EVENT # 28 CRICKET (August 24)

http://thecicc.org/

Cricket.  Do you know what it is? Is it similar to baseball?  Well lets just say that Cricket came before baseball.  In fact, it was one of the favorite sports played by George Washington.  And now we are beginning to try to teach this to our students in Charlotte in PE classes.   I got connected with some great guys from the Charlotte International Cricket Club on Wednesday night and was able to practice with them.  I practiced BOWLING, not bowling but bowling like pitching a ball in baseball.  You see the guy in the above picture bowling the ball to me with an overhand straight arm.  He was trying to hit the wicket behind me while I tried to protect it by striking the ball away with the bat, which is mostly flat on the striking side.  The ball is allowed to bounce off the ground before I hit it.  And by the way, I can hit is anywhere....forward, sideways, behind me but I have to be careful to protect the wicket.  I learned a lot of information about this game during the course of a two hour practice.  The CICC guys spent a lot of time coaching me and helping me get in position to strike the ball.  I practice  bowling on my own for a while and realized that I was a somewhat of an accurate bowler but did not have the speed behind it.  I hit a few wickets but did not get up the 80 or 90 mile an hour speed some of the bowler have.  Finally, we took field practice and worked on catching what you would call pop ups in baseball.  By the way, do you know what they use in Cricket to catch a ball which is as hard as a baseball?  NOTHING but the hands!  So I got a few stingers but I caught most of the hits.  This was a great night and I look forward to teaching this sport to my students as well as hopefully playing this again soon.  And there is a saying on their website that pretty much sums up my whole 30 sport challenge so far:

"We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old if we stop playing"

EVENT # 27 GOLF (August 16)

We had some beautiful summer weather tonight for 18 holes of golf.  I was back from a two year hiatus of golf.  I didn't start playing this sport until I was in college as you can tell.  So tonight I joined my good friend Rob and a few other guys for a five hour adventure on the golf course and I do mean adventure.  During the course of this game tonight, I decided to go on the scenic route.  I saw the woods, water, mud, sand pits and occasionally the green and the hole.  If you listen close enough, you can hear my golf ball bounce off the trees on my drive.   I'm sure I ended up with a double bogey or more on this shot.  I put together a few good holes tonight but for the most part I was hitting that ball all over the place.  I just kept telling myself that "golf is fun, golf is fun".  It WAS fun on that Par 3 when I hit the ball right at the green on my drive! 

EVENT # 26 BEACH VOLLEYBALL (August 14)

Today I joined a buddy of mine named Scott, who is a former professional beach volleyball player.  Scott took me through some of the background and rules of Beach Volleyball and then we threw the ball back and forth to get warmed up.  We then worked on some tosses and bumps back and forth to each other.  Then Scott introduced me to a great practice called Peppering, in which we basically rallied back and forth to each other in a bump, set and spike pattern.  This went on for a while, which turned out to be a great workout.  Since we didn't play a true game today, we focused on skill development such as getting set up for a spike over the 7 and half foot net and serving.  All of these I felt pretty good with until I compared my video to his.  As you can see, my serve hit the back of the court and stopped and his hit the back of the court and kept on going out into the parking lot.  That's a powerful serve!  It would help if I get a little air time under my serve after seeing his.  Our kids were swimming at the pool next to us and were yelling for us to come swim, so our session was over but I would love to get back out on the sand sometime to get some good competitive games going soon.  Thanks Scott for your time and coaching.

EVENT # 25 ICE SKATING AND HOCKEY LESSON (August 13)

http://www.xicenter.com/

Today I took on the sport of ice skating with a little hockey added in.  I knew going into this that it would most likely be my worst sport of the summer since I know many of my elementary students that I teach can skate circles around me.  I grew up here in Charlotte, so I'll blame the fact that ice skating and hockey were not very popular back in the day but thanks to places like the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail, it is becoming much more popular.  I was first instructed by Brenda Saturday morning in the basics of ice skating and I do mean "basics".  This was the first time since I was in kindergarten that I had to have my shoes tied for me.  How embarrassing but now I know how to secure my skates.  We started out on the ice doing some marches and walking with the skates and the quickly leading into two feet forward gliding and backward "wiggles".  Halloween came early this year because I looked like Frankenstein walking around the ice.  I think I saw a few kids running away from me.  Anyway,  Brenda was very patient with me as I tried my hardest NOT to fall.  That was my problem.  I went slow enough that I didn't allow myself to fall which is really what I need to do a few times to get over the fear.  After my basic lesson, I met up with Dennis, Extreme's Hockey Instructor, who took a lot of time to work with me on the basics of Ice Hockey.  This is definitely a NEW thing for me.  Not only did I have to take what I learned from skating but I had to add in manipulating a hockey stick and controlling hockey pucks all at the same time.  VERY DIFFERENT from the floor hockey I play with the kids at school.  I can REALLY play that game!  Dennis worked with me in dribbling, passing, and shooting the pucks.  I stayed up on my skates the whole time but I tended to lean on my stick a little too much which is not the way to do it.  The best part of the day was combining everything I do in the video above by skating up while dribbling the puck and shooting at the goal.  In my mind, I was going pretty quick, but after watching this video........WOW I'm slow.  And as my wife pointed out to me, great job but where were the defenders!  THANK YOU EXTREME ICE for allowing me to get a little more comfortable on the ice and to do something really cool by shooting pucks!

EVENT # 24 (Adventure Courses at Whitewater Center) August 11

Today was a good day.  I was able to knock out TWO sports in one day.  Actually, when you purchase a day pass from the National Whitewater Center, you can knock out a bunch of sports like biking, hiking, and kayaking in one day.  They also have these really cool Adventure courses where you get strapped into a harness and are connected to a cable line.  Then you have to travel from tree to tree walking on only one cable and holding onto ropes.  GREAT CORE and STABILITY workout today.  I started up the basic adventure course and then climbed the biggest cargo net you can imagine.  Once I climbed up that, I had to get down by riding the zip line from about 50 feet up in the air.  That was cool!  I then preceded to the the next course called the Canyon Crossing.  I was not able to get video since it is not a good idea to hold a camera while you are climbing but I have included a video from the Whitewater Center that shows you what I did.  It will definitely test your fear of heights but very fun!

EVENT # 23 WHITEWATER RAFTING (August 11)

Today I visited the National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.  This center has multiple options for sports but I focused on TWO that are very unique to this center, whitewater rafting and the adventure courses.  I started out the day hitting the class 3 and 4 rapids in the whitewater course.  My major goal today was to STAY IN THE BOAT and that I did.  Last time I visited, I fell out because I didn't have my foot secured in place in the boat.  I did however, kind of help the guy beside me fall in after we came through one of the class 4 rapids.  As we tipped to one side, I shifted almost on top of him and felt both of us being sucked out of the boat.  I stayed in somehow but he ended up going out, which from what I remember last time, is a shock at first and then is fun once you realize you are safe.  We picked him up and successfully made it through the second time.  I have never been on a real whitewater rafting trip but this apparently is very close and is a great place to start if you have never been rafting.  If you have been rafting, tell your raft guide that you want an adventure!

EVENT # 22 FIELD GOAL KICKING (Aug. 6)

So I was really hoping at some point in this challenge to do some real football drills but this is as close as I have come so far.  I took my family downtown to the Carolina Panthers Fan Fest, where they allow you to actually go ON the field and kick a 25 yard field goal before the players come out to practice.  I did this several years ago and with lots of practice the night before, I actually made the goal then.  This time I decided to go to this event at the last minute without any practice.  I was second in line and as they ushered me out to the field, I once again felt like a little kid walking out on the actual field where my beloved Panthers play on Sundays.  I watched the first guy go and then it was me.  "This would be the game winning kick.  If I make it, we go to the Super Bowl".  I measured my steps, moved back at an angle, looked up at the goal and made my approach.  As I kicked underneath the ball, it felt good.   I thought that I would do it again until "BOINK".  I HIT THE LEFT SIDE UPRIGHT!  ARRRGGGHHH!!  At least I didn't shank it off to the side.  You can see the guy behind me walking back after his kick.  Yes, it was long walk of shame after my kick but a fun time being on the same field that John Kasey used to win all those games for us.

EVENT # 21 ROCK CLIMBING (August 4)

http://innerpeaks.com/

This is where it got hard!

 Steady!

All right, I'm coming down.

Tonight I participated in the sport of rock climbing at Inner Peaks of Charlotte.  On a 98 degree day outside, this was a great indoor activity and a fantastic facility.  Upon walking in Inner Peaks, I witnessed people of ALL ages from what looked to be 3 years old and up climbing on all kinds of different climbing towers.  There is a wall for any ability level.  My good friend Jason joined me once again in his support of me getting through this challenge.  This is a two person activity where one climbs and the other "belays" the leader by feeding out enough rope to allow upward progression.   It is definitely a trust activity so THANK YOU JASON!  I have been to Inner Peaks once before to climb so I knew what I wanted to accomplish tonight.  This particular wall has a pretty nice grade where you have to get up and over that cliff.  I did accomplish this once on the side where I am climbing in the pictures but did not make it when I tried more towards the middle.  My hands and forearms were getting quite fatigued.  I did make it to the top on three other walls tonight.  All in all, a great night and a fun time at Inner Peaks for my event 21.