11:42 pm Central Daylight Time So what is the AFL? Is it like Rugby or soccer or American football?
Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: infinity_zero on October 27, 2013, 04:32:43 am Central Daylight Time It's probably most similar to Rugby, but really it's not like any of them that much. I'm too lazy to describe the game because it would take quite a large amount of typing. The AFL is just the major league
Aussie Rules Football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football) Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: Dracian on October 30, 2013, 05:13:32 am Central Daylight Time Interesting, thanks for the lesson. I feel learned.
Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: infinity_zero on February 17, 2014, 05:02:20 am Central Standard Time Here's an ad they used to promote the game (in England) a bit over 10 years ago.
I'd like to see that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZi5abdjnJY) And here's the Goal and Mark of the year finalists for last year. Goal/Mark of the Year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXapmPH3a30) Title: Re: Squash + AFL + Cricket Post by: infinity_zero on February 17, 2014, 05:08:42 am Central Standard Time God dammit, I never thought I'd say I hate summer, but now I REALLY REALLY want to watch some AFL. Although Australia has been annihilating at the cricket lately, so that'll have to do for now. |