Archive for Sports and Recreation

Choosing Good Birding Binoculars

by Jackie Michaels

Bird watching is a serious hobby and requires artful skills. You can’t run out into the woods with any old pair of binoculars and be set to bird watch. You need binoculars that are sensitive and delicate to the touch so that you can zoom in on your subject with precision. This will make bird watching more enjoyable and rewarding for you. Let’s establish some basic criteria for bird watching binoculars that will give you an advantage in bird watching.

The first thing you need is significant magnification. Birds cannot be watched from a close distance. You know that your slightest movement will scare them away. High powered magnification allows you to observe birds from a safe distance and zoom in to observe their habits, beautiful colors and unique attributes.

When purchasing binoculars you will find that they are marked with a magnification number followed by an “x” and a number indicating how much light is allowed into the binocular prism. Both of these numbers will become more important to you the further you journey into your bird watching pastime. The magnification number is the easiest to understand it simply tells you how much normal eye sight is magnified by the binocular.

When the second number is lower, visibility may be influenced by light. For example if the second number is a thirty, you will have less light, meaning a 40 would give you better light and a sharper image.

It’s probably not a good idea to run out and by a 10x magnification unless you are already a professional or experienced bird watcher. The higher the magnification the heaver the lens and therefore the heavier the binoculars will be. It is better to begin with a 7x or 8x. This will allow you to get a feel for bird watching, with clarity, but without spending the extra money on higher powered binoculars.

There are a few other things to keep in mind when buying binoculars for bird watching. Before you buy always compare. Get a feel for the binoculars; compare them to comparable brands and prices. Then, choose the brand with which you are the most comfortable. Also, spectacle wearers should use scopes that have a minimum of 15mm of eve relief and also have a foldable eye piece. Another important factor is the exit pupil which is where balance, design, weather proofing, focusing and safety coating become a factor. These things can contribute to, or detract from the quality of your binocular.

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Making Addictive Carp Bait For Big Fishing Catches!

by Tim Richardson

When you use carp bait blind without knowing how it works you are using blind faith. In contrast, if you understood far more how and why key aspects of that bait induced bites and had the power to manipulate these potent effect far more then your catches will definitely improve. Read on to find out more…

Confidence in a bag, (or bottle) when it come to bait is one of great personal opinions for every angler, because the truth is everyone has different experiences even on the same baits, at different waters, and many anglers with put down other baits even though they have never even used them, which is a tad bit short-sighted perhaps. Confidence mostly comes from perceptions in fishing, and certainly not from first-hand experience. But it is first-hand personal experience that is the only thing you can truly trust as fact, but I do not mean by this that claims about commercial bait quality and effectiveness are not true.

But why would you need to know anything about bait; maybe you catch your share, maybe you know a range of baits that have worked on your waters previously that you can turn to. Well if you know little about carp vital senses and how to manipulate them to induce more takes you are missing out; big-time and it’s like using putting back on the shelf a flavour with 10 times the potency of anther because the packaging is less flashy, and choosing another flavour that you like the smell of, never realising how much it lacks compared to the other flavour… For instance, many anglers just think flavours are solvent based or natural, or nature-identical and pretty much all the same, but the actual definition of flavours in fishing are extremely diverse and some flavours like chilli compounds even stimulate carp senses more powerfully than usual pulling fish to your swim from ranges many other flavours fail to.

Many secrets are hidden from our senses but uncovered very easily by a little messing about with baits and some very elementary science, for instance, many carp bait substances change when in water into different ones to those we experience as humans in air… Garlic releases that pungent smell when broken in air and we are all familiar with similar compounds from onions and chives for example. But the smells from garlic we associate with its success are not strictly accurate, as certain of the key chemicals do not get produced in water the same as in air, and this might suggest to some thinking anglers that far more is going on, perhaps on a more deeper level to do with the biology of the fish in response to bioactive garlic substances rather than just a smell or taste.

Carp may be influenced far more profoundly by internal impacts on their bodies than a simple flavour or taste offers and many proteins are thermogenic involving extra releasing of energy, and salmon is a very successful example of this, but poultry too for instance, but bait ingredients and substances impact on the brain, some far more powerfully than others! I tried an experiment today by eating wheat-free biscuits and an wheat-free doughnut too! However, after even the first bite, even though ingredients were virtually the same as the wheat-containing biscuits and doughnuts (but for only one key aspect,) taking another bite was more of a pain than a pleasure. All those good sweeteners, taste-enhancers, fruit flavours etc should have made me want to eat more right, but they did not, because I had got used to expecting something else to happen that did not; a release of feel-good hormones in the brain…

What a disappointment it was to eat the wheat-free foods and not want more! Although they still have all the same ingredients like the flavours, sweeteners and enhancers etc, something vital was missing that made me want to keep on eating and this is why I only had one doughnut; Homer Simpson would have been shocked to say the least! There was no key vital substance in the food to make my brain release a rush of feel-good hormones that occurs naturally in the wheat-based foods.

If you apply this to fishing, it is like using a bait with a flavour and sweetener, and fishing next to it a bait with the same ingredients exactly, but with that extra vital brain chemical releasing impact. Which food or bait will catch more fish and which might you go for preferentially?! As it is your brain the makes the decision for your body you may have no choice and you may have noticed that so many people over-eat wheat-based foods and store-up fat as a result despite this being far from a healthy thing to do; it’s natural drug-induced behaviour for sure, even though certain emotions are frequently still involved!

In fact many of the same ingredients are in so many foods that in bulk are definitely harmful to the body, but induce people to buy them. Any carp angler knows that tiger nuts and peanuts for instance also have substances that also lead to this type of behaviour. Whether you term this induced habit-forming or addictive behaviour, it is just as profoundly significant, applicable and powerful when it comes to getting a bait edge over your carp and over other competing baits… This fishing bait secrets ebooks author has many more fishing and bait edges - just one might well impact very significantly on your big fish catches!

By Tim Richardson.

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Black Seal Xtreme Dive Watch

by Aaron Normski

The Seiko Kinetic Scubamaster is not the most expensive watch I own, but it is probably the rarest and most unique. In fact, I think it comes pretty close to being the ultimate diver watch. It is feature rich, extremely tough, very accurate, and has a bold, distinguished look. Here’s a feature-by-feature breakdown:

The watches I cover in this article go way deeper than your typical diver; deeper than the current 1,220 meter Rolex Sea Dweller; deeper, even, than the Breitling Steelfish which maxes out at a comparably casual 2,000 meters. There are a handful of watches out there that can literally scrape the bottom of the deepest known parts of the ocean, and I call these watches “extreme divers”.

I find the overall presentation of the head of the MTM Black Seal to be exceptional. The red of the chapter ring between the 12 and 3 o’clock positions, the highly visible orange hands, the polished and reflective indices, and the yellow MTM seal against the black sheen of the carbon fibre dial all come together to give the MTM Black Seal a striking appearance. An added benefit of the silicon filled case is that it makes the entire dial visible from almost any angle which is a surprisingly cool effect.

24-hour hand. The Scubamaster has four hands: hour, minute, second, and a 24-hour hand. The watch is designed to be able to easily track the time in two different time zones, and to be able to switch time zones quickly and easily. When in you home time zone, you keep the hour hand and the 24-hour hand in sync. When you travel outside your home time zone, the movement is designed in such a way that you can easily adjust the hour hand forward or backward, depending on whether you are traveling east or west. That way, the hour hand indicates the time where you currently are while the 24-hour hand retains your home time.

Bell & Ross has a beauty of a diver called the Hydromax which they claim (and back up with details) will withstand a depth of 11,100 meters, or about 36,500 feet. While not the most extreme of the extreme divers, that still makes it capable of reaching the bottom of Challenger Trench, one of the deepest known points in the ocean. There is, as you might expect, some impressive engineering going on in this timepiece.

In additional to an oil-filled case, the caseback of the watch has a rubber button which helps accommodate the changing properties of the oil under extreme temperatures and depths. The button can become convex or concave as the oil expands or contracts. While I will concede that a $2,400 watch that can go as deep as one of the deepest points in the ocean may be a little overkill, the watch is more of a proof of concept and a brand statement for Bell & Ross professional watches.

Next up is the MTM Black Seal (read the full review here). This one is defiantly worth a few minutes of your time. With an oil-filled case, the MTM Black Seal claims to be completely waterproof to 12,000 meters (39,000 feet), and even adds some interesting features like a high-end Swiss quartz movement, a sapphire crystal (much harder then the mineral crystal found on the Abyss), and Tritium-filled glass tubes on all the markers. Tritium gas is electro-phosphorescent meaning it glows all the time, and the tubes have enough gas to glow for 25 years. This is far more useful then luminous paint because it glows brightly and constantly without the need to charge from ambient light. At $1,800, the Black Seal is a serious watch with a serious look and a very comprehensive set of features.

We now head north from Switzerland (or at least Swiss made) to Germany where the Sinn UX is a serious extreme diver contender. The silicon oil filled Sinn UX is certified to 12,000 meters (39,000 feet) and is built from steel designed for submarines which is five times harder than regular stainless steel.

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Outlaw Karate Beats the Muggers!

by Al Case

My son had reached the ripe old age of fifteen when he got around to asking me to teach him martial arts. I had twenty years experience at the time. I knew a dozen different types of karate, and didnt know which one to teach him.

Living in Los Angeles, I decided to teach him karate. The problem was I had a half a dozen systems of that art. So which version should I teach him?

I began to look at the different systems, and from each I began to select what were, in my mind, the best techniques. After that, I went through the forms and chose the ones that held those techniques. Finally, I made little changes in the forms so that the techniques were all represented.

That was the hardest class I ever taught, and it lasted a year. There were five other students, and the size and amount of bruises was amazing. Even after all this time, when I meet those fellows again I see them grinning like eagles.

Karate is designed for self defense. You dont ever want to use it. If you have to use it, however, youd better win, or why did you bother in the first place, eh?

My son was walking to work one day. The sun was bright and shining, and it was a typical Los Angeles day. He didnt have a care in the world as he sauntered down the sidewalk.

Hey, man, got some change? It was a bum, and my son said no and shook his head, and he noted that while the first bum followed him, there was a second bum. The second bum walked around the corner of the building that my son was walking past.

I said I want some money! The first bum came at my son, and my son backed up faster. Suddenly a body came flying at him from the rear, and my son knew that the second bum had circled the building and was making his attack.

Aaron spun and executed a kick to the chin of the second bum, and the bum fell backwards on the sidewalk. The first bum, meanwhile, had grabbed his shoulder, and he pulled Aaron around to hit him, so Aaron whirled underneath the attack, executed a block, then slammed the bums head between his elbow and knee. The bum Aaron had kicked had gotten to his feet, and he moved towards Aaron, who hit him in the chin again, and sent him sailing six feet through the air and into a meter pole, which pole bent over severely.

The fight was over, and Aaron looked around in confusion. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued on to work. The bums were bigger than him and had outweighed him, but his art, the art I had created out of the meanest, nastiest, most functional karate I knew, had worked.

Its been a while since that fight, and I dont teach that system anymore. Ive learned a lot since then, and moved on. Still, that art, that very breakthrough art, which I called by the name of Outlaw Karate, really worked.

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Things to Do on Island Without a Beach

by Matthew Kepnes

Tropical islands are the go-to place for fishing, shelling, and bathing in the sun. What most people aren’t aware that you can do more things other than just spending a perfect day on the beach from sunup until sundown. A tropical island is more than just a beach, and, if you are looking for something else to do, you can always find something.

Most tropical islands offer many charged activities for a variety of people and experience levels. You can opt to go for an unusual dining experience and try the authentic cuisine of that particular island. This is one of the best ways to experience the local culture. A good way to learn about it is to learn how to cook local dishes yourself. Attend a cooking class as an alternative to going to the beach. Youll learn a practical skill, too.

Alternatively, you can try shopping. Most major attractions on the island will be lined with at least one on-site gift shop or a variety of vendor stalls selling souvenirs from t-shirts and handicraft items to postcards and other standard merchandise. Top of the line, finer, and more valuable items such as diamond solitaires, Swiss watches, crystal, and perfumes can be purchased from and state of the art shopping centers.

Apart from the usual tropical island activities, tropical island destinations also offer many unique attractions for visitors who are enticed and intrigued in delving deeper into the history and culture of that specific place. Most islands will have cultural history museums and historic buildings that you can tour.

Your body may be on vacation, but it doesnt mean you have to be lazy. Get up and get outside to explore nature. The natural landscape of an island doesnt stop at the beach, but extends far inward. Try hiking through the jungle. Relax in some waterfalls. Climb a mountain. Go cycling around the island communities. There are a lot of things to do on an island and many things to see beyond the beach.

Most tropical island destinations encourage visitors to come and enjoy their world class spa resorts and hotels. Book yourself a relaxing spa appointment in the peaceful setting of your resort. Treat yourself and take a day or two just to relax and relieve your stress. After all, you can’t spend every day in the sun, and this will help reduce the chance of getting a sun burn while making you feel well.

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How to Get Good Deals on Xbox 360 Games

by Crystal Jennings

It is no secret that the Xbox 360 console is one of the top video game consoles in the market. There are also thousands of Xbox 360 games being sold. But most of the games are just too pricey or others are just wants to see if a certain game is good.

There several ways to get great deals on Xbox 360 games. The first thing you can do is log on to Xbox.com website. Most of the new released games have demo versions.

It is great that there are demo versions for new game this way you will be able to evaluate a game. These demo versions benefit both consumers and providers so better make use of it.

Demo versions are a great way to promote new games and Xbox 360 game developers are doing just that. This will save the players money and developers will be able to gather comments from them to make the game better.

Video game reviews are a great way to find out if a game is worth it or not. They can also direct you to places where you can find great deals on Xbox 360 games.

There are a lot of people who are selling used Xbox 360 games online. You will always have an option as long as you know where to look.

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Carp Fishing Baits And Intensive Feeding Secrets!

by Tim Richardson

Few carp fishermen realise that fish can switch their modes of feeding and you can exploit these and manipulate these to catch more fish! In fact you can make fish feed in the specific way you want by the form and size of baits you introduce as ground bait or chum making it ideal for far more natural and confident feeding leading to more bites.

It is well-known that jokers and blood worms have often been banned as baits from various fisheries because they impact upon the feeding behaviour of fish so much. Many species of fish and in particular the Cyprindae genus of fish, have many adaptations which help them switch between modes of feeding to exploit the higher profitabilities of one mode over another, depending on which forms of food are available and where they are located in the water or bottom sediment.

You may have watched koi or goldfish sucking algae off the sides of a pond. But carp can also feed by filtering tiny items from the water, while moving and even while stationary. The position and concentrations of natural foods like algae and crustaceans called zooplankton or daphnia fluctuate depending on sunlight angle and intensity, temperature and water mineral and oxygen concentrations among other time and seasonal variations. The successful use of very fine ground baits is one way to induce the filter feeding type of modes whilst on the way to the angler inducing feeding on larger food items such as boilies for instance.

You can exploit various feeds and fine liquid additives with particles in suspension to induce this kind of feeding, although there are many endless options for doing this effectively and yeast and liver powders and corn steep liquor and various less refined fish oils are obvious examples to begin with. Fish can taste their food using taste buds located in their pharyngeal cavity so this form of feeding is not sight oriented but taste oriented. Using induced filter and pump filter (gulping type feeding,) fish can get the nutritional stimulation of your free and hook baits without actually touching your baits but then having filter fed on them will often be in a far more excited physiological and mental state when they actually physically feed on them and carp filter feed predominantly in turbid waters.

Filter feeding is very interesting because fish like carp can gain masses of nutrients to promote their growth in safe ways without eating your baits. But they can also derive nutrients from your baits in suspension and in solution as they leach out amino acids, nucleic acids, oils and slats for instance, without actually eating your baits. So it makes sense to drive fish into a feeding frenzy mode as far as possible by inciting this natural feeding mode.

Carp, barbel and tench and even trout and bass feed to varying degrees using filter feeding and they use branchial sieves to do so. These are adjustable in order to catch the most profitable nutritious particles sizes available, depending on concentration and abundance. These are also adjusted to catch batches of particles or individual large ones. In feeding terms, carp are categorised as suction feeders and slow ones at that, but that hides the fact that they can suck up items at a tremendously powerful velocity when required which has great rig implications especially when a fish is filter feeding on food at a long distance from the fish’s head where long rigs and critically balanced baits have great benefits!

The chemical senses of carp are often mentioned in relation to bait, but the role of the carp lateral line is far less mentioned. The electrical sensitivity of this area in food detection is often severely over-looked by anglers seeking to improve their baits and it is so finely tuned it can detect the tiny movements of zooplankton. As carp are primarily filter feeders using slower suction motions compared to other fish, it makes sense to exploit this by using fine ground baits and smaller hook baits too!

Smaller food items can naturally be passed to the throat teeth in mouthfuls without any problem and of course the more energy efficient the food delivery system is the better. It can often be the case that small baits are the preferred choice of more experienced big fish anglers because they can see the benefits of smaller food items in regards how fish feed on such baits and also their more natural weight, size and movement in water when combined with a correctly balanced hook rig. I find boilies in the 6 to 8 millimetre size excellent for bigger more wary fish even with huge mouths!

If you exploit the various filter feeding modes of fish using various grades of ingredients both soluble and insoluble in your ground baits you can certainly induce far more intense and suitable feeding for hooking wary big carp. You might recall the fact that fish are lateral lines are tuned to feel the movements of live foods like maggots and sound is important in ground bait effectiveness, but smaller hook baits are well recommended in conjunction with this. With carp one thing is for sure and that is when you leverage their mode of feeding or preferably specifically induce particular modes of intense feeding, you can vastly improve your catches all year round and all you need to know is a bit more about effective bait use and ingredients manipulation…

By Tim Richardson.

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Make Carp fishing Bait And Save Money And Catch Better Fish!

by Tim Richardson

Saving yourself the cost of expensive bait is one of the most important factors in fishing success for many carp fishermen. It can take quantities of expensive readymade bait to achieve great results and if you have a way of making this very quickly and very cheaply then you can save yourself untold fortunes and catch as many if not more fish than on readymade baits. Once you have a few basic bits of information on making baits you are free to create unique economical baits for big fish for years to come and save yourself a real fortune!

For the more technically minded fisherman, carp do not get their energy needs from carbohydrates but mostly protein and also fats and oils in their natural diet. Being aquatic they are extremely well adapted to extract far more energy from protein foods than humans on land. The very basic protein requirements of carp are extremely significant in terms of making effective baits because these are composed of basic building blocks called amino acids, some of which carp essentially need to consume in order to survive.

There are around 10 basic essential amino acids that carp need although there are a few others, but let’s keep things as simple as possible for now. These include: lysine, methionine, arginine, phenylalanine, valine, tryptophan, leucine, isoleucine, histidine and threonine. Carp eat foods containing these amino acids because they are essential. Using almost anything that a fish basically needs to survive can give you the edge you need to get bites although exploiting fish nutritional needs are not the only way to get bites; in fact, far from it!

It may be no surprise that both humans and carp have evolved in part due to the energy providing foods available for us to exploit in our environments. We can exploit how these foods are detected by smell and taste for example, by boosting the levels of the most highly stimulating substances within our baits. These may consist of natural food sources of soluble amino acids, flavors or even using specialist hormone preparations etc, but there are thousands to choose from!

Amino acid needs of carp are important because we can exploit them even in very simple baits to induce better feeding on baits and more bites. But these essential are not absolutely necessary to catch fish on homemade baits; far from it in fact and you can very often catch fish on competitive pressured fisheries on simple carbohydrate wheat and soya type baits which are extremely economical to make! To keep ahead of the fish you might simply just change certain aspects of the bait like attractors such as flavours or even treacles, honey, molasses, cordial syrups, or liqueurs etc.

But protein based baits are not strictly necessary to get bites of course and a multitude of baits including those based on carbohydrates like wheat flour or corn flour will still catch very well indeed providing they are altered to keep them in effect new and different to previous baits. Many of the most economical bait recipes based on carbohydrate ingredients have consistently caught big fish for decades despite arguments raging over quality food versus crap baits and other theories. If you keep changing your attractors even just by using alternative proprietary flavor dips you can always keep ahead of your fish on any particular fishery; just remember to exploit what stimulates fish naturally and avoid over-dosing with solvent based flavours unless you are fishing single bait style.

These days there is an abundance of over-stocked carp fisheries to choose from and your bait, whatever it may be is generally regarded as natural food by these hungry fish. This is one big reason why homemade simple baits will catch anywhere, but then any bait fished correctly will catch the biggest, wariest fish on the richest of waters. When you know a bit more about bait and how to really make it work for you efficiently are far reduced costs, the rewards will shock you; I have made homemade baits for decades and saved myself a fortune and caught enough big fish on readymade dominated fisheries to say that 80 percent of all my homemade baits over the years have caught big fish whatever they have been based on!

Many carp fishermen get confused between the nutritional aspect of bait as opposed to the stimulatory aspect and assume that a bait absolutely needs to be totally nutritionally attractive and stimulating as a complete food in order to do the job, but this is just not true. Many perceived simple ingredients may have very surprising nutritional attraction in any key aspect whether it be vitamins, or minerals, oils or some other aspect like simulating something which carp naturally eat confidently (many flavours do this but have zero nutritional value.) It is a fact however, that amino acids rank among the most highly feeding stimulatory substances for carp and so exploiting this aspect in your baits is advantageous, but then you have endless other possibilities and combinations to choose from, to save you money and hook you those dream fish; all you need is to know a bit more about bait!

By Tim Richardson.

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Jason Kidd

by Denise I Smithson

The Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd is thought to be one of the best basketball layers currently active in the NBA. Before joining the Mavericks, Kidd led the New Jersey Nets to the NBA finals in 2002 and 2003.

His career in the NBA actually began with the Mavericks; he went on to play for Phoenix for a time, until being traded to the Nets before finally coming back home to the Mavericks in 2008, when he scored the 100th triple-double in his career in the final regular game of the season.

The oldest of six children, Kidd played on public courts in Oakland while a youth, often with Gary Payton (an NBA All-Star). The two remain close to this day and often speak fondly of playing on these courts.

While in high school, Kidd was ranked the top high school player in the country, earning the Naismith Award. He stayed close to his native San Francisco, attending college at UC-Berkeley. He was a finalist for the Wooden Award as well as another Naismith while in college and in 1994, entered the NBA draft. When he left his college team, his #5 jersey was retired.

He has been a 9 time NBA All-Star and a member of the All-NBA First team in 1999 through 2002 and again in 2004. Additionally, he has been on the 1995 NBA All-Rookie First Team, won the 2003 NBA Skills Challenge Championship and made the All Defensive First and Second teams every year between 1999 and 2007.

Kidd joined forces with some of the other greats of the game on the US Men’s Basketball team in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where they won a gold medal and went undefeated. Kidd has an unbeaten record of 56-0 in USA Basketball (including exhibition games). He has won gold medals in both the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games.

However, the star’s personal life has not always gone as well as his athletic career. In 2001, he was charged with domestic abuse; he pled guilty to the charge and completed a course of anger management and counseling, in addition to quitting drinking. It was later announced that the couple had reconciled.

In 2007 he filed for divorce from his wife, claiming jealousy, paranoia and threats to report fabricated abuse charges. His wife counter filed on the grounds of abuse. They have since divorced, but have three children together.

In 2008, it was found that Jason Kidd and his girlfriend, the model Hope Dworaczyk were expecting a child of their own.

His personal life entirely aside, Kidd is one of the greatest players ever to walk the court. He is one of only two NBA players to score a career total of 14,000 points, 6,600 rebounds and 9,000 assists. Along with Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain, he is one of only three players in the history of the NBA to average triple-doubles for multiple games in playoff series. He is also an all time double triple leader, right behind Magic Johnson’s 138 and Oscar Robertson’s 181, as well as having been named the USA Basketball 2007 Male Athlete of the Year.

Jason Kidd has set milestones during his career with the NBA and the USA Olympic teams. He is an active community service promoter in the Dallas area, sponsoring programs for youth in the community.

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Want To Learn More About Soccer Balls?

by Gabriel Barkeley

Knowing that you need to better understand this topic I recommend that you take 5 minutes to read what we have to say.

The key element for one of the most popular sports in the world, soccer balls come in different designs, sizes and weights. Plus, the materials used for the construction of the soccer balls are also very diverse, directly influencing the features of the finite products as well as the price. Here are a few technical details on the structure and the making of soccer balls that many of us know nothing of when having fun in a nice game.

Several covering layers are included in the surface structure of the soccer balls and they are not made of natural leather as it may appear at first sight but rather from synthetic materials that keep the balls lightweight even when it’s damp outside. Poly vinyl chlorine or PVC and polyurethane or PU are the main materials used for synthetic leather production. Even the varieties of artificial leather remain a mystery to most soccer fans, because these patterns too, come in great number of varieties.

Depending on the design of the soccer balls, the various segments of the exterior cover, also known as the panels, present specific features. There can be 32, 26 or 16 panels with the mention that 32-panel variant is normally used in the majority of official games. Yet, the others are encountered with some leagues in Scotland and England. After being sewn together and inflated, the panels create the nearly perfect sphere that we call soccer ball.

Between the external covering and the internal bladder that holds the air, soccer balls have some special material incorporated, which is called the lining. These intermediary layer can be made of polyester or laminated cotton, thus contributing to the strength and the bounce properties of the finite product. For professional soccer balls, up to four or five linings are used, while promotional items and practice balls contain fewer such structures.

As for the bladders that actually keep the soccer balls inflated, differences do appear here as well, particularly because of the nature of the materials. Soccer balls can be manufactured either from latex or butyl. While natural rubber or latex creates a great surface tension, the tiny pores in the structure of this material cause the soccer balls to deflate.

In order to keep the ball practical, you’ll have to re-inflate it at least once a week. Butyl soccer balls present no air retention problem, but require valves to keep the air inside.

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