Digital Journalism Today

By: Theresa-Christine Etim

Misrepresentation and lack of acceptance is commonly all around us, and that can’t be more truer in the culture of Tattoo art.

A old and sacred art, Tattooing goes back centuries, beyond cultures and religions combined. However, audiences turned cold to that side of culture as civilizations grew with times, perspectives, and emerging invention and sciences.

As society emerged into a new era of technology influx in the 2000’s, however, attitudes started to shift towards a more accepting mindset around tattoos.

This can be attributed to the spread of tattoos and its art using new technologies like social media and internet. Another, and main, factor in accepting and commercializing tattoo culture is the popularization of reality television and tattoo shows based around it.

Shows like LA Ink, Ink Masters, and Black Ink Crew have open the door for tattoo enthusiasts to see someone like themselves on TV. These shows have furthered these opportunities as they birthed reality television personalities from the shows like LA Ink’s Kat Von D and Black Ink Crew’s Ceaser Emanuel (who created the latter’s franchise).

Not only have these personalities carved paths for other tattoo enthusiasts, but they also are the forerunners of massive brands from the shows’ popularity (the KVD Vegan Beauty brand and the wildly popular Black Ink Crew vh1 television brand). While controversy sometimes follows these household names, they are apart of the wave of mainstream acceptance with tattoo culture.

While the tattoo industry now remains to be a billion dollar industry in the united states alone, it does however, remain a niche market for mainly enthusiasts while matched with mainstream appeal and attention.

Everyone has a tattoo– or at least it seems like it. While most Americans have at least one tattoo (especially younger generations), everyday activity geared towards tattooing is mostly consumed by only those artists and enthusiasts.

That’s where the Tattoo Arts Festival comes in.

The Tattoo Arts Festival- hosted by Villain Arts- is a convention thrown yearly around the nation to gather tattoo artists, companies and enthusiasts of all kinds for tattoo-affiliated activities. These activities include magic shows, live tattooing by companies and tattooing competitions.

Each tattoo artist has the opportunity to compete with other artists on behalf of their shop or company to win trophies and cash prizes. The biggest prize of all?

Exposure.

While tattoo artists vie and collaborate/showcase to be seen, the convention-goers are doing the same, as they find a place that caters to their hobbies as enthusiasts. They also have the option to get a tattoo of their choice without setting or waiting for an appointment.

Tattoo culture remains to be a selective culture with mainstream acclaim and interest, it’s conventions and festivals are where true enthusiasts can come to feel free to express themselves in whatever way fits them without judgement.

It’s that specified opportunity of acceptance, individualism, representation that draws in tattoo crowds. No matter what floats your boat, the Tattoo Arts Festival has something everyone can like and enjoy openly. Below are a gallery of photos by the Tattoo Arts Show in Houston this year for visual enjoyment, teamed up with a video of Black Ink Crew star Trap Wright who discusses tattoo culture and representation (as well as the ends and outs of being in a major tattoo show and brand, among other things).

Enjoy!

By: Theresa-Christine Etim

When University of Florida student Jacob Yarick learned AI for his undergraduate program, increased game-fan interaction and sports data collection were among the upsides he discovered to using AI in sports. New job prospects and sports technology in an emerging technology space are the crux of why AI in sports is appealing to seasoned industry professionals and newcomers like Yarick.

“As we are in the AI revolution, I see AI being utilized in a variety of ways in general and especially in the sports world as time goes on,” Yarick said.

To play with precision in sports is an immensely important requirement; players must play with precision throughout the entirety of their career, as technical rules and aspects define each game and their outcome. That, along with the influx of modern technology, makes it easily understandable how sports could form an unlikely alliance and boost with specifically AI, as told by current and emerging AI  professionals.

AI—or Artificial Intelligence—is technology enacted by machines, applications and computer systems to mirror human intelligence. It is with this technology that athletes can improve field studies toward opposition analysis, as well as improve overall athlete health. 

One of the many ways student-athletes improve their health with AI is through biomedical engineering.  Data is collected and analyzed through sports performance and studying body function using wearable technology (commonly known as wearables, like smartwatches) and other sports performance tools. 

Jennifer Nichols, Ph.D. and assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Biomedical Engineering Department, said most of the technology used by adults in the mainstream technology market is considered a wearable, and they are often used as sports performance tools that analyze what shape an individual is in.

“A wearable is pretty much any device that collects data on the human state,” Nichols said. “This includes FitBits, Apple Watches and skin patches. The patches—for example— read your sweat levels. There are also mouthguards that can (collect data). In the same way your phone can track you, these (performance tools) can track you too. They can use listed data streams, movements, and heath rates to read your health.”

These wearables are also being studied for how they can prevent injury. According to Nichols, the key focus of using AI technology with wearables is how they can prevent them.

“I think the big question for (AI sports data), is ‘How can I know about an injury 30 seconds before it happens?’” Nichols said. “We want to get to it before it happens. It sounds like a dream, but if you get to the predictors and do risk stratification, you can figure out what is a greater risk of injury to prevent something from happening. AI has abilities to look at that and relate to that.”

According to Sportsologygroup.com, wearables help track athletes’ body movements and use biomechanics to target weakness or fatigue in certain areas. Games and practice footage are also being analyzed by AI video technology to minimize possible injuries and their risks. This is the data Nichols mentioned that can be used to not only prevent injuries, but improve game playing. 

Game-playing improvement in AI technology is not only one of the cornerstones that connect technology and sports, but it’s also one of the many AI projects of  Inventor and BYU professor Dr. D.J. Lee.

Lee is a professional in the AI community who worked with the technology in its early days in the 1980s. He’s also a part of the recent revival of AI, as he’s a part of the slew of AI inventors who develop apps using it. An example of this is AuthentiFace, the AI technology firm that uses labeling methods as means of protection against hacking. It’s this AI labeling method that Lee believes can be used for game improvement. 

 Lee is also gearing up to implement these AI labeling methods in Football through film study, where teams study the game films of their opposition team and analyze their playing methods. AuthentiFace’s labeling was the driving force behind the labeling work he and a couple of his students at BYU used to study offensive formations for the home team. They used images from the football game Madden 2020 to help label players and their positions.

Lee said he’s in the beginning stages of development with his AI methods. He is using them on high school athletes first, although college students are who Lee is setting his sights on.

“Right now, we’re using AI analysis for teams to study their opponents using their acquired footage,” Lee said. “Right now, we are focusing on high school football. There are over 16,000 high schools in the U.S. and high school teams are more open to (changing certain film methods) than college teams. It’s a good start but we plan to (work our way up to college and professional football).”

While Lee is gearing up for AI in college sports, it’s already being taught in universities across the nation, one of which being the University of Florida. 

Dr. and Instructional Associate Professor Nancy Ruzycki is one of the professors at the university; she instructs at a university-led AI and technology summer camp taught by teachers and aided by college students. She said she aims to teach AI in its basic form.

“We ask the questions that matter, so understanding the limits, the benefits, the limitations of AI is where we fall,” she said. “We create camps and curricula that teach people foundational AI.”

The grade school camps were successful in its first year, and while Ruzycki and her team later moved the camps from the university to a district facility for students to have closer access to it, Ruzycki and her team also trained the teachers and college student assistants on how to instruct the kids.

One of those student assistants is Yarick, a UF Astrophysics and Aerospace Engineering double major who’s eyeing an aerospace engineer career for places like Blue Origin and Space-X among his job prospects.

While he contemplates his choices of pursuing engineering, data science or machine learning researcher/engineer, he still carves out time to create lessons like AI programing and chatbot.

“I mostly work for Dr. Ruzycki’s summer camps,” Yarick said. “I design, create, and teach lessons related to Python programming and AI. Last summer, I was in charge of creating the lesson material for an AI summer camp for high schoolers. I created ten lessons within Jupyter notebooks that gradually worked their way up from the basics of Python to the students creating their own musical chatbot. The project allowed the students to see how programming is connected to AI which was a fantastic learning experience.”

What he’s taught and learned reflects the current college AI curriculum nationwide, while also reflecting AI analysis used in college sports by university staff members like Lee and Nichols. Yarick understands this, and said he sees it going beyond just college sports.

“I believe utilizing AI in sports will be helpful,” Yarick said. “I think there could be many opportunities for AI to be incorporated into (professional) sports. I think AI could use pattern recognition to find new statistics that were overlooked. AI could also be implemented during a game to increase fan excitement. For example, it could help decide which fans should be placed on the kiss-cam, or maybe it could decide which songs to play during the game to increase fan engagement. I think it could transform the sports industry mostly for the better.”

While he sees major promise for AI in the future, he also sees setbacks for the transformative technology, one of which being employment decreases among human jobs in the US.

“There could be some downsides such as the need for less employers, which would add to the unemployment rate,” Yarick said. “For example, I could imagine AI could be utilized to replace referees. With respect to basketball, it could decide when a foul is called, when a ball goes out of bounds, or even immediately stop the game when a coach calls timeout. Sometimes these things are missed, so AI could help streamline the process. But as a result, there would not be a need for referees.”

Still, Yarick sees AI being utilized in a variety of ways within the sports world in the future: AI robots, healthcare to monitor player health, player- insights for game preparation, and changes in how humans interact with sports entirely. He also shared his thoughts on AI impacting other fields.

“AI will be heavily utilized in the science realm as it will accelerate research pertaining to drug discovery, predicting natural disasters, and even physics and mathematics,” Yarick said. “I’m truly excited to see what the future holds.”

When it comes to the future of AI, it remains largely unsure by its industry insiders due to its rapid growth in many forms. But what is for sure by Nichols, Lee, Ruzycki and Yarick, is how it’s currently reshaping college sports, and that its future lies in further reshaping professional sports in the future.

By: Theresa-Christine Etim

Hi, I’m Theresa Christine and this is Past to Present, The History of The Three Mascots of Saint Bonaventure. This is my chosen topic for the video storytelling assignment. Hope you enjoy!

https://youtu.be/n89aNC34BdY?si=7ZZuSO2ZWnRhZs5B

By: Theresa Christine Etim

An active basketball life, a famous cousin and a southern but cultural upbringing are not only the elements that make Sam Martin who he is; it’s also what propels him forward.

For Martin, introduction to the basketball world all started as a child. He had a father who not only also had a passion for basketball, but was also a coach. According to Martin, it all started on that fateful day he was born, September 13, 1999 in Tyler, Texas.

“My dad has been a basketball coach my entire life, so I was pretty much born into the game. I knew it was my passion by the time I was five years old,” he said. “When I was only four years old, my dad let/made me warm up with the varsity basketball team in layup lines at games. I was thrown into the fire right away, so nearly no moment on the court is too big for me, because I was molded into this lifestyle.”

While Martin was born in Tyler, Texas, he was raised in Spring, Texas, an outskirt town on the northside of Houston, Texas. While he has lived all over, he considers himself a Texas kid who not only is proud of where he comes from, but has played for basketball leagues throughout the city.

“I have played for many teams and organizations growing up, some of the more notable ones were in Houston,” Martin said. “I have played in little leagues such as the WCBL (Woodlands/Kline Basketball City League) in the Woodlands and many AAU (Armature Athletic Union) programs as well, such as Gibson Hoops, Houston Hoops, Martin Brothers (my dad’s team), Texas Elite, Basketball University, TJ Ford Elite, KDC Elite, Team Hyperfuse, and Young Game Changers (YGC). Through these programs and individual teams, I met tons of players and parents that I have stayed in contact with to this day. I love Houston, it’s a great mixture of a cultural melting pot with a bunch of southern hospitality.”

In addition to his basketball experience, Martin has also been to 11 schools. While it has moved him around a bit, he believes it gave him the opportunity to meet lots of different people. 

Hildebrandt Middle School, Hoffman Middle School, and Schindewolf Intermediate School served as his middle school basketball teams. In high school, he played for Klein Collins, Westfield, and his alma mater, Burleson High School. He mostly played point guard for each team and while winning many games and championships, he credits each team with teaching him how to be a leader.

“I learned a lot from all of these teams,” he said. “I learned how to be a leader and to lead by example, most importantly. I think this trait has carried on with me and forever will.”

Martin also has a lot of hobbies such as fishing, hunting, landscaping and collecting aquariums and fish tanks. He also enjoys swimming recreationally at beaches and lakes on family trips, but the other dominant sport he plays is football, which also runs in the family.

The proof of his football genes is NFL Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is his first cousin.

Not only are they four years apart, but they also grew up about four hours apart for most of their lives. Martin says he has a lot of early childhood memories of his famous cousin, despite their lives taking different directions.

“Me and Pat are first cousins,” Martin said. “I lived in East Texas near him up until I was five. We have a ton of childhood pictures and memories together, but the rest of our lives aren’t as close as I would’ve liked them to be. Yes, we were always close and cool, but we didn’t get to spend much time together growing up [other than] the holidays.”

But he did-and still does-have enough memories with Mahomes to not just share childhood memories with, but to have that leave an imprint on his life as his younger cousin.

“There are tons of pros [to] having someone like him as a cousin, role model and mentor growing up,” Martin said. “He is a great guy and extremely humble. He has helped me to acquire and maintain those good traits for myself.”

It might seem hard and pressuring to have such a famous cousin, but for Martin, it’s such a plus that it seems too good to be true to most. 

“It’s not too hard dealing with him being my cousin,” Martin said. “Honestly, 90% of the time, people don’t believe me when I tell them. So I just quit telling people!”

What’s even crazier is that Martin spent most of his undergraduate career studying Business Marketing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the same city as his Chiefs Quarterback cousin Mahomes.

But it seems that Mahomes’ influence is already rubbing off on Martin. University of Missouri-Kansas City Roo News Sports Editor Cristian Martinez says he is a great leader, much like Mahomes, which is what he’ll miss about him the most upon his transfer.

“He is a great leader. Sam will give it his all wherever he goes,” Martinez said. “That is what I will miss about him the most. He wants to prove he can play no matter where he goes.”

This transfer in particular is to Valdosta State University in Georgia to play for the Blazers, while finishing his undergraduate program to obtain a master’s degree. Martin said he feels quite blessed about this move, considering that his education will still be funded through basketball.

“My goals with going to Valdosta are to continue to get my education paid for and to leave college with my bachelor’s and master’s degrees fully funded and debtless,” he said. “I am blessed to be in this position and I can’t complain at all! My goals are to complete my MBA, play basketball and enjoy the game that I grew up playing that got me this far in life, and win championships all while staying healthy.”

Martin is a senior with two years of eligibility left and he’s considering pursuing a professional career overseas after college, something he’s a bit unsure of. He also plans to get a high-paying job and start a career in marketing or fitness.

But for now, Martin can enjoy his move to Valdosta State in Georgia, a southern adventure he seems to be excited for.

“I am from the deep south,” he said. “So I have a good feeling that I’m going to love South Georgia.”

It’s safe to say, it seems like Martin will feel right at home.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

We are in the last week of June, but also the first weekend following the highly discussed NBA draft. And as we discussed, there are some unique talent this year who started from various backgrounds.

On Friday, we discussed the top five draft picks for 2023, and how they differed from other top fives in the drafts of the past, specifically how most of them did not come from college basketball teams.

We looked at number one draft pick French player Victor Wembanyama, number two draft pick Brandon Miller, number three pick Scoot Henderson, and pick four and five twins Amen and Ausar Thompson.

Four of those five had come from minor leagues to play for NBA this year.

But despite them all coming from different backgrounds, the common denominator is that they all started playing basketball by liking it. And not only did they like it, but they played it recreationally on a consistent basis.

Not everyone who plays recreational basketball, ends up actually pursuing basketball though.

But through these recreational programs, young players can acquire skills early on that can help them undertake a future and basketball professionally.

One of the most famous examples of this is Shaquille O’Neal, who has openly discussed his time with the Boys and Girls Club of America as a youth and how that led him to where he is today.

Photo by Jesse Orrico on Unsplash.

The boys and Girls Club of America is a organization that helps American youths all over the country acquire skills, hobbies, academic help and other skills through after school programs in local chapters within the 50 states.

Dealing with absentee birth father, O’Neill was vulnerable to street life, but with the guidance of his stepfather and help from the Boys and Girls Club, O’Neal stayed off the streets and found basketball by just shooting hoops, according to Parade.com.

“It gave me something to do,” he said. “I’d just go there to shoot. I didn’t even play on a team. It always gave me somewhere to come. I could do my homework there. It gave me a lot of opportunities.”

The same goes for Michael Jordan, who also got his start as the Boys and Girls Club. Both athletes look back fondly on their time at the Club through various philanthropic efforts like donating money, laptops, and creating clubs themselves. The Shaquille O’Neal boys and Girls Club is an example.

Finding a passion in basketball recreationally gave these youths-turned-icons an opportunity to not only express themselves, but an opportunity to focus and the ability to apply themselves to become great while building on that greatness.

Basketball might not be for everyone, but the skills acquired by recreational basketball through various clubs and organizations may very well prepare a young, interested youth down a path of not just professional basketball, but a career of greatness.

Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

Basketball and other recreational sports are something that anyone at any age can enjoy. Toddlers and children, tweens and teens, adults and seniors; basketball and other sports are activities that can release, heal, and inspire. And it can bring multiple people together. As we can all use those things at any age, below are the types of recreational sports that are the most useful for specific age groups you may belong to.

Babies and Toddlers (Ages two to five)

Photo by Deborah Varrie on Unsplash.

Around the age of two to six, children can only start partaking in unstructured physical activity on somewhat of a consistent basis, so fortunately they can be added to the list at this point. But sports like running tumbling and swimming are the appropriate activities for children of this age group, as this is what their bodies can participate in so far.

Kids ages six to nine

Photo by Md Mahdi on Unsplash.

Kids around this age are more fundamentally developed than they are at the toddler stage, so they can take on more advanced activities. Activities such as running, football, tennis and martial arts can be added to the list of sports at these ages, as concentration and other skills start to develop and become usable.

Kids age 10 to teens age 18

Photo by Lars Bo Nielsen on Unsplash.

At this point, children and minors tend to have a more advanced coordination and understanding to participate in actual sports and sporting activities. Average complex sports are able to be played at this stage of youth, which allows for activities such as football, basketball, hockey, volleyball and other average sports to be played at recreational and minor competitive levels.

Adults (Ages 18+)

Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash.

Much like older children in teams mentioned previously, adults can also partake in the same sports and activities, (football, basketball, baseball and etc.). At this point though, the activities not only are advanced but start to lean into possibilities of professional sports in minor and/or major leagues.

Seniors and Older Adults

Photo by Christina Deravedisian on Unsplash.

While reaching ages of retirement, seniors often scale back from sporting activities they partook in their youth, or they just don’t participate in them at all, as their bodies become more vulnerable to health issues while doing sports (sprains, joint pains, heart complications and etc.) These adults can and often choose lower impact sports such as pickleball, shuffleboard, bowling and golf, among others. On the other hand in this day and age, the health in senior adults has increased tremendously, as a result of more advance technology and methods in medicine. These healthy seniors are good to go and still routinely participate in previously mentioned regular sports recreationally.

So no matter what age you are, or what gets your heart pumping, recreational basketball and sports are among things that all ages can enjoy.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

Photo by Diane Picchiottino on Unsplash.

It’s draft pick time! And you know what that means.. new players for new teams with fresh opportunities.

Thursday, June 22 was the first day of the 2023 NBA Draft and while the summer solstice was the day before, the draft is what everyone is talking about.

What’s garnering attention, is the fact that the NBA drafted its first set of twins at the same time. But what’s specifically being discussed is that top five players were picked and four of those individuals came from non-college, rec or minor league teams.

Photo by Hannah Gibbs on Unsplash.

What makes this so peculiar is that draft picks are expected to-and usually come from-top college basketball teams. Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan are prime examples.

So as you can see, the college-level talent expectations are high.

But this year is special.

The 2023 drafts first pick sees 7’2 French player Victor Wembanyama, joining the San Antonio Spurs after playing for the French national team at youth level.

Scoot Henderson was the NBA’s third pick after playing for the NBA G League Ignite, a developmental basketball team in the NBA G League that helps young players develop their skills for NBA prospects.

But it’s the next two players who are getting people talking.

Picks four and five twins Amen and Ausar Thompson are two players that were not only born one after the other, but drafted the same way after only playing for Overtime Elite, a league of teams for teens and young adults that also assist players for professional basketball preparation.

Amen will play for the Houston Rockets and Ausar for the Detroit Pistons, who the latter teams General Manager Troy Weaver sees as a special talent depsite such a unique story according to KGET.com.

“When you see somebody elite, you know it,” he said.

The only exception is missing draft pick number two’s Brandon Miller, who played for the University of Alabama’s Division I basketball team, Alabama Crimson Tide, leaving an impressive tenure as a top player on that team as well.

While lots of top draft picks come from colleges around the US as top athletes of those teams, 2023’s draft pick teaches the NBA and it’s fans that not all athletes are cut from that same cloth. And by the looks of some of the promise and special talent of this year’s draft, that might be a good thing.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

What occurred this past Wednesday was nothing slight of an in depth glimpse of sports journalism when a St. Bonaventure Masterclass was held with Buffalo Bills reporter Ryan Talbot as its guest on June 14.

Led by Sports Journalism Professor Brian Moritz, the master class touched on many topics and also included Q&A’s led by the students sprinkled throughout the presentation. Moritz set the tone for the in depth conversation for Talbot, who is the Bills’ Syaracuse.com team contributor, by asking him for a quick run down of what his daily life consists of.

“Right now, I’m a Buffalo Bills, beat reporter for Syracuse.com and newyorkupstate.com, both through advanced media,” he said.
“In addition to the writing responsibilities of being a upbeat reporter, we also do a podcast that’s really taken off over the last few years.”

Moritz also asked for a rundown of current events, such as the Bills’ Mini Camp Week. While Talbot was able to give a fair recollection of his time there, he maintained that secrecy surrounding the camp was required.

“So the NFL and the Bills specifically, they have a lot of specific rules you must follow,” he said. “You can report that at a certain time you can take photos and videos and certain sessions, and then there’s parts where you just cannot report anything. I’m not allowed to say who’s lining up with the first team on the offensive line. For instance, you’re not allowed to talk about how they’re lined up and how they’re using certain players. It’s very tight-lipped there.”

James Peacock, a master’s journalism student at St. Bonaventure, then wondered at what point could certain information be revealed. When asked, Talbot revealed that while the rules on this are strict, they can also be a bit tricky, and said there were different rules for fans as opposed to reporters.

He recalled taking notes on what he was allowed to say and shared he noticed that fans attending the camps could tweet just about whatever they wanted.

“So we’re standing there on the track, and we’re taking notes for what we can report after the fact; we still can’t say who’s starting where and all this stuff,” he said. “But if you’re a fan sitting in the bleachers, you can be on your phone tweeting things out instantaneously, saying, ‘Hey, here’s the starting offensive line.’ There’s definitely things that don’t make sense to us from our perspective, the media’s perspective. But it’s the team rules. You have to follow it to a T and if you don’t follow it to a T, you can lose your credentials. You can lose your press spot, so you need to follow those rules.”

He also gave an example, citing the suspension of Bills team reporter Chris Brown when he disclosed unallowed information.

Talbot also shared that not only are there rules to adhere to, but there’s time commitments to adhere to as well, when asked by Julia Rowland, another student.

“There’s radio spots where they’re giving you days notice, hours notice, and you have to put aside about 20 to 25 minutes for a radio [spot],” he said. “Then, I’m doing a podcast our own podcast two or three times a week, and that’s anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half per appearance that’s guest appearances on other podcasts. But you’re always traveling, so there’s perks to that.”

According to talbot, a position like his assures him travels with the team. The camp was used as an example, as he and other members of the press were given dorms at the college where the camp was held. A bigger scaled example was an upcoming one. The Bills will be going to London, which will require Talbot to go to London as well. He and a work colegue are currently trying to plan to visit shooting locations of the famous show Ted Lasso while there.

But overall, Talbot ensures to the students that the most important part about being a blogger, is that you have to be unique and continually skilled. And while podcasts have changed the game for reporting, you still have to be a great writer at the end of the day.

“You’re going to see a story that everyone is writing, but yours has to be unique,” he said. “Learn SEO and not clickbait. Learn how to make someone curious. There are a lot of perks to podcasting [like engagement]. But there’s other stories to cover that we try to hit up in the written form app, and our talking points come from what we choose to write about. So I still think that writing is very important.”

Talbot’s work can be read on Syracuse.com and newyorkupstate.com.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

It safe to say basketball, one of the oldest professional sports in the world, creates a lot buzz in the world of sports. Whether it’s topics of gamemanship, specific game turnouts, or even the colorful personalities behind the sport (we’re looking at you Dennis Rodman), much can be said about the world of professional basketball, but what about recreational teams? The every day average joes who play the sport as well (sometimes just as well)?

Well whether you’re playing on a recreational team, or maybe you’re just interested in doing so, here are the top three benefits to playing recreational basketball.

Health

One of the top reasons recreational basketball can be pretty beneficial is because it’s just plain good for your health. The National Library of Medicine have cited studies that prove that recreational exercise can help with insomnia, can combat health issues contributed by obesity, and slew of other health issues. Not only that, but it helps with pain relief and aids in a better mental health by relieving stress.

Emotions

Also, recreational sports, like basketball can just downright make you feel good. The exercise from it can make participating individuals feel good about themselves, boost their confidence, give them joy and just give an overall great satisfaction about their life. Who wouldn’t want that?

Family

That’s right, family relationships are vastly improved by recreational sports as well, who would’ve known? The Library also says that families that engage in recreational sports will not only improve the family’s dynamic, but makes it closer. Additionally, this can stimulate positive conversation surrounding the recreational sport activities among the families at down times like family dinners and long drives that can promote harmony and a positive atmosphere.

So whether you’re a big league baller, a rec league player or you just like playing with your friends and family, recreational basketball can provide something that not only keeps you out of trouble, but can also provide something good for all of us.

By: Theresa Christine Etim

Despite the last call for registration for central Houston’s 5v5 men’s basketball league being for June 12, the league is still seeking members.

What was thought as the Lutheran High North Community Center-based league drawing registration to a close, apparently interested individuals and teams can still join online, with the late registration fees being $945 per team and $135 per person.

While this registration has been extended, individuals and teams can still register with the original registration price ($845 for teams, $105 for individuals) if they are signed up before the aforementioned new late registration period (June 29 to August 4).

The individuals will still be put in teams of eight with five playing at a time on the court.

For more information or to sign up for the league, visit https://sportskind.com/houston/sign-up/ to register.