<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - sports]]> 10 <![CDATA[Martí Fluxà Sansó, living memory of Manacor trotting and of an unrepeatable era]]>

The world of trotting in Mallorca experienced, during the decade of the seventies, one of the periods of greatest expansion, intensity, and splendor in its recent history. Those years were marked by a notable growth in popular interest, by the consolidation of horse racing as a first-class social spectacle, and by the arrival of horses from abroad, which contributed to raising the competitive level of the tracks. The racecourses, and especially that of Manacor, became nerve centers of an activity that transcended the sporting sphere to also become a cultural, social, and identity expression. During that decade, and it is not an exaggeration to say so, the Manacor racecourse was one of the most active in Europe.

]]> <![CDATA[AI Ping-pong]]> A news item informs me that the ping-pong playing machine has been invented. Table tennis players already had a kind of robot that served to train them and that placed the balls with force and precision, but the current device is something else entirely. The machine can play a continuous match; it has a large platform behind the table and a mobile arm with a paddle, and a whole host of cameras that film the game and the opponent and, thanks to AI, can know where the ball will go and respond with maximum forcefulness and malice. Right now, the machine is playing at a high level, and they want to make it compete against the top players in the world to see if it can beat them. The thing is, as is perfectly plausible, this whole mess of arms, cameras (new), tons of AI, and a paddle could manage to defeat champion Wang Chuqin or one of the Lebrun brothers (the only French players to reach the global elite of the game), but once this feat is achieved: what would change? Would we stop playing table tennis? Would there cease to be competitions, Olympics, clubs and fans, schools and masters of this sport? It is very likely not, as common sense tells us. If AI and associated technology can do something that we already know how to do, why do it? I don't doubt that such a tool can be used for training –it doesn't get tired, it can help work on weaknesses–, but, does it help to learn? What can the machine teach us about the game and how to play it that a high-level player cannot teach us? Nothing. Don't we see that the machine moves and decides what to do in the game thanks to a series of processes that have nothing to do with the human mind, perception, and body? It is evident that we do. Why, then, when AI is not playing ping-pong, can it still seem exemplary to us? What does the functioning of AI have to do with the human mind and the way we learn and improve in our lives? Why can we come to consider that an AI can help us improve, for example, in writing better, when what AI does to create text has nothing to do with what writers do when shaping a page? We are giving AI an exemplary power that it can never have, because the way AI solves problems has nothing to do with the way humans think and make decisions. That technology can become extraordinary is undeniable, but the old technology of the human brain has been working, for millions of years, in the same way, and it costs us as much as millennia ago to learn new things, incorporate new skills, or reach some form of intellectual excellence. AI does not make us smart if we do not know how to think for ourselves and evaluate what we really need. Just as we already have a machine that washes our clothes, it seems we would want a machine that spares us from thinking or learning, or from doing things for ourselves, as if we had sold to a conglomerate of companies the possibility of doing something that we knew how to do perfectly, but that they will now do, because we are lazy. 

]]> <![CDATA[I was a girl "with a little belly" and I didn't want to know it]]>

Marc comes to my 'functional' training class. At some point, 'functional' became a word to refer to a type of physical exercise and we all accepted it. It sounds strange to me. 'Functional' sounds to me like 'the minimum you can do to get by in life'. I'd like to know why it is, functional. Does it make you functional? I understand it does, that you get strong to be functional as a human being. Which is the reason I signed up for it. To have some strength, in the future, to be autonomous, control my sphincters and not defecate on myself after giving birth (if I ever do), for example, or to be able to carry milk cartons and not need the help of these children I will have given birth to. I don't know. I don't know why I think about it in terms of motherhood. The thing is, if I don't do anything about it, my musculature will start to detach more and more from my bones, until it becomes totally dysfunctional. Now I see it that way, in practical terms. But for a long time it wasn't like that: it was in aesthetic terms that I thought about it. And I feel sorry that Marc ends up experiencing the same thing.

]]> <![CDATA[Climbing takes a leap forward in Mallorca with the first climbing walls approved for competition]]>

Mallorca now boasts its first officially approved public climbing walls for regional, national, and international competitions. The Sant Ferran sports center today inaugurated two new facilities—one for speed climbing and one for lead climbing—which will expand the island's climbing offerings, previously primarily limited to private initiatives. The event included an exhibition by elite athlete Erik Noya and a demonstration by young Mallorcan climbers from the Balearic Mountain and Climbing Federation's training program.

]]> <![CDATA[The Government will move the Balearic Islands Sports Museum to the Molinar de Montuïri Ecomuseum]]>

The large Molinar de Montuïri building, popularly known as the Ecomuseum, will house the Balearic Islands Sports Interpretation Center (CIEIB). The Balearic Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports, headed by Jaume Bauzà, a native of Montuïri, is working towards this goal. While nothing is finalized at this time, discussions for an agreement with the Montuïri City Council, the building's owner, are well advanced. Sources at the Ministry of Tourism explain that the initial plan was to finalize the agreement this February, but it will take several weeks to complete the proposal.

]]> <![CDATA[How to get them hooked on sports from the age of 13?]]>

In many cases, children reach adolescence with a sport under their belt. They started practicing it as children, in elementary school, and if it's a team sport, their commitment to competitions and their peers guarantee continuity during this period of change. But what about those who haven't played a team sport or regularly? If they haven't shown interest as children, it's hard for them to get hooked on a team sport at thirteen or fourteen. But this is neither impossible nor should it limit the highly recommended and necessary practice of sports. Miguel Ángel Méndez Pérez, a professor of health sciences at the UOC, is very clear about what families should keep in mind to achieve this goal.

]]> <![CDATA[Palma's new promenade opens with a charity race]]>

Palma's new promenade will open on November 15th and 16th with the first charity run by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB). It will be a weekend of sporting and family fun with free activities, with all proceeds going to Projecte Home Balears.

]]> <![CDATA[The first edition of the 'Calet i Boiret' Basque pelota tournament at the Sineu Frontón is here.]]>

The Sineu Frontón will hold the first edition of the 'Calet i Boiret' Basque pelota tournament on August 12 and 13, in honor of the most iconic pelotari pairing on its court. A total of eight forwards from the Basque Country and Catalonia will compete, in pairs, over two days combining sport and celebration at the Sineu Frontón, which has just reopened its doors after a recent renovation. Admission will be free to the public.

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