The Sports Lover's Guide to the Web

From 1001 Computer Hints & Tips, XP Edition

The Internet has enough information, ideas and coverage to keep all sports fans happy. In addition to cricket and football statistics, the Internet can tell you where to go skydiving and how to hit a better backhand. Here’s our complete guide to
a wild Web workout.

Watch the web
If you’re a sports couch potato, why not watch on the Net? You can find sports not usually broadcast on TV, as well as more complete coverage of sports that are. Japanese baseball, golf competitions, tennis matches – watch them all online.

Some Websites offer video streaming, using the plug-ins QuickTime or RealOne Player. As long as you have an up-to-date Web browser, you won’t need to download any extra software to view the video. Visit sites such as Camvista, which has feeds from various sports facilities.

Buy a ticket to see cricket, football, rugby or any other sport at Ticketek Australia or Ticketek New Zealand.

To see sporting events outside your home town, visit one of the sports tour sites on the Web. Organisations such as Australian Sports Tours, Network Cricket Tours or Stars Sports Tours and Events will arrange everything for you, including travel, accommodation, meals and even sightseeing.

Follow the career and off-field antics of your favourite sports stars. ESPN is a well-known US sports Website. For news closer to home, try Fox Sports, which covers all the major sports.

Lessons and other info
If you want to learn how to bend it like Beckham, take some online football coaching with TopLeague and follow the animated demonstrations to learn a number of passing, dribbling and free kick techniques. You can even buy football coaching software on the Internet. Mastersport Multimedia’s Soccer Academy has  illustrations, tackle demonstrations and training exercises to help football coaches.

If you fancy a wager on a sporting event, there are plenty of people on the Net who will take your money. Try the official TAB site in Australia or New Zealand. Centrebet claims to be the oldest online sports bookmaker in the southern hemisphere, and there are hundreds of others, such as On the Punt, Sports Punter and The Tote.

Skiing is unpredictable. You can plan your trip months in advance, but the snow still falls only when it wants to. So get the scoop on where to find the best powder and keep track of the latest conditions with on-mountain snow cams. If you want to ski in Australia, check out the snow reports on Ski.com.au.

For New Zealand try Snow.co.nz. On The Snow has snow reports from around the world.