In my opinion, the most exciting part of the House of England’s lawn program in Balboa Park yesterday was the historical sword fighting. A local group called Swords of Chivalry provided a fine demonstration of realistic combat between armored knights during the Middle Ages.
According to their website, the Swords of Chivalry Program is one of only 16 schools in the world that have been selected to the Chivalric Fighting Arts Association. The program is led by “San Diego’s own Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) expert and medieval history guru, Scott Farrell.”
As knights and their squires performed heroic feats upon the green grass of the International Cottages, I and everyone watching were drawn back in time to the fantastic Age of Chivalry.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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Lots of athletes were out in the sunshine today playing Over-the-Line!
OTL is a unique, baseball-like beach game, created in the 1950s by the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club. This signature San Diego sport was being played by teams competing at OMBAC’s 41st Annual Wheelchair Over-the-Line Tournament.
Food was abundant, a rock band was playing live music, and scores were being kept as screaming line drives were batted into the outfield. The field of play was the parking lot of the old Toys “R” Us store on West Morena Boulevard.
To learn more about OMBAC’s Adaptive sports activities, and how anyone can become involved, visit their website here!
Very cool!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Today is the 20th Anniversary of San Diego’s very cool Washington Street Skatepark! Lots of local skateboarders converged for the “20 Year Birthday Bash” and helped raise funds to maintain this public skate park.
I learned that money raised goes to making repairs, paying for insurance and the nearby porta-potty. If you want to help out and make a donation, visit the Washington Street Skatepark website by clicking here! (You can also learn about the history of this awesome place and the dedicated volunteers who built it.)
Some friendly guys manning tables along the sidewalk smiled for my camera, then I headed up the ramp and into the park to check out some of today’s action!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
It’s the morning of 2019 Padres Opening Day! Things are beginning to get exciting around Petco Park!
Optimism is sky high for this new season. It’s the 50th Anniversary of the San Diego Padres and the new roster is loaded with promising talent and baseball superstars!
Here are some quick photos that I took while walking past the ballpark!
GO PADS!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
New graphics for the 2019 Padres baseball season are now being applied around Petco Park.
Everyone is hustling to get ready for the 2019 Padres baseball season. Opening Day is a week from tomorrow!
I’ve noticed all sorts of preparations now underway at Petco Park, and at businesses on surrounding streets. Petco Park has been getting a new paint job and new player graphics are being applied to the rear of the two big videoboards. One major theme this year is the recent signing of superstar Manny Machado.
Will 2019 be the season the Padres turn the corner and become a winning team?
Fingers crossed!
The first street lamp banners to go up promote the free, family friendly Opening Day Block Party. The annual event will take place Thursday and Friday next week in East Village.A new Manny Machado shirt is now on display in a window of the Padres Team Store.We Who Reign graphic on a vendor cart inside the Park at the Park.Progress is being made erecting the new permanent concert stage in the Park at the Park.A worker was welding when I walked past.Various restaurants and bars in East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter are putting up Padres banners and posters.GO PADRESManny Machado has appeared in a window between Will Ferrell and Eric Hosmer!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Thao Huynh and Kolten French of Mindful Murals encourage school kids to #CREATE with a super colorful interactive mural!
Yesterday during my mural walking adventure I was introduced by Love City Heights to two people who are doing something that is brilliant and inspiring. Thao Huynh and Kolten French have together created Mindful Murals, an enterprise that’s all about engaging young students at schools with large, affirming, fun graphics!
Check out these six interactive murals that were recently completed at Edison Elementary School. They decorate the backstops of outdoor handball courts. Big splashes of color feature short positive messages like BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, BE LOVING, and NEVER GIVE UP. The murals not only encourage positive thoughts and behavior, but they become a motivating part of a student’s outdoor physical activity.
In addition to interactive murals, Mindful Murals creates sensory paths for schools. These pathways invite kids to walk, twist and turn all about, as they head down a colorful path to discover happy emojis and surprises. It’s a cool idea that engages a growing body, mind and spirit!
To learn more about Mindful Murals, check out their Instagram page here!
Several of the Mindful Murals recently painted in the playground of Edison Elementary School, located in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood.PERSEVEREBELIEVE IN YOURSELFEMPATHYBE LOVINGI love how this bold message faces the school’s soccer field. NEVER GIVE UP
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The Balboa Park Activity Center is filled with many elite international athletes, including past Olympic champions, during the 2019 Dave Freeman Classic Open badminton tournament.
Some of the best badminton players in the world are competing this weekend in Balboa Park!
Today I headed up to the Balboa Park Activity Center and was blown away by what I observed. At the 2019 Dave Freeman Classic Open, the badminton action is unbelievably fast and furious!
For several minutes I stood and watched some amazing players perform at a very high level. These elite athletes move so lightning fast their bodies and rackets appear as a blur in nearly all of my photos. The shuttlecocks zoomed and floated. I observed strategy, agility, strength and precision. It’s a sport that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated!
Here are a few photos that provide a small taste of this cool badminton tournament!
Looking at plaques with past champions. The 62nd Yonex Dave Freeman Open 2019 is a USA Badminton sanctioned Classic Series Tournament with cash prizes.
Bronze plaque inside Balboa Park Activity Center dedicated to Dr. David Guthrie Freeman, one of the world’s greatest natural athletes of all time, a badminton legend for whom the tournament is named.The San Diego Badminton Club is one of the sports groups that meets and plays regularly inside the Balboa Park Activity Center.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
In 2018 there was a cool new addition to Petco Park, baseball home of the San Diego Padres. Walk past Section 114 and you can’t miss it!
Displayed on the wall of what is now called the “San Diego Section” are plastic versions of high school baseball caps. Every high school in San Diego County with a baseball or softball team that competes in the CIF San Diego Section is represented!
To honor the achievements of local teams and their individual players, two interactive screens in the San Diego Section allow fans to search by high school. Basic information is displayed for each school, such as team logo, colors and mascot. The years the school won a California Interscholastic Federation Championship are also shown, as are the names of students who’ve have gone on to compete in Major League Baseball!
How cool is that?
I checked out Petco Park’s inspiring San Diego Section today during the 2019 Padres FanFest and took photos!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans race across San Diego Bay during the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.
What an amazing day out on San Diego Bay! Here come a bunch of cool photos!
I began my walk at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, where the Star of India sail crew was getting ready for their ocean journey next month. I then walked along San Diego Bay to Harbor Island to view a variety of events during this weekend’s 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.
As I arrived at Harbor Island, kids were racing O’pen BIC boats in an Un-Regatta. Next came an exhibition and race by world-class kite boarders. A lack of sufficient wind made the Element Sports Kite Boarding Invitational a real challenge for those great athletes.
At two o’clock the main event began. Seven hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans competed in the San Diego leg of this year’s Extreme Sailing Series. I watched the first race, then, while devouring a yummy quesadilla from a food truck, enjoyed a look around the Race Village and its US Sailing Education Zone.
To see lots of photos from the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series, including exhibits in the Race Village, and catamarans actually flying above the water under stronger wind conditions, click here!
The Star of India will sail next month upon the Pacific Ocean. The volunteer sail crew is busy preparing for the historic journey.The sail crew learns the ropes aboard Star of India, oldest active sailing ship in the world.Muscle, skill and coordination are required to sail a full-rigged iron-hulled windjammer.Pulling ropes to manipulate the yards and sails.Securing one rope tightly to a belaying pin on the ship’s wooden pinrail.Walking along Harbor Island, where various exhibitions and races are enjoyed during the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series.As I arrived, the O’pen BIC racing Un-Regatta was underway.Kids as young as ten years old learn about sailing competitively on the fun little O’pen BIC sailboats.Kids love sailing on San Diego Bay in the October sunshine.Lots of O’pen BICs in close competition off Harbor Island.Spectators were sitting on the rocks along Harbor Island watching the various Extreme Sailing Series events.Magic in San Diego.Next came a kite boarding exhibition and race, with downtown San Diego’s skyline as the backdrop.A highly skilled kite boarder flies above the blue water of San Diego Bay.World-class kite board athletes prepare to race during the Element Sports Kite Boarding Invitational.The kite boarding race has begun!By sheer chance the kite boarders produced this beautiful photograph.More magic on San Diego Bay.Now to the main event, as the GC32 Stadium Racing will soon begin.The super fast, hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans begin to maneuver before the first race starts. Seven teams would participate this weekend on San Diego Bay.The first race has begun! One catamaran tips upward in the wind, as its crew tries to obtain maximum speed.Team Mexico works hard to reach the finish line before the other competitors.Element Spark Compass, the United States team, is a wild card entry for this weekend. The members raced really well, even though they have very limited GC32 experience.The fast catamarans maneuver up the course into the sun. The wind was a bit disappointing today due to the mild Santa Ana-like weather this weekend.Someone on Harbor Island points toward one of the racing teams.They’ve navigated around a race mark buoy and are coming back downwind.Here they come again! Alinghi, the Swiss team, seems to always be in front. Their crew members have won multiple America’s Cup titles.Red Bull Sailing Team is tacking on San Diego Bay.Here comes the Element Spark Compass catamaran! The crew works hard to capture every inch of wind.Lots of action aboard Red Bull’s GC32 catamaran.Sails of many types were spotted today out on beautiful San Diego Bay!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Cool San Diego Sights! 