Sports Equipment Beginning with S Quiz

Answer: Irish games of hurling or camogie

A sliotar is made of solid cork, wrapped in leather. It's about the same size as a tennis ball. It's used in the Irish team game of hurling, which has been described as "the world's fastest field team game". This game is played with a stick (a hurley) that looks like a large hockey stick. It can also involve either slapping the sliotar with one's hands, or passing it with the feet as well. At certain plays in the game, the sliotar, which is not allowed to be carried in the hand for more than four steps, has to be balanced on the end of the hurley while running with it. That sounds like fun.

The female version of the game is called camogie. There is also another version of the game, called shinty, but this is played mainly in Scotland.

Answer: Protective sleeves worn over cleat shoes

Sports spats are a type of tight-fitting sleeves that fit over shoes with cleats, for when these shoes are used on artificial turf. The purpose of the spat is to keep any material which may break off the artificial turf from springing up and landing in the player's foot wear. They also prevent laces from coming undone during fast moving games.

Answer: Birdie

The shuttlecock or birdie is described as "an open conical shape (with) the cone formed from sixteen or so overlapping feathers...embedded into a rounded cork base". When it is hit, its aerodynamics make the cork end turn around towards the player or players on the opposite side of the net. It makes the most satisfying clunk in the world when hit correctly. Real feathers were used once in the manufacture of the shuttlecock, hence it being given the name of birdie. These always came from a poor old goose or duck, and peculiarly, only the feathers from the bird's left wing were used. Now, however, synthetic feathers are used when playing recreational badminton instead.

Real feathers are much preferred as the choice of the birdie in tournaments, however. These perform more efficiently in the air and while dropping towards the opposing players. That's interesting. We just can't improve on nature, it seems.

Answer: Basketball

Though it is utilised in other games such as snooker or water polo, basketball is the game most associated with this piece of equipment. A shot clock is basically just a big timer. It is believed to make the pace of the game increase so that players get shots into the net before time runs out. If the ball has left the player's hands before the clock stops, then it is still considered to be in play. You wouldn't think something as simple as a large ticking down clock could improve the game, but it does. Prior to its installation into the sport, teams in the lead could stall endlessly, by the process of just passing the ball round to each other until the game ended.

This isn't in the spirit of the game, and audiences began to drift away from the sport as a result.

The advent of the shot clock in the 1950s saw the inauguration of the 24 second per shot rule brought into play. Over the years that followed, the time allotment varied from 24 to 35 seconds, depending on which organisation's rules players were competing under.

The shot clock makes the game more exciting.

Answer: Caving

British cavers in particular use the snoopy loop. Such a cute name. Snoopy loops are made from the inner tubes of car tyres. Very durable and reliable, they have a variety of purposes. They help seal off edges of suits against water, hold various pieces of equipment worn on the body securely in place, and can, in an emergency, even be used as a sling to secure a broken bone. Just what beginner cavers need to hear - the possibility of drowning or breaking their necks. Snoopy loops were first used in Greece, and from there they made their way to England - where they were given the name by which they became known.

Answer: Cricket

In cricket, if a ball even "snicks" the side of the batsman's bat when it is bowled towards him, and then is subsequently caught by a fieldsman before touching the ground, then that batsman is considered out. In normal time play, it can sometimes be very hard to determine if the ball has indeed snicked the bat. The sound can often be confused with that of the ball hitting other parts of the batsman's equipment for example, or the bat scraping on the pitch. Whether a batsman is considered out, or safe, can make a world of difference in the game of cricket. Matches can be won or lost over the existence or non-existence of a snick because top players can be declared out, when they're not really out at all - or vice versa.

Along came the invention of the snickometer which analyses the sounds made at the batsman's end of the pitch, following a ball delivery. This invention allows the waves of these sounds to be recorded on an electronic graph, and whenever a delivery is in question, the third umpire is called in to make a decision about it. A ball snicking a bat has a different wave pattern on the graph. How clever are they to have come up with this?

Answer: Rugby

A scrum machine is a mechanically controlled platform on which padded devices are fixed. Certain members of a rugby team, known as forwards, practice their scrummaging up against it. It is meant to represent a similar pack from any other team they play against.

A scrum in real play is formed when the forwards link up together in a couple of rows. This scrum then locks into the other team's scrum, with a lot of pushing and shoving (and probably an equal amount of profanity). The scrum-half then tosses the ball into the formed tunnel where the two scums meet - and both scrums then try to hook the ball with their feet to gain possession of it. Scrummaging is a real art, requiring strength and skill and agility. Gaining the ball can win or lose a game.

Answer: Enables a swimmer to swim in the one spot

This invention allows swimmers to practice and perfect their stroke, speed and strength in a very small area, thereby freeing up the real pool for the use of other people. It creates a resistance body of water through which swimmers stroke, while they actually remain in the one spot.

The strength and amount of the resistance created depends on the level of skill of the swimmer involved. There are two main types of this swimming training method. One is the tether method where the swimmer remains in the one spot in the water, rather like my dog when it runs like mad on a polished floor but never actually gets anywhere.

The other type is a device where the swimmer practices his or her stroke on a machine on dry land, with no water involved at all.

This should be renamed the wishful thinking machine perhaps. It costs a lot more than the former device as all the factors involved in swimming have to be designed into it - such as flotation, resistance, body weight in water, and so on. By the 1980s more machines employing various other methods were designed, with more and more cost involved.

At the rate they're going, they'll end up costing more than installing another swimming pool.

Answer: Golf

A stimpmeter can measure how far a golf ball moves on a green - without an actual player being involved. It applies different degrees of pressure on the ball, releases it on the green, and then takes note of the length travelled. It was manufactured way back in the 1930s by a player named Ed Stimpson.

After watching various games of professional golf, he became very intrigued by the rate of speed that balls travelled on different greens. He concluded from this that it could prove a valuable tool in the game if players knew the speed different greens generated, so that their strokes could be adjusted accordingly for each venue. Clever man!

Answer: Tennis

Another clever invention. This device can considerably reduce the amount of vibration that travels through a tennis racquet after a player has struck a tennis ball. It cancels them out by directing them down into the handle of the racquet. This was an incredibly valuable invention for professional players in particular.

Many of them spend endless, endless days every year either playing in tournaments, or practising to do so. The record books are filled with the lists of subtle injuries they constantly deal with.

When watching professional games today, there's seldom a top player to be seen on court without injury strapping on various parts of his or her body. Amazing careers can be destroyed by these injuries, particularly if they involve shoulder, elbow or wrist.