About Sports

When I once mentioned I used to play handball, people who I talked to had no clue what game I was talking about. They tended to associate the game with throwing a ball against a wall.

Well, the handball I used to play in high school was a team sport/game. We also played volleyball, but I preferred handball.

 

Elementary school level - we played basketball and sometimes rugby. The latter was awful, though. No, that game was not our choice. Our teacher must have liked rugby, so he made us play the game a few times.

What games/sports did you do at school?

In the Hill Country, TX

D for Domino

Domino games are quite popular in the Hill Country. They are played in every community. Especially 42.

I first learned about the 42 game a few years ago when I was doing my ancestry research. It appeared our aunts played the game as well. When they were young, they were involved in a lot of social, charitable, and church-related activities. In connection with that, their names were often mentioned in the social column of the local newspaper. One of such entries informed that our aunt Victoria won every game (out of 14) played during the local 42 tournament (1916), "which was something never done before (...)" (1). At the time when I read the old newspaper, I had no idea what that 42 was, I had to look it up.

Where I grew up adults and teenagers did not play dominoes. They played cards. Dominoes were left to the kids, who played the most simplified domino game only. It was matching the dots, with no score counting. The rules of the game were not complicated: the person who got rid of all the tiles the fastest won the game. Anyway, adults played cards only. No wonder then I had not heard of 42 or chicken foot.

I am not sure whether I am ready to learn how to play 42. Well, I would rather visit with people than focus on the game and counting the score only.

During our visit to the Czech Museum in La Grange, we came across the exact same type of domino set our Texas parents had owned (see above).

1. The Plano Star-Courier (Plano, Tex.), Vol. 27, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, May 26, 1916, newspaper, May 26, 1916; Plano, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth601588/: accessed June 5, 2018), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Collin County Genealogical Society.

My First Live Hockey Match

I have always enjoyed watching winter sports on TV. In Poland they have frequent live transmissions of ski jumping, slalom and other winter sports competitions on main TV channels. Watching it was a kind of a custom and quite nice entertainment too. From time to time, we also observed hockey matches, especially when the Polish team was taking part in a tournament.
That is why, when we got tickets for a hockey game, I was really happy about it. However, I need to mention that I experienced my first live hockey game not in Poland but here, in TX. Considering how little the hot Texas climate has to do with any winter sport, I find it rather funny.
Anyway, I looked forward to seeing hockey live. At least I knew something about its rules and did not have to learn them to understand the game (as it had been at the ball park). To my surprise, the speed of the real game was much, much faster that it seemed while watching the sport on TV. Actually, it was stunningly fast. We had good seats so we could see the entire ice rink and all the players. They were moving so quickly that I could hardly follow them and see where the puck was. Television cameras usually show only a part of what is really going on the ice. It is obvious of course but you most often do not think about it when you experience a TV transmission. Being able too see it all at once, in real, changed the perspective a lot. In a positive way. It made the game much more involving and really exciting!
What is more, with the information given by a TV commentator you know what is happening, even if you cannot see it or miss something.  While watching the live game, I found it really surprising how very often the new players were joining it. Again and again a new one was entering the rink, due to some changes which happened during the game. And I loved the dynamics of the live game. Much better than seen on TV!
Studying the little booklet provided by the event organizers, I discovered that some of the players came from various European countries, including the north of Europe. Like me! Except the hockey match itself, it also made me feel being part of the spectacle which we were watching. I was not an alien, the only one among the spectators who did not know the sport and the rules of the game. Just the opposite, I was enjoying it because I was finding new things in something I was familiar with too.
It would be fun to watch a live hockey match once more!

Stars vs Penguins