When a Singer Turns into a Fencing Star...

Check out this popular hybrid sport of the week, a ski jumping controversy, a fan who left his car in gear, a clean cricket fit & emerging sports stats.

January 21, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Pre-match briefing

Welcome back to The Gameplan. In this previous week, we’ve had some devastating wildfires which have affected a lot of people, even in the sports world. From game postponements to event relocations like Tiger Woods' league, and even personal losses for athletes— we hope y’all are safe out there.

Scout’s Overview
📡 🚨 Weekly Sports Radar: Footvolley

Footvolley is a sport that combines beach volleyball with football. It’s played on sand with a volleyball net and a football. Players can use their feet, chest, head, and shoulders to volley the ball over the net, aiming to keep it in play without letting it touch the ground (so basic volleyball rules).

Matches are typically played to 18 points. The sport was Invented in Brazil in the 1960s by Octavio de Moraes- it began as a training activity for football players and has since become an international sport, being played in countries outside of Brazil- like Paraguay, who were the first international champions of footvolley.

Athlete of the week:
Bruce Dickinson

Venue of the week: Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre

You’re probably confused as to why we have a singer as the athlete of the week. That’s because Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden, is also an accomplished fencer who has been practising the sport for nearly 50 years.

Fun fact: Just this week, at age 66, Dickinson finished 13th at an international fencing tournament.

The Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre, located in China, is a multi-purpose stadium with football matches, athletics, Esports events, and even an NFL match.

Fun Fact: It has 3 venues- a 60,000-seat stadium, an 18,000-seat indoor arena, and a 13,000-seat aquatic centre. Plus it looks incredible.

🧤 Fit Check: Brisbane Heat 2023/24

Cricket shirts are known to be boring collared shirts, but this Brisbane Heat jersey takes cricket jerseys to a whole new level of fun. This shirt is inspired by the beauty of natural textures and reflects a commitment to community, creativity, and the environment.

From the bench
🗞️ In case you were injured:

  • F1 team Haas makes history by appointing Muller as their first-ever female race engineer

  • Alex Ovechkin sets yet another record, edging closer to surpassing Wayne Gretzky as NHL's all-time leading scorer

🎯 In over-time:

  • A cricket fan’s attempt to snag a photo with rising star Sam Konstas took a comical turn as he parked his car in a disabled spot and rushed towards Konstas, only to realize he'd left the vehicle in gear.

  • Ski Jumping Controversy: The male event winner got cash, while the female event winner got towels and shampoo

📊 Analyst’s corner:

  • Football has overtaken netball as the most popular sport among girls under 18 in the UK. The success of England's Lionesses, particularly their 2022 Euros victory, has contributed to this surge. Football is now offered in 75% of schools, reflecting its growing prominence.

  • The 2023-24 school year saw high school sports participation exceed eight million for the first time, reaching 8,062,302 participants. This marks an increase of 210,469 from the previous year and surpasses the prior record of 7,980,886 set in 2017-18.

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Signing out,
Wasay (brother #2)

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