Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 1, 2011

15

SPORTS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, January 1, 2011 


PLAY 
GIRLS 
SOFTBALL IN 
SIERRA MADRE!

Spring 2011 
Season 

Registration Dates:

Saturday January 8, 2011 
9:00am - noon

Wednesday January 12, 2011 
5:00pm – 8:00pm

All registrations are at 611 
E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra 
Madre, CA 91024

Opening Day is Saturday 
March 12, 2011

Established more than 30 years ago, Sierra Madre Girls Softball Association (SMGSA) has 
become one of the best girls fast pitch softball leagues in the San Gabriel valley, with teams 
competing at the state and regional levels while maintaining the spirit of a recreational 
league. Our goal is to help our girls build strong fundamental softball skills while having fun.

E-Mail: smgsa@smgsa.org Web Site: http://www.smgsa.org


HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY GOLF SWING?

Part I

If there is one question that I have been asked over a million times it is “how can I improve 
my golf swing“? I might be exaggerating a tiny bit on the million times but it is with out a 
doubt one of the most asked questions in my professional career.

My answer has been the same for over 35 years. “What is your mistake”. The problem with 
the question is that the answer isn’t always correct, and in there lies the problem. If you are 
going to self diagnose your golf swing, you better get it right. If you miss on the diagnosis 
you are going to struggle with the correction.

The 10 million dollar question is, how can you tell whats broken? I am going to give you a 
few things to go through so you can diagnois your golf swing and come up with the correct 
answer, most of the time. If you ask the right questions you will begin to see the correct 
answers.

You have to keep a couple of things in mind. If you don’t hit the golf ball straight there are 
four misses to the right (slice, push, push hook or a push slice) and there are four misses to 
the left (hook, pull, pull

hook, pull slice). The reason I am telling you is so you can see that you have to be very careful 
with your diagnosis from the start.

The very first question you have to ask yourself if you are going to learn how to improve your 
golf swing is, what does the golf ball do CONSISTENTLY when I mishit it? Believe it or not 
your golf ball does one or two things consistently when you don’t hit it well. If you don’t hit 
it solid and straight then it will have a pattern to the mishit shots.

Part II 

You have to keep a couple of things in mind. If you don’t hit the golf ball straight there are 
four misses to the right (slice, push, push hook or a push slice) and there are four misses to 
the left (hook, pull, pull hook, pull slice). The reason I am telling you is so you can see that 
you have to be very careful with your diagnosis from the start.

The very first question you have to ask yourself if you are going to learn how to improve your 
golf swing is, what does the golf ball do CONSISTENTLY when I mishit it? Believe it or not 
your golf ball does one or two things consistently when you don’t hit it well. If you don’t hit 
it solid and straight then it will have a pattern to the mishit shots.

Let’s move on to the next thing you can look for. If you don’t hit the ball solid you will either 
hit the top, middle or too much of the bottom of the ball. In other words you either hit the 
ball thin or fat. 

You can not believe how much information I just gave you for you to begin to properly diagnosis 
your mistake. Another 10 million dollar question, what do you do with this info?

Let’s start with the curve. The grip and the club path control the curve of the ball. If your ball 
curves to the right too much-turn both of your hands to the right an inch or so. If the ball 
curves to the left too much-turn both hands to the left an inch or so. 

Let’s move on to the impact zone. The posture plays a huge roll in whether or not you hit 
the golf ball solid. If you stand too tall you are going to hit a lot of thin shots, if you are bent 
over too much you are going to hit a lot of fat shots. If you swing the club too much from the 
inside you will hit the ground behind the ball or top it to the right and if you swing the club 
from the outside too much you will hit the ball to the left, top it or hit it fat.

This is the coolest part. You only make one or two mistakes, not 50. It seems like every 
amateur golfer I talk to thinks they make 100 mistakes and it just isn’t true. The next time I 
hear from you I want you to say “let me tell you how I improved my golf swing”, instead of 
“how can I improve my golf swing”?

Contact Bobby at: bobbyonegolf@gmail.com or go to: www.igolffixes.com

Alyssa Renskers and Jillian Albright having lots of fun in 
2007 - MVNews File Photo by Linda Ott Albright

2011 Adult Men’s 

Winter Basketball 
League!

The City of Arcadia 
Recreation and Community 
Services Department is 
offering an Adult Men’s 
Basketball League in 2011. 
Get in shape and sharpen 
your skills at the same time! 
Teams are divided into 
leagues based on their skill 
level and play 10 games in 
the brand new Dana Gym, 
located at 1401 S. First 
Avenue, Arcadia. The fee for 
adult basketball is $475.00 per 
team (due upon registration), 
and includes officials, 
scorekeepers and awards. A 
separate $40 forfeit fee is also 
due at the time of registration. 
Open registration will begin 
December 13, 2010 and 
is limited. Teams will be 
accepted into the league on 
a first-come, first-serve basis. 
Just go on-line to the City 
of Arcadia’s website: www.
ci.arcadia.ca.us, to download 
the registration form or stop 
by the office, 375 Campus 
Drive in Arcadia. 

For more information please 
call 626.574.5113!


Survey Reveals Americans May Be Miles Off 
When Judging Daily Activity Levels

Adding steps to your daily regimen 
could bring you closer to a healthy 
level of physical activity. The first 
step, however, is a realistic appraisal 
of how active you really are. 

 According to the recent 
Energizer Reality Check 
Survey, Americans are unaware 
of how many steps they take 
on a daily basis. Participants 
in the study were asked to 
estimate how many steps they 
take in an average day. Then, 
Energizer equipped each 
participant with a pedometer 
and asked them to wear it every 
day for one week and report 
the number of steps taken. As 
a result of the challenge, 42 
percent of participants found 
they took fewer steps than they 
had originally guessed. Many 
of those (36 percent) were off 
by 4,000 steps or more. That’s 
about two miles. 

Younger participants, ages 30 
and under, were even more 
likely to overestimate (44 
percent). And even those who 
were conservative about their 
estimates—the 58 percent that 
actually took more steps than 
they guessed—were way off. 

 “You have to know where you 
are in order to know where 
you’re going,” says fitness 
expert Denise Austin, who 
has teamed up with Energizer 
to help motivate Americans 
to take a proactive role in 
monitoring their fitness. “The 
best way to gauge your level of 
activity is to use simple tools—
such as pedometers and heart 
rate monitors—that provide 
you instant information.”

Getting Informed

 Given that almost one-third 
(31 percent) of Americans 
believe there is at least one 
hour during every day when 
they don’t even take a single 
step, opportunities abound to 
incorporate more activity at 
work or at home.

 “Fidgeting and moving around 
are good,” says Austin. “People 
who can’t sit still burn up to 500 
extra calories every day. If your 
work consists of a lot of time 
sitting at a desk, make sure you 
move around at least every 30 
minutes—take advantage of 
breaks to take quick walks and 
stand up while you talk on the 
phone.”

 Austin challenges you to guess 
how many steps you take in 
a day. After guessing, wear a 
pedometer for a week, then post 
the results on www.facebook.
com/energizerbunny.

Here are a few more tips from 
Denise Austin:

• Test your walking and fitness 
ability by seeing how fast you can 
walk a mile. Whether you go to 
the track, hit the treadmill or set 
out in your own neighborhood, 
try to see if you can do a 
15-minute mile. This will help 
you see how much you need to 
improve. 

• Little steps do matter. 
Standing burns twice as many 
calories as sitting. If you sit often, 
get off your chair as much as 
possible to increase circulation 
and the number of calories you 
burn. Food is not the enemy. 
Sitting still is the enemy.

• Pump your arms. A great 
way to make your workout count 
is to pump your arms. Pumping 
increases the number of muscles 
you are using, toning your arms 
and burning more calories.

• Interval training. Strap 
on a heart rate monitor so you 
know what zone you are in 
while exercising. By alternating 
a low-intensity pace with bursts 
of high intensity, you burn 
more calories and challenge 
your cardiovascular system. 
An effective workout can be 30 
minutes of alternating three 
minutes of walking with two 
minutes of jogging.

• Stretch after exercising 
to help repair muscles and 
especially focus on your lower 
back. You can do this by standing 
up, keeping your feet hip-width 
apart, grabbing the back of your 
thighs and rounding your back 
like a C. 

• Keep your spine strong 
so you can keep going. One 
of the best ways to do this is 
by strengthening your abs. 
Re-educate your abdominal 
muscles by pulling them in and 
contracting them all day long. 

• Keep moving. Walking 
around for one minute in 
between activities during 
the day improves circulation 
instantly and boosts your 
metabolism. 

 “Music is my motivator,” says 
Austin. “Working out with 
music is scientifically proven 
to help people work out harder 
and longer. So grab your MP3 
player and put some great tunes 
on to help make the most of 
your workout.”

 Food is not the enemy. Sitting 
still is the enemy. Try to stand 
and take a walk whenever you 
can fit it in. -NAPS


WRITING SERVICES 

 Could you use help in preparing written communications for your business? I have extensive 
experience in writing and editing business documents including brochures, proposals, 
newsletters, resumes, customer success stories, press releases, and articles for newspapers and 
magazines. 

 Current work includes writing the column, “Looking Up with Bob Eklund,” in Mountain 
Views News, and writing newsletters for the Mount Wilson Observatory. I recently published a 
book, First Star I See Tonight: an Exploration of Wonder, and am finishing a second book, Winds 
Aloft. For writing samples and resume, see my web site: www.bobeklund.com. OR beklund@
sprynet.com (310) 216-5947

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The Harvey Hyde Show

535 So. Lake Ave. Pasadena (626) 792 - 6634

Every Thursday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Hard-hitting, High impact Sports Talk Radio

KSHP Las Vegas - 1400 AM

Camp Aggie Baseball School

La Salle Varsity Baseball Coach Harry Agajanian is running a baseball camp on December 
27th & 28th to prepare players for all star and high school teams. The camp 
runs from 10am-2pm both days and costs $50. 

Email Lasallebaseball52@yahoo.com for more information.