BARCELONA F.C -ATLÉTICO DE MADRID

By Nicolás Ordax

Some weeks ago I went to the football match between F.C.Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid. I went with my two cousins and it was awesome. We arrived there some minutes before the match began. The stadium was full, there were a lot of people. When the players came on the pitch, the crowd went mad. The place was full of Barça T-shirts, flags and funny hats. The game started. Barcelona didn't start very well, they didn't do very much and people became bored. I must say the Camp Nou isn't a stadium with much atmosphere. Some minutes later, Barça made a good movement and scored, everybody stood up and yelled. Half time arrived soon after the goal. We ate something and waited until the second half began. In the second half, Barcelona played better and people started to cheer up and even sing a bit. At the end of the game, after Barça had scored two more goals, people were doing the Mexican wave, we all stood up and it was great fun. It was a great experience.

Swimming

By Pere Cases

I have decided to write about swimming because it’s the sport I like most.

The basic principle of swimming is being able to float and move your arms and feet. The human body has a high water content and its density is close to the density of water so it is easy to float.

There are four styles of swimming: crawl, butterfly stroke, backstroke and breaststroke. Butterfly stroke and crawl are the fastest ones and the others are slower.

Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. The goal of competitive swimming is to improve constantly.

There are two types of long pools; one is 25 metres long, for regional competitions, and the other one is 50 metres long, used for national competitions and right up to the Olympic Games.

JOSEP GUARDIOLA I SALA

By Xavier Rodríguez

Josep (better known as Pep) Guardiola i Sala was born on January 18th 1971 in Santpedor, Barcelona. Nowadays he is the BFC manager, but he was a football player until 2007. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder for BFC. He was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team, which won Barcelona's first European Cup. Guardiola also played for Brescia Calcio, A.S. Roma, Al-Ahli and Dorados de Sinaloa. He played as an international player in the Spanish team too.

After retiring as a player, Guardiola became the manager of BFC. On May 8th 2008, Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would replace Frank Rijkaard as manager of the first team. He signed his contract on June 5th 2008. BFC won the treble in his first season as manager and so Guardiola became the youngest manager to winn the UEFA Champions League. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Super Cup of Spain against Athletic Club Bilbao, the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, and the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes. BFC, led by Guardiola, won six trophies in six competitions in one year, thus completing the first ever sextuple.

James J Braddock

By Salomón Diaz

James J Braddock was born in New York on June 7th 1905 into an Irish family. Braddock became a professional boxer at the age of 21, fighting in the light heavyweight category, after an amateur career. He fought in the championship three years later and he lost against Tommy Loughran in the 15th round. In the following six years, during the Great Depression, he had to earn his life working in other jobs because there were few opportunities to make money in the boxing business. In 1934, thanks to a last minute cancellation, Braddock had the chance to fight against John Griffin and he won an unexpected victory. He also defeated John Henry Lewis, Art Lasky and finally he won the World Champion heavyweight title by beating Max Baer. He had fifty-one victories in eighty-five fights. Braddock was included in the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1964, the Hudson County Hall of Fame in 1991 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. A park in the city of North Bergen, Jersey, is named in his honor.