Category Archives: Sport

Think you know all there is about the Olympics?

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 Here’s a question – how many times has London hosted the Olympic Games?*

OK, that one is easy, but you may well want to delve a little deeper into the history of the Games and what better way than to start with the Library? Sprint, jog or walk sedately (preferred option) down to shelf location 796.48 on Level 2 of the Library and you will find several bays of books on the subject.

 Alternatively, look into any of the Library’s 300 sports e-journals for specialist articles. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked. Just check out the Sports category of E-journals A-Z on Library Catalogue Plus or better still, use SportDiscus to search all things sport by subject. Did you know, for instance that there are 103 articles on the Olympics and Loughborough? No, nor did I. If you cannot wait to use this superb full-text database, in addition to finding it via Library Catalogue Plus, SportDiscus is also available via the EBSCOhost app on your mobile – just don’t try to search while jogging!

And it doesn’t stop there. Take a look at Nexis** for current and historic newspaper coverage from newspapers around the world, or the archival copies of The Times, Guardian, New York Times and Mirror with its wonderful collection of photographic images from the Games.

Just pop into the Library at any time and a librarian will be delighted to show you around our collections and resources.

* The answer is three times, 1908, 1948 (it should have been 1944 but the war got in the way) and 2012

** SportDiscus, Nexis and the newspaper archives are available from the Select Database options on Library Catalogue Plus.

Pictured is the 1948 London Olympic Games Poster, image copyright theirhistory, reproduced under CC Licence from Flickr.

The Torch Is Coming!

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The London 2012 Olympics this summer is looming up on the inside lane fast – and the Olympic Torch is lighting every step of the way. And some of those steps are going to be taking it through campus!

It has just been announced this morning that on Tuesday July 3, 2012, the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay will pass through the Loughborough University campus.

The Olympic Torch will arrive on campus through the East Entrance on Epinal Way just after 9am. It will then make its way through campus via the athletics track, past the Library and Burleigh Court and through to the Sir Denis Rooke building, evntually leaving via the West Entrance at around 10.30am.

Full details of the Torch’s nationwide route, including its journey on campus, are available at the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) website. Further information will also be available on the University’s 2012 website.

The Library has a vested interest, too – our archives contain a genuine Olympic Torch from the 1948 Games. Look out for details of a forthcoming exhibition which will be displaying this wonderful piece of sporting history.

Are You Watching, Fabio?

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BBC broadcaster James May with Dr Andy Harland of the Sports Technology Institute

The England football team has had a less-than-stellar record when it comes to taking penalty kicks in tournaments in recent years – but TV’s Top Gear host James May recently paid a visit to Loughborough University to find out if science can help improve this!

Filmed for inclusion in an episode of James May’s Man Lab recently broadcast on BBC2, Mr May visited researchers at the University’s Sports Technology Institute who, by using a range of measurement tools and high speed video cameras, captured the precise detail of his own penalty kicking technique before suggesting areas for improvement.

The ultimate aim of the excercise is to prove that an Englishman can successfully take a penalty and score a goal (some chance!!!)

If football is your game – whether as a player or an armchair pundit – the Library is well stocked with a variety of books about every aspect of the game, from its history and cultural aspects to coaching and training techniques. The database SPORTDiscus is also an invaluable resource for further up-to-date research.

If you want to watch this particular episode of James May’s Man Lab, it’s currently available via the BBC’s iPlayer at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017jk97/James_Mays_Man_Lab_Series_2_Episode_4/

England fans may doubtless hope Fabio Capello sneaks a look to take a few tips before next year’s European Championship finals…!

Lighting the Way to London 2012

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Organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games in London estimate that the Olympic Flame will come within 10 miles of 95% of everybody in the UK - and have come up with a new resource to show where precisely the Flame is going to be visiting near you!

An interactive map shows each of the 1000+ cities, towns and villages the Flame will be carried through, as well as the locations of evening celebrations in honour of the event. All you need to do is enter a postcode in the search box provided to find out where and when the Flame will be near you. For instance, the Flame is due to be visiting Loughborough on Tuesday 3rd July 2012 – something to put in your diary!

Look out also for details of a forthcoming exhibition from the Archives in the Library, featuring a genuine Olympic Torch (albeit not a lit one!)

The map is available from the official London 2012 site at http://www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay-map .

Library awarded grant for People’s Record London Olympics project

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The Library has been awarded a further People’s Record grant award. The People’s Record aims to create a collective record of the public’s response to hosting the 2012 Games.

 

The work will be done jointly with the Centre for Olympic Studies & Research and will produce videos exploring the experiences of Loughborough University students who have volunteered for helping with the London 2012 Olympic Games. These videos will be published on the People’s Record website www.peoplesrecord.org.uk. Videos from two previous Library’s People’s Record projects are already available there. If you would like more information about the project please contact Dr Graham Walton (j.g.walton@lboro.ac.uk)

Image  produced by Prab Bhatia and available via Creative Commons licence on FlickR

Kicking Off the New Season

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Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium, photographed by Tony Evans, taken from Flickr, used under cc licence

The English Barclay’s Premier League kicks off its opening fixtures of the 2011-12 football season this Saturday, with the promise of another exciting year of top calibre football.
 
As usual, pundits remain divided as to who will lift the title next May, currently held by the ever-green Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. But they face stiff competition from big-spending neighbours Manchester City, as well as the strong London contingient of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, plus a resurgent Liverpool side under the steady guidance of their Kop hero, Kenny Dalglish.
 
But football isn’t just about the Premier League. The League Championship and Non-League football seasons have already begun, and way down in the Midland Football Alliance (some nine steps from the Premier League!!) our own Loughborough University football team has already made an excellent start to their campaign, winning their first two matches. Last season they finished a very creditable fourth in the league against a strong contingient of Midland semi-professional sides.
 
And on September 3rd, the team prepare to launch themselves at the first hurdle towards Wembley glory, with a home FA Cup preliminary round tie against Yaxley or Godmanchester Rovers.  The team will also be competing in the FA Vase, the British Universities and Colleges Sport Competition (BUCS) and the Midlands Universities League.
 
You can follow the team’s fortunes via their homepage here, and can find a comprehensive list of the division’s fixtures here. Why not pop along and cheer them on!
 
And if you’re interested in football – either as a fan or a sports science student – don’t forget that the Library has a comprehensive range of sports databases, including SPORTDiscus and and the Physical Education Index, as well as a wealth of football-related books on our shelves.

University Library’s London Olympics projects

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The Library has been working with the University’s Centre for Olympic Studies & Research on 3 projects about the London 2012 Olympics. These projects were funded by the UK’s Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).  The results of these projects are available to all:

  1. The first one was in 2009 and gathered views from Loughborough people about previous Olympics, the Beijing Games and the forthcoming London 2012 Games
  2. In 2010, videos were produced of elite Loughborough University athletes talking about the Olympics, their aspirations and what their sport means to them
  3. Further videos were produced for the next project in 2011 exploring with various groups the perceptions of the impact and value of the Paralympics Games.

These are part of the Peoples Record project (managed by the MLA) which is the first co-ordinated record by a host nation of the public’s reaction to the Games. If you would like to know more about the Library’s contribution, contact Dr Graham Walton (j.g.walton@lboro.ac.uk).

Image  produced by familymwr and available via Creative Commons licence on FlickR

2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games People’s web site now available

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The fast approaching London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have created much excitement and debate. The People’s Record web site has been developed to collect stories and experiences about the Olympics. It will create a record of the impact of Games on people across the nation. The People’s Record will be the first co-ordinated record by a host nation of the public’s reaction to the Games.

Creative Commons Licence - photographer Matsimpsk

The People’s Record web site is now available. Loughborough University Library and the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research have been collaborating on projects to be included on the People’s Record. Have a look at what individuals in the UK are saying about their sport, the Olympics and themselves.

Information is available about previous Loughborough University People’s Record projects and the current project.

Photo available thru Creative Commons Licence – photographer is matsimpsk

Energy and Football – Worthwhile Goals!

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E.ON, one of the UK’s leading energy companies, is at the forefront of a campaign to help amateur football teams up and down the land reduce their costs, after a report which reveals that UK amateur football, as a whole, is likely to be using around a staggering £43m worth of energy in pursuing its activities, with £7m of that total spent by those 2,000 semi-pro or amateur clubs with their own grounds.

According to E.ON, the amateur football sector as a whole could save up to 30% of its total energy bill by installing more modern, efficient and intelligent equipment, such as LED floodlights, timers and occupancy sensors, and by applying better controls, usage patterns and good maintenance.

As sponsor of the FA Cup since 2006, E.ON is no stranger to worthwhile football campaigns that make a positive difference to people’s lives. In the 2007/2008 season its Carbon Footyprint was the game’s first ever green campaign, helping to reduce the environmental impact of the FA Cup by encouraging fans to make simple energy pledges like leaving the car at home or gathering their mates together to watch matches on a single TV.

The Library has access to a wide variety of information about football, the environment, the effect sport has on the environment and its part in helping protect it via our many databases on Metalib, particularly SPORTDiscus and the databases in the Environment section.

To find out more about the campaign, E.ON have set up a Facebook page all about it here.

Happy Friday the 13th!

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What does the date Friday the 13th conjour up in your mind? Ill omen and misfortune? Superstition? Or maniacs in hockey masks pursuing hapless teenagers (and I’m not just referring to the Loughborough Students Hockey team during Freshers Week).

Friday the 13th has long held an infamous quality in western society, even before the advent of that series of dreadful horror movies with the aforementioned maniac. Folklore is full of allusions to dreadful things happening on this day. Indeed, so rooted is it some people’s psyche that it has a profound effect on their day-to-day routine; people are known to avoid taking long trips on planes or trains in case some dreadful accident befalls the journey. Some even take the entire day off and spend it in bed so as to avoid any misfortune (which sounds like a good idea most days anyway).

This phobia of anything connected with the so-called ‘unlucky 13′ can be traced as far back as Norse mythology (the evil Norse god Loki apparently turned up at a shindig arranged by the other 12 gods and, true to form, embarked on massacring them like our friend with the hockey mask), and other instances such as Judas arriving as the 13th guest at the Last Supper, and of course astronaut Tom Hanks having all those problems with that rocket in Apollo 13.

Of course, we in the Pilkington Library have no such truck with such base superstitions, proudly belonging, as we do, to the cutting edge of 21st century technology, with which absolutely nothing can ever go even remotely wronggGGGGGGGHJKFDRERLXxxxxUIOOOP.