NAIROBI Malik McDowell Jersey , Mar. 11 (Xinhua) -- Since bagging silver at the 2001 Africa Junior Championships Kenyan track queen Janeth Jepkosgei has risen to be the most decorated female track athlete of her nation with 14 medals and the 2015 season represents another chance to add to her collection.
Genial and focused, the 31 year-old two-lap medal machine has a firm eye on summer's IAAF World Championships in Beijing driven by the unfinished business of seeing her thunder stolen by compatriot Pamela Jelimo when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Olympics.
"My first aim is to get to the final and if I get a medal, it will be historic for me. It will be challenging in Beijing since Eunice Sum, the defending champion will be there. We train together so she knows where I'm weak and I know where she is weak, " she said.
"If we get to the final together, doing the 1-2 is something big. I never managed to defend my title and I would like Eunice to defend her title. In Beijing, I also want to do something I never did and win since the last time I was there, there was Pamela but any medal will be so welcome," Jepkosgei, the 2007 world champion in Osaka, Japan said at her training base in Eldoret.
Having been an ever present in Kenya's World Championships line-up since, winning silver at 2009 Berlin and bronze at 2011 Daegu, Jepkosgei was forced to sit the 2013 Moscow edition out with Achilles tendon injury.
She is confident her injury woes are over allowing her to mount another podium run at the biennial IAAF flagship global track and field event after bagging silver at last year's Africa Athletics championships after her comeback at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games ended at the semi-finals with a seventh finish.
"Going to Beijing has given me different morale, it was somewhere I competed in a tough race with Pamela but I'm in a different age. It's not when I was still young and do everything, " the two-lap track star explained.
Are you a member of a basketball team that has recently suffered a string of losses? Are you starting to feel hopeless and are considering quitting altogether? Don't lose hope. If your basketball coach is scrambling for a play that would be guaranteed to work on your upcoming game, then be his pet by introducing these time-tested basketball plays that will surely be scores when executed correctly:
The Triangle Offense
On this offense, two players take the post positions. They three players distribute themselves on the side wings, point guard and corner positions. The post player would be the apex of the triangle as well as the corner man and the wing man. Whoever obtains the ball at the strong-side of the wing would be the play's triggerman. Being the triggerman, he will determine what the result of the play. 2. The players who hold the post position should now stay at the elbows. The point guard will then go to the mid-circle bottom. When this happens, the point position players will downpick two players. When this happens, there should be an open pass in the wing area. 3. When the triangle offense is played with precision, what should be achieved is an easy open shot.
The Out of Bounds Play
Pinpoint a specific 'passer' that will handle the ball and pass it to a player who can openly shoot the ball. The success of the play will depend on this passer, although his position or size isn't the main aspect to consider. Anybody who can do a 'dual trick' will do. And what is a dual trick? First, the chosen passer should pretend to go on the offense. Once the opponent buys the trick, the passer should execute, at a perfect timing, a move that will misdirect the opponent. When this becomes a success, the passer will be able to give the ball to any available player who can shoot the ball freely. 2. Your team should be familiar with this move before it is done on the court. When any one member of the team is unsure of the participation they will contribute, then confusion creeps in and down goes the play.
The Flex Offense (Man to Man Offense)
This offensive move is believed to be the most widely used offense in basketball history. There are several ways of executing this easy but highly effective move. One way of doing it is through the stack entry. At the start of the play, the players come in a stack. 2. The guard then chooses a side where he can go to the elbow. The forward should prepare himself to receive the ball while the guard is out doing this. 3. The center then moves to the three-point lane. On the other side, another player should do this move, too. 4. The guard then passes the ball to the team's forward as the center flashes above the screen that has been previously set. 5. After the screen has been set, one guard should set a screen for his fellow guard. 6. The forward then passes the ball to the center (who should make sure that he showed his hand prior to the move) after the screen has been established. 7. The elbow should be the forward player's destination after this pass, with the guard running to the rainbow area. 8. One center player should set the screen for the other center to take. 9. All you need now is practice and repetitions.
Here is a short list of other famous plays that you can research online. Remember that there are even some websites that feature animated plays so it will be easier for you to execute the moves:
? The Man Defense
? The Defense Press
? The Match-up Defense
? The Motion Special
? The Press Offense
? The Late Game Plays
There are so many ways of improving your team's output. These famous plays are just some of them. Once you master each technique and execute them in precision, you will start to see an improvement-not only your team's scoring but more so on your level of discipline. That's a guarantee.