New Website

Over Christmas, I've been working on a brand new website where I'm going to be posting some of the stuff that I'm working on. You can check it out on the link below.

https://connerkacperski.wordpress.com/

Michael Sets New British Weightlifting Record

Reigning English 56kg Champion Luca Michael has set a new British under 23 record after successfully lifting a total of 183kg at the British Weightlifting Universities & Colleges Championships in London.

Despite carrying an elbow injury, the London based lifter managed to complete a snatch of 72kg and a clean & jerk of 111kg to seal victory and claim the British record.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Michael after he bombed out of the Scottish Championships two weeks prior to this event after failing to register a total.

The spotlight was on Michael as he was the sole competitor in his group at London. The lifter managed to keep his cool and composure on the platform to secure an overall total to take the title.

Michael’s performance in the tournement helped University College London finish 5th overall in the Top Team Rankings. The competition was won by Bournemouth University for the second year in a row.

Bournemouth retained the title by narrowly beating favourites Loughborough University by 5 points. The latter institute is where the sports national development centre is located.

Good lift for Luca Michael @GBWeightLifting #Bucs pic.twitter.com/5bJLzSsibj

— Conner Kacperski (@ConnerKacperski) April 1, 2017

Speaking after the event Michael said: “Well now I’m going to rehabilitate my elbow. I’ve had a lot of issues over the last few weeks.

“I only did one snatch today, but it’s just a battle against yourself at the end of the day if it’s a one-man group.

“You need to get your total first. Then you just do what you want after that. If you have any goals, you can just try and reach them in that comp and get a bit of experience as well.”

While Michael was representing University College London at the competition, his local Oakland's club trainer Richard Kite was keeping a watchful eye over him during the event.

Kite coached him during the competition and Michael benefited from the experience of the man who also occupies the role of British Weightlifting Development Officer for Greater London.

With the British Senior Championships looming on the horizon in July, Michael is beginning his preparation for the biggest weightlifting competition in the country.

This year’s event is being held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and it is also acting as a qualifying round for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, hosted in the Gold Coast, Australia.

Looking ahead to the future Michael said: “I need to get my snatch up and clean & jerk. Hopefully I can get a Commonwealth total and European under 23 qualification.

“That’s the aim in the future for me.”

The Usual Suspects

What happens when Kevin Spacey meets sport?  Recently I've  had another article published on the British Weightlifting website. It features many movie references so studying A-Level Film Studies came in handy.

Here is a little extract of the opening:

"After the opening events of the 2017 British Weight Lifting calendar, the Commonwealth Games selection standings look like a certain Kevin Spacey film from the 1990s.

The Usual Suspects were on form and currently find themselves in pole position to challenge for a place on the plane to the Gold Coast, Australia..."
You can read the full article here:

http://britishweightlifting.org/the-usual-suspects/

Weightlifting and Roundabouts

Milton Keynes is fast becoming a centre of UK sport. The town is the home of Red Bull Racing and the MK Dons, but recently they also hosted the English National Weightlifting Championships.

More than 170 lifters competed in the event across the two days which was hosted at Stantonbury Theatre

Working for British Weightlifting at a Commonwealth Games qualifying round was an exciting experience. Our two-man media team managed to run a 12-hour live stream of the event without any major glitches. Between watching the stream and the screen, there was even time for me to take photos and post social media updates.

Before the event I was reading up about how Rebekah Tiler competed at the Rio Olympics and finished 10th. I even had the chance to chat with them at one point. In the actual competition, she set a new British record despite being only 18 years old.

Among many memories there are two others which I’ll take away from this event. The sub-zero temperatures that resulted in a water main bursting at the facility and the ridiculous number of roundabouts.

No wonder Red Bull decided to base their F1 team here, as the tight and twisty turns make it a suitable test track. Forget Monte Carlo. Milton Keynes could soon become the jewel in the motorsport crown.

This weekend British Weightlifting is heading to Castleford for the Age Group Championships and I’ll be covering that competition as well.

Toy Story Terror in Town

Forget Buzz and Woody,  as there is a terrible Toy Story in our own town. Since BHS shut down many toys have been left trapped in the windows of Huddersfield High Street. 

Sylvanian families are still searching for a home and those Playmobile pirate ships won’t be setting sail anytime soon.  Meanwhile former BHS boss Sir Philip Green is sat on his private yacht enjoying himself in the sun.

The stock has been stuck behind a glass screen for the last few months and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  Many people walk by each day without even noticing their plight.

They have been abandoned to nobody’s amusement. Those bears don’t stand a chance. They have families to feed too you know.  It’s a sorry state of affairs. Maybe Pixar should be taking plot points for Toy Story 4.

BHS staff continue to suffer from the fallout. They have been promised their pension fund, but so far the money has remained elusive. The staff find themselves stuck in limbo like the little plastic people they used to sell.

It appears as though Sir Philip is in no rush to finance some funds for his ex-employees. Who can blame him when a refurbished yacht is on the horizon?

While all this is going on the collection of Cluedo boxes continue to gather dust. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to realize that a shortfall in cash and sitting on a bunch of stock that needs shifting can be easily solved in one swift action.

Ebay.

Yet as things stand the stock situation remains in a stalemate.  They could just use an online retailer, but that is out of the equation. After all that would require an inch of effort.

One day the bears of the Sylvanian families might find some solace, but for the time being they will continue to stare out of the windows of Huddersfield’s High Street. 

Diving into darts: Should it be an Olympic sport?

Stereotypically, darts players could be seen as overweight middle aged men holding pints in a pub. This a far cry from the likes of Michael Phelps and the true gladiators of the Olympics.

Embed from Getty Images

Should darts one day be in the Olympics? It is a dilemma which has divided the sporting community.

Sir Clive Woodward, the mastermind of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph, recently tweeted “Darts is definitely an Olympic sport. Look at the fans, TV coverage, audience and real skill under pressure."

Woodward’s words are important as surely in order to present a more impartial view one must consider the opinion of a leading figure from another sport.

If you were to ask any darts player for their view, one could hazard a guess as to what they would say.

Gary Anderson, a two time consecutive PDC World champion, believes that darts should be an Olympic Sport, not surprisingly. The Flying Scotsman has been very open in his views recently.

Anderson said: “People say darts is a sport, people say darts isn’t a sport. Is snooker a sport? We are up there performing in front of these crowds, I think it is.”

Anyone can play darts, whether you’re an Oxbridge elitist or stacking shelves at the local supermarket. It is a game which is easily accessible and isn’t that what the Olympics is about?

However, one could say that any person associated with a sport advocating for inclusion in the Olympics could simply be accused of blowing their own trumpet. And, why wouldn’t they? Their careers depend upon it and there is a lot of money to be made.

Eric Bristow is the exception.

The 5 time world champion and enemy of the establishment wrote in his autobiography: “Darts doesn’t need the Olympics; it’s full of drugees.”

Embed from Getty Images

On this issue Bristow raises an interesting point, as darts is a relatively safe sport for drug abuse. Doping is non-existent in terms of performance enhancing drugs compared to other sports such as cycling.

Darts might not need the Olympics, but does the Olympics need darts?

Does darts want to associate itself with an organisation like the IOC considering its previous history of cheating? One could say that darts would be better off without the hassle.

It’s important to take what Bristow says with a pinch of salt. Especially considering his recent sacking by Sky for his comments regarding the football abuse scandal. Maybe Bristow should keep his opinions to himself.

Many other sports have survived in the Olympics wilderness despite seeking still seeking inclusion. Powerboating was once on the bill in 1908. We have horse riding, so why not horse power? How about squash? At least that one has a ball.

Whether darts should be included in the Olympics is up to debate, but it is a sport that can survive and is continuing to thrive in the short term future.

Self Raising Lazarus

The start of the Rugby League campaign coincides with the Academy Award season. Everyone will be aiming for the top, so will it be a Hollywood style fairy-tale ending, or a post-apocalyptic science fiction future?

Embed from Getty Images

Expectations are high as another year of Rugby League is about to kick off.  Teams will look to football and Leicester City. Their success is being turned into a script and put through the blockbuster dream machine. If they did it last year, then why can’t we?

Lets focus on Featherstone. For the last few years they have been built on solid foundations having finished 5th in the 2015 championship and 4th last year. Where can they go from here?

Could this be the Rogue One where Featherstone finally do it? Can they steal a march on their rivals and beam up all the way to the stars of the Super League?  

Meanwhile Bradford Bulls are back from the dead. Rising from the ashes like Lazarus, or perhaps self-raising flour.  It could go either way, maybe a bit of both. How about “self-raising Lazarus” to take a Peter Capaldi quote. 

Embed from Getty Images

The Bulls find themselves in the Thick of It and could be a major talking point. While nobody expects them to be challenging for promotion with their 12 point penalty, it will be interesting to see how many points they can steal from the opposition.

The reaction to Bradford Bulls revival is more Split than the reception of an M Night Shyamalan movie. They could play a pivotal role in how the  season unfolds.

It’s easy for teams to be accused of living in La La Land.  Especially at this time of year, but if you aim for the stars you might make the moon. Whatever happens it should be a fun season to follow.

Nicole Cooke Content Analysis

Live blogs can provide instant analysis and comment while in depth articles can be more detailed and provide more information.  For this post I have taken the Nicole Cooke story and I will analyse the difference in how it is presented in the BBC Sport live blog and an article in the Daily Telegraph. 

BBC live blog

The BBC have decided to post a picture of the Guardian Sports front page on their live blog which features the Cooke story, because  this is the main sports story of the day. It was also the number one story on the BBC Sport website last night. Rather than blowing their own trumpet and posting a picture of their own article they are showing how widely it has been reported in other publications.

The Daily Telegraph online site are simply sticking to their own analysis. They don’t want to promote other papers by posting front pages as that would harm their business.  The BBC can comment on variety of sources while the Telegraph are focusing on their own agenda.

Telegraph Online article

In terms of content the Daily Telegraph is much more detailed. They have included quotes regarding what was said and also embedded videos. The BBC are simply raising awareness of the story as it is part of their wider sports day blog.  

Daily Telegraph article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/01/24/nicole-cooke-sceptical-sir-dave-brailsford-claims-british-cycling/

BBC Sport Live blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/38251492

Caleb Ewan Conquers the People's Classic

Embed from Getty Images

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan started his season in style by taking victory on home soil in the People's Classic.

 The 22 year old  home town hero beat off a charge from Irish sprinter Sam Bennett to win the first race of the 2017 pro cycling season.

World Champion Peter Sagan finished in third place, as the race was decided by a bunch sprint.  The Cech is known for his consistency and now has another podium to add his collection

The People's Classic acts a support event to the Tour Down Under, the first World Tour race,  which will commence on Tuesday.  All of the riders competing were obliged to race the warm up event.

Embed from Getty Images

Sagan is expected to star in the Tour and this will be his first event  with the  Bora-Hangsgrolohe team. Despite the course suiting his skills Sagan is expected to be targeting stages rather than overall victory.

Australian BMC Rider  Richie Porte is the favourite for the overall rankings having finished 5th at last years Tour de France.

However, Porte  will have to battle it out with ex Sky teammates Geraint Thomas and Sergio Henao who are also tipped to feature across the 6 day race.

Podcast Review

This week I listened to the ESPN Five Thirty Eight Podcast by Joe Sykes and Neil Payne. In this episode they discussed the failure of the English national football team and how that can be traced back to one individual called Charles Reep.

The program started like a history documentary as it travelled back in time to the 1950’s via some sound effects and old commentary from the era. The pinnacle point in question was the Match of the Century where England, the creators of football, took on Hungary, arguably the finest football team in the world.

England were built up to be complacent and they were humiliated 6-3 on home soil. The Magical Magyars went on to be known as The Golden Team while England went soul searching.

The podcast offers various explanations as to why England lost. Reep believed that a team stand the best chance of winning if they make only “3 passes” in a move. This lead to the development of the long ball tactic.

However, Reep’s logic was flawed as he looked at percentages rather than probability. Ultimately I thought the show was interesting at it explored different concepts and also offered some detailed analysis which it made compelling to listen to.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-one-mans-bad-math-helped-ruin-decades-of-english-soccer/

Youtube: Broadcast Yourself!

Do you want to be the next Steven Spielberg or Stanley Kubrick? YouTube offers everyone a platform to broadcast themselves and create videos so I decided to play around with the Youtube video editor.

You don’t even need to upload any actual movies to give it a go. There are a few creative commons clips and soundbites which anyone can use.

Below I have embedded my practice attempt.  I decided to try and create a little narrative by featuring night shots. I was particularly impressed with the depth of field shots available which changed the focus of the lens. In terms of editing it is quite quick and simple to use. You can trim clips manually  by using the razor tool and place text on top of them to create a title.

The editor also allows you to place transitions into the timeline in order to connect the clips together. There is a large selection of wipes available allowing you to emulate George Lucas and his silly style of editing.

While it was fun to use the editor ultimately it is very basic and it is nothing compared to Adobe Premier Pro which is used by a lot of Youtubers for editing their videos. However, it acts as nice introduction for beginners and people new to the experience. 

Power of a Picture

During reading week, I navigated my way up north to the Metro Radio Arena which was hosting  Film and Comic Con Newcastle.  I had a press pass for the event, so I had the opportunity to look around and talk to some of the guests.  There were large crowds, many of whom were dressed in various costumes from different pieces of cinema.

Furthermore, while I was there I managed to take a few pictures on my phone as well. For this blog post I picked out one photo in particular to explore in further detail which I have posted below.

This is a picture of Derek Lewis. He used to make models as a hobby in his spare time. However, he gave up his job to pursue his passion full time.  All of these models on display in the picture were created by Derek, and I thought it was really intriguing.

Overall pictures can be really powerful as they can illustrate a story in a visual manner. They can be used to   exhibit a large quantity of items as in this case.  They can act as a nice addition to a written piece because they can help add depth to a story.

Twitter

 Twitter is taking over. Sky News seem to be obsessed with the stuff. Every time a story breaks you can see a presenter waving their tablet around and getting all excited at the sound of some instant reaction.  The big bird has spread its wings especially with the ability for companies to gauge public opinion.

Why is Twitter so popular? Anyone can read a tweet. You don’t even need an account.  Although if you do you can join in the discussion providing you say something in 140 characters or less.

Twitter is brilliant for journalism. It allows you to enter the same space as professional people.  You can watch stories break online. For example, this week the Williams F1 team announced their new driver line up… via Twitter.

Click this link to read our full statement on our 2017 driver line up #WeAreRacing #F1 https://t.co/Gk0Jmse2ae pic.twitter.com/iWfZWXekWI

— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) November 3, 2016

The ability to pin tweets is also important. You can pick your favourite quote and keep it at the top of your profile. No need to go searching.

I tried to share my Twitter profile on my Facebook and I encountered some interesting results. My profile picture had been replaced by an egg and the caption was written in Swedish for some reason.  Clearly they don’t like cross platform promotion and this shows the increasing strength of the site.

Shared my Twitter link on Facebook. For some reasons the caption came up in Swedish and picture replaced by an egg? pic.twitter.com/hgznhfAOXf

— Conner Kacperski (@ConnerKacperski) November 5, 2016

Batman V Superman Review

 “The world only makes sense if you force it to,” utters Ben Affleck’s Batman.  It’s a line pulled straight from Frank Millers’s comic The Dark Knight Returns which inspired the film and it sums up the reception upon its release.

Embed from Getty Images

Batman V Superman divided critics, but having recently acquired the standard DVD release I thought I’d give it another watch.

Many people feared that Affleck would be an ineffective as the Caped Crusader, but he held the film together. His interactions with Jeremy Irons Alfred was one of the highlights. The relationship between the butler and Batman added a bit of heart and warmth to a very dark story. Alfred acts as a father figure, and it’s a shame that he does not feature more in the movie as his wit is well received.

 The fighting style employed by Batman is impressive. It is clearly inspired by the Arkham Asylum game. In the past Batman could barely turn his head, but in this film he had no problem hurling people about. The ‘World’s Greatest Detective’ actually gets to use his intuition for once as he goes in search of kryptonite rather than having it handed it to him on the plate by the plot.

The film has many problems. It is simply too long. Some people say that the ultimate edition is better, but there is no way on can justify adding more depth when it drags on in the theatrical cut. One only listen to Jesse Eisenbergs ramblings for so long.  I preferred his performance in Zombieland.

 There are some nice set pieces such as the amazing introduction scene in Metropolis. Despite the strong start the film becomes more muddled as it progresses. Too many strands have been shoved into this story. It tries to set up the Justice League, and please comic book fans. There is nothing wrong with that, but the execution is poor in some parts. The dream sequences of dystopian futures feel very out of place.  While these scenes are impressive to watch, they add nothing to the plot and maybe they should have been saved for a future film.

While this feature was billed as a sequel to Man of Steel I find it interesting how little Superman has to offer. While Henry Carvill can play a very convincing Clark Kent he is often overshadowed by his co-star.

Batman V Superman has some electrifying elements, but also moments of madness. The pace is all over the place, but there is enough good stuff in there to make it worth watching.  Although for some that is not enough for Frank Miller as when asked the about the film by Variety  his response was a rather sarcastic “Your welcome!”

Seven Deadly Sins Review

David Walsh was an influential figure in exposing Lance Armstrong’s lies.  In many sports we see rivalries between competitors, but the relationship between the Sunday Times journalist and the man stripped of his seven Tour de France Titles is fascinating. The two had many encounters and the chase played out like a game of cat and mouse.  

The title is inspired by the David Fincher film Se7en . While Armstrong is the focus, Walsh explores his own background and the events that would influence his investigative journalism. This includes his reporting of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche, idolised by the Irish, but also tainted by allegations of doping. Furthermore, the book also includes anecdotes from other sports such as the infamous swimmer Irish  Michelle Smith who won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics

Walsh also had to overcome some personal tragedies and the book is very thought provoking. His interactions with Armstrong are challenging and at times it seems like an uphill struggle.  Walsh tried to exposure Armstrong who in turn tried to discredit and demonize him.  In the end, Walsh is vindicated in that famous Oprah interview where Armstrong finally comes clean.

The science behind the systematic doping is also explained very well by Walsh. The information is easily accessible for those who may not be too familiar with  the sport. 

This book was a fantastic find. I’ve already read it twice since I picked it up in spring.  I would recommend it to anybody who wanted to find out more about the Armstrong era of cycling.  It has also recently been adapted into a feature film called the Programme. While I haven't seen it yet I definitely want to give it a watch.