Tag: Sports

Picking Up High School Courses

Okay, its the time of the year where schools send reminders about picking up high school courses. If you have a child or dependent who is in high school, you will feel the pain or pressure of picking the courses. Ideally, the student is supposed to pick the course, but most parents tend to get confused about which ones are best for your child. Here are some tips from my perspective.

Objective

The main objective of choosing courses in high school is to let the student decide their future. However, the schools have their own way of limiting the students so you have to follow their guidelines. If your child is planning for a college or university, the objective of the high school courses is to meet the college requirements. Th current courses which the student takes will highly determine which college or course they are going to take in college or future. Of course, there is always a chance of dropping the class if they don’t like it. But, it is not advisable as it will not give you the credit or departmental honors in the respective division. So, planning way ahead is mandatory.

Graduation Requirements

Most high schools have minimum number of credits required to graduate from high school. Those vary from 20 to 25 or higher. Any additional credits, it is the students choice. But, in general high schools require 4 years of Math, 4 years of English, 3 years of Social Studies, 2 or 3 years of Science, 4 years of PE, and so on. In addition, Consumer Education or Volunteering may be must. They may also provide two or three Electives. In general, these requirements match the respective state university or community colleges.

Choosing the Courses
It is really amusing how the schools set conditions about choosing the courses. I think they customize the conditions based on their 5 year plans. Also, the schools are highly selective about which students take which courses. Before approving any course, they make sure the students meet certain requirements or test scores.

There are hundreds of courses a school offers under different departments. But, the student is left with only minimum choices after selecting the mandatory courses. The student must select the electives in a manner that his college requirements are met. Dual Credit courses offered at local community colleges might be a good idea to carry the credit to both high school and the college

Choosing orchestra in high school is highly selective. Even though orchestra is considered to be an easy grade, there might be many hours required for each concert. If you take orchestra, it will show your commitment to follow directions and work in teams. Also, it is better to take for four years which show your perseverance over a period of time. The same applies for choir or band.

Choosing a world language is also a big question for many students. Most colleges require a world language as their prerequisites. So, the student is forced, in a sense, to participate in a world language hoping to be useful in future profession. Again, it is suggested that they take the world language for four years in high school.

Students must be watchful about the courses the schools set as mandatory to be selected for a class rank. If you need to be considered for a class rank, you have to take the courses set by the school. Else, you will not have a school rank on your final transcripts! Not fair, huh. 🙂

Clubs and Sports

After the courses are selected you will be given option to take participation in Academic clubs, Debate teams, Student Leadership, and so on. Similarly, it is suggested that you be a member of some school’s sports team of your choice. This will showcase you as an ‘overall candidate’ when you apply for college.

Finally, it is essential the student put in lot of work hours after school to study all the subjects they signed up for. Good work ethics and practice is suggested for success in secondary school that lays foundation for college and future!

Moline Soccer Club

Operating since 1978, the Moline Soccer Club has encouraged area children to play soccer. Setting the teams, providing the ground, arranging the team uniforms, and facilitating the games are some of the services apart from providing expert coaching. Moline Soccer Club is a great platform to encourage the sportsmanship in children while mastering soccer.

Soccer, also called as football, is a great sport played by millions worldwide. It is the most popular sport in all parts of the world. The FIFA World cup will be held in 2014 in Brazil.  Spain, Netherlands, and Germany are the top countries in the Men’s rankings.

Moline Soccer Club

Moline Soccer Club aims at promoting soccer in area schools and children. They provide unique coaching and guidance in soccer as well as building sportsmanship and teamwork.

Moline Soccer Club provide coaching and facilitate games for children from ages five through fourteen. They form the teams for both boys and girls according to the ages and arrange the games. The teams are called Gnats, Bumblebees, Mosquitoes, Hornets, and Grasshoppers based on the ages.

Registration

The registration forms are supplied through area schools or can be downloaded from their website. The charge for six games and twelve practice sessions is about $61. One can register for both fall and spring sessions.  The players will be recognized and awarded a medal a the end of the session. Some of the best players are identified for travel teams and other soccer sessions.

Quad Cities United Soccer also offers soccers sessions for children for around $40 at Augustana College.

Rules

Moline Soccer Club expects the participants and their parents to follow certain guidelines during the sessions. For instance, calling names, using drugs, abusing, hurting, or passing negative comments must be avoided. All the players and parents are expected to display positive sportsmanship attitude during the practice and games.

The Moline Soccer Club is one of the mediums through which boys and girls can learn soccer and develop sportsmanship. 🙂

Public Parks – Moline, Illinois

Moline city in Illinois has around twenty public parks for the community. The Riverside Park, Greenvalley park, Prospect park, Sylvan island and Stephens park are some of the bigger parks. The park board arrange summer concerts and movies for public entertainment and free of cost. 🙂


Moline public parks organize summer concerts at Stephens Square every Monday at 7pm. Further, starting June 23rd, the parks arranged Jazz concert series at Bass Street landing.

Summer Programs

Moline Public parks offer training in different areas such as basketball, softball,tennis, dodgeball, kickball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, mushball and so on. In addition, they have classes for cooking, oil painting, swimming, dog training, yoga, fitness classes, flag football, greenhouse classes and so on. The parks offer summer day camp for children apart from other fun activities.

You can reach the park office at 3635, 4th Avenue or call them on 524-2424. You can register for swimming at Riverside Aquatic center on 797-0788.  The parks feature free movie in the Riverside park in August every Friday.

The park shelters can be registered by calling 524-2424. The picnic shelters may be reserved in advance for $35 for small shelters and $95 for large shelters. The shelters are ideal for birthday parties or family get-together. Playgrounds and rest areas are available in all the parks for public convenience.

For simple play and family fun the public parks are the best option. 🙂

AHA endorses Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort – Go video games for healthy hearts

Coming summer the American Heart Association (AHA) is going to embed its logo on Wii. The American Heart Association endorsed the Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort packages. Let’s look at the reason behind this endorsement while exploring the features and benefits of Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.


Physical Activity

The amount of physical activity your family is involved depends up on the life style. Apart from daily chores at home and at work, every individual requires certain physical activity to stay fit and healthy. Even children in modern times are adopting sedentary life style.

Engaging in outdoor sports depends on the infrastructure facilities available in your community. Further, weather plays a crucial role to play outdoor games. Areas with continental climate conditions limit the chance of outdoor sports or any other outdoor physical activity.

Other alternative gym, proves to be costly and sometimes upsetting the normal body condition of a person. The lack of physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and improper diet increases the chances of heart attack even at a much younger age!

Video games

Video games are condemned originally for their tendency to promote laziness in children and young adults. At an average, modern kid spends around ten hours of their free time with electronic gadgets. These include TV, laptop, ipad, iphone, Nintendo, Video games, listening to music and so on.  Thus limiting their ability to communicate face-to-face and personally.


Wii

When Wii was introduced in 2006, its competitors were Microsoft’s XBox and Sony’s Play Station 3. Nintendo’s Wii revolutionized video games by increasing the physical activity through the games. The video game has a console along with a Nunchuck and Remote. Within your living room, you can play tennis, base ball, boxing, bowling and golf. Wii Sports comprises these five games.

The next version of Wii Sports is Wii Fit, which has a Balance Board along with the console, Nunchuck and  Remote. It comprises forty games in four categories. The main areas are yoga, balance games, aerobics and strength training. The software in the game allows an individual to record the Body Mass Index (BMI) based on the person’s details.

Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports

Wii Fit Plus is an advance version of Wii Fit. It has additional games along with calorie tracker, personlized training routine, creating profiles for children and pets. In addition, certain games have been added in Training Plus. You cn check your body status and balance every day, weekly or after a pre-determined time.

Wii Sports Resort has more games such as Swordplay, Wakeboarding, Frisbee, Archery, Basketball, Table Tennis, Golf, Bowling, Power Cruising, Canoeing, Cycling and Air Sports.

Active-Play and Fun

Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort have games which encourage active-play instead of sitting at one place and playing with buttons. You have to physically move and involve to play these games and get better. That is the reason The AHA has endorsed these products. You can play alone or play in groups with friends and family taking turns. Its always a competition in sports as to who is performing better in any given sport.

My personal favorites are yoga, aerobics and free run. I am the best in my family in hula hooping. While my son is good at Snow ball fight that improves planning ahead, my husband’s best is Lotus Focus, a game that improves your concentration! Its time for my Wii Fit Plus and personal  training session to reach my weight loss target. 🙂