US Sports Defense Effective Tips to Secure Your Home from Intruders

• Author Arun Kirupa

Moving into a new place can sure be an exciting process. However, installing safety measures to safeguard it can seem like an overwhelming task. But at the end of the day, you have to admit that the installation of home security devices is crucial to your safety.

Cases of burglary continue to rise and dip in Toronto. So you need to always be on an alert. It's best to contact a trusted locksmith in Toronto as soon as you decide to boost your home's security infrastructure. Given below are some of the most effective measures that every new homeowner should take.

Door and Window Security

Locking your windows and doors is hands down the easiest ways to safeguard your house against thieves and vandals. Remember that burglars are always searching for easy targets. You forgetting to unlock a window or door may just provide them what they wish. It's a great practice to keep your doors and windows locked, both when you're inside and outside your home.

You can also consider door and window sensors. These smart sensors can detect if a window or door has been left open. There are also smart locks that you can schedule to lock your premises at specific times automatically.

Invest in High-Quality Door Locks

Just locking your premises is not enough today. You also need to ensure that the locks on your door are not average ones. They should be high-quality locks having a deadbolt. Such locks make it incredibly challenging for intruders or burglars to break in.

Apart from that, take a close look at your door frames and hinges. Are they old? Strong frames and hinges can easily endure a break-in. But doors that are old and creaking only become a security risk. It's always a wise idea to look for smart locks. You don't need to operate them manually. Everything happens according to how you want it remotely.

Have Your Packages Delivered to a Locker

As the festive season arrives, you might be busy visiting your friends and family members and purchasing gifts for them. Many people tend to purchase gifts online. In that case, deliver your parcels to a locker. It's a great step to ward off thieves from your places.

Apart from purchases, you shouldn't also forget to give your friends and family the address of the locker who will get your parcels. It will allow them to ship the gifts they want to gift to you there. Package lockers also provide homeowners with safe storage space. Alternatively, you can also request your post office to keep the mail addressed to you on hold so that they don't fall into the hands of unknown people.

Invest in a Home Security System

One of the most efficacious methods to keep criminals from breaking in is installing a home security system. Through it, you can get alerted whenever there's been any instance of a break-in. It has been shown that a premise that doesn't have a security system is thrice more likely to experience break-ins. If a burglar happens to see any sign of a security system at your house, they'll likely won't make it their target.

Security cameras designed for home use add a new layer of protection to your premises. You can get alerted of any movement on areas like your yard through them. Window and door sensors will signal you if a person is trying to enter your premises.

There's no need to think that you can only install these kinds of systems at an exorbitant price. Today, there are numerous options for you to explore. Many of them are affordable and can easily fit into a standard budget.

Use Smart Lighting

Thieves and intruders like to work in the dark so that they can do their job conveniently. But outdoor lights prevent them from doing precisely that. These lights prevent them from moving towards a specific area.

You might be one of those who leave lights in their home open when going on any trip or occasion. But the problem with it is that intruders are highly skilled in detecting if a house is empty in reality or not.

It's why smart lighting is so beneficial. They have sensors in them that make the light illuminate the moment any movement is detected. They thus catch the thief off-guard and scare them off. You can also adjust the brightness based on the time of the day via a timer.

Apart from smart lights, you can also invest in outdoor security cameras. It's an extra step in the direction of making your home fully safe.

Final Words

No homeowner desires to fall prey to a home invasion. Keep the tips given in this post in mind to keep your house and your loved ones well-protected and safe. You can start small and build on your knowledge of the various security products and their functionalities. It will help you make an informed decision regarding the kind of security system your house needs.

Tiger Locksmith is a reliable locksmith in Toronto that provides full-fledged residential, commercial, and emergency lockout services.

 

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Today's Devotional: Promises, Promises

 

A Promise Kept

God has been transforming lives throughout history and will do the same today for anyone who trusts Him. 

From Intouch Ministries

September 2, 2023

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Matthew 1:1-17

The first chapter of Matthew’s gospel records the lineage of Jesus. Starting with Isaac, the miracle child born to Abraham, there are 42 generations until the universe-altering event of the Savior’s birth. Among the names listed, there are schemers, prostitutes, murderers, kings, and idol worshippers. Many of these men and women had their lives transformed by God and, by His miraculous workings, were given a place of honor in the ancestry of Christ.

The same God who orchestrated it all is the one who promises us eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible records God’s faithfulness in keeping promises made to us, His children. He has reassured us that we who are born again have a place in His family (Romans 8:15). And the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a pledge, ensuring we will receive our eternal inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

We need only enter into a personal relationship with Christ. There are no additional specifications to meet, and God’s blessings belong to us the instant we become His children. Our Father has promised, and we can count on Him.

Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 20-22

US Sports Hockey: Strength and Conditioning: Tony Greco's Principles of Strength

 

• By Jacob Crabtree

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Ice Hockey demands countless skills to be successful, and one of the most crucial abilities to have as a great hockey player is power. Every sport demands its specific strengths, but hockey is a different animal. 

Hockey is difficult to train for as a sport that is played at extremely high speeds and has as many physical demands as football, but Tony Greco knows how to develop hockey players' strength like no other. 

Off-ice training can be challenging to determine what exercises and coaches to listen to, but Tony is a trainer with outstanding expertise. These circuits are not only beneficial for on-ice abilities but teach players the pace and difficulty they should be training with for many off-seasons to come.

As Canada’s leading fitness specialist, Tony has worked with some of the biggest names in the NHL including; Claude Giroux, Brandt Clarkea and Jack Quinn. He is a top graduate of the Sports Performance Institute, and certification from his academy surpassed the National Fitness Leaders Advisory Council policies in all of personal, strength and aerobics training.

Not only does Tony offer outstanding opportunities for players to succeed on the ice but also provides knowledge as to how players should be eating, resting, and treating their mindset. Tony truly supplies players with the capability to become the top one percent of hockey players.    

This 12-week program is for any position from goaltender, defenseman, or offensive player. Tony’s course is for those who refuse to cut any corners and are determined to become not just great, but exceptional hockey players. Pro Hockey Academy introduces you to the limits beyond the ones you already have and guides you on how to stay at that level for the rest of your career.

Tony’s main principles of the Pro Hockey Academy 12-week Program include:

Metabolic Conditioning

Mobility

Speed

Nutrition

Linear and Lateral Movement

Mindset

Upper Body Strength

Lower Body Strength

Go here to view Tony’s entire Pro Hockey Academy Program Course 

Speed Training

Tony has varied training focus points varying from week to week throughout his 12-week program, but what he centers the majority of his training around is speed.

While there are various exercises and methods Tony does to exploit speed in hockey for his students, this circuit provides students with a great workout that focuses on explosiveness. Being able to escape your defender can be difficult if you don’t have the power, and this circuit provides you the tools to escape anyone.

Tony’s workouts are all quick-paced with multiple exercises in each round, and this circuit is no different. Despite all of these circuits being challenging, find the beauty in the pain and the capability to push as hard as you can.

This circuit is 5 rounds, 5 reps for each exercise, including; back split lunges

weighted squat jumps, plate overhead lunges, lateral squat to knee drive, and stiff-legged eccentric deadlift. Take a look for yourself.

Mobility

Strength is certainly an important aspect of hockey, but flexibility and mobility are also incredibly essential.

To perform at the highest degree your body has to be warmed up, and Tony teaches his students how to appropriately do so. We often try to jump into training very quickly, but Tony acquaints his students with how to warm up properly and apply it to not only off-ice training but could also surely be applied on the ice before games. 

Tony may have a large focus on strength in his course, but he prides himself on teaching his students the importance of being loose and flexible. So every player is fully able to train safely and also perform to the best of their ability.

Here are some of Tony’s favorite warm-up routines and stretches.

Strength Training

Strength is the main focus for anyone getting into off-ice training, and this module will do you justice.

Gaining strength is not easy, and this module equips participants with the power every player wants in the game of hockey. And while gaining strength is something every athlete desires, this circuit is not for the faint-hearted. These workouts make you earn it, no doubt about it.

These exercises are quick and challenging, but undoubtedly routines you can imagine aiding you to become a great hockey player. Tony encourages you to push beyond your limits, and this will indeed introduce you to your limits.

This circuit is five reps for each exercise, and four rounds with the following exercises; hang clean to press, alternating splitter hang cleans, split lunges to press and finishing off with splitters to skaters. May sound like some peculiar training, but make sense once you watch the video below.

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Today's Devotional: Perfect Peace

 

Peace and Confidence

Our heavenly Father wants us to be secure in our relationship with Him. 

From Intouch Ministries

September 1, 2023

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Romans 3:21-24 

Newborn babies have the wonderful ability to fall asleep anywhere, untroubled by worry or fear. Our heavenly Father intends for believers to have the same sense of security—He wants us certain of our relationship with Him through Jesus and confident of its permanence.

But have you ever noticed how that sense of peacefulness changes by the time babies are toddlers? They often cry over small disturbances and are unwilling to leave a parent’s side. Their situation has not changed. They have the same safety and protection they enjoyed as infants, but they’ve lost their feeling of assurance.

Doesn’t this also describe us on occasion—when we don’t believe the promises of our heavenly Father? From the moment of salvation, we enjoy a permanent relationship with God, one that we will retain forever. But at times, we struggle to fully understand and embrace that gift.

Certainty about salvation doesn’t come from applying human logic. It is a matter of faith. Do we believe what God says or not? Whenever you feel yourself wavering, pray the words of 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 17-19

US Sports Soccer: How To Kick A Soccer Ball

 

• By Kieran Furse

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Kicking a soccer ball is a generalized term that is an extensive topic. Unlike kicking in other sports such as football or rugby, where a 'punt' accounts for most of the kicks, in soccer, there are hundreds of different kicks depending on the situation.

Despite this fact, kicking a soccer ball is a factor of soccer that is not taught as in-depth as it should be. In this article, we will cover how to perform a perfect soccer kick in all situations on the field. This includes:

➢ First touch

➢ Short and long passing

➢ Putting curl and spin on the ball

➢ Power shooting 

➢ Chipping the ball

➢ Knuckle Ball

Without a strong foundation in kicking a soccer ball, the rest of the skills that you will learn later in your career will be more challenging to pick up. Luckily, you have come to the right place. After reading this article, you will have all the pieces to kick a soccer ball like the pros correctly.

1. First Touch

Undoubtedly the most overlooked skill in the game of soccer. Without a great first touch, it does not matter how good your second touch is. You would not be able to play as quickly or with as high quality if you had a good first touch. 

What does a good first touch look like?

A good first touch ultimately must set you up for success in whatever your pre-planned play is. This means it must be:

➢ Directed the way you want to pass or dribble

➢ Out of reach of defenders

➢ Out from under your feet to allow you to move and play at pace

Now the tricky part… How do you kick the ball in this situation to set you up to play how you want?

The key is to be as delicate as possible. Imagine you are playing soccer on the second story of an apartment, and you don't want to wake the person below you. You can use the outside, inside, laces, or sole of your foot depending on the way the ball is coming to you, but the idea of a good first touch is to take the pace off the ball and direct it 1-2 feet in front of your intentional stride.

How to Improve your First Touch?

Most of your soccer heroes learned the beautiful game on the street with little to no equipment. Improving your first touch can be done as simply as kicking it against a wall. Each time the ball comes back to you, you can touch it in a different direction to work both feet. As you improve, you can start to add more power to challenge your touch. From the image below, you can see the simplicity of the day and how repetition is essential.

If you have more players to work with, you can begin to pass the ball to each other to make the drills more three-dimensional. For example, here is Coach Michler explaining a drill that works on the technical aspects of a first touch and pass.

2. Short and Long Passing

Short passing is the most common kick in the game of soccer. It allows teams to move the ball to a more favorable area of the field. Long passing is less frequent as it serves a more specific purpose, such as relieving pressure or counterattacking. 

These forms of passing require the same focus and foundation of kicking. However, they do differ in some forms. 

1st Difference

When kicking the soccer ball for a short pass, you want to get over the ball. This means my body is tilted over the ball, and I am kicking towards the top of the ball. We want to do this, so the ball stays firm to the ground to make it easier for our teammate to control it. An ideal zone to kick the ball would be here.

For a long pass, you will most likely want to put height on the pass to place the ball over the head of defenders and reach your target. This means you need to aim more to the bottom of the ball. You will also need to kick the ball with much more force to allow the ball to travel further.

2nd Difference

The second difference between these two types of passes is where you connect with the ball on your cleat. To allow your body to get over the ball, with short passing, you will connect with the side of the inside of your foot. 

Since you are trying to get more power and height with a long pass, you should allow your chest to be more open. The connection on the ball should also be with the joint that connects your big toe to your foot. This will allow you to follow through with a motion that propels the ball upwards at about 30 degrees.

Similarities 

As with any contact with the ball, you want to plant your standing foot just to the side of the ball to allow for stability and accuracy when you pass. If you are right-footed, this will be left and the opposite if you are left-footed.

To ensure that your pass is accurate and smooth, you need to make sure that you follow through with your kick. Many people kick and stop the movement rather than following through. This harms your kick in many ways and can cause injury. 

A significant factor that many players forget is the importance of the upper body in kicking the soccer ball. As you can see with this player in the image below, his opposite arm is stretched wide while kicking the ball. This allows your body to rotate into the kick, more balance, and power when connecting with the ball.

Locking your ankle is probably the number one term you have heard when people talk about kicking a soccer ball. This is for a good reason. When your foot is loose and wild, there is a lower chance that the ball will go where you want it. Take control of your foot by locking your ankle to make your foot stiff like a golf club.

3. How to Curl and Spin a Soccer Ball?

Although this may sound a bit technical, it is much simpler when you know the basics. The concept of curling a ball is due to the air pressure hitting the ball as it moves at different forces. You need to hit the ball with spin and power to create this motion. This 

superb skill will allow you to avoid obstacles and impress your friends.

Inside of the Foot Curl

To create the whip of the curl, you need to stand between 90 and 45 degrees toward the ball. This will allow you to strike the ball across your body to create the curl. You also want your body to be tilted slightly to shift your weight to the side you want to curl the ball.

We want to strike the ball with the big toe joint like the long pass. However, the motion will be different, as depicted in this image.

For a right-footed player (opposite for left.) You want to be connecting with the ball in this area and whipping the ball back towards you to create the spin on the ball.  

To see some of the best players in the world complete this skill, be sure to check out Lionel Messi, David Beckham, or Ronaldinho.

Outside of the Foot Spin/ Curl

This skill in soccer kicking is mainly called spinning the ball because you cannot produce the whip and curl that you would in an inside foot kick. Since we are kicking with the outside of the foot, we cannot wrap our body and leg around the ball to create this curling motion.

The spin comes from the ankle joint and the foot in this kicking technique. As you connect with the ball, you want to flick your foot (right-footed players) to the right to allow the ball to spin and slightly curl that way.

The outside of the foot can be performed when your weight is balanced on your left foot, and you need to spin the ball around an obstacle.

4. How to Kick a Soccer Ball with Power?

A power shot is often called 'shooting with your laces.' The reason for this is to perform a shot with power; you need to connect with the ball on the laces of your cleats. This is because you can get the full force of the momentum generated by your run and backswing through the ball when you kick. Unlike the curling shot, you want everything to be linear to generate as much power. This includes your run-up and body position, which you want to be straight and lean over the ball.

As with all soccer kicks, you want to follow through with your opposite arm stretched outwards for maximum balance. When connecting with the ball, you want to connect directly in the center of the ball to ensure no power is lost by missing parts of the ball. Whether you wish to produce height on the ball or keep it flat, you can adjust your contact on the ball slightly above or below the center.

Funnily enough, the best way to learn how to kick the soccer ball with power is by trying not to kick it with power. Here is a clip that explains this concept.

5. How to Chip a Soccer Ball?

Chipping the ball is one of, if not the most challenging skill on this list, but indeed a spectacular skill to have in your arsenal. A chip is best used to avoid an obstacle in tight spaces. Whether you need to chip it over a defender's foot in a dribble, chip the ball over a defender's head to play a pass, or chip the goalkeeper to score a goal. These examples are based around the same motion but require different levels of force to cover the height.

The motion which we are talking about is scooping the ball from underneath. To execute this type of soccer kick, we want to place our foot under the ball, quickly lift our toes to the sky, and raise our legs. This will get the ball off the ground at the desired height.

6. How to Knuckle a Soccer Ball?

How to knuckle a soccer ball is one of life's biggest questions. Taking a shot like Ronaldo or Bale is a thing of beauty. As a bonus, we would like to share this clip on how to shoot a knuckleball.

Final Thoughts on How to Kick a Soccer Ball

When learning how to kick a soccer ball, the most crucial element is focusing on the basics mentioned in this article. Do not rush the process, as, without a strong foundation, there will always be mistakes when attempting more expert skills.

Check out more about fundamentals in soccer here.

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Today's Devotional: God Is He Worthy Of Our Trust?

Three Essential Questions

What is keeping you from trusting God completely? 

From Intouch Ministries

August 31, 2023

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Exodus 3:1-15

In today’s passage, Moses needed to know three things. To truly offer ourselves to the Lord with complete commitment, we also need the answers to these key questions: 

1. Who is God? In Exodus 3, God used a burning bush to get Moses’ attention and then introduced Himself as the God of his forefathers (vv. 2, 6). God reiterated His identity four times in this short passage. He knew that Moses couldn’t take even the first step of faith until he knew the One with whom he was speaking. Likewise, we cannot wholly give ourselves over to God until we first come to know Him in Jesus Christ. 

2. Who am I? Once Moses knew who God was, his next question established a sharp contrast: OK, I know who You are, but who am I? (v. 11). Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord answered Moses’ question with a promise? In verse 12, He essentially replied, I will tell you who you are—you are the one whom I am with.

3. Why am I here? My friend, there is only one reason why we are alive today: Passages like Matthew 5:16, Romans 15:5-6, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and 1 Peter 2:12 make it perfectly clear that our job is to bring glory and honor to God by the way we live, the way we speak, and the way we love. 

Knowing these truths will renew and reenergize your commitment to the Lord. Have you settled them in your heart and mind?

Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 13-16

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