History of Table Tennis Essay Example for Free

History of Table Tennis Essay The sport got its start in England towards the end of the 19th century when, after dinner, some upper-middle class Victorians decided to turn their dining room tables into miniature versions of the traditional lawn tennis playing field. Several different every-day objects were employed in constructing the sport. They used a line of books as the net. Rackets were lids from empty cigar boxes, and a little later, parchment paper stretched around a frame. The ball would be either a ball of string, or perhaps more commonly, a champagne cork or rubber ball. Before â€Å"Table Tennis.† When the game first started it was called by a number of different names. â€Å"Whif whaf,† â€Å"gossamer,† and â€Å"flim flam† were commonly used to describe it. The words, as can be assumed, were derived from the sound that the ball made when hit back and forth on the table. In 1901 though, English manufacturer J. Jaques Son Ltd registered one of the more popular names, Ping-Pong, as a copyright. He later sold the trademark to the Parker Brothers in the United States. Then in the 1920s the name and the sport were revived in Europe as table tennis. Evolution The turn of the century brought many other refinements to the sport. Players started using celluloid balls after the English man James Gibb discovered them during a trip to the United States in 1901 and proved them to be perfect for Ping-Pong. In 1903, E.C Goode replaced parchment paper and cigar box lids with pimpled rubber on light wooden â€Å"blades† as rackets. And after the world championships in Prague in 1936, where two defensive players took over an hour to contest one point, the net was lowered to make the pace of the game-play faster. (In another effort to make the game more fast paced and entertaining, rules were again changed in 2001- see Rules). It Spreads Also around this time, the sport spread to other European countries and to the United States. Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan are understood to have learnt about it from British Army officers who held posts in those places. There was an unofficial world championship held in 1901, but the first official world championship was held in London in 1927 by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ITTF was founded in Berlin in 1926 by England, Sweden, Hungary, India, Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Wales. Asian Factor Although it may seem today that the sport, in the professional realm, is dominated by Asian countries like China and Korea, it wasn’t always that way. Before the late 1950’s and early 60’s, European players from Hungary especially, but also from France and Sweden seemed without competition. But in 1952, Japanese player Horoi Satoh introduced the foam rubber paddle. The paddle made the game faster and spinning the ball became an even greater factor. Japan became the main winner in the world competitions in 1960, and by the mid 1960’s China took over the reigns through to the early 1980’s. Their absolute domination of the sport was finally subdued with the entering of table tennis into the Olympic Games in 1988 and the participation of players from Korea and Sweden. Table Tennis and the Cold War On April 6th, 1971, the US table tennis team was invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to play in China. Four days later, nine players, four officials and two spouses crossed the bridge from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. They were the first group of Americans to be allowed into the country since the communist take-over in 1949. One of the first signs during the Cold war of improved relations between the United States and China, Time magazine called it â€Å"the pong heard throughout the world.† It was shortly followed with a visit to China by President Nixon. Facilities and Equipment The Table The playing surface, should be rectangular, 2.74m long and 1.525m wide, and shall lie in a horizontal plane 76cm above the floor .The playing surface should not include the vertical sides of the tabletop. The playing surface should yield a uniform bounce of about 23cm when a standard ball is dropped on to it from a height of 30cm. The playing surface shall be uniformly dark colored and matt, but with a white side line, 2cm wide, along each 2.74m edge and a white end line, 2cm wide, along each 1.525m edge. The playing surface shall be divided into 2 equal courts by a vertical net running parallel with the end lines, and shall be continuous over the whole area of each court. For doubles, each court shall be divided into 2 equal half-courts by a white center line, 3mm wide, running parallel with the side lines; the center line shall be regarded as part of each right half-court. The Net Assembly The net shall be suspended by a cord attached at each end to an upright post 15.25cm high, the outside limits of the post being 15.25cm outside the side line. The top of the net, along its whole length, shall be 15.25cm above the playing surface. The Ball The ball shall be spherical, with a diameter of 40mm.and weigh 2.7g. The ball shall be made of celluloid or similar plastics material and shall be white or orange, and matt. The Racket The racket may be of any size, shape or weight but the blade (wooden face) shall be flat and rigid. The covering material (rubber sheets) shall extend up to but not beyond the limits of the blade, except that the part nearest the handle and gripped by the fingers may be left uncovered or covered with any material. The surface of the covering material on a side of the blade, or of a side of the blade if it is left uncovered, shall be matt, bright red on one side and black on the other. Slight deviations from continuity of surface or uniformity of color due to accidental damage or wear may be allowed provided that they do not significantly change the characteristics of the surface. Rules of the game Serving The server shall project the ball near vertically upwards, without imparting spin, so that it rises at least 16cm and then falls without touching anything before being struck. The ball shall not be hidden from the receiver by any part of the body or clothing of the server or his doubles partner and as soon as the ball has been projected, the server’s free arm shall be removed from the space between the server’s body and the net. If the umpire is doubtful of the legality of a service he may, on the first occasion in a match, declare a let (see below) and warn the server. Any subsequent service of doubtful legality of that player or his doubles partner will result in a point to the receiver. Whenever there is a clear failure to comply with the requirements for a good service, no warning shall be given and the receiver shall score a point.

Half-Caste by John Agard How effective is the light-hearted ridicule :: English Literature

Half-Caste by John Agard How effective is the light-hearted ridicule in this poem? In the poem Half-Caste by John Agard the poet uses ridicule to put his point across, he uses this technique very effectively and many times and by the end of the poem you realise how stupid the fact of someone being a Half Caste is. The poem is about a man from the West Indies and is called Half Caste, which means of mixed race. The poem starts off with a verse off three lines all written in Standard English. Even in this very short part we can see the way the poet is using ridicule when he says ‘standing on one leg’, this is inferring that because he is a ‘half-caste’ he is only standing on one leg and that only one half the white half of him means anything to most people. It may seem like a ridiculous idea that he should stand on one leg but it does show how stupid the idea that someone can only stand on one leg because he is off mixed race. The poem then goes into a West Indian accent and it then makes another example like mixing colours makes him a half-caste. It then says ‘explain yuself’ again as it did at the start of the verse, this is repeated many times through the poem and becomes a sort of chorus. It is then always followed by an example, in this case comparing light and shadow to black and white. Light and shadow is a euphemism for black and white. The poem then goes onto a line, which really uses ridicule to get the point across, but whilst adding a little humour it shows an extremely vital point that we all as individuals should think about, it says about English weather being half caste. We all know the joke about English weather being bad and traditionally always cloudy and rainy. When we say that the weather is half-caste we are really saying it is not as good as it should be, do we also mean this when we call a person of mixed race a ‘half caste’. That line has double intentions as well as saying about English weather not being very good it also questions our thoughts on people of mixed race and whether we look down on them. The poet then uses light hearted ridicule again when he says about Tchaikovsky using the black and white key on a piano this is saying that he is not half caste but what about someone who only uses white keys does that make them a racist.

Performance Measurement Paper

Performance Measurement Paper LaVonda Jones MGT/437 6/30/2010 Dr. Kemit Grafton Performance Measurement Paper Project managers use performance measurement to help plan, initiate, execute, and close projects that they work on. Using measures like evaluating, controlling, and budgeting helps project managers and team members monitor progress on the project. In this paper, one will compare and contrast the above measurements and discuss the importance of each within a project. Evaluating a Project Using the evaluating measure helps the project manager improve the performance of the team.They determine what the team needs so that the team may accomplish the goals set in the planning phase of the project. When the project manager evaluates a project, the manager makes sure that the goals for the project are clear. The strategies and objectives are coherent for the team to understand how they should complete a successful project. The project manager must work with the team and agree on a p lan for the project. The team will use all resources that are available to them when evaluating their project. Clarifying ground rules are necessary so that all team members are working together in the same direction.Negotiations are necessary by the team as a whole and documentation is necessary to keep written proof of project ordeals. For a project manager to efficiently evaluate their project, the project manager should keep track of past projects and use them to set the standard or determine if things are moving along on track for the new project. 2. To Control How can managers ensure their subordinates are doing the right thing. Today managers do not control their workforce mechanically (measurement of time-and-motion for control as during Taylor) However managers still use measures to control, while allowing some space for freedom in the workforce. Robert Kaplan & David Norton) Business has control bias. Because traditional measurement system sprung from finance function, the system has a control bias. Organisation create measurement systems that specify particular actions they want execute- for branch employess to take a particular ways to execute what they want- branch to spend money. Then they want to measure to see whether the employees have in fact taken those actions. Need to measure input by individual into organisation and process.Officials need to measure behavior of individuals then compare this performance with requirements to check who has and has not complied. Often such requirements are described only as guidelines. Do not be fooled. These guidelines are really requirements and those requirement are designed to control. The measurement of compliance with these requirements is the mechanism of control. 3. To Budget Budgets are crude tools in improving performance. Poor performance not always may change after applying budgets cuts as a disciplinary actions. Sometimes budgets increase could be the answer to improving performance.Like purchasi ng better technology because the current ones are outdated and harm operational processes. So decision highly influenced by circomstance, you need measures to better understand the situation. At the macro level, elected officials deciding which purpose of government actions are primary or secondary. Political priorities drive macro budgetory choices. Once elected officials have established macro political priorities, those responsible for micro decisions may seek to invest their limited allocation of resources in the most cost-effective units and activities.In allocating budgets, managers, in response to macro budget allocations (driven by political objectives), determin alloactions at the micro level by using measures of efficiency of various activities, which programs or organisations are more efficient at achieving the political objectives. Why spend limited funds on programs that do not guarantee exceptional performance? Efficiency is determined by observing performance- output and outcome achieved considering number of people involved in the process (productivity per person) and cost-data (capturing direct cost as well as indirect)

Cxc Mutipe Choice Questions - 13016 Words

CXC SOCIAL STUDIES QUESTIONS MULTIPLE CHOICE The main reason for the origin of the Caribbean Community is: a) The need for economic cooperation b) The formation of Carifta c) The existence of one type of people d) The maintenance of the University of the West Indies. The first Heads of Government Conference was held in: a) August, 1962 b) May, 1961 c) July, 1963 d) July, 1974. The four countries that attended the first Heads of Government Conference were: a) Jamaica, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados b) Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago c) Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Belize d) Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and St. Lucia. Carifta came into being on: a) May 1, 1968 b) July 1, 1968 c) August 1, 1968 d) May†¦show more content†¦Identify the odd one in the following statements: a) Caricom institutions are responsible for formulating policies b) All Caricom members signed the treaty in 1973 c) Associate members of Caricom are independent bodies d) Common Market Council in the principal organ of the Common Market. Caricom was established to a) Develop a common currency b) Encourage closer relations with the U.S. c) Promote regional cooperation d) Replace federation Identify the island below, which does NOT belong to CARICOM a) Barbados b) Trinidad c) Jamaica d) Cuba All of the following are organizations connected to CARICOM except a) Caribbean Examinations Council b) Caribbean Development Bank c) International Monetary Fund d) Common Market Council Which of the following groups does not consist mainly of Third World Countries? a) ACP b) EU c) OECS d) CARICOM Which of the following institutions is responsible for coordinating health services within CARICOM? a) Caribbean Ministries Of Health b) Caribbean Community Secretariat c) The World Health Organisation d) Pan American Health Organisation CARICOM is a Caribbean organisation of a) All the Caribbean territories b) The Caribbean territories that were colonised c) The independent territories of the Caribbean d) Caribbean territories that were British colonies Among our CARICOM partners is a) Venezuela b) Antigua c) Mexico d) Martinique