Extreme Sports News

Category: Casual Sports

by Jimmy

Why You Should Start Watching Football in Vietnam

While Japan may be Asia’s top football team right now, it could soon have a little brother in the form of Vietnam, who are rising up the global ranks. The team’s success can best be seen in the Asian competitions, most notably the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup where last year they beat South Korea, Australia, Iraq and the future hosts of the next Fifa World Cup – Qatar. They went on to reach the final last year and only lost after Uzbekistan barley nabbed a winner in the final minutes.

However, while Vietnam may have a lost, the atmosphere in the streets of Hanoi was unbelievable, with the city being pretty much dead for the games 90’s minutes only to transform into the biggest party in South East Asia when the final whistle went. By the time the players stepped on to the pitch to face off against Uzbekistan, the players had already been crowned as heroes in Vietnam. They earned praise from the PM Nguyen Xuan Phic, were gifted a party by the Airline Vietjet in which they were awarded a celebratory display of bikini-clad models on the flight back to the capital, and arrived back in Hanoi to hear thousands of Vietnamese creating a deafening symphony using motorbike horns and kitchen utensils.

The team’s success is largely down to their youth development program, which has massively improved the available talent in Vietnamese football. Many pundits are now speculating that Vietnam will be a major force in football in the coming years, and this talent seen on the international stage is very evident in the national league. This is why you should start watching live football Vietnam, especially if you’re bored of the usual top 5 European leagues.

You may be thinking that surely this success isn’t just due to the youth development program though, and you’d be right. The country has also decided to use lots of foreign expertise to really develop their players and get the team to a level that can compete with those at the top of international football. What’s that old Vietnamese proverb? “Choose the wise man and follow”?

This policy of making extensive use of foreign coaches and trainers dates back to the 1980’s, but recently it has been extremely effective due to some really good picks. For example, Park Hangseo from the Republic of Korea was instrumental in guiding Vietnam into the final of the AFC cup. There are also a good few Europeans in the national leagues, with French coaches being particularly prominent. So, if you decide to watch some Vietnamese football you won’t be too far astray from the magic of European football. There are also a good few European and Latin American players in the top leagues, with one of the big names in Vietnam being Gonzalo Marronkle, an Argentinian who plays as the No.9 for Hanoi.

However, don’t think that its all Western players dominating the leagues, there are many young Vietnamese talents who are more impressive than you’d expect. One such talent is Nguyen Quang Hai, a lighting fast 19-year-old with seemingly magic feet who manages to get fans on the edge of their seat pretty much every time he gets the ball.

With that being said, the only damper on football in Vietnam is corruption, which is pretty widespread especially in the lower leagues. This isn’t too much of an issue in the top league, however, so what are you waiting for? Make a change and watch Vietnam rise up the world stage in real time!

by Jimmy

Learn the Up and Coming Sport of Bowling

In the 21st century it could be argued that no sport has seen growth like ten pin bowling. Competitions have started popping up around the globe as the sport has grown from a casual sport to a sport that now exists on a professional level. This new form of professionalism can be seen in the fact that for the times in the sports history it will be an official sport for the 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics. A sign of the sports newfound legitimacy.

It is not surprising that ten pin bowling is a sport dominated by Americans. With the rise of American beer leagues being instrumental in the sport’s infant stages. This trend of American dominance has recently been broken by perhaps the most dominate bowler in the sports history in Jason Belmonte. Perhaps Belmonte`s biggest strength is his ability to be a dual wielding bowler, having mastery in both his left and right hand. This dual mastery has giving Belmonte twenty-three 300 score games, the maximum score you can achieve in bowling, so the fact he has twenty-three is simply absurd. Belmonte has been instrumental in the sports growth reaching celebrity status in his native homeland of Australia, the States and the ever-growing Japanese market, throughout his career he has received a tasty $1.5 million from the PBA tour alone.

This foot of wealth is not simply for Belmonte with a top ten professional bowler reaching an average salary currently standing at just under $255,000, offering a nice pay day for those who find themselves complete professionals in the sport. As I previously mentioned Bowling competitions are becoming more and more common throughout the world. For the European market which bowling is currently trying to make indents into, the European Bowling Tour should be seen as the most exciting. First established in the year 2000 it is perhaps the fastest growing bowling tournament. First consisting of nine events in eight countries, the sport is now Europe wide with thirteen events in thirteen separate European countries. These competitions are the perfect family events, offering a laid-back environment which allows you to interact with some of the world’s top bowling athletes. I would highly recommend these competitions for people who find themselves new to the sport.

It is a common stereotype that bowling is quite an easy sport to enter, but this is simply not true with a number of variables acting as a gatekeeper to your entry into the sport. If for the reasons listed above you want to enter the sport of bowling, then perhaps the most important aspect of integrating yourself into the sport of bowling is finding the perfect ball for you. If you are a complete casual, then the first thing you need to find out is which hand you are best suited for in bowling- as unfortunately not everyone can be a dual wielder like Belmonte. For right handers I would recommend Storm Drive Bowling Ball- which is simply the Nike or Adidas of the bowling world offering a consistently solid product, and a ball that is easily in the top 10 for left handers would be the Brunswick Rhino Bowling Ball, coming in at 10lbs-16lbs and with a low hook potential, the ball is simply perfect for any dry medium lane- which is actually the most common form of competitive bowling lane. I would also highly recommend buying the ball in a black pearl color, as it simply looks cool.

The sport of bowling is fun, tense and ever expanding. If you would want to enter the sport this is perhaps the best time, with schools of professional leagues that are open to both men and women. I would highly recommend you go for a bowl and perhaps you can find your childhood love for the sport again. For the casual or the budding professional- bowling is simply fun, and with its new higher professional ceiling this may just be the sport for you.

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