What is tug of war?

Tug of war it is a sport with two sides of eight people. The object of the game is that two sides try to pull each other, and the team that gets over the mark first wins people stop at the end of the rope is the strongest man, that person is called the anchor man. Usually the smallest person is at the front. Tug of war is a really active and physical sport. Over the world it has become more and more popular. It is not dangerous. The eight members of the team can be under the weight, but not over it. Tug of war is a sport, which requires a lot of dedication from those who are on the team.

The training of a team.

The trainer of my local team is Brian Bohan. A team that intends to get anywhere in sport, needs good willpower, and to be fit and healthy. The most important part of being on a team is being able to work as a team. You have to train, at least twice a week, or more, and you need to have a healthy diet.

A balanced diet

People know that eating properly is very important for young people. In tug of war might have to lose or gain a few pounds to get on to the team. So people keep fit by going to the gym and running, that is their balanced diet.

The different weights

You might be wondering about the weights, each team has got to be weighed. There are different categories in tug of war, the categories are heavy or light weight. You see that is why they have to diet and exercise to get on the team. I will explain what that means, just say if you weighed 435 kg and the weight was 480 kg, you would be able to pull in the junior team. The senior team has the most experienced people on it. You have to be very fit and healthy, they have so many divisions in each pull.

Trivia

The Irish word for tug is toga which means to drag or pull. The word war originates from German word werra which means strife.

The history of tug of war

The history of tug of war goes back to prehistoric times. The oldest evidence of the sport is found in the Asian countries, the contest of pulling on the rope was part of ancient ceremonies and cult's. Later in history tug of war was no longer related to ceremonies, and it was developed into a pure physical strength contest. There is a society for tug of war; it is called the Irish tug of War Association. The association was formed in 1967. The first European Championships were held in London in 1965. European championships were staged regularly until 1974, when the affiliation of countries from outside resulted in the first World Championships in 1975. Ever since then they have been held every second year. Tug of war has become very popular throughout the world.

My local team

My local team is from Drumsna, they are sponsored by: Taylor's bar, Drumsna, and The Depot, in Carrick on Shannon. Peter Moran was the founder member of the Connaught board in 1974. The President is Peter Moran, chairperson and Tony O'Malley (Newport), Secretary PJ McLoughlin, treasurer Sean Foody. Drumsna won the 680 kg novice title in those early years. The Drumsna team came 4th in the world championships, which were held in Carlow in 1998, they won the 640 kg in Donegal against Dunderry in the final. 1999 saw the club regain the 720 kg division three title, also winning the 680 kg and semi-finalists of the 640 kg. Drumsna have made Leitrim proud many times.