Jon Rahm is a new legend from Spain...

Jon Rahm Rodríguez (Barrica, Vizcaya, November 10, 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer, current number 3 in the world. He was number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for sixty weeks, holding the absolute record as number one in said classification. He started as professional in 2016, the year in which he participated in the United States Open, which he would win only five years later, on June 20, 2021, making him the first Spanish golfer to win this tournament.

In 2017 he was champion of the San Diego Open, the Irish Open and the Dubai World Championship. On July 19, 2020, he won the Memorial Tournament (Ohio) and reached the number one position in the PGA world golf rankings, ousting Rory McIlroy, thus becoming the twenty-fourth number one in history, the tenth European and the second Spaniard after Severiano Ballesteros.

In 2023 he became champion of the Augusta Masters (the fourth Spaniard after Severiano Ballesteros, Jose María Olazábal and Sergio García) and won his second Ryder Cup (2018, 2023) with the European team. 

Chess is a sport

Why is chess considered a sport?, sometimes we have the tendency to consider sport only what destroys us physically. I have been a competitor in many sports: athletics, swimming, handball and I have done others such as full contact, basketball, etc...and, indeed, I was much more tired than playing chess. But that is not the criterion to determine whether an activity is sports or not, or at least it is not the only one. The International Olympic Committee and more than 100 countries recognize chess as a sport. In addition, he tried his foray into the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo (and did not succeed), although he did participate as an exhibition sport in Sydney 2000.

Here are the reasons why chess is a sport:

1. IT IS COMPETITIVE: the goal is to win. Chess involves a relentless fight against an opponent. There is probably no sporting activity in which two people engage in a competitive fight of such intensity for such a sustained period of time. If in chess you lose concentration and make a mistake, you lose the game, something that does not happen in many other sports, which implies a permanent state of alert and great psychological and physical exhaustion.

2. IT HAS A STRUCTURE: the world championship has been organized since 1886 and continues to have a great tradition. Chess competitions are organized at all levels: schools, universities, cities, leagues, junior, senior, European, world, etc. In Spain, for example, there are about 30000 federated: a number close to that of people federated in Rugby.

3. PHYSICAL APTITUDE: maximum mental condition requires being in good physical condition. Players must concentrate fully for many hours and for many days in official tournaments. As stress increases, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rates increase. Competitors for the worls championships have nutritionists and physical trainers. Anyone who has played and official 8 or 9 day tournament will know very well what it affects physically.

4. CODE OF BEHAVIOR PLAYER are penalized for lack of sportsmanship, for example, for refusing to shake their opponent's hand. Mobile phones are prohibited. There is an anti-doping policy. And the rules of chess are complex and rigorous.

5. OLYMPIC RECOGNITION: Chess has been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee since 2000. It was one of the events at the Asian Games in 2006 in Doha and again in Guangzhou in 2010. It is also being considered for inclusion in the Pan American Games. Russia is trying to incorporate chess into the Winter Olympics.

6. EUROPEAN RECOGNITION: Chess is recognized as a sport in 24 of the 28 member states of the European Union. The exceptions are the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden. In Sweden, chess is likely to be included soon. The support comes from the Swedish sports coaches organization that admires the metal discipline of chess.

7. GLOBAL PLAY CHESS is played all over the world regardless of age, race, gender, income or language. People with physical disabilities play chess. Blind people play chess. People with advanced psychological illnesses play chess: Professor Stephen Hawking played chess with his children.

8. MENTAL COMPONENT: all sports have a mental component. In short, competitive sports can be interpreted as strategy games that differ only in their physical manifestation.

9. PLAYER RANKING SYSTEM: the player classification system was developed for chess in 1960 (the ELO system) and has been adopted by many other sports, including American football, baseball, basketball, hockey, rugby and golf. It is a very reliable system to measure the level of the players.

In conclusion, chess is a sport that is accepted in many countries and whose practice seriously causes great physical and mental wear.

Getafe CF

Getafe Club de Fútbol or simply Getafe, is a Spanish professional acting football based in Getafe, a city in the south of the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium is Coliseum Alfonso Pérez which was opened in 1998 and can hold 17393 spectators. The club was founded in 1946 and refounded in 1983.

Getafe participated in the top level of Spanish football for 12 years between 2004 and 2016. The club's main rivalry is against neighbours Leganés, who are based near the town of Getafe, and a friendly rivalry against Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid. Sociedad Getafe Deportivo was founded in 1923, only playing in lower divisions from 1928 to 1932. After the Spanish Civil War, in 1945 five Getafe locals, Enrique Condes García, Aurelio Miranda Olavaria, Antonio Corridor Lozano, Manuel Serrano Vergara and Miguel Cubero Francés, while meeting at "La Marquesina Bar", decided to form a local team. Officially founded on 24 February 1946, the club was named "Club Getafe Deportivo".

The club originally played in the "Campo del Regimiento de Artillería", which lacked goal posts. Shortly after, the club moved to San Isidro, housed in the current Municipal Sports Center of San Isidro. Here, Club Getafe was promoted to the third división follosing their victory against Villarrobledo in the 1956-57 season. Getafe was nearly promoted to the Segunda División in 1957-58, but was defeated by CD Almería. 

On 2 September 1970, the club inaugured its own stadium after being promoted back to the "Tercera División". Presided by chairman Francisco Vara, "Las Margaritas" won a 3-1 victory over "Michelín". The team survived in the third level that season, and six years later gained their first promotion to the second division in which played six seasons with little success. From 1976 to 1982, they placed below tenth level all six years.

In 1978, the club advanced to play against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey round of 16. Playing at home in the first leg, Getafe drew with a star-studded Barcelona team 3-3, before traveling away for the second leg and being thrashed 8-0 at the Camp Nou. At the conclusion of the 1981-82 season, players having not been paid, Getafe was automatically relegated and subsequently liquidated. 

Meanwhile, on 1 September 1976, a new club was founded in the National Sports Council and the Regional Federation of Castille. The club was called "Peña Madridista Getafe". This club played for four seasons in various divisions, until taking the name "Club Deportivo Peña Getafe", and played under this name for a further two seasons. On 10 July 1982, they joined forces with the much older "Club Getafe Promesas", and were registered again in the Regional Federation of Castille. 

Based on the merger the previous year, the present "Getafe Club de Fútbol" was officially founded on 8 July 1983, after passing through assembly. Starting in the regional leagues in 1983-84, Getafe was promoted for four consecutive seasons until reaching "Segunda División B". The club started a new period with its promotion into "Segunda" in 1994-95, staying only two years. Threatening absolute disappearance just a few years later in 1997, Getafe survived relegation into the fourth level "Tercera División" following a two-legged playoff victory over Huesca.

Meanwhile, Getafe's current stadium, the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, was inaugurated on 1 January 1998. Returning to the second division for 1999-2000, Getafe lasted another two seasons. However, one year later, they would return following an amazing promotion in 2001-02 during which one of their players, Sebastián "Sebas" Gómez, was murdered, and controvery regarding unpaid payments of players following a debt of 3 million of €. Consolidating their position after one year, Getafe had a fantastic season in Segunda. 

At the top of the table for most of the year, the side travelled to the Canary Islands on the final matchday needing a win to assure a historic promotion to "La Liga", the top-flight. Amazingly, they defeated Tenerife 5-3 with five goals from Sergio Pachón, thus becoming along with Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Rayo Vallecano the fourth team from the Community of Madrid, and the first of them from outside of the capital, to ever play in "La Liga". With this promotion, Getafe had ascended the whole Spanish football pyramid, achieving this feat in only 20 years.

The club started 2004-05 poorly, lying at the bottom of the table. Home wins over Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Real Madrid, followed by a sole away win of the season over Athletic Bilbao, saw Getafe clim to finish 13th, being the only promoted side to avoid relegation. At the end of the season, the club lost head coach Quique Sánchez Flores and several players to rival clubs. In Getafe's next season, the club briefly topped the table before slipping to finish ninth. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Argentine-born Mariano Pernía became Getafe's first ever Spanish international, before moving to Atlético de Madrid.

In 2006-07, Getafe again finished ninth in the league, conceding only 33 goals in 38 matches and goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri "el pato" was awarded the Zamora Trophy, having recorded 12 clean sheets. The highlight of the club's season was reaching the 2006-07 Copa del Rey final, a competition in which Getafe had never reached the quarter-finals before. The run included a two-legged semi-final against Barcelona in which Getafe lost the first leg 5-2 at the Camp Nou before producing a 4-0 rout in the second leg at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.

Getafe lost their first ever major final 1-0 to Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Through this, the club qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup qualification, as Sevilla had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through their league position. The following season, coach Bernd Schuster left after two seasons to become head coach at Real Madrid, and Getafe appointed Michael Laudrup as his replacement. Under Laudrup, Getafe again finished the league mid-table. 

In the UEFA Cup, the team managed to progress to the quarter-finals after finishing top of Group G, only losing once, setting up a tie against four-time European Cup Winners Bayern Munich. Getafe drew the away leg 1-1, thanks to an injury time equaliser from Cosmin Contra. In the second leg, Rubén de la Red was sent off after six minutes. Contra put Getafe ahead just before half-time, but in the 89th minute, Franck Ribéry equalized to send the match into extra time. Two quick goals from Javier Casquero and substitute Braulio gave Getafe a 3-1 lead, but Bayern pulled a goal back from Luca Toni, before Toni again scored seconds before the end of extra time, giving Bayern an away goals win. Getafe also had successful run in the Copa del Rey, reaching the final for a second year running. 

In the final, at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, Getafe were beaten 3-1 by Valencia. In the 2015-16 season, Getafe were relegated to second division after spending 12 years in first campaign. However, in 2016-17, the club immediately returned to "La Liga" after defeating Huesca and Tenerife to gain promotion via the play-offs. In the 2017-18 season Getafe finished in the 8th position, easily avoiding the relegation back to "Segunda División". In 2018-19 season they finished 5th, their highest finish in the first division, and qualified to the 2019-20 Europa League group stage. The team continued performing well in the 2019-20 season.

Squash

The use of stringed rackets is shared with tennis, which dates from the late sixteenth century, though is more directly descended from the game of rackets from England. In "rackets", instead of hitting over a net as in sports such as tennis, players hit a squeezable ball against walls.

Squash was invented in Harrow School out of the older game rackets around 1.830 before the game spread to other schools, eventually becoming an international sport. The first courts built at this school were rather dangerous because they were near water pipes, buttresses, chimneys, and ledges.

The school soon built four outside courts. Natural rubber was the material of choice for the ball. Students modified their rackets to have a smaller reach to play in these cramped conditions. The rackets have changed in a similar way to those used in tennis. Squash rackets used to be made out of laminated timber.

In the 1980s, construction shifted to ligheter materials (such as aluminium and graphite) with small additions of components like Keylar, boron and titaniun. Natural "gut" strings were also replaced with synthetic strings. In the 19th century the game increased in popularity with various schools, clubs and even private citizen building squash courts, but with no set dimensions. The first squash court in North America appeared at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in 1884.

In 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the earliest national association of squash in the world was formed as the United States Squash rackets Association, (USSRA), now known as U.S. Squash. In April 1907 the Tennis, rackets and Fives Association set up a sub committee to set standards for squash. Then the sport soon formed, combining the three sports together called "Squash". In 1912, the RMS Titanic had a squash court in first clash. The 1st-Class Squash Court was situated on G-Deck and the Spectators Viewing Gallery was on the deck above on F-Deck. 

Triathlon

A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances. 

Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed "transitions" between the individual swim, cycle, and run components. The word "triathlon" is  of Greek origin from "treis" or three and "athlos" or sport.

The most recognized branded Ultra Distance is the Ironman triathlon. A transition area is set up where the athletes change gear for different segments of the race. This is where the switches from swimming to cycling and cycling to running occur. 

Karate

Karate is a martial art developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It developed from the indigenous martial arts of Ryukyu Islands (called te) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane.

Karate is nowpredominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open hand techniques such as knife-hands, separ-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically and in some modern styles grapling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital point strikes are also taught.

A Karate practitioner is called a karateka. Karate developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was brought to the Japanese mainland in the early 20th century during a time of cultural exchanges between the Japanese and the Chinese.

It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taisho era. In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration. In 1924 Keio University established the first university karate club in mainland Japan by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs.

In this era of escalating Japanese miliarism, the name was changed from "Chinese hand" or "empty hand", both of which are pronounced karate, to indicate that the Japanese wished to develop the combat from in Japanese style. After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen stationed there.

Hiking

The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, and arose because of changing attitudes to the landscape and nature, associated with the Romantic movement. In the earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy.

Thomas West, an English clergyman, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. In the introduction he wrote that he aimed to encourage the taste of visiting the lakes by furnishing the traveller with a Guide; and for that purpose, the writer has here collected and laid before him, all the select stations and points of view, noticed by those authors who have last made the tour of the lakes, verified by his own repeated observations.

To this end he included various "stations" or viewpoints around the lakes, from which tourists would be encouraged to enjoy the views in terms of their aesthetic qualities. Published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth. 

In 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France. Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude (1850). His famous poem "Tintern Abbey" was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a walking tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth.

Wordsworth's friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the next generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland, and the Lake District with his friend Charles Armitage Brown.

More and more people undertook walking tours through the 19th-century, of which the most famous is probably Robert Louis Stevenson's journey through the Cévennes in France with a donkey, recorded in this "Travels with a Donkey" (1879). Stevenson also published in 1876 his famous essay "Walking Tours". The subgenre of travel writing produced many classics in the subsequent 20th-century.