Category: Sporting Events

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #362 – Sports, Sporting Events and Fun Games

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Everyone gets scared, and everyone falls. The key is to get back up and try again.

Shannon Miller, American gymnast, winner of 7 Olympic medals

My featured image is from the 1996 Olympic yachting events in Savannah.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of sport is: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

This week I am challenging you to feature sports activities. Show us your favorite sports, teams, athletes, fans, sporting equipment, stadiums, or anything else related to sports.. You can also include fun games you can play with your friends such as croquet, ping pong or horseshoes.

I have many happy memories of cheering on my children and grandchildren at their sporting events

I hated every minute of training, but I said “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion”

Muhammad Ali

Have you ever witnessed or participated in a triathlon? The following gallery shows the start of the swim portion of a triathlon in Florida and two bicyclists in the cycling portion of a triathlon in Virginia. In my mind, every one who participates in a triathlon is a champion.

Kite surfing, surfing, paddle boarding and swimming are just a few of the many types of water sports.

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.

Hank Aaron, American baseball player who held the record for most home runs in a season for many years

This baseball gallery includes former Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux, an Atlanta Braves spring training game, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium as seen from the top of the St. Louis Arch. Play Ball!

This motor sports gallery includes the start of the Daytona 500 NASCAR race and a power boat race.

Do you enjoy fun outdoor games like Croquet?

American football season is almost here. Soon high school stadiums will be filled with fans as the teams compete on Friday nights, on Saturdays college campuses will be filled with fans in town to attend the game, and on Sundays games in the professional NFL will be played all across America.

My husband and I have always been huge fans of University of Georgia Bulldogs. We had season tickets for many years and on many Saturdays we would cheer on the Dawgs from our seats in Sanford Stadium. This gallery shows the excitement of game day with fans tailgating before a big game, the team running through the band as they enter the field, the stadium filled with fans for a night game, and action on the playing field.

Today there are hundreds of different sports played around the world. Your challenge is to show images from any sports or games you choose. They can be action shots, crowds of fans dressed in their team colors, stadiums and other venues, your favorite team or athlete, sports you participate in, or anything else sports related.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of your sports images. Use your imagination and have fun! Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to this post. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

You showed us some amazing doors last week for Sofia’s challenge Doors. We hope you will join us for Anne’s challenge on August 30 at noon Eastern Time.

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Afloat during the 1996 Olympic Games

Posted in Georgia, Sporting EventsTagged , , , , , , , , , , 12 Comments

Are you enjoying watching the Paris Olympics and cheering on your country’s team? I sure am. 28 years ago, I wasn’t watching the Olympics on television. I was an Olympic volunteer.

During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Henry, our daughter, and I were volunteers at the Olympic Yachting events in Savannah. For two weeks we got up at the crack of dawn to spend our days on the Day Marina, a floating barge system where the boats were launched and the athletes prepared for their events.

Athletes and volunteers rode a shuttle boat from the mainland to the Day Marina each day

1996 Olympics Yachting Day Marina in Wassaw Sound near Savannah, Georgia

Our job was to help with launch and recovery of the boats. It was great meeting athletes, coaches and trainers from around the world and to see the boats up close.

It was exciting to see the athletes returning to the Day Marina after their events.

USA Bronze Medalist Courtney Becker-Dey
Gold Medalist Nikolaos Kaklamanakis

Being an Olympic volunteer was a once in a lifetime experience. The memories of those days will stay with me forever.

Shared with Sunday Stills challenge Float with Me

Savannah Scottish Games and Celtic Festival 2024

Posted in Entertainment, Historic Sites, Sporting EventsTagged , , , , , , , 8 Comments

The Savannah Scottish Games and Celtic Festival took place this year on May 4. It was a beautiful day despite a short rain shower in the middle of the day. We arrived in time to see the Pipes and Drums Band enter the field for the opening ceremonies.

The festival was held on the beautiful grounds of historic Bethesda Academy. Ancient live oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss surrounded the event area.

I have Scottish ancestors on both sides of my family so we stopped to check out the genealogical tent before wandering around to see the rest of the activities.

Border Collie demonstrations, Highland Dancing competition, and Celtic music performances were all taking place at the same time as the Heavy Athletics. Oatland Island Wildlife Center had a presentation of Birds of Prey where we saw Wassaw, a rescued American Bald Eagle. There were also food trucks, kids activities, and vendors selling many different Scottish items.

Border Collie Demonstration
Highland Dancers
Wassaw, a rescued Bald Eagle from Oatland Island Wildlife Center, Savannah

The Scottish Heavy Athletics competition featured feats of strength and agility. Several different competitions were taking place on the athletic field at the same time.

Hammer Throw

We enjoyed the day and arrived home in time to watch the Mystik Dan win the 150th Kentucky Derby.

May Road Trips and Other Adventures

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This May our wandering took us to the countryside in Georgia, to a baseball game, on a road trip to Virginia, and around our own neighborhood.

Georgia road trip

Our first trip was to the Georgia countryside. On the way to our destination we discovered a new to us barbeque restaurant in Portal where we tried their pulled pork and fantastic spare ribs. We enjoyed our time in the country where the wildflowers were blooming and the trees were showing off their new green leaves. We fed carrots to my brothers donkeys, walked in the woods, and had a fun visit with our 12 year old granddaughter.

Celebrating Henry’s birthday at a Savannah Bananas game

The Savannah Bananas sell out every home game so when I had an opportunity to buy two tickets for a game on Henry’s birthday I jumped at the chance.

We saw the team owner Jesse Cole outside the stadium so of course we stopped to meet him. Henry shook his hand, he posed for a photo with us, and wished Henry a happy birthday. The Bananas play a different kind of baseball called Banana Ball. It has different rules than regular baseball and the night is filled with entertainment during and between the innings. We were laughing and entertained the entire night.

Wandering Dawgs meet owner Jesse Cole
The team mascot Split
Never a boring moment at a Bananas game
Historic Grayson Stadium

Around my Neighborhood

Flowers were blooming all around our neighborhood and in our own backyard. The header image is one of the gorgeous white blooms I captured one morning as I walked by the giant Magnolia tree in a neighbor’s yard.

In our backyard the Painted Buntings fed at my bird feeder almost every day. The resident lizard likes to hang out on the railing on our back deck.

Road Trip to Virginia

We traveled to Virginia to visit our daughter’s family for Memorial Day weekend. We spent the first night in a motel and had a nice visit with my cousin and his wife when we met them for lunch at a Cracker Barrel by the interstate before continuing on to our daughter’s house.

Being with our daughter and her family was the highlight of the trip. The weather was overcast, chilly and sometimes raining but we didn’t let the weather spoil our visit.

It was wonderful to see our Grandson who just finished his first year of college and our Granddaughter who just finished her junior year of high school. My daughter and I enjoyed a trip to the local farmer’s market where I picked up a frozen smoked trout to bring home and she brought home some beautiful fresh produce. Later that day we drove into the mountains, had lunch in the small town of Floyd, and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Chateau Morrisette Winery.

Books

Our Book Club book for May was “The Measure” by Nikki Erlich. It was a very interesting and thought provoking story.

I also enjoyed reading “No Plan B”, the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and “Still Life” by Louise Penney.

Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

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What do you get when you combine a historic baseball stadium, dancing baseball players, a team who has sold out every home game since 2016, a team who’s motto is “We make baseball fun”, a dancing first base coach, a team owner dressed in a yellow tuxedo who also is the Master of Ceremonies at the game and who puts fans first? The Savannah Bananas!

Attending a Bananas game is like no other baseball game you’ve ever seen. The fun starts when the Banana Pep Band, the players, the Banana Nanas cheerleaders (grandmas) , the young dance team Banana Splits, and the owner Jesse Cole march between the two lines of fans waiting to enter the stadium.

There are no assigned seats and all of the tickets include free food – hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, chips, a cookie, and water or soft drink. Of course beer and cocktails are available for purchase.

The fun continued after the game started. The owner and players walked through the stands, the dancing first base coach break danced, and each time the teams switched sides at the bottom or top of an inning there was some kind of fun 60 second event. Most of the entertainment involved kids from the stands and dancing and singing.

Did they play real baseball? Yes, nine full innings. There were celebrations whenever the Bananas scored and when it was over the Bananas won 8-0.

The Bananas play their home games at the Historic Grayson Stadium which was built in 1926. Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Jackie Robinson are some of the baseball legends who have played ball here.