Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Falcons Consider New Twist on Retractable Roof Design
Architects continue to push the envelope of retractable roof design. Consider the concepts emerging from 360 Architecture for the Atlanta Falcons new stadium, which is being billed as an open stadium that closes, as opposed to a closed stadium that opens.
The 11-sided geometric building would feature an eight-sectioned roof that would twist open like the aperture of a camera. “The interesting thing is even though we have eight parts, they’re much smaller than other roofs out there and they have to go a shorter distance,” 360 Architecture’s Bill Johnson told WXIA-TV, Atlanta’s NBC affiliate.
In addition, transparent polymers serving as stadium walls would allow views of the Atlanta skyline. “A lot of retractable roof stadiums just haven’t been open very often,” Falcons president Rich McKay said. “As good as our weather is, and as good as our environment is, and the fact that we have downtown adjacent to us, we’ve always wanted that connectivity.”
While McKay lauded the design team for its “creativity,” the concepts face a vote of the Georgia World Congress Center today and are subject to change.
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Monday, June 17, 2013
Update: Plan to Discontinue 'Redskins' on Hold at HS
Teton High School in Driggs, Idaho, may not be dropping its "Redskins" mascot and logo after all. The Idaho State Journal reports that superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme — who announced his decision last week, citing his desire to teach students a kind of respect that goes beyond "the heritage behind the mascot" — has now decided to seek input from the public and the Native American community.
According to the paper:
Woolstenhulme said the district is reaching out to the Shoshone-Bannock tribes at the Fort Hall Reservation "to gather their feedback on the issue. I had contacted the Sho-Ban High School previously to discuss this issue, but had not communicated directly with the tribal leadership," he said.
Woolstenhulme said he met with Teton School District board chairman Doug Petersen and devised a new plan for changing the mascot. … Woolstenhulme said no funds will be spent at this time to change the mascot, and no signs or logos with the mascot will be removed.
Rough estimates of $100,000 to replace athletic uniforms and to replace signs would come out of existing budgets, “not funds that could go towards staff salaries or positions,” he said.
Members of the public are invited to a school board meeting on July 8.
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Friday, June 14, 2013
Athletic Business Announces Content Library Social Media Contest
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
NFL's Goodell, Idaho School Diverge on Use of 'Redskins'
While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defends the controversial name of the Washington Redskins, a school superintendent in Idaho has announced that sports teams for Teton High School will no longer be called the "Redskins."
In a letter dated June 5 and made public Tuesday, Goodell responded to a request from members of the Congressional Native American Caucus to change the NFL team's name. He cited polls in which Native Americans supported the nickname and reiterated that "neither in intent nor use was the name ever meant to denigrate Native Americans or offend any group."
He also wrote: “The Washington Redskins name has thus from its origin represented a
positive meaning distinct from any disparagement that could be viewed in
some other context. For the team’s millions of fans and
customers, who represent one of America’s most ethnically and
geographically diverse fan bases, the name is a unifying force that
stands for strength, courage, pride and respect. ... The issues raised with respect to the Washington Redskins name are complex, and we respect that reasonable people may view it differently, particularly over time. But we hope that there is no doubt that the team understandably is proud of its heritage and the culturally rich community it serves, and its fans understandably are highly attached to that history and the team's identity."
The entire letter can be accessed via the Indian Country Today Media Network's website.
Caucus members have not responded kindly. "For the head of a multi-billion dollar sports league to embrace the twisted logic that ‘Redskin’ actually ‘stands for strength, courage, pride, and respect’ is a statement of absurdity," wrote Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), co-chair of the caucus, in a statement. "Would Roger Goodell and [Redskins owner] Dan Snyder actually travel to a Native American community and greet a group of tribal leaders by saying, ‘Hey, what’s up, redskin?’”
Meanwhile, Teton School District Superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme says his decision to drop the Redskins nickname stems from his desire to teach students a kind of respect that goes beyond "the heritage behind the mascot."
"I'm not aware of other high school mascots called the 'Whiteskins,' for example, to refer to other demographic groups," Woolstenhulme told the Idaho Falls ABC-TV affiliate. "I don't feel like the nickname 'Redskins' is appropriate or respectful for Native Americans."
The station reports that it will cost almost $100,000 to alter signs and buy new athletic uniforms.
The school's wrestling coach isn't wild about the decision. "It's just been part of our tradition and we've always kind of had a lot of pride in the Redskins title," Richard Berry said, adding everyone will have to get used to the change. "It's going to be something that's very difficult for me to do."
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Study: Repeat Concussions Require Longer Recovery Time
New research published in the journal Pediatrics by the Boston Children’s Hospital has found that the time required for children to recover from a concussion increases with each successive incident, more than doubling if just one prior concussion has been recorded.
Researchers examined data gathered over a 12-month period on 280 children and young adults between the ages of 11 and 22 that had been treated for a concussion at the Boston Children’s Hospital, tracking their recovery for 12 weeks after their initial diagnosis. On average, first-time concussion sufferers required 12 days to recover. For those who had a history of one previous concussion, the recovery time jumped to 24 days; 36 days if more than one concussion had been suffered in the previous year.
"We think that there's a window of time after the head injury in which the brain is more vulnerable to a second head injury," study leader Matthew Eisenberg told Reuters.
Children under the age of 13 recovered faster than older victims, and those who lost consciousness as a result of the concussion actually recovered faster than those who did not. “Most concussions that do not involve loss of consciousness are not immediately diagnosed,” Sports Legacy Institute co-founder Chris Nowinski explained to Scientific American. “Therefore, the athletes often finish the game, causing additional injury to the brain prior to beginning physical and cognitive rest.”
The results of the study put greater emphasis on the need for caution when determining how long an athlete needs to recover. Says Eisenberg, "There may be a subgroup of kids, particularly those who play contact sports who are at risk over the course of their adolescence — those are the ones we worry about."
The study wasn’t perfect, Eisenberg admits, relying on self-reporting from participants to track when their symptoms dissipated. Results may therefore have been skewed by athletes eager to return to play or resume normal activity. Advancements in concussion tests, based on physical and neurological functions such as speech patterns or balance, have made it harder for athletes to cover up symptoms, and Eisenberg hopes to use a more reliable test to track victims’ recoveries.
Moreover, there’s the need for further follow up on victims' recoveries, long after the initial concussion symptoms have dissipated, says Eisenberg. "The big question that still needs to be answered is, what are the long-term effects of these concussions?"
In other concussion news:
...A study released last week in the journal Pediatrics by the University of Pittsburgh suggesting that fewer concussions are suffered in youth football practices than games is being questioned by noted concussion experts. “If you’re going to compare concussion rates at practices versus games, you have to have the same degree of scrutiny at practices as at games,” Sports Legacy Institute co-founder Robert Cantu told Scientific American. “There’s nobody at practice other than the coaches, and we don’t know if they know what a concussion is or not, and they can’t make the diagnosis.”
...Researchers from the University of Alberta pitted CFL players’ concussion knowledge against university-level players in a recent study, testing them before and after a one-hour education session. After the session, all of the participating CFL players identified the importance of seeking medical attention for a concussion compared to just 67 percent of college-level players. However, 44 percent of pro players incorrectly believed that it was okay to return to play in 24 to 48 hours if no symptoms were present, compared to only 26 percent of college athletes. The two most important takeaways both groups took from the education session: Concussions can be caused by a hit to any part of the body, not necessarily the head, and MRI and CT imaging aren’t infallible when it comes to detecting concussions.
...A second study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center not only confirmed previous reports that frequent heading of soccer balls can lead to brain injury, but that it also puts athletes as a greater risk for memory and cognitive problems. Soccer players head a ball 12 times on average during a game, and as many as 30 times during a practice session. "We studied soccer players because soccer is the world's most popular sport,” medical director Michael L. Lipton explained. “Soccer is widely played by people of all ages and there is concern that heading the ball — a key component of the sport — might damage the brain."
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
Athletic Business Magazine for iPad Now Available
Getting your hands on the best content in the athletic, fitness and recreation industries just got easier. Rather than wait for Athletic Business to arrive in your mailbox each month, get it instantly on your iPad.
With our new app, Athletic Business Magazine for iPad, you can access our content 24/7, even when you're offline. Miss something from an old issue? No problem. Access past issues and download them straight to your iPad for convenient access. The app will also allow you to interact with our social media channels and view our latest video content.
It's available on the App Store now. Download it today by clicking here or by searching "Athletic Business Magazine" on the App Store. Welcome to the new way to read Athletic Business.
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Study: Fewer Concussions in Youth Practice Than Games
A new study out of the University of Pittsburgh is offering the first evidence that youth football players are at lower risk of getting a concussion during practice than games and experience an overall incidence of concussions similar to that of high school and college players.
Funded by NFL Charities, the study included 468 players from 18 youth football teams in the Pittsburgh suburban area. Concussive incidents were almost nonexistent during practice, occurring at a rate of just .24 per 1,000 exposures (or about one concussive hit in 4,000). During games, however, the rate jumped to 6.16 per exposure.
"This is the first study to examine concussion rates at such youth levels, and it echoes the message emphasized by USA Football and several national youth football organizations," says Michael "Micky" Collins, executive and clinical director of the UPMC concussion program. "So many people have added their voices to this issue, and for the first time, this study shows there's no scientific evidence concerning concussions to support limiting practice time for young football players. In fact, we encourage practice as a safety and concussion-education precaution."
The research appears in the Journal of Pediatrics and will be discussed at the UPMC’s concussion conference, June 7-9, providing an opportunity for more than 400 health professionals to discuss the results.
"We welcome UPMC's research, which complements our ongoing, two-year youth football safety surveillance study to advance player health,” says Scott Hallenback, executive director of USA Football. “The UPMC study's conclusions underscore the value of our Heads Up program, lending more evidence that youth players are safer when they -- as well as their coaches and parents -- are taught better tackling techniques, Center for Disease Control-approved protocols for concussion recognition and response, and proper equipment fitting.”
The team also pointed out that while its research was a good initial step, more study is needed, especially to address the long-term effects of repeated head traumas. Other key findings of the study:
• The incidence rate of concussions in 8- to 12-year-old players was 1.76 per 1,000 game and practice exposures, comparable to the incidence rate among high school and college players.
• 8- to 10-year-olds were almost three times less likely to suffer a concussion than 11- to 12-year-olds, clocking 0.93 incidents per 1,000 exposures in games and practices compared to 2.53 in the older group.
• Quarterbacks, running backs and linebackers made up 95 percent of reported concussions.
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Free Athletic Business Content Library Helps Eliminate Unproductive Online Searches
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Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Blog: National Learn to Row Day Has Health Club Tie-In
I’m a sucker for all kinds of fitness opportunities. Bring it on and I’ll try it out. Right now, in fact, I’m feeling really guilty because I didn’t get the chance to try out synchronized swimming when the sport’s national governing body, USA Synchro, had its month-long promotion, USA Synchro de Mayo (which totally wins the award for an epic program title).
But I’m back in the swing of things, and I’m ready to try out the next big challenge: National Learn to Row Day, which takes place this Saturday, June 1. It is sponsored by US Rowing and Concept2, and will take place in rowing clubs and health clubs across the U.S.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t picture rowing without seeing the graphic galley slave scene from Ben-Hur (“Battle speed! Attack speed! Ramming speed!”). So of course, I am all kinds of jazzed about this opportunity. USRowing actually has a page on its website devoted to National Learn to Row Day. The page includes a way for people to get involved, find a rowing club near them or just learn some of the facts and terminology of rowing.
The site is easy to navigate and contains all kinds of information, including some fun facts under “Rowing 101.” For example:
• Coxswains from first-place boats worldwide are thrown into the water by their crews
• Coxswains don't now and probably never did yell "Stroke! Stroke!"
Rowing on open water would be a kick, and I look forward to trying it, but for those who don’t have access to a boat house, USRowing is hoping health clubs will tie into the promotion by introducing people to the rowing machine — hence, the tie-in with Concept2.
I’m actually a big fan of rowing machines; they’re a tremendous workout and a lot of fun. At the same time, however, I’ve been treated to the sight of plenty of people using what have to be the worst techniques ever (the excessive-layback-facing-the-ceiling-pulling-the-bar-up-to-the-chin-finish, for example). So there’s probably room for a little guidance in effective use. And hey, Concept2 even has a series of videos of how to – and how not to – row.
So when June 1 rolls around, I intend to be out on the water. If it’s raining, you’ll find me in the athletic club, rowing away. And one way or another, that scene from Ben-Hur is still going to be playing in my head.
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Friday, May 24, 2013
Texas Pushes for Review of State HS Association
Just weeks after time ran out in the Florida Legislature, where proposed bills could have significantly restricted the authority of the Florida High School Athletic Association, another state association's future hangs in the balance.
Texas Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) has his sights set on the state's University Interscholastic League, the governing body for public high school sports. The Texas Senate earlier this week followed the lead of Patrick — a longtime critic of the UIL who claims the organization is among the state's "most powerful" agencies — and voted to place the UIL under sunset review to determine if changes need to be made. Sunset review is a frequently used tool for legislative oversight.
The Texas House of Representatives has already passed a similar measure recommending a sunset review for the UIL.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Patrick "faced some pushback from his peers while proposing an amendment to sunset UIL, which operates under the University of Texas at Austin. The agency is already required to submit an annual audit to [Gov. Rick] Perry’s office ... and was reviewed positively during the most recent interim. Patrick countered that the sunset review will also cover management, agency policy and practices."
As the Associated Press reports, Patrick (who is also chair of the Senate Education Committee) "has clashed for years with the UIL, most notably over his attempts to open the public school league to private schools. Public school superintendents and coaches have opposed those attempts. Currently, two large Catholic schools in Dallas and Houston are the only private schools in the UIL, which does permit charter school participation. … The UIL also governs the state's high school steroids testing program that lawmakers created in 2007."
No official statement has been issued by the UIL regarding the sunset review, and a representative of the organization did not respond to a request for comment from Athletic Business.
Texas places most of its major and minor agencies under the sunset review process, and an agency can be shut down if lawmakers do not vote to renew it. But unlike other agencies, the amendment calling for the UIL review does not include an expiration date that would threaten to kill it off.
In Florida, a pair of House and Senate bills could very well have killed off the FHSAA. House Bill 1279 and Senate Bill 1164 would have regulated the FHSAA's investigative powers, overhauled its structure and restricted its eligibility-governing authority. Opponents say that would have torn down barriers that prevent dishonest coaches and unscrupulous adults from recruiting impressionable young athletes, resulting in a high school athletics system ruled by individuals who would go to any lengths to win a state championship.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Coach: 'We Had Kids with Helmets On in the Bathrooms'
When weather reports indicated a tornado heading directly toward Moore, Okla., on Monday afternoon, Southmoore High School football coach Jeff Brickman obviously cancelled spring practice. Instead, players and coaches awaited the storm by reviewing video of the previous day's practice while tucked inside the school.
"Then it hit right when school was about to let out," Brickman told Tulsa World sports columnist John E. Hoover. "All the kids in school were in shelters and we had a bunch of kids in the field house with helmets on in the bathrooms. It was pretty terrifying. It came right by the school."
The video of a massive funnel cloud tearing through an area just beyond Southmoore's athletic facilities became one of the lasting images projected to the world in the early hours after the storm left large swathes of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in ruins.
In a gripping piece posted online Wednesday, Hoover retraces the coach's experience inside the school as Brickman and his wife, Brandi — a cheer sponsor at Southmoore — acted swiftly to keep students safe.
When the sirens went off, the cheer squad was in the gymnasium. Brandi Brickman hustled the girls into "a little closet that's underneath the bleachers and put (tumbling) mats on them," Jeff Brickman said.
"I went out to the door and saw it, and then I left and went back and it looked like it was maybe a hundred yards from the school. The doors were shaking and there was stuff going everywhere. I'd never seen anything like that."
Brickman tried to summarize his emotions during the crisis. It wasn't easy.
"You say prayers. All those girls were crying. They thought, you know, that was it," he said. "Luckily for us, but obviously not for other people, it missed us by about a hundred yards."
Nearly six hours after the winds subsided, Brickman said he knew of about a dozen Southmoore players whose homes had been leveled. He ventured a guess that the Moore School District, only three days from summer vacation, likely would cancel classes for the rest of the year.
"I would guess probably 200 to 300 kids at our school lost their homes," Brickman said.
Multiple phone calls and text messages to Moore coaches and administrators either went straight to voicemail or were clipped by a busy signal. There are electrical and land-line phone outages across the area, and what cell phone towers aren't torn to bits are choked with too much traffic.
"We're still trying to get more information," Brickman said. "Everything down here's shut down and you can't get anywhere. I've been trying to do text messaging and just word of mouth, but it's tough."
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Blog: SoulCycle Lawsuit Could Hurt Fitness Industry
The recently filed class-action lawsuit against the indoor cycling chain SoulCycle for allegedly violating California and New York wage laws could have a huge impact on the health and fitness industry. We’re fascinated by it and are watching to see how it progresses.
The complaint, filed by a former SoulCycle instructor, claims that SoulCycle instructors — who are paid only for the classes they teach — are "required to work above and beyond the time instructing a class." Their duties include training, preparation, communication with customers, meetings, special-event classes and assisting with marketing.
We are particularly intrigued because the plaintiff worked at the company for four years. He, after all, has nothing to lose and everything to win. If SoulCycle is forced to provide back pay for all of those additional hours, he could be in for quite a windfall.
On the other hand, current employees of SoulCycle — and every fitness business in America — could take a hit if he wins. Not that we think SoulCycle is 100 percent correct in how they pay their instructors (if what the suit alleges is true). For example, a strong argument could be made that special-event classes and marketing activities should be compensated hours. But training, preparation and communicating with customers are part of being an instructor. In fact, doing those things well is, in a sense, more vital to being a top-flight instructor than the act of teaching the class! If someone thinks they should be compensated for those activities, then they are likely in the wrong business.
So what happens if SoulCycle loses? The impact would be felt at every club where group fitness instructors and personal trainers are employees rather than contractors. The whole employee vs. contractor thing is already a hot issue between the IRS and health clubs, and it would only get worse as more clubs protected themselves by converting employees into contractors. Instructors and trainers would have to show up, teach and leave. There would be no worries about additional duties, because contractors are in business for themselves.
The other option for club owners would be to accommodate this notion of paying for everything. Everyone would have a low hourly wage and get paid, say, an extra half-hour to prep and an extra half-hour to schmooze with members. But they’d take home exactly the same amount of money, if not less. Superstar instructors wouldn’t like it, nor would personal trainers who get paid on a percentage of the revenue they generate.
We don’t know what SoulCycle pays, but our guess is that they pay in line or better than their competitors. Their facilities are high-end and exclusive. Their classes and their instructors are highly regarded. We imagine that most of their instructors feel like fitness rock stars. This lawsuit could force them to be treated like everybody else. That wouldn’t be good for SoulCycle’s instructors. And it wouldn’t be good for our industry.
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Friday, May 17, 2013
Prep, College Baseball Players Help Save Two Lives
Two baseball teams — one from a high school in Northern California and the other from a Division II university in Pennsylvania — underwent life-changing experiences this week that had nothing to do with their performances on the field.
On Wednesday, 16 varsity and junior varsity players from Valley High School in Elk Grove, Calif., were in the middle of their final practice of the season when they heard cries for help from a 16-year-old girl pinned under a nearby car. Together, they lifted the four-door sedan while varsity coach James Millholland pulled the girl to safety. "We all just ran out there as a team," Millholland told KCRA-TV. "No one was saying much, and then the guys got around the car and just lifted it up. There was very little talking."
"It was like a reaction," baseball player Chas Roberts added. "You had to do what you had to do to save someone's life."
According to police, the girl (who attends a different school and whose name has not been released), was being dropped off at an after-school program at Valley High when her mother shifted the vehicle into reverse, accidentally running over her daughter. The girl reportedly suffered ear and arm injuries but is expected to recover.
Two days earlier, seven members of the Millersville University of Pennsylvania baseball team — in Johnstown, Pa., for a tournament and en route to grabbing a late-night bite — saved the life of a 1-year-old boy.
"We heard two people screaming in a car, and it turned into driveway right in front of us," third baseman Zach Stone told Lancaster Online. "A dad hopped out of a car and picked up his kid. He just looked limp. ... The kid didn't look like he had any life to him."
"He was screaming and yelling, 'My son is choking! He's having a seizure! Somebody help!' " added catcher Dave Pine.
And, as reporter Cindy Stauffer writes, "That's what the team did."
Time seemed to slow down for a few long moments as the team ran to the family just as the child's mother laid the tot down on the ground.
Chambersburg High School health class came rushing back to Tyler McDonald, 21, another third baseman.
"I started doing the checklist of CPR," McDonald said.
McDonald calmly told the child's panicking father, Shane Norman, to take off his jacket and put it under the little boy's head, to tilt it back and open his airway.
He told the child's frantic mother, Megan, who was trying to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to move the child's tongue out of the way and make sure nothing was blocking his breathing. McDonald then put his ear down next to the child's mouth, to feel if he was still breathing.
In the meantime, Pine called 911 on his cell phone, scanning the nearby street signs and summoning an ambulance. … For his part, Stone knelt down beside the child and checked for a pulse, taking his small hand in his, hoping to feel him squeeze it or show a sign of life.
Other team members calmed the parents, and huddled over the child, to keep the rain from falling on him.
And then Braydin Norman, almost 2 years old, opened his eyes.
The boy was transported to a hospital via ambulance. Doctors say he had a virus that caused a 104.3-degree fever, which is why the Norman family was out driving at 1 a.m.; they were headed to the hospital, anyway. After Braydin recovered, the family tracked down the Marauders at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament at Point Stadium in Johnstown, where Stauffer chronicled the emotional reunion.
"We came there just for baseball, and we ran into this family who needed our help," Stone said. "There's a lot more to life than baseball."
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Sand Volleyball Closes In On NCAA Championship Status
Louisiana State University announced Wednesday that it will begin sponsoring varsity sand volleyball next spring, making it the 32nd Division I school committed to the sport — more than doubling the 15 schools that competed last year during collegiate sand volleyball’s inaugural varsity season.
Kathy DeBoer, executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, which earlier this month staged the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala., predicts conservatively that 10 more teams from a list of two dozen D-I schools now considering the sport will begin play next spring. “We are quite confident we’re going to go over 40 next year,” DeBoer says. “The reason that’s a flinch number and why I track these numbers so regularly is because once you have 40 varsity programs and you can hold that number for two years, the NCAA will start the wheels turning to put you into the budget cycle to become a champion sport, which means the NCAA pays for the championship. Right now, the AVCA is running the championship, but the schools are paying to send their teams.”
The timing couldn’t be better, according to DeBoer, with the NCAA in the first year of its current three-year budget cycle. “It could layout perfectly for sand volleyball, where we get right in,” she says. “If we don’t make 40 next year, then we’re waiting another three years.”
When asked if she’s surprised by the rapid growth of sand volleyball at the collegiate level, DeBoer adds, “The popularity does not surprise me. This was one of the reasons that our coaches association was so interested in trying to move this forward as a collegiate sport. We knew that kids really wanted the opportunity to play.”
And institutional sponsorship of the sport should not be prohibitive from a financial standpoint. Schools can expect annual operational costs of less than $30,000, excluding coaches’ salaries and scholarships, according to DeBoer. “Sand volleyball is your most economical way to add a women’s sport, because you can borrow expertise and talent already on your campus,” she says. “I think that’s what’s fueling the growth.”
The sport is becoming more specialized, however, with student-athletes increasingly choosing to play sand volleyball or hard-court volleyball, but not necessarily both. The AVCA keeps schools informed on an annual basis as to whether programs have hired a separate sand volleyball coach or invested new money in sand volleyball scholarships, but it hasn’t needed to cajole prospective sponsors much beyond that. Says DeBoer, “Athletics administrators are coming to us, asking about squad size and spending, and who around them has the sport so they can put together a schedule without having to get on a plane.”
Sponsoring schools so far have been concentrated in the West (15 D-I teams) and Southeast (13), with the universities of Arizona and South Carolina set to begin play next spring. The term sand volleyball gained traction in NCAA circles, DeBoer says, “so it would feel like something that could be played in Iowa as well as Florida.” For now, at least, Nebraska remains the lone Midwest sponsor of Division I sand volleyball.
But whether or not plane rides are part of the equation, it appears the sky’s the limit for the sport. When AB spoke to DeBoer in 2008, sand volleyball was still months away from inclusion on the NCAA’s list of emerging sports. Today, she calls it “the most successful emerging sport that’s ever been put on the list.”
The 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships will be televised by the CBS Sports Network on May 21 at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. (ET), and on May 28 at 8 p.m.
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Design Plans Unveiled for New Minneapolis Stadium
The design of a new $975 million multipurpose stadium for Minneapolis was unveiled Monday night. Bold and progressive, it combines efficient functionality with sleek, geometric architecture.
Presented by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas-based architectural firm HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, the design package now goes before the Minneapolis Stadium Implementation Committee and the City of Minneapolis for review.
Described as an authentic structure influenced by its Minnesota location, the new stadium boasts a soaring prow, the largest transparent roof in the world and operable doors that open to the downtown skyline. The facility’s openness will make it unlike any other stadium in the country, architects for the facility say, and it will be capable of hosting more events than any large stadium in the world — including Minnesota Vikings home games and half of the University of Minnesota's baseball games. (The Golden Gophers are expected to split their season between the new stadium and renovated Siebert Field.)
Local officials hope to attract a Super Bowl, NCAA basketball and baseball tournaments, concerts, motocross and marching band competitions, high school sporting events and conventions. And despite its versatility, the facility's football configuration is designed to still put fans closer to the action than any venue in the NFL.
“The design reflects the true story of the Minnesota community with its international style driven by climatic response and energy conservation,” said Bryan Trubey, a design principal at HKS Sports & Entertainment Group.
Throughout the design process, HKS identified four major influencers that shaped the functional form and architecture of the building: climate, geography, technology and the history of important civic structures. The most obvious architectural element is the stadium's roof. With ethylene tetrafluoroethylene on the roof's southern half, spectators will feel as if they are sitting outside without being exposed to the elements. Sustainable characteristics will be utilized to produce lower operating costs in winter and summer, and the stadium’s sloped roof will be the most efficient roof structure in the nation, according to HKS officials.
Images courtesy of HKS Sports & Entertainment Group
Vikings.com has more details about the stadium's design and amenities, as well as a stadium fly-through video.
Groundbreaking for the 65,000-seat stadium will take place in October, with demolition of the Metrodome beginning in early 2014. The new stadium is scheduled to open in time for the Vikings' 2016 home opener. Last week, the University of Minnesota announced that the Vikings will play their 2014 and 2015 home schedules at TCF Bank Stadium.
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Posted At
9:17 AM
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Thursday, May 09, 2013
Judge: HS Cheerleaders Can Display Biblical Banners
After a contentious battle last fall, the members of a high school cheerleading squad in a small southeast Texas town have won the right to display at football games banners decorated with Bible verses that change from week to week. Here are two examples of the verses: "I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me (Philipians 4:13) and "But thanks be to God, which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
State District Judge Steven Thomas on Wednesday ruled that the banners — through which members of the Kountze High School football team charge when taking the field — are "constitutionally permissible." "Religious messages expressed on run-through banners have not created, and will not create, an establishment of religion in the Kountze community," Thomas wrote in his ruling.
Thus, a case that brought national attention last September and October to this town of fewer than 2,200 people located about 95 miles northeast of Houston, comes to a close. A lawsuit over the banners had been scheduled for trial June 24, according to The Dallas Morning News.
It all began when a local resident complained about the banners. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wis.-based church-and-state watchdog, contacted the Kountze Independent School District after the complaint. The organization, which cracked down on school districts in other states last fall for what it called First Amendment violations, filed an amicus brief in the Kountze case — forcing the district to ban the banners.
A judge issued a temporary restraining order in September that barred implementation of the ban and allowed the school to temporarily continue the tradition. At a hearing in early October, during which both sides in the case made their arguments, Thomas declared that he needed more time to issue a final ruling and extended the temporary restraining order. He added that the ban appeared to violate the students’ free-speech rights.
"We're thrilled for the cheerleaders because their rights to display their messages were vindicated," David Starnes, the cheerleaders' attorney from a Plano-based nonprofit law firm, told KFDM News. "This is a great victory for students all over the country who want to share their religious faith."
The FFRF has a different interpretation of the judge's ruling. A headline on the organization's website reads "Official school religion OK'd by Texas court." While the foundation was not a party to the original lawsuit, "FFRF would like to challenge the religious banners as part of official football games in federal court if students, faculty or parents subjected to such proselytizing come forward," according to the online story. "It's impossible to imagine a judge approving cheerleader messages saying, 'Atheists rule — God is dead' or 'Allah is supreme — pray to him for victory,' " said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.
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9:14 AM
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Monday, May 06, 2013
HS Football Players: Concussions Won't Sideline Us
If the results of a study presented Monday are any indication, there's still a long way to go in efforts to educate high school football players about the dangers of concussions. In fact, many of the 120 players from the Cincinnati area who participated in the study claim it's okay to play with a concussion — even though they know they are at increased risk of serious injury.
In fact, of the one-fourth of all players who had suffered a concussion, more than half acknowledged that they would continue to play with concussion symptoms. And while 91 percent of all players recognized a risk of serious injury if they returned to
play too quickly, only half would always or sometimes report their
concussion symptoms to their coach.
“These attitudes could leave young athletes vulnerable to injury from sports-related concussions,” says Brit Anderson, a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who co-authored the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Washington, D.C. "Despite their knowledge, many athletes in our sample reported that they would not tell their coach about symptoms and would continue to play. A small percentage even responded that athletes have a responsibility to play in important games with a concussion.”
Those results are similar to ones generated by ESPN The Magazine in
late 2010, when it surveyed 300 high school football players by asking the
following question: "Your team is in the state title game, and your star
gets a concussion. Would you rather lose the game as he sits out, or
win because he chose to play with it?" The majority of players (54.1
percent) would keep the concussed player on the field.
Additionally, more than half of all players surveyed by ESPN The Magazine (55.4 percent) thought that if a teammate complained of a headache
during a game, it was okay for him to return to play — even though
studies have shown that a headache is the leading symptom of a
concussion.
Anderson and her colleagues administered two surveys to the Cincinnati-area football players to measure their knowledge of concussions and symptoms, as well as their attitudes about playing after a head injury. Survey results show that 70 percent of the players had been educated about concussions, and most could identify common signs and symptoms. Headache was identified as a symptom by 93 percent, dizziness by 89 percent, difficulty remembering and sensitivity to light and/or sound by 78 percent, difficulty concentrating by 76 percent and feeling in a fog by 53 percent.
The abstract, titled " 'I Can't Miss the Big Game': High School Football
Players' Knowledge and Attitudes about Concussions," can be found here.
"Athletes who had more knowledge about concussions were not more likely to report symptoms,” Anderson says. “Although further study needs to be done, it is possible that concussion education alone may not be enough to promote safe concussion behaviors in high school football players.”
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2:13 PM
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Boys Playing on Girls' Teams Under Fire in Pennsylvania
A nearly 40-year-old court ruling that allowed boys to play on girls' high school sports teams in the '70s is at the center of a new legal battle in Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that concerns about girls potentially losing athletic opportunities and being subject to increased risk of injury has prompted the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to ask for the law to be changed.
"It looks like we are headed toward an evidentiary hearing of some sort," Pittsburgh lawyer Mary Grenen told the paper. Grenen is a potential intervenor in the case on behalf of her daughter, a field hockey player in the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel.
Field hockey is the sport that concerns PIAA officials the most — and has for the past several years. As Post-Gazette reporter Kate Giammarise writes:
The case centers on a 1975 Commonwealth Court [in Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System] ruling that declared a PIAA bylaw forbidding girls from practicing or competing against boys in school athletics unconstitutional. At the time, there were few girls-only sports, and the ruling was intended to open up more opportunities for girls in male-dominated athletics.
But, over the years, as more girls' teams were established, the order began to be interpreted so boys could also play on girls' teams if the sport was offered only for girls.
The trend appears to be most prevalent in field hockey. In a survey the PIAA sent over the winter to its 1,470 member schools (742 responded), 38 schools reported boys playing girls' field hockey, 14 reported boys playing girls' volleyball, and eight reported boys playing girls' lacrosse. All told, more than 30 percent of responding schools had a boy playing on a girls' team, according to the survey results, which were submitted to the court.
Grenen said the PIAA hoped to reach a compromise with the Attorney General's Office in light of the tremendous shift in high school sports since the 1970s. The athletic association wants the state to allow it to make a "reasonable bylaw" that would be in line with the federal Title IX law and that would largely keep boys from girls' sports, especially contact sports such as field hockey.
Letting boys play on a girls' field hockey or other team creates a safety risk for young girls more prone to concussions or other injury, and also takes opportunities away from other girls who might then not be able to play, Grenen said.
"We don't want to see girls' sports start going backwards," she said.
In April 2012, officials in New York ruled that 13-year-old Keeling Pilaro, who had competed on the Southampton High School field hockey team for the previous two seasons, could no longer participate on the team. Section 11, which oversees high school sports in Suffolk County, stated that Pilaro was just too good and that his participation was causing “a significant adverse effect on some of his opposing female players," said Ed Cinelli, Section 11's executive director. He also added that “the rules state [Pilaro] would be allowed to play if he wasn't the dominant player.”
Weeks later and with those rules in mind, Pilaro was reinstated after a closed-door meeting between two dozen officials determined that the boy's exceptional skill did not have a detrimental effect on female players. They compared Pilaro’s achievements with those of female field hockey players, determining that his skills and achievements did not exceed those of his peers nor give his team an unfair advantage.
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9:30 AM
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Friday, May 03, 2013
Notre Dame Stadium Viewed as Hub in Campus Planning
The University of Notre Dame campus has its iconic landmarks: the golden dome, the grotto, “Touchdown Jesus.” Now the university is looking to take advantage of Notre Dame Stadium — which, despite being the biggest single-day draw on campus, is used for fewer than 10 events per year — as the centerpiece of new campus development.
“Inspired by the university’s campus master plan, we will study the possibility of accomplishing multiple objectives — namely, preserve the campus’s pedestrian character by taking advantage of a central location for needed facilities, retain the integrity of a legendary stadium, improve the visual attractiveness of the exterior stadium wall, and enhance the game-day experience for our football fans,” stated Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the university’s president, after the UND Board of Trustees spring meeting Thursday.
According to the university’s website, enhancements to the stadium and surrounding area could include:
• space for classrooms, conferences, speakers, meetings, reception and other events
• a student center for assembly and activity areas
• resources for media, including facilities for the university's expanding video and digital initiatives for academic purposes and external relations, as well as a press box
• a location for various hospitality functions for community and campus patrons
• enhancements to the fan experience, including premium seating options.
Costs and other plan specifics are yet to be determined by a team of campus officials and outside consultants. The original stadium, built in 1930 and expanded in 1997, will be kept intact “under all circumstances,” according to the university.
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Posted At
9:45 AM
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Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Want to Host World's Largest Swimming Lesson? Hurry!
Aquatics facility operators have less than three weeks left to register to participate in the World's Largest Swimming Lesson™. For the fourth consecutive year, the event — scheduled for 11 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, June 18 — will attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous swimming lesson. The current record, set in 2012, stands at 24,873 participants representing 15 countries on five continents.
Here are video highlights of last year's WLSL:
Registration for the event, which is designed to reach out to parents and children with a beginning-of-summer message that learning to swim can help save lives, closes May 19.
The WLSL serves as a platform to help local aquatic facilities and national, regional and state water safety and drowning prevention organizations work together. Supporting organizations include the American Red Cross, the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Swim Instructors Association, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and Athletic Business.
Aquatic facilities, waterparks, swim schools and YMCAs have all served as host locations. The registration fee is $42 and includes promotional materials, participant recognition certificates and water-safety tip sheets.
Here is how one facility, the Roseville (Calif.) Aquatics Complex, is promoting its participation in this year's World's Largest Swimming Lesson:
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Posted At
8:34 AM
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