Watersports Badge

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Subject: Watersports Badge Mon Mar 31 2008, 13:17

Watersports Badge

You must complete the basic swimming badge before completing this badge

To earn this badge simply do the following;

Click on the links for each watersports. Play the game, print screen your scores and post here

Surfing:
http://armorgames.com/play/396/surfs-up
You must score over 3000
Print screen with your name in the box for high scores but dont press ok

High Dive:
http://www.agame.com/game/High-Dive-Hero.html
You must score over 100
After the third dive, print screen before pressing again otherwise scores will be deleted. Only need score area.

Choose three watersports of your choice and complete the two parts for each;

1. Write a couple of paragraphs explaining what the sport is
2. Give a short RPG of you trying out the sport

Subject: Re: Watersports Badge Sun Sep 12 2010, 11:20

Surfing:
Watersports Badge Watersportbadge

High Dive:
Watersports Badge Watersportbadge2

White Water Rafting

White Water Rafting is an outdoor water sport in which inflatable rafts are used to navigate down bodies of water (most commonly rivers). In order for passengers to receive a thrill, they navigate down the river on varying grades of white water.

There are six grades to white water rafting, each of which signify a different level of white water. For example (source international scale of river difficulty):
Grade I: small rough areas (Skill Level: Very Basic)
Grade II: rough water, encounter a few rocks (Skill Level: Basic Paddling Skills)
Grade III: small waves, occasional slight drops, whitewater (Skill Level: Experienced Paddling Skills)
Grade IV: medium waves, rocks, occasional considerate drop, sharp maneuvers (Skill Level: White Water Experience)
Grade V: white water, large waves, large drops, hazardous rocks, precise maneuvers (Skill Level: Advanced White Water Experience)
Grade VI: very dangerous, substantial white water, huge waves, huge rocks, substantial drops (Skill Level: successful completion without serious injury or death is considered to be either extreme luck or extreme skill)

The inflatable rafts used can hold four to twelve people depending on the size of the raft. Each person is equipped with a helmet, paddle, life jacket and occasionally a body suit depending on the temperature of the water. Using various techniques, passengers work as a team to maneuver their boat around obstacles and through white water sometimes accompanied by a guide. Boats can occasionally capsize if not maneuvered correctly resulting in the need to right the boat and get all the passengers back inside.

RP

“Alright, everybody! Now that we’re done going over all the safety rules, we’re ready to raft! Everybody hop on into the boat!”

Excited, I jump into the boat and take a seat at the very front, my paddle at the ready. The guide pushes the raft off of the shore and out into a calm section of the river.

“Okay, guys!” she says, “Now the first rapid we’re going to be coming to is a class three. Just follow all of my paddling instructions and we should be fine. Now, everybody paddle! Don’t waste all of your energy though, just paddle at an easy rate.”

I begin paddling with the rest of the group with a huge grin on my face. The raft begins to move down the river with the current and as we come to a bend, the guide instructs for only the left side passengers to paddle. Since I’m sitting on the right, I put the paddle in my lap and watch as we round the bend. Up ahead I can see white swirling water. Barley containing my excitement, I grip the paddle a little harder.

Over the noise of the water, I hear the guide yell, “Everybody paddle hard!” With a look of determination on my face I begin paddling as hard as I can making sure to keep in time with everyone else. We begin passing the first few rocks as the guide starts yelling out more instructions.

“Right side only! Now left! Everybody paddle!”

We go over a small drop where everybody gives a shout of pleasure and continues trying to paddle.

“Paddle backwards!” I hear so I begin to reverse my paddle. “Now everybody paddle! We’re almost through!”

The next thing I know, we’re back into calm waters.

“You did it guys!” The guide exclaims and we all raise our paddles and yell in triumph before we head off to take on the next rapid.

Diving

Diving is a water sport in which someone jumps from a springboard or platform at various heights in order to perform tricks in the air to gain points from judges. The diver can jump from three different heights: five, seven and a half or ten meters.

The divers present a set number of dives and meet different requirements depending on the jump. Scores are given to divers out of ten based on different techniques. There are three possible points for takeoff, three points for flight, three for entry and one more point for the judges to give freely. The diver with the highest score after the specified amount of dives is declared the winner.

There are four possible dive positions to use while in free fall:
straight: no bend at knees or hips
pike: knees straight, tight bend at hips
tuck: body folded up in tight ball
free position: for twisting dives; allows judges to know they may bend their legs or curve waist without points being deducted

There are six groups into which dives are classified:
Forward Group: diver takes off forward and rotates forward
Back Group: takes off backwards and rotates backward
Reverse Group: starts forwards, rotates backward
Inward Group: starts backwards, rotates forward
Twist Group: any dive that includes an aerial twist
Armstand Group: any dive that starts in a handstand (only from platform)

Entry rules state that the diver should be vertical (or almost vertical) upon entry and should attempt to make the splash as small as possible to gain more points.

RP

I walk out of the locker rooms into the swimming pool area where my instructor is waiting for me.

“Ready for your first day on the ten meter?” she says, smiling at me.

“Are you sure I’m ready for this? It’s so high!” I say in dismay looking up at the towering springboard.

“You’ll do fine! We’ve gone over all the basics and now it’s time to take it up a notch. Just don’t try any dive that’s too complicated and you’ll do fine. Head on up there.”

Sighing, I begin to climb up the ladder. Geez, I think to myself. If it takes this long to climb up it’s gonna take a while to fall!

Once I’m on the top I look down at my instructor. “Okay, Katie?” she yells up.

“Umm…yeah.” I say edging myself closer to the edge of the board.

“Okay. Then show me what you’ve got!”

Taking a deep breath, I take the first spring in preparation with my toes curled before leaping off of the board.

Okay. I think to myself. First go into a tuck. I bend my hips while keeping my legs straight. Then, straightening myself out, I flip myself over to that my head is facing downwards. As the water rushes closer I put myself into the entry position I’ve learned and plunge under water.

As I come up to the surface smiling, my instructor walks over to the edge of the pool. “See?” she says, “That wasn’t so bad now, was it? Again.”

Skimboarding

Skimboarding is a sport in which a skimboard (a very thin, small version similar to a surfboard in appearance) is used to glide along on top of the water. Unlike surfboarding, however, the skimboarder starts on the beach by running out into the shallows of the water, dropping the board onto the thin water made by previous waves and then jumps onto the board where they are then able to “skim” across the water. They can use momentum they’ve gained to ride out to larger waves and ride them back in or they can perform small tricks similar to skateboarding tricks right on the waves.

Beginner skimboarders start off by learning how to throw the board onto the waves correctly and manage to jump on without wiping out. Once they’ve mastered how to get on a skimboard, they can then learn more complicated tricks or ride waves.

Common advanced moves:
Wrap: when skimboarder reaches a wave, shifts weight to wrap around wave which will then propel rider back to shore
Wrap to Barrel: after wrapping wave, instead of heading towards shore, turn farther and end up in the barrel of a wave

RP

“Hey Katie!” I turn around in my beach chair to see who is calling me. One of my good friends is running towards me. “Are you up for skimboarding?” he asks.

I look nervously at the thin boards. “I’ve never really tried before.” I admitted.

“You’ve never gone skimboarding before? Here. I’ll teach you. We’ve got an extra board.”

He hands me a skimboard and I follow him out to the start of the water nervously.

“Alright,” he says. “So the point of skimboarding is to try to jump onto the board and skim over the waves without falling on your butt or twisting and ankle. What you have to do is run at the waves and when you get to the shallows you need to drop the board onto the water and leap onto it. Your momentum should carry you out further where you can surf it in. Get it?”

I nod slowly still not too thrilled that I’m trying this. After all, it’s easy to make a fool out of yourself by doing this.

“Here, watch me first.” I watch him as he runs out to the water, drops the board onto the ground, and jumps onto it and begins skimming around the waves. When he washes up on the waves, he says, “Okay, you’re turn.”

I look out to the waves before running to water, dropping the board onto the water and leaping on top. The second my feet hit the board, they slip out from underneath me and I go sprawling onto my butt.

My friend runs out to help me to my feet and I wince as I realize how sore my butt is gonna be.

“It was a nice try,” he says. “Try to put the board down a little sooner so you have more time to prepare yourself to jump on. Try again.”

After a few tries, I still hadn’t managed to stay on the board long enough and my body was really starting to ache. My friend assured me that if I kept at it I’d get it in no time, but for the meantime we decided to take a break and get a snack.

Skimboarding was definitely not my favorite water sport.

Subject: Re: Watersports Badge Fri Feb 18 2011, 14:05

So sad I can't dive anymore, stupid eardrums!!!

Well done. You get your badge plus 200 points!

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