Greenflame » Sport

LET ‘EM PLAY

stepheng — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:46:10 +0000

A recent issue of ESPN The Magazine has an article on athletes with prosthetics and some commentary asking what really is the difference between various sorts of technological enhancement in sport. See ESPN - ESPN The Magazine - Let ‘Em Play and the photo gallery at ESPN - ESPN The Magazine - Photo Gallery.

Hat tip to Gregor Wolbring at ESPN Magazine focus on Athletes and Prosthetics Â« Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno, Synthetic bio, NBICS.

A day at the cricket

stepheng — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:26:18 +0000

We went down to Hamilton today to watch day four of the NZ-England cricket test. Great day all round - though the excitement of the NZ second innings collapse could have been done without. Armed with deck chairs, rugs and our chilly bin the 6 of us, plus another 5 staked out an area on the bank and sat back to watch the game. A slow start, which picked up after lunch and then the excitement of the final session.

Is it unique to the Waikato to have people with drenching packs of sunblock walking through the crowd squirting out free sunblock to anyone who wants it?

Highlight of the day for the kids was playing on the field at lunch time. See photos below.

2008 Super 14 squads

stepheng — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:43:03 +0000

The squads for the 2008 Super 14 (which kicks off 15 Feb) have been announced, and I’m pleased to see that Hawkes Bay’s form in the Air NZ Cup has been rewarded with a number of players making the step up to Super 14. I’d assumed that the Hurricanes would pick up some because the Hawkes Bay union is part of the franchise, but I was surprised to see that Hayden Triggs from Manawatu didn’t make it in (though he was picked up by the Highlanders who really need some forwards this year with people leaving.)

The Hurricanes squad looks a little more dominated by Wellington players than I think the past few squads were (less Taranaki players, and some who’ve moved from Taranaki to Wellington in the past few years), and there are no draft players in there for the first time I can remember. I’m always optimistic about the ‘Canes and I like the look of the squad, though they need to improve on last seasons performance that promised much and delivered less.

Squad details at AllBlacks.com : 2008 Rebel Sport Super 14 squads announced and Rugby: 2008 Super 14 squads announced - 31 Oct 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand and International Sport News coverage.

No surrender, no retreat

stepheng — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:31:40 +0000

I’d given up hope that the New Zealand sevens rugby team could win this year’s IRB Sevens title. The losses to Fiji in semi-finals and finals through the year were painful to watch. But they didn’t stop believing and didn’t give up trying to win, and today the opportunity presented itself to take the Edinburgh tournament and overall title. Well done for not giving up.

See New Zealand snatch Fiji’s Sevens crown - Rugby News, Results, Fixtures and Features from Planet-Rugby.com.

Pop culture reference: No Surrender, No Retreat.

An afternoon at the soccer

stepheng — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:04:10 +0000

We all went to see the NZ women’s soccer team play Canada at North Harbour Stadium this afternoon. A bit chilly by the end but an enjoyable time with the kids getting to see a good game played.

Final result: Canada 3 - 0 NZ which was a fair reflection of the difference between the teams.

Soccer road trip

stepheng — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:30:32 +0000

Up in the dark yesterday to take Mark to a soccer tournament in Whangarei. Returned in the dark too. Mark’s team (U11 Waitakere) played 6 games - won 4, lost 1 and drew 1. The team were happy, as they’re a new squad made up of players from various West Auckland clubs who’ve only had a couple of practices together, and things will get better as they play together more.

Very windy (the Pentecost factor?) but the rain stayed away. See the 360 degree panorama taken from side of the park.

Quicktime VR of the same photo. No idea if this will work, and you’ll probably need to view it in Quicktime player rather than in the browser.

Should be tournaments in Cambridge and Tauranga in the next month or two, so lots more traveling coming up.

Got to go - three soccer practices to get kids to this afternoon. Fortunately all club practices so they are all at the same training ground. Will prepare hot and hearty food for when they return.

Professor/Reader in Sport and Christian Outreach

stepheng — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:19:52 +0000

If you know of someone theologically qualified and with an interest in sport then this might be of interest:

Professor/Reader in Sport and Christian Outreach - University of Gloucestershire

From my daily web surfing of job sites.

Double victory for NZ in A1GP

stepheng — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:12:16 +0000

Stayed up last night working on the thesis bibliography, which gave me an “excuse” to watch Jonny Reid win twice at the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul. The first time in the sprint race, and the second in the feature event. The latter had all the things that make motorsport exciting - aggressive driving, variable weather conditions, leads eaten away by the safety car, pit stop dramas, the lead changing several times and the odd collision. Great stuff, and now the New Zealanders have put their first wins away it’ll be interesting to see if they can maintain the pressure. Might be worthwhile going down to Taupo in the new year to see them.

More at:
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport: NEW ZEALANDâ€™S DOUBLE WIN AT SENTUL.
A1Team.NZL

Bittersweet victory

stepheng — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 19:28:14 +0000

Brilliant opening spell on Saturday by the Hurricanes before losing shape (and Smith) to get through in the end to a bonus point. I thought the Western Force played better than the score (29-5) indicated and expect them to knock off a couple of teams later on in the competition. Maybe even the Chiefs next week?

Big blow for the Hurricanes losing Conrad Smith to a broken leg for the season, plus not good news for the ABs either. Still with Tana, Ma’a and Tane in the mid-field the ‘Canes are better off than some teams in that area.

I’ve always liked Smith’s play - the perfect foil to Nonu’s style - and his intelligence and organization will be missed greatly.

Also see: New Zealand’s source for sport, rugby, cricket & league news on Stuff.co.nz: Homecoming heartache for Smith.

Oh, and it was good to see the Highlanders come through well against the Blues.

Go the ‘Canes!

stepheng — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:09:42 +0000

Well, that was good. Nice to see we can play well in the rain once we woke up. See NZ Herald - Hurricanes hand out opening night Blues - 10 Feb 2006 - Sport.