A) THE TRIPLE-THREAT POSITION:

-This is the first thing to learn.

-The "triple-threat" position allows you to dribble, shoot or pass quickly.

-Put the ball in one side of your chest, far from the defender.

-Turn your body so your body is between the ball and the defender.

B) THE DRIBBLING:

The dribble is a push-pull movement of the arm. Your fingers must form a cup to adapt to the ball. Fingers and wrist must be relaxed. Control the ball with your fingers, not the palms. Raise your non-dribbling hand up for protection.

Control, or Low Dribble:

Use this when the defender is close to you. Dribble the ball at knee level or lower so it's hard for the defender to touch it.
Speed, or High Dribble:
Use it when you need to run with the ball quick. Extend your dribbling arm completely, pushing the ball out in front of your body.
-Keep the ball near waist level to run comfortably.

C) THE PASS:

Two-Handed Chest Pass:
This is the most effective pass you can use.

-Place each hand on each side of the ball. Push the ball out from your chest extending your arms.

Bounce Pass:

This type of pass is good to miss the defender´s hands, but it is the slowest one. You can do it with one or two hands. If you do it with both hands, it is similar to the chest pass, but the ball must hit the floor on its way to the receiver.   

Baseball Pass:

Effective for long passes. Place the ball high above the side of your head and throw the ball with a quick wrist move. 

D) THE SHOOT:

Basic position:

-Your feet should be shoulder width apart.

-Weight should be slightly forward on your toes, knees bent slightly, hips relaxed.

-Place your right foot slightly ahead of the left.

Ball Placement:

-Hold the ball close to your chest and just below your chin.

-Your fingers and thumb must be well spread and your thumbs and index fingers forming a “W”

Prepare to shoot:

-Tilt your wrist back.

-Your hand, forearm, elbow, knee and foot should be in a straight line (this is called "the shooting line"). Knees must be slightly bent, hips relaxed.

-Look at the rim before, during, and after your shot.

The Shot:

-When you begin the shot, your weight should roll forwards, to the toes of your forward foot.

-Push the ball with all your body: start with your legs, and afterwards your arms. When the ball leaves your hand, snap your wrist to release the ball with a back spin, necessary for a soft shot.

E) THE LAY-UP:

-Pick the side you are going to shoot from, right or left.

-If you're on the right, dribble and shoot with your right hand. If you're on the left, do it with your left hand.

-From the right:

-When you get to the three point line, place your right foot in front.

-Put the ball in your right hand. Run two giant steps towards the basket.

-About 1.5m from the basket, stop dribbling and jump off the right foot.

-Throw the ball at the backboard top corner with the right hand. The ball should hit the backboard and pass through the net.

image: chigagobullsphoto at flickr.com

A) BASIC RULES:

- Basketball players play with a ball on a court dribbling, passing, and shooting.

-There are two teams of five players on the court.

-They score points when a player shoots the ball through the hoop.

-A basket (or field goal) counts two or three points, and free throws count one point each.

-A basketball game has four quarters.
-The length of each quarter has 10 minutes (12 in the NBA).

-Play starts with a “jump ball” at center court. At halftime, teams switch sides.

If a game ends in a tie, teams usually play overtime periods until one team wins.

You can review the basic rules with this video too:

In Basketball there are two different types of faults:

Violations: a violation is an infraction to the rules of Basketball. (for example the player takes more than two steps without bouncing the ball on the floor).

-When you commit a violation, the other team gets the ball.

Fouls: A foul is an illegal action that a player from one team commits to a player from the oppossing team.

-When you commit a foul, the other team can get the ball or have free throws.

B) THE COURT AND PLAYERS´POSITIONS:

-Each player has a position in the court when playing. This position is usually depends on the height of the player.

-Teams usually have: two guards, two forwards, and one center.

-The tallest person usually plays “center”, while the medium size ones play “forwards”.

-The shortest players then play “guards”.

Look at this video explaining the meaning of each line in the court:

SUBTITLES: 1. Clic the play button. 2. Clic on the grey rectangular button with two lines

You can find the complete "Basketball tips for women" series HERE

Acrobatic Gymnastics is a team competition accompanied by music.

It is a team sport, so your partners depend on you.

Teams create different structures and build human pyramids in time with the music.

It is a sport that needs physical strength, stamina, rhythm, coordination and balance.

It is a very old activity, Egyptians did human pyramids more than 2000 years ago.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

Skills: habilidades

Grace: gracia

Allowed: permitido (to allow: permitir)

To be held: ser mantenido (to hold: mantener)

Qualifying: clasificatorio

Safety: seguridad

Helpers: ayudantes

A corresponding/matching music: una música que le pegue

To grow to the sides: crecer hacia los lados

To develop: desarrollar

Upper levels: niveles superiores

Needed: necesitados (en el contexto, necesarios)

Here you can see a couple of acrosport videos in the world championships from www. youtube.com.

Do not try them at home!!

Before we start: SAFETY FIRST !

Before starting with acrosport, we must do gymnastics to develop our body control.

Also, in the first acrosport class, we learn how to support our partner´s weight without hurting ourselves. A correct position is fundamental for a safe practice.

Next step is developing some strength by holding basic positions.

Now we are ready, but remember:

No playing around is allowed when we are practicing acrosport!!

Figure building rules:

1. Team members: Each team has more members than the ones needed to build the structure. They are the helpers and must always pay attention to their partners.

2. Know what to do: Each team member must know what his or her position is.

3. The build up: You must build the structure in a coordinate way. Help is always needed. The structure must start from the center and grow to the sides. The last part are the upper levels.

4. Stabilisation: The position must always be held, specially if you are supporting a partner. Structures must last at least eight seconds.

5. Dismantling the structure: It must be coordinated. In reverse of the building, and always with help.

6. Roles: Each person must practise each position when building a figure. Helpers must change places with their partners in the structure.

Our progression in class:

1. Basic body control positions

2. Benches

3. Structures in pairs, groups of three, four...

4. Structures with inversions

Try to remember three exercises for each part of the progression.

A) BASIC VOCABULARY:

Actions:

To bounce:		botar (en el sitio)
To dribble:		conducir (botar avanzando)
To pass:		pasar
To shoot:		tirar
To slam:		machacar
To defend:		defender
To attack:		atacar
To score:		anotar, marcar

Image: www.nba.com

Elements of the game:

The ball:		la pelota
The court:		la cancha
The basket:		la canasta
The backboard:		el tablero
The hoop:		el aro
The lines:		las líneas
The key:		la zona o "bombilla"

Fouls and violations:

Violation:		Infracción al reglamento. Las faltas que cometo yo solo (dobles, pasos, salirme de la cancha...)
Foul/Personal Foul:		Falta personal. Las faltas que cometo sobre un adversario (golpear, cargar sobre él...)
Offensive Foul:		Falta en ataque
Deffensive Foul:		Falta en defensa
Technical Foul:		Falta técnica
Double dribble:		Dobles
Travelling:		Pasos
Out of bounds:		Fuera

You can watch a basketball motivational video here:

Physical fitness is the ability to do a daily physical workout without feeling too tired. For this, you need the four “S´s”

Strength Stamina Speed Suppleness

These are the components of physical fitness. In Spanish, we call them “Capacidades Físicas Básicas”.

1. Stamina:

Stamina helps your muscles to work for a long period of time.

With it, you can do exercices for a long period of time, no matter the intensity.

For example:

Cycling: In the Tour of France they ride more than 200km over a lot of days, but they also sprint!
Marathon runnners: they run for more than 2 hours at a very fast pace.
Swimmers: in the 1500m race
Footballers: they need to run for 90 minutes without being tired so they can dribble and shoot.

Stamina is also called Endurance or Resistance.

There are two types of Stamina: Aerobic and Anaerobic.

Aerobic Stamina: During aerobic activity, your heart and lungs give your muscles enough oxygen, so you can do exercise for long periods of time at a medium intensity. (marathon, cycling..)

Anaerobic Stamina: During anaerobic activity, your muscles don´t have enough oxygen. These exercises are shorter but have a very high intensity (100m sprint, a basketball attack).Wiht anaerobic stamina, you can do these exercises faster and get tired later.

Aerobic Exercise is very good for your health. It develops your heart, your lungs and your circulatory system.

2. Strength:

Strength is the ability to use muscles against a resistance (a force or a weight).

With it, you can move or lift weights, and you can move your body weight easier.

Some sports in wich strength is important:

Weightlifting: to lift as much weight as you can.
Judo: to throw your opponent.
Climbing: you need to move your body weight up the mountain.
Athletics: to jump higher or longer and to throw the javelin or hammer.

There are three types of strength:

a) Maximum strength: to lift very high weights: the best example are olympic weightlifters.

b) Explosive strength: to do a movement as fast as we can, moving a small weight (javelin throwers, for example)

c) Resistance-Strength: to do exercises with medium weights for a long time (in judo, combats last 4 minutes; rowers must move the boat for a long time also)

3. Speed:

Speed is the ability to do one or more movements in a short period of time.

Some examples of sports where speed is important:

Fifty meters swimmers, react quickly to the horn and swim very fast.
Handball goalkeepers react very fast to stop balls.
Fencers must move fast to touch the opponent with their sword.

When we talk about the speed to move from one place to another (running, biking or swimming), we call it a sprint.

Speed means reacting quickly and moving fast.

You can find:

Reaction speed: moving as fast as you can after a signal or stimulus: After the referee shoots the gun in a 100m sprint, for example. In team sports there is also reaction speed: chasing your opponent when he runs away from you, or reacting to a volleyball spike quickly.

Single movement Speed: a movement you do only once, that has a beginning and an end. e.g. a karate kick or a tennis service must be very fast.

Cyclical speed: cyclic movements, movements you repeat: any sprint in running or swimming is a series of movements of your arms and legs, a dribbling in football, etc.

4. Suppleness:

Suppleness is the ability to do ample movements with any part of your body. It is also called Flexibility.

Flexibility is very important in all sports, because with it, you have better performance and less injuries.

It is important for gymnasts, for hurdle runners or tae-kwondo fighters to do kicks.

There are two types of flexibility:

Dinamic Flexibility: you use it when you do wide and relaxed movements.
Static Flexibility: you use it when you hold one position for some seconds. There is no movement.

Flexibility is the only physical ability that decreases as you grow older.

You need to spend a little time everyday to maintain and enhance it.

Benefits of supleness training:

-You have less injuries.

-Your muscles are more elastic and more powerful.

-Your movements are not limited.

Class Notes