Shane was stoked that Kiddies Corner at South Palm Beach was firing up after days of shitty southerly storm conditions making surfing impossible right up and down the Northern Beaches. It was 8.00 a.m. Sunday, November 1966. Things hadn’t been good in recent weeks for Shane and his mates with the local Warringah Council passing regulations that banned surfing at most of his … [Read more...]
Sophie Scholl – a little known adventurer… and fighter
Many adventurers become world famous. Some never get the chance. The memory of Sophie Scholl is revered in her birth country of Germany but she is barely known in other parts of the world. Tim Edwards explores the short life of one of the world's greatest unknown adventurers and describes how a tiny tomboy sports-lover stared evil squarely in the face and refused to be cowed by … [Read more...]
“Oy – are you looking at my bum?” – Segregation and the Australian swim centre.
The reason why we have segregated change rooms is so that we can boldly wander around naked without worrying that we are being stared at, isn’t it? It also prevents timid members of the opposite sex (and children) from being traumatized by our flaunting our natural assets, doesn’t it? Why shy? In the change-room we can drop out jeans without the crazy beach car-park ritual of … [Read more...]
Who was Europe’s first surfing woman? Introducing the wonderful Witch of Newbury.
It’s a fact of life that many men are threatened by powerful and skilful women. Nowhere is this more so than in sport. While women’s sport might just be entering a golden age right now with women’s soccer, rugby, basketball, Australian football, cricket, surfing etc. emerging from the shadows to not only provide fun and exciting fitness alternatives for women but also to … [Read more...]
Charles Darwin and walking – the unique value of exercise-induced reverie in the life of a scholar and thinker
Excerpt from "How to think about exercise" by Damon Young Charles Darwin. The world's greatest naturalist. Collector of barnacles, orchids and beetles. Jane Austen fan. Stalker of foxes. And a dogged walker. Darwin's daily strolls played an important role in his life, but also in the development of his ideas. They reveal the unique intellectual value of reverie in … [Read more...]