Chris Term Essay

Submitted By falconandrea11
Words: 455
Pages: 2

One great example of how technology is involved with modern day sports is through tennis. For instance, originally the tennis ball consisted of rough cloth strips tightly bound together (kind of like a cloth-knot). Eventually the cloth strips turned into the core of the ball, it was wrapped in twine and then covered in an even finer cloth material such as felt (which was hand stitched around it). Around, seven-hundred-ninety-six years later, 1972 the tennis ball started being manufactured with the vibrant yellow felt we see present day. Today, eight-hundred-and-fourteen years later, tennis ball are being made in mass productions which result on high performance at minimal manufacturing time. Another way the sport of tennis has been affected by technology is by the materials that are used to make the rackets. Back in the 12th century in Northern France, every racket was made of wood. Wood isn’t half as effective as today’s rackets which are made of a combination of high modulus graphite and carbon fibre. These allow it to keep the frame light-weight and tense for incrementing racket’s head stability and performance. Lastly technology impacted tennis in the material the strings are made up of. In the early years of this sport the strings consisted from cow intestine or as it was called “natural gut” which surprisingly was a reliable string and very expensive. With time technology rode along and manufacturers have been attempting to duplicate the “natural gut” with an ersatz version of the material. Throughout the years the materials used in the creation of tennis and baseball have changed just like with every other sport or activity; they have evolved to our benefit from technology.