Softball technically is called a descendant of baseball. Also there are key factors which makes softball stand different from baseball. Since the year 1910, NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic Association has been dealing with college sports and championships. It's since the same year they sanctioned softball as a game in the field of sports. In the year 1982, the first women softball championships were held in three divisions. The game of softball, particularly for women, is earnestly one of the high-profile sports in NCAA. The playing rule of softball basically covers all the happenings when an opponent and an official is present on the court, pitch or a field. Softballs aren't soft as you may think, but are even harder than a baseball and also larger in size. Moreover, the pitches thrown in softball are underhand instead of overhand. Two teams, each having 9 players, playing against each other on a field of 220 feet (for women) and 250 feet (for men) on an average, have rules which are well preserved to maintain the game's integrity. Discussed below are some basic NCAA softball rules which are stringently followed by all the college teams so that a consistency is maintained in this particular sport. Now, let's read the basic rules of softballs.

The Basic Rules of Softball


The average figure of the entire field, i.e., the distance from home plate to center has been mentioned in the above paragraph. Now the main aim of the game is to of course score more runs than the opposite team (batting) by standing beside the home plate and hitting the ball into the play. Meanwhile, the batter has to run around the bases, touching every base defender in the process and return to the home plate immediately. If the batter unfortunately hits the ball in the foul region and the ball is caught by the fielder, he/she is out. And if the ball merely hits the foul region, its a strike. A player can have only three strikes in the game. Also, another rule is, if the batter hits the ball and the ball first lands in the in-field area and then crosses over and goes over the foul line right before the out-field, that means the hit is a foul. And if the ball hit goes over the foul-line and hits the out-field, the hit is fair enough. The team who successfully manages to return to the home plate gets a good score. On the other hand, the entire team would be declared out if all the three batters from the same team have been struck off, caught, thrown or tagged along during the game. Softball is usually played in 7 innings, where both teams get to play offense and defense. Also, every inning is divided into bottom half and top half that decides the roles of both the teams.

If you come to learn about softball rules and regulations, the game is pretty simple to catch up with. The NCAA softball rules simply discusses the systematic approach a player needs to have within themselves to play this game. The amount of participation supposed to be shown in the play and the earmarking skills every player must possess to reach a benchmark in their future. With this take let's read some NCAA softball recruiting rules and NCAA softball practice rules further below.

NCAA Softball Recruiting Rules

NCAA softball rules ensures that the game is played fair and square between the other participating schools. Also the point of contact between the coaches and the recruits for softball are unbiased and efficient. If there are scholarships which are supposed to be handed out to the recruits, NCAA governs this procedure soundly. NCAA in the present times have about 300 colleges which all have been split in three sections, with varying recruiting rules.

    * Coaches cannot disclose the recruiting data to the high school until 1st of September of their junior year.
    * Also, coaches cannot make phone calls to the high school.
    * If the player is ready to pay for the visit during the spring breaks or so, they are allowed to visit the coach or call them up to discuss softball activities.
    * Players who are attempting prior to the junior year, coaches cannot interact with those softball players at the time of tournaments.
    * At the start of the junior year, coaches can interact with the players via e-mails, phone calls and literature. But those interactions are limited to one phone call or e-mail per week, after the athlete's junior season has reached amid.
    * These are the NCAA softball rules which continues till the senior year of high school. But therein, every softball player can just make 5 visits to the sports campus or events as long as that visit is a paid one.

Schools Scholarships (Division Rules)

Scholarship at Division I

The NCAA Division I is known to be an equivalent scholarship sport. Herein, instead of allotting the scholarship full-fledged to one person, the scholarship dollars are split up amongst many players, in the form of partial scholarships. Usually, the women softball teams are awarded equivalent dollars up to 12 scholarships in total.

Scholarship at Division II & III
In Division II, the number of scholarships available are just 7.2 full grants and the rest of the athletic dollars are given to the students who need academic scholarships.

For Division III schools, there are no academic scholarships for softball. But the NCAA softball rules for this category are such that the coaches are allowed to recruit the softball players and also work with them on their academic backgrounds. This way students cum players can actually grab an opportunity to play the game of softball and also complete their education managing all the costs conveniently.
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Women in the past and present have always proved that they can stand equal to men and challenge their capabilities and roles. They have time and again proved that they are not just about preparing meals, housekeeping and raising children! The world has seen women proving their worth in fields like science and technology, history and art, defense services and sports which need utter strength. Do you know, why talking about women in sports is so extraordinary? Because, women were never associated to the world of physical strength, endurance and perseverance. In this article, you will read about a few of those famous female athletes and sportswomen who broke social barriers to show the world what the real woman of substance is! Therefore, I very proudly present to you, a list of these famous women athletes, take a look.

List of Famous Female Athletes and Sportswomen

As I said earlier, the world of sports is full of physical strength, long hours of practice, strict diets, extreme perseverance and giving the best performance for the team you are representing. Women are never spared from their daily duties of household, even if they would like to indulge themselves in hobbies like sports. But there have been some "extraordinary" women, who have not only changed this point of view permanently, but made significant contributions to their nations glory in various sports. Without any further delay, I am going to reveal to you the names of these famous female athletes and sportswomen in history and today.

Ann Meyers
Ann Meyers Drysdale was born on March 26 in 1955 is known to be the first woman basketball player who signed a contract with the NBA team, Indiana Pacers. This lady, one of the famous female athletes in history, played for her high school, then for her college and later went on to play for the Olympic games before she took up basketball professionally. As one of the famous women basketball players she is known to have represented the national team of United States of America, while she was in high school.

Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King, known to be one of the best professional tennis players of the US was born November 22 in 1943. She is truly a wonder, as she has 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her credit. She always played as a woman and fought against the discrimination against women in sports and society. She proved this, when she defeated Bobby Riggs, also a Wimbledon men's singles champion in 1973.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Born on the June 26th 1911 and died on September 27 of 1956, Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was the greatest American sports ever saw. She was an athlete who played for the US and achieved success in other sports such as golf, track and field and basketball. Babe also has two gold medals and one silver for track and field events at the 1932 Olympics held in Los Angeles.

Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova was born on 18 October, 1956 and is a former World champion and Tennis player from Czechoslovakia. She has 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (known to be an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her credit. One of the world famous women, she won 20 Wimbledon titles, the only woman player to share it with Billie Jean King. She set another world record of winning 79 titles with her doubles' partner, Pam Shriver, with whom she also won 109 consecutive matches and lead to victory of all four Grand Slam titles in 1984.

Nadia Comaneci
A gymnast from Romania, Nadia Elena Comãneci was born on November 12, 1961. She won 3 gold medals in the Summer Olympics of 1976 and shot to fame with her perfection, when she became the first ever gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10, during the event. She took 2 other gold medals in the Summer Olympics of 1980 and is known to be one of the best gymnasts in the world even today.

Mia Hamm
She is best known as Mia Hamm but was born as Mariel Margaret Hamm, born on 17th 1972. She was the best soccer player of her time to represent the US women's national soccer team, where she played as the forward. With 158 goals, she is also known to score the highest number of goals in her career, than any other player in American soccer.

Peggy Gale Fleming
If you want to know what true grace is, watch Peggy Gail Fleming on the ice. She was born on July 27, 1948 and is the best figure skater in American history till date. She won the ladies' singles in 1968 Olympics and won the World Championship for 3 consecutive years. None till today are compared to her on the ice, as she is said to have her own control and charm while skating.

Wilma Glodean Rudolf
Known to be the best and fastest woman in the world, Wilma Glodean Rudolph lived from June 23, 1940 to November 12, 1994. She was the first woman from America to win 3 gold medals in track and field in the 1960 Olympics and became the role model of many aspiring women athletes all across the world. As one of the famous black women she was called, "The Tornado, the Black Gazelle and The Black Pearl". She was a true inspiration, first for black women in sports and then to all the others.

Along with these few famous female athletes and sportswomen in history, there some more honorable mentions, which I can't miss. These women excelled and are still the best in their sports, putting a complex before many male sports personalities. These great women were and are;

    * Susan Butcher (26 December, 1954 – 5 August, 2006) - American dog musher
    * Chris Evert (21 December, 1954) – Tennis player and winner of 18 Gran Slam singles
    * Serena Williams (26 September, 1981) – World Tennis Professional and winner of 27 Grand Slam titles; 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles.
    * Angela Ruggiero (3 January, 1980) – Defenseman in Ice hockey and plays for America
    * Gabrielle Reece (6 January, 1970) – One of the famous female athletes today, she is a professional volleyball player from America.
    * Danica Patrick (25 March, 1982) – Auto racing driver from America

With these great mentions of some of the most famous female athletes and sportswomen, I am sure you are in no doubt about what women are about! So, hope you enjoyed reading about all these wonder women from the past and present. Well, we hope to see more of these in the future!

At the start of February, when we were nearing the start of the CWC '11, it was an easy task picking out the 8 teams who I thought would reach the QFs. (read: ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Predictions) We are now at the business end of the CWC 2011. And it can be safely said that the top 8 teams have rightly qualified for the quarterfinals. The results till now have simply decided who plays who, and from now on it's a pure knockout format. A do or die situation for all teams alike. And with all the teams having lost at least one match in the league phase, the chances of teams entering finals are sort of equal for everyone. Nevertheless, there are some factors that can determine who are the favourites for world cup 2011, and who will come out on top in the end.

Quarterfinal Previews

QF1 - Pakistan vs West Indies (Wednesday, Mar 23, Mirpur)
The first QF is between team 1 of group A, Pakistan, and team 4 from group B, West Indies. On current form, we would have to say that Pakistan are favorites. They have not just topped group A, but also beaten current world champions Australia on the way, ending their 34 match CWC winning streak. Their batting looks decent, and the bowling has always been strong, and add to that the amazing bowling run that Shahid Afridi. On the other hand, West Indies have been erratic. They steamrolled Bangladesh, but struggled against most others. Chris Gayle looks out of sorts too. Here, I would give a 70:30 chance favoring Pakistan.

QF2 - India vs Australia (Thursday, Mar 24, Ahmedabad)
The second QF is the big game. The hosts vs the world champions. Though Australia ended up third in their group, which was the result of losing just one game, they aren't the world champions for no reason. Winning more than 30 games on the trot in CWCs is no mean feat. And if one thought the law of averages had to catch up with them some time, well they lost the last game, so even that theory is out of the window. Ponting has been in poor form, but he plays above average against India, and maybe this is the game for him. Though, Australia's bowling, except Bret Lee, seems to look toothless. India on the other hand have the powerpacked batting line up, which has displayed what it can do in the league games. Though, the record breaking collapses that they have displayed in the previous two matches are surely a cause for concern. And in the bowling, besides Zaheer Khan, no one else looks like doing any major woodwork damage. So with the home support, will India win the world cup or will the extra burden weigh them down? Here, I would give a 60:40 chance favoring Australia.

QF3 - South Africa vs New Zealand (Friday, Mar 25, Mirpur)

South Africa look the be the perfect unit, and all departments of their game seems solid. Kallis, Amla, De Velliers are all class acts, and Steyn and Morkel are in top form. And there is no need to say anything about the high fielding standards that the Proteas have. It is no surprise that they topped group B. New Zealand have been erratic to say the least. But you can never rule the Black Caps out of any game. They have these mediocre matches, and then suddenly spring up a surprise. And most of their top order is itching to make a mark in this CWC, so this can be the game. The bowling though looks on the weaker side, while in the fielding department, they can match SA stride for stride. Here, I would give a 65:35 chance favoring South Africa.

QF4 – Sri Lanka vs England (Saturday, Mar 26, Colombo)
Sri Lanka have had some good games, and some close losses. Overall, they look like a good unit. Sangakara is solid at the top, and he might just lead from the front to bat the English out of the game. In the bowling section, Malinga will be steaming in with his toe-crushing yorkers. Lemme dismantle the woodwork, or I crush your toes. England will consider themselves lucky to have reached the QFs. At one stage in the tournament, they seemed headed nowhere but home. But then it brings back memories of the '92 CWC when Pakistan were all over the place, but lifted the cup in the end. Straus has been in great nick and can lead from the front. With Pietersen already out of the equation, they will need someone to up the anti. Broad and Swann are decent bowlers and can win a match on their day. England score a point over Sri Lanka when it comes to bowling. Here, I would give a 60:40 chance favoring Sri Lanka.

Semifinal Forecast


So as per the above study of things as they are, and might be, we might be heading for a Pakistan vs Australia and South Africa vs Sri Lanka showdown. Though cricket is a funny game, and it is very well possible that I will be kicked in the face ending up with all the wrong predictions. Even the greatest of experts always seem to go wrong hey! So if you, just like everyone else, is wondering who will win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, just a little tip, go with your head and not your heart. OK, now accordingly, in the SFs, if sense prevails, I think South Africa and Australia would be the winners. Though I shudder to think how SA have always snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in most other CWCs. So let's just wait and see.

If things go as put down here, an Aussie Proteas final seems on the cards. So yes, if you ask me who are the favourites to win the cricket world cup 2011, I would say Australia. But as I said, cricket is a funny game, right!!!

Jackie Robinson featured in as many as six Major League Baseball All-Star Games - straight from 1949-1954. He was chosen the Major League Baseball Rookie Player of the Year in 1947, and Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1949. Jackie Robinson's accomplishments on the baseball diamond make him one of the greatest baseball player that the world has ever seen, but that isn't all that Jack Roosevelt 'Jackie' Robinson is known for! More than his baseball accomplishments, Jackie Robinson is remembered for 'breaking the barrier of racial segregation in the field of sports' - which was at its peak back then.

Accomplishments of Jack Roosevelt 'Jackie' Robinson

Jackie Robinson was born on 31st January, 1919, in Cairo city, in Grady County of Georgia. He was named Jack Roosevelt Robinson in the honor of President Theodore Roosevelt who died 25 days before Jack was born. After Jackie's father died in 1920, the Robinson family shifted to Pasadena, California. At the age of 16, Jackie graduated from the Washington Junior High School and joined the John Muir High School (Muir Tech) in 1935. Inspired by his older brothers Mack (silver medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics) and Frank, Jackie decided to pursue his interest in sports and took active interest in football, basketball, track and field - other than baseball, at the varsity level. In course of time, Jackie joined the Pasadena Junior College (PJC) for further education, where his marvelous performance in baseball earned him a place in the All-Southland Junior College Team in 1938.

One of the first in the lengthy list of Jackie Robinson's achievements came in the same year when he was elected the Most Valuable Player for the region. On 25th January, 1938, Jackie was arrested for voicing his disagreement on the arrest of a black friend by the police - one of the first instances wherein he had to bear the brunt of racial hatred. After graduating from PJC in 1939, he joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he continued his stint with various sports. The same year he became one of the only four black players in the UCLA Bruins football team. In 1941, Jackie left the college, and joined as the athletic director for the National Youth Administration (NYA) in California. After NYA was terminated shortly, he moved to Honolulu where he played semi-professional football. By the end of the year, Jackie was back in California playing for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League.

His brief stint with the army began when he was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1942. (see Jackie Robinson timeline) In 1944, however, he was court-martialled for two counts of insubordination following the 6th July, 1944, incident wherein he boarded an army bus and refused to occupy the back seat as directed by the bus driver. Though he was acquitted by the nine-member panel, he was not able to take part in combat action in the World War II because of the court martial. Jackie was eventually transferred to Kentucky - where he served as a athletic coach until he was discharged from the service in November 1944.

In 1945, when Jackie Robinson was the athletic director at Sam Huston College in Austin, he got an offer to play in the Negro League for the Kansas City Monarchs. He played 47 games at shortstop for the Monarchs, in course of which he was also chosen to play in the Negro League All-Star Game in 1945. In August the same year, he was appeared by Branch Rickey - the general manager for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who offered him a contract of $600 per month to play for Brooklyn's International League farm club, the Montreal Royals. On 23rd October 1945, after the contract signing took place, the management made it public that Robinson would play for Montreal Royals in 1946 season. In what was referred to as The Noble Experiment, Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player in the International League since the de facto baseball color line had been implemented in the 1880s.

Jackie Robinson's brief stint in the Minor League was perhaps one of the most memorable phase of his life. On 17th March, 1946, he made his debut for the Montreal Royals in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Daytona Beach's City Island Ballpark. As of result of this Robinson became the first black player to openly play for a Minor League team since the 1880s. On 18th April, 1946, Robinson made his professional debut for the Royals in the season opener against the Jersey City Giants' at the Roosevelt Stadium. His amazing performance earned Royals' 14-1 victory over the Giants. Jackie's golden run continued for the rest of the season, at the end of which he had a batting average of .349 and fielding percentage of .985 along with the distinction of being the Most Valuable Player of the League for that season.

The Brooklyn Dodgers' management took yet another step forward, and signed Robinson for the Major League 1947 season. What was nothing short of one of the golden moments in the American sports arena, Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York on 15th April, 1947, in front of an audience of 26,623 people. With this Jackie Robinson became the first black player to openly break the Major League baseball color line. Robinson's debut got a mixed response from the media and other MLP players. While the racial tension in the Dodger clubhouse was brought to an end with Manager Leo Durocher taking a stand for Robinson, the same in the National League was brought an end with the management stating that those who go on strike would be suspended. After making news - both on and off the field, Robinson ended the 1947 Major League baseball season with 12 home runs, 29 steals (most for that season), batting average of .297 batting average, slugging percentage of .427 slugging and scoring 125 runs.

As other black players entered Major League Baseball, the racial pressure of Jackie Robinson subsided to a great extent in the following season. He went on to win the Most Valuable Player of the league for the next two seasons. In 1950, he earned $35,000 as salary which was the highest ever in the Dodger clubhouse to that point of time. The year also marked the beginning of Robinson's short stint with Hollywood when he played 'himself' in a movie based on his life titled - The Jackie Robinson Story. Three more MVP titles were added to the list of Jackie Robinson accomplishments over the next three years. Brooklyn Dodgers defeated New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series - though it was Jackie Robinson's first championship, it was his worst season till date. He finally announced his retirement from baseball on 5th January, 1957.

With all these on field accomplishments, Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on 23rd July, 1962. He became the first black player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York. The list of his off-field accomplishments - on the other hand, continued to grow with time. His stint as the Vice-President at Chock full o'Nuts from 1957 to 1964, made him the first black person to serve as vice president of a major American corporation. In 1965, he accepted the offer of serving as an analyst for ABC's Major League Baseball Game of the Week telecasts and became the first black person to pull of this feat.

The best part about summer is that parents enroll their kids for summer camps. As for the kids, anything is better than sitting at home and watching television all day. Summer camps help kids become more physically active, make new friends, and basically, have a great time. But what about those kids who can't or won't be able to visit a summer camp (for whatever reasons)? Even they should have fun when school's out, right? Well, how about you organize some fun summer camp games for kids. You can invite other kids from the neighborhood and have a ball of a time. Plus, this beats getting bored at home any given day. So set your backyard as a real camping trip, get the fire pit ready, put some tents, and get ready for some excellent time.

Summer Camp Games for Children
In order to enjoy the games mentioned below, you need to have the necessary supplies ready as well. So before you read the rest of the article, I would advice you to get a pen and a paper to make notes. This will help you plan things more efficiently. And now we move on to the games.

Chanting Frogs
Ask all the kids to sit on the grass and cross their legs; make a circle. You will begin clapping your hands, trying to make a particular beat. The kids will join you as well and along with that, chant "one frog... in the water... splash". The first kid will say "one frog" at the first clap, the second kid will say "in the water", and the third kid will say "splash"; this makes one cycle. When the next 3 kids' chances come, instead of saying "one frog", the first kid will say "two frogs", the second kid will say "in the water", and the third kid will again say "splash". After every 3rd kid, the number of frogs increase. As the game progresses, someone is bound to make mistakes. Whoever does, have them stand inside the circle and distract other players. Whichever kid chants at the right beat till the end, wins.

Knights, Princesses, Dragons
This game is a bit complicated, so bear with me. To play this game, you need to divide the kids into 2 teams. Each team will decide amongst themselves whether they wish to be knights, princesses, or dragons. Ask both teams to go to either ends of the backyard and you, the coordinator, will be standing in the middle. When the teams decide who they wish to become, blow the whistle and everyone will run towards you, in one line. Next, you will say "show yourselves" and the kids will either raise their arms to pretend as if they are holding a sword (for knights), keep their arms on the side to twirl their skirts (for princesses), or growl loudly with hands over their heads (for dragons). Similar to rock, paper, scissors, knights beat dragons, dragons beat princesses, and princesses beat knights. Whichever team loses will get chased towards their side by the winning team. To tag the losing team, you can place water balloons where you are standing. Whoever gets tagged will join the other team. May the best team win.

Splashing Waters
For our next summer camp games for kids, ask the kids to be in the backyard and sit in a circle. This game is played similar to the duck-duck-goose game. Now instead of touching their heads, you will walk behind them with a glass of colored water. As you would say duck-duck-goose, go drip-drip-splash. When you say "drip", pour a little bit of water on their heads. Whoever gets picked as "splash" gets drenched with the water in the cup. Keep going till every kid is completely soaking wet. And colored.

Smelling Garlic
Ask the kids to sit in a circle and give each one a name - mayonnaise, salsa, and ketchup. Now you, the leader calls out a name, for example "mayonnaise". Every kid named that will get up, run around the circle in clockwise manner, and come back to their place. Whichever kid is last, comes and stands in the middle of the circle; call him/her "smelling garlic". Keep playing the game till there are more smelling garlic than mayonnaise, salsa, and ketchup.

Where's the Hat?
For our final summer camp games for kids, have the kids sit in a circle and ask one kid to sit in the middle. The kids in the circle will get a hat to pass around from behind their backs. The kid sitting in the middle will then close his/her eyes as the hat is being passed around. Then you will stop the passing and the kids will say, "Hat... hat... where's the hat?" The kid will then open his/her eyes and will get 3 chances to guess where it is. If he/she can guess it right, whoever had the hat will come in the middle of the circle. And if the guesses are wrong, begin the game all over again till he/she gets it right.

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