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Sports and Math : Can both these skills go hand in hand . |
Written by Shahryar Badar
Wednesday, 08 November 2006
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Have you heard of the new energy drink? "High powered Math Shake - Gulp one down today and say goodbye to your weak math forever." Even I haven't. But what if such a thing really exists. Wouldn't that be great for both the sports and math world ? Our would-be sports champs be then able to concentrate on their game better and stop worrying about their upcoming Math paper. Unfortunately, for now such a product is not available at your local drug store ( or for that matter anywhere else ). But thankfully there is an easier way making the deadly duo of sports and math a reality. Sports and Math. Why is it so rare to find tag team of sports and math ? It is common to find many talented soccer and basketball players, swimmers, athletes and other sports men struggling with Math. As it is the Math problems are plaguing the students of all grades, age and aptitude but the math problems of the sports man are particularly severe. That is because sports man hardly gets time in between his rigorous training sessions to study math and whenever he does, then also the textbook appears to be written in Chinese. Sport skills Vs Math skills. Does muscular flexibility come at the cost of mental ability ? Working as a Math tutor I have been teaching Math to state level soccer players, swimmers, athletes and even to amateur boxers ( thank God I teach math online ). I have found that many of them have weak basic math skills but almost all of them have high analytical ability ( the most important raw material to learn math). It has now been even scientifically proved that sportsman's brain has a greater ability to form synaptic pathways ( temporary circuits ) that lead to faster analysis of the problem. Understandably so, as their brain is trained to make split second decisions in the nick of time. In this regard sports is math. Ideal teacher to help tackle both sports and math The top shoe companies like Nike and Adidas make specially designed shoes and apparels for their star athlete to dramatically enhance his performance. Similarly a sports man requires a Math teacher who can custom design a Math lesson for his specific needs. This will not only help the sports man do well in his math paper but also help become a better sportsman as he will have sports math skills (i.e grasp over math in sport like batting average, bowling economy rate, free throw conversion percentage etc). This is how a math lesson should be made for a sportsman. 1. Keep the Math lesson like a 100 meter dash : Sportspersons find it difficult to sit down still and concentrate for long hours ( I am not talking about the chess players ). They become restless soon. But the level of concentration they can generate in spurts is amazing. So Math tutor should make sure that Math lesson is kept short yet power packed. 2. Build his Basic math skills first : Before you can teach a person how to hit a home run, you must teach him how to grip the bat. Even born world champs need to get their basics right. So begin from the very beginning. Once the sportsman is taught the right way of solving math problems, he starts picking up the rest of math pretty fast. Always remember that the mind of a sportsperson is trained to repeat an action to perfection. 3. Stop being his teacher, start being his trainer : Stop preaching a sports man theories of Math. Tell him straightway the action he needs to do in order to get to the answer. I call this the one jab knockout technique. This way you make the sportsperson play at his strength. This way a sports man can pick up both sports and math skills with the same ease with which he gulps down a protein shake ( provided it is not that awful in taste ). Shahryar Badar is the Director of Glad2teach.com. It makes math Learner-Friendly for students. You can even take a class from its FREE math Online Tutor and begin to power up your weak math right away. For any online math help with math problem visit Glad2teach. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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