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...]
How come everyone is wearing board shorts?
A few days ago my daughter reeled in horror and scolded me fiercely as I emerged from the water at the beach in a pair of relatively modest European-style swimmers that revealed no more than a pair of “boy-leg” undies or snug boxer shorts would. Hardly revealing! In my daughter’s world men wear board shorts! She was horrified. When I pleaded for some tolerance and explained … [Read more...]
Cecil Healy – the village hero who changed the world through his sport!
One of Australia's least known sporting heroes changed the world in so many ways... but his mercurial swimming and other sporting feats were not much help against the guns and bombs of war! Manly is viewed by most as a commercial, services and tourism hub surrounded by an urban sprawl. Well, it is that. Sort of. But it’s also a village. Even twenty years ago, when I still … [Read more...]