Posers Versus Performers. Sports equipment. (Sports Equipment in General)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Sports Equipment in General
Date:	19/08/02 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality boosts performance

Disadvantages: Companies are only interested in money

In the world of sport,particularly televised sport, image has become everything. It has almost forced the actual performance or event into Second place.
It is almost sad to think that an athlete stirves throughout their life to reach the pinnacle of their careers, only to be overshadowed by sponsors and money.
Still, such is the fickle world we live in.
These top athletes however, rely on some of these products and equipment to become the elite in the first place.
The right equipment can lead to faster times, more power, greater distances and normally all of the above in far greater comfort and with better production rates.

This is because sport has become a science.
Constantly evolving to produce the maximum possible results.
This can be seen across the world in all types and levels of sport.

In swimming, new 1 piece suits have been developed in recent years aimed at shaving hundredths of seconds off times thanks to their reduced resistance material properties that are better than bare skin.

In running, highly developed footwear has lead to more comfort for distance runners and better grip and contact for sprinters.

In Soccer, the well publicised Beckham style football boots have given better control and power when stiking the ball. This allows more curvature of shots and hence, more goals.
Even the balls themselves have become lighter and more aerodynamic for better performance in the air.

In Tennis and other racket sports, we have seen how the wooden structure and gut strings have been replaced in recent years firstly by Aluminium and then graphite to give more power and lighter rackets. This gives the servers more power.

These are just some of the areas that sports equipment has led to vast improvements in performance. However, these are the elite atletes at the very top of their particular game.

For the rest of us, the products are marketed so we can live our dreams of
being our favourite star or at least wear the same clothing.

The Beckham boots, Agassi Rackets, Air Jordan Basketball trainers, our favourite team football shirts have all been made on mass with one thing in mind.
The marufacturers such as Reebok, Nike Adidas are not interested in improving your performance.
They are not interested in scoring more goals in your Saturday afternoon match in the local park.
They are not interested in you breaking a 100MPH + serve...
No.
They are interested in what all sports manufacturers are interested in. Money.
Money im afraid, has become the major factor in the evolution of sports equipment. They all want to dress the top players and tell you that they were wearing their products when they won their particular championships.

"This is the mark of winners and if you too want to be a winner, you need to wear it."
This is the statement that they are trying to portray.

While many of us do take up their challenge, few reap the benefits of what they hoped. These types of items are wasted on the taltents of typical society and more associated with "the poser" attitiude than "the performer".

True, it may help your game slightly but many buy these items for reasons other than performance gain. They buy them becasue it makes them look better or so people can see they have bought them.

In fact in modern sport, the only winners, as with everything in the corporate world, are the manufacturers.

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