Special sports

Specialized sports are built around the competitive logic and ability requirements of a single sport, covering a full system of training and event collections including basic physical fitness, specialized technical movements, and scenario-based event response. It is by no means a simple upgrade of "playing a certain type of sport every day". For ordinary people who want to get started with special sports, the first thing they need to supplement is not the equipment or training duration, but the understanding of the "project-specific ability model."

I went to play in a badminton hall near my home a while ago and came across something interesting: a young man who had just graduated saved three months' salary to join the national team's offensive racket. He squatted in the backcourt to practice jumping kills, and only two weeks later he tore his rotator cuff and went to the rehabilitation department. The money he spent was more expensive than the racket. Asked why he started practicing difficult moves, he said, "I'm not going to practice badminton. Why don't I practice smashing the ball first to show off?" ”——This is a typical example of confusing "casual badminton" with "specialized badminton". They don't even straighten out the power chain of the racket, and they just do the most difficult moves without getting hurt.

When it comes to the definition of special events, there are actually two schools of thought in the sports circle that have not yet come to a conclusion. The competitive faction insists that only those events that are included in the official event system, have standardized judging rules, and are aimed at improving professional performance can be considered special events, such as track and field, three major sports, fencing, etc. that are permanent in sports schools. Even Frisbee, which has become popular in the streets and alleys in the past two years, is not considered a serious special event in their view because there is no unified national standard for competitive events. But the view of the mass fitness school is much looser: as long as you have a clear advanced goal, even if it is just for amateur purposes, such as running a full marathon or taking the top three in a city amateur tennis competition, then all the targeted training you do for this goal will be considered special training, and the corresponding event will be your special sport. To be honest, I prefer the latter. After all, sports are not exclusive to professional athletes. Ordinary people have a goal that they want to achieve, so why is it not considered a specialty?

I also encountered similar pitfalls when I first started practicing middle-distance running. At first, I thought the special event was to "run more", and I did 10 laps around the playground every day. After a month of running, the 5-kilometer pace was still stuck at 6 and a half minutes. The coach threw me an elastic band and asked me to stand and practice hip flexor strength every day. He said that my inability to increase my stride was not because of lack of strength in my legs, but because my hip core could not exert strength. No matter how much I ran, it was in vain. Only then did I understand that the core of a special event is not to "repeat actions" at all, but to make up for the specific ability shortcomings of this event - no matter how strong your finger strength is as a rock climber, if you don't know how to control your heart rate at high altitudes or how to operate ropes, you will still get into trouble when you go to the wild to form a team. ； If you practice freestyle swimming, no matter how smooth your kick is, you won't be able to practice core hip rotation, and your speed will never increase. ； Even the marathon, which everyone thinks requires the least skill, will not have time to cry when you hit the wall at 30 kilometers if you don’t specialize in replenishing the rhythm after long distances and adapt to different landing methods on different roads.

Oh, by the way, don’t think that special sports are only for young people. Uncle Zhang, who is retired downstairs in my house, is 62 this year. After retirement, he loved to play croquet. In order to play in the city’s senior croquet match, he would stand by the flower bed every morning and practice stable single-leg stance for 20 minutes. , and then practiced the movement of sending the stick to the empty court for half an hour, even holding the stick with a small notebook. The last time I chatted with him, he said, "This is also a special training for goalball. It is no different from running training for you young people." Don't tell me, this is really the truth.

There are now more than 90 official special sports listed by the General Administration of Sport, ranging from swimming and gymnastics, which everyone is familiar with, to sledding, sepak takraw, and curling, which are niche. The barriers to ability in each event are ridiculously high. If you ask the national weightlifting champion to go If you run 3,000 meters, there is a high probability that you will not be able to outrun an amateur long-distance runner who has been practicing for half a year. If you ask a professional table tennis player to play badminton with an amateur badminton player, you will have to win or not. There is no such thing as "universal athletic ability".

In fact, after thinking about it now, I feel that there is no need to worry about the definition of "what is a serious special sport". If you just want to sweat and relieve stress after get off work, play badminton twice and run two laps, you can be happy as you like, without any special name. But if you have a small goal hidden in your heart - for example, you want to run the first marathon in your life, win the badminton championship in your unit, or even win the first prize in the community shuttlecock competition, then every move you make towards this goal and every shortcoming in your ability you make up are all special training. This project is a special sport just for you. After all, there is no level or level in exercise. Your own goals are the core yardstick.