The Fusion of Sport and Art

Katharine across the pond sent me an article about a former cricketer that found his passion in making art with his sport. Michael Vaughan recently retired from cricket and claims he channeled inspiration from Martina Navratilova and her tennis ball art.

As silly as it may sound, Vaughan is quite serious. His tearful retirement and desire to return has been channeled into this new passion:

Salvation came from the unlikely inspiration of mind-numbing reality TV. He said: "I was watching that Celebrity Jungle on the box (I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!) and Martina Navratilova was saying how she had taken to creating art by hitting tennis balls at a canvas.

"I thought, why not try that with a cricket ball? So I experimented by smashing a few cover drives at a canvas, and recreated some images including special moments in my career, and we came up with artballing."

Michael Vaughan's collection will be exhibited at the Smithfield Gallery, London, from May 2.

You can see some of the cricketer's work here and even purchase if you like.

Sunday Sports Wrap - March 8, 2009

NCAA Women's Hoops: I really like the USA Today CSTV Live Event Central to keep up on scores as there are many to keep up with today. The other good spot to keep up on the all divisions is the NCAA site itself under women's basketball. The Women's Final Four is in St. Louis this year from April 5-7. Yes, March Madness is nearly upon us!

Los Angeles Sol: From 11:00 am - 3:00 pm today is the Solfest 2009 that is free (yes, free parking and admission which is rare around here) to the public at the Home Depot Center. Open practice, prizes, tours, and player meet and greets are only part of the fun.

Surfing: The Quiksilver Pro and Roxy Pro continue through March 11 in Gold Coast, Australia. For the men - wildcard Julian Wilson defeated the veteran Kelly Slater earlier today in the third round. The women's event has finished with Australian Stephanie Gilmore taking the crown.

Today in Sports History

1968 - 6 year old Tommy Moore scores a hole-in-one in golf in Hagerstown, Md.

1986 - Martina Navratilova reaches the $10 million in earnings mark.

Today is also International Women's Day. This has been observed since the early 1900's and you can read more about it here

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UPDATE: I just received this information from the Homeless World Cup folks:

To celebrate International Women's Day, Global Giving will match every donation you make to the Women’s Homeless World Cup between 8-27 March 2009.

Please support and invite your family and friends to help us reach our goal too! You can make a donation here.

It's a chance to double your money and double your impact for women around the world.

And if the Women's Homeless World Cup can find the highest number of donations we can win additional funding of up to $5000.

The first Women’s Homeless World Cup was held in Melbourne in December 2008. It featured 100 women from 8 nations, and was won by the team from Zambia. It was a resounding success.

“We face a lot of challenges as women but we overcame them to win,” said Sara Daka, Player, Zambia.

Over 70% of players change their lives coming off drugs and alcohol, moving in to jobs, training, education, becoming football players and coaches, leaders in their community.

“My goal is to teach the young how to play soccer in Zambia. This way I can pass on my skills and experience and help others.” Player, Zambai, Carol Kanyemba

"My friends and relatives have received me back home proudly. A soccer game was played in appreciation of my splendid performance and voting me as Best Female Player at the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup," Dehkontee Sayon, Liberia