Friday, April 29, 2011
Blog: Court in Bat Case Refused to Extend the Duty of Care
A lawsuit filed by James G. Falzon and dismissed this week took aim at the alleged increased hazards presented to spectators by maple bats (versus traditional ash bats) and the team’s and league’s alleged notice of the alleged enhanced danger. Falzon v. Major League Baseball Enterprises, Sterling Mets L.P., Ramon Castro and Louis Castillo made arguments typical in cases resulting from spectators struck by projectiles, but it also relied, in part, on purported MLB-commissioned studies of the dangers presented by maple bats. Falzon also argued that the players Ramon Castro and Luis Castillo were not careful enough in inspecting and maintaining the offending bat.
New York is a “limited duty of care” state. The limited duty of care is a unique legal duty that protects owners and operators of baseball stadiums from liability for spectator injuries caused by errant baseballs, bats and even promotional items that may enter the stands during a baseball game. The limited duty of care is satisfied when an owner or operator establishes that the requisite protected area was provided behind home plate (as it was in the Falzon case, although Falzon and his family conceded that they were not sitting in the protected area and that they did they request seats in that area). Moreover, announcements and the language on the back of the ticket warn spectators about the possibility of bats and bat fragments (maple or otherwise) entering the stands.
In an effort to avoid the monolithic limited duty of care and his assumption of an obvious risk of injury, Falzon advanced several novel arguments. He argued that that the alleged enhanced danger presented by shattering maple bats was not an ordinary risk he assumed. Falzon also contended that the screened area should not just be limited to the area behind home plate, as that standard is outmoded given the current state of play and the trajectory of bats and baseballs. He further argued that because of the way that maple bats shatter, a spectator does not have adequate time to react and therefore faces an enhanced risk of injury.
The court was not persuaded by these arguments and dismissed Falzon’s negligence action (I was one of the representatives for the defendants). The court held that the issue was not whether maple bats are more likely to break than ash bats, because the risk of injury to spectators who occupy unprotected areas remains the same. The court declined to extend the limited duty of care or to require the owners and operators of a baseball stadium to protect additional areas of the ballpark with protective screening. The court noted that to hold otherwise would essentially render them insurers of a spectator’s safety — a standard the court expressly declined to adopt.
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A Poor Record Isn't Sufficient Reason to Fire a Coach
An Iowa high school coach who was fired after a 1-8 season is now 2-0 in his effort to win back his job. The Iowa Court of Appeals yesterday ruled 2-1 in favor of Bruce Wall, who was fired in April 2009 by the Jesup (Iowa) School District. According to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, district officials claimed Wall did not respond enthusiastically enough to administrators' recommendations for improvements. Wall countered that some of administrators' suggestions, such as having mandatory weight lifting sessions in the off-season, weren't legal, and that the real reason the school board removed him from his position was that he hadn’t won more games. An adjudicator ruled in favor of Wall in 2010, and the appeals court agreed that the board didn't have just cause to terminate him — the win-loss record wasn't enough of a justification to let a coach go.
Wall, who won about 40 percent of his games throughout his nine-year career at Jesup (an improvement over the previous coach’s record) has reportedly been reinstated with back pay. The school board is mulling a possible appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.
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Fan Injured By Maple Bat Loses in Court
The New York Mets can go back to just worrying about winning games — a judge on Wednesday tossed a lawsuit filed by a fan who was injured by the barrel of a maple bat in a 2007 game. James G. Falzon suffered multiple facial fractures, including a broken palate, when a bat owned by then-Mets catcher Ramon Castro and swung by Mets second baseman Luis Castillo shattered, pieces of which flew into the third-base stands. Falzon claimed that Major League Baseball and the Mets failed to keep spectators "reasonably safe from hazards they had actual knowledge of, including the increased danger posed by shattering maple bats," but the team’s attorneys argued that Falzon and his 11-year-old son were warned of the potential dangers, voluntarily sat in an unprotected area of the stadium and did not ask to be moved to a safer area (such as the part of the bowl protected by a screen).
Falzon’s attorney says he will pursue an appeal in the case, which also names Castro and Castillo. A separate lawsuit, which accuses Rye, N.Y.-based Rawlings-brand bat manufacturer Jarden Corp. of producing an "inherently dangerous" bat, is ongoing.
An MLB committee studying maple bats in 2008 found they were three times as likely to break in multiple places as ash bats. After the 2008 season, the league set new bat production standards that it says have cut the breakage rate by nearly half.
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
Dirtless Diamonds Give Teams Real Home-Field Advantage
More synthetic-turf baseball fields are being installed these days, but many of them still use real dirt on and around the base paths, home plate and pitcher's mound. Which is why some facilities are getting lots of attention this spring for using absolutely no dirt. Instead, brown and white turf doubles as dirt and chalk.
Among these dirt-free fields are Consol Energy Park near Washington, Pa. — home to the independent Frontier League's Washington Wild Things and Washington's Trinity High School — and Summit Credit Union Field at Sun Prairie (Wis.) High School (where the outfield is still natural grass).
Installed by ProGrass, the all-turf field at CEP debuted last week when Trinity hosted Bridgeville's Chartiers Valley High School. Trinity may have been shut out, 8-0, but coach Levi Bristor says CEP gives the team an extra home-field advantage. "Since 1997, we've been practicing on our football field, which has artificial turf," he told the local Observer-Reporter newspaper. "We know how you have to slide on the turf. But it's nice to be able to take a round of infield at practice and know it's going to be on the same surface as the one we'll be playing half our games on."
In Sun Prairie — where baseball coach Rob Hamilton helped spearhead a $300,000 fundraising campaign to install FieldTurf at the new baseball stadium — Cardinals players were able to begin practicing outdoors before most of their opponents. "We were practicing out here in the snow," catcher Zach Fairchild told Madison.com in early April. "We're probably the only team in the state that had the advantage of getting outside multiple times already this year."
"We’ve been on turf before, but this is an advantage to be able to practice and play on this early in the season," added Hartford High coach Russ Grundy, whose team was rattled by the Cardinals, 18-5, in Summit Credit Union Field's debut earlier this month. "This is the first high school field like this that I've seen. I wish we could all have it."
While all-turf baseball fields do not require the typical maintenance of a grass field (or even a synthetic field with dirt), they do have their quirks. At CEP, for example, metal spikes are prohibited because of a warranty issue with the turf, according to the Observer-Reporter. Only molded spikes or tennis shoes are permitted.
To see photos of CEP's turf being installed, click here.
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Blog: No Solidarity in an NFL Veteran’s Self-Serving Stance
I’m a union guy. I supported Major League Baseball players during the completely unnecessary and ruinous 1994 lockout, and I have supported the NFL players during this year’s completely unnecessary and potentially ruinous lockout.
Don’t start complaining about all those multimillion-dollar salaries. The owners are the ones responsible for them, and anyway, it’s a closed system. Either the billions in TV, licensing and ticket revenue goes to the athletes who we pay to see, or it goes to Jerry Jones. To put it another way, the players’ portion of the loot (around 57 percent of revenues) is shared by the league’s 1,700 elite athletes. The other 43 percent is shared by 32 of the fattest cats you’ve ever seen.
But I digress.
I do have one problem with the players. Does the money have to accrue to stupid athletes as well as to the smart ones?
Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, a 14-year veteran who’s made the Pro Bowl 11 times, made some news this week by going on Sports Talk Radio 610 in Houston and undercutting his fellow players, speaking highly of a potential rookie wage system.
“For a rookie to come in and make $60 to $70 million guaranteed, I say — and everybody can agree with that — is absolutely ridiculous,” Gonzalez said. “They have not played a down on that field. You might as well take that money and give that to the veterans and maybe that solves some type of problem where we do give back a little bit to the ownership.”
I guess I’m not everybody, because I can’t agree with that. Beyond the nonsensical and self-serving notion that “taking that money and giving it to the veterans” somehow equates to “giving back a little bit to the ownership,” nobody should ever have a cap put on what he or she can earn — not a rookie, not Tony Gonzalez, not even Jerry Jones. If Tony Gonzalez were a rookie, and someone thought highly enough of his potential to pay him $60 to $70 million guaranteed, then that’s what a rookie Tony Gonzalez would be worth. That’s called free enterprise.
D. Orlando Ledbetter, a columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who is clearly not a deep thinker on such matters, responded to Gonzalez’s comment by trucking out a list of Falcons first-round draft picks over the past decade and the amount of guaranteed compensation they were given — $118,416,250 “before ever playing a down.” Only four of the 10 players, Ledbetter noted, have been selected to a Pro Bowl as a Falcon.
Did he conclude that the Falcons suck at making draft picks? Of course not. Instead, Ledbetter fixated over the amount of money given to DE Jamaal Anderson, “who contracted for $15,361,250 in guaranteed compensation before his NFL career began” and whose 105 tackles and 4.5 sacks in four seasons averages out to $146,298 per tackle and $3,413,611 per sack. (By contrast, if Ledbetter earns $150,000 a year to write 150 columns, I figure he makes fifteen bucks per asinine comment.)
Gonzalez, though, is in a completely different league. Doesn’t he know that by siding with the owners over his fellow players, he is putting his own future earnings in jeopardy? Doesn’t he realize that the owners’ strategy is to turn the workers against each other so that they’ll break ranks? Don’t these guys know what it means to be part of a union?
Oh wait, the players decertified their union? My bad.
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Blog: Clubs Can Be Bad Guys…And So Can Members
Every reputable gym owner must feel sick when there’s yet another story about alleged billing abuses by a high-profile operator. This time, it’s Urban Active. The Better Business Bureau gave UA an “F” rating, and several members are suing the company for, among other things, misrepresenting their membership agreement and failing to honor cancellation requests. UA also seems to be guilty of the biggest sin of all, which is being unresponsive to complaints, and even being slow to respond to the BBB.
So it looks like UA has some explaining to do, and it’s another black eye for the health club industry. However, as owners, we can offer a little perspective.
UA has thousands of members, and these complaints represent approximately 2 percent of that number. That means thousands of UA members regularly, and without incident, cancel their memberships, receive refunds and resolve billing disputes. Is UA systemically trying to rip off the consumers of Ohio when thousands of them seem to be ending their relationship with UA just fine? So perhaps – just perhaps – some portion of the responsibility for these problems might reside with the members.
Anyone who has dealt with membership cancellations knows that consumers often seem incapable of following simple instructions, and when there is a dispute, some of them invoke selective memory or outright lie. How do we know? It happens to us, and we have the most benign cancellation policies of any health club we know. Members blame us for not canceling them when they take months to send in proof that they’ve moved, or when they send e- or snail-mail to an incorrect address, or when they want to cancel in the middle of their contract term. And when they think they’re right, they REALLY think they’re right. Some of our bitter exes include:
• The guy who threatened to report us to the Attorney General if we didn’t refund his dues back to July, which is when he claimed to have submitted his cancellation request. As proof, he provided the e-mail receipt that goes to everyone who submits their request via our website. Only he didn’t send a real e-mail. He had created this alleged receipt using Microsoft Word, with the typos and incorrect dates to prove it. Sadly, we couldn’t report him to anyone for trying to commit fraud.
• The woman who was convinced that our billing company had told her that after her freeze period she would be canceled. But, after her freeze, it took her three months to notice that she was being billed again, and she screamed bloody murder. We assured her that we would refund her money if that was, in fact, what she had been told, and through the miracle of modern technology, we retrieved the recordings of her conversations with our billing company. She was told no such thing. Even when faced with the prospect of us e-mailing her those conversations, she stuck to her story and threatened to badmouth us to everyone she could.
• The woman who just last week berated our staff and sent nasty e-mails claiming that we had misrepresented the terms of our membership when she joined last January. She claimed our staff person had told her it was a non-renewing membership, even though she had clearly been guided through the contract — she had initialed, as directed, the two places where the auto-renewal clause is clearly described. She didn’t want to see a copy of what she had signed, apparently because it would interfere with her sense of moral righteousness.
The vast majority of our members are able to cancel easily and efficiently, which is our goal. There’s no fine print in our contracts, and we train our staff to underline and explain the cancellation policy. We have various membership options so nobody is forced to commit to a longer term than they’d like. We require only 14 days lead time to cancel, even though state law allows us 60 days. We let people cancel via the web. How much easier can we make it?
Yet, to a vocal minority of former members, we are the bad guys. Is Urban Active a bad guy? Maybe, maybe not. But we can guarantee you that in those 200 complaints against UA, there are some that will not hold water.
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Fitness Chain Offers Free Summer Memberships to Teens
Lifestyle Family Fitness will kick off its annual Teen Initiative on May 15 — meaning all of the chain's clubs throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest will open their doors to kids between the ages of 12 and 17 for free. This is the fourth year the chain that IHRSA tapped as one of the top 20 fastest-growing health club companies in the world has offered the program.
"In an effort to battle teen inactivity, Lifestyle Family Fitness began donating free, two-month health club memberships to teens in 2006," says club founder Geoff Dyer. "In 2010, the number of registered teens increased 117 percent from when the program first started. We do this during the summer months, because many teens would not otherwise have access to physical education during the summer break."
Dyer, who battled childhood obesity and tipped the scales at 248 pounds when he was 17, cites a 2010 study that revealed teens who are genetically predisposed to obesity can maintain a healthy body weight by exercising for an hour a day. "Family members tend to pass off their teen's extra weight as 'puppy fat' or make excuses saying, 'You'll grow out of it; don't worry about it,' " he says. "The better approach is for the parent to lead by example. Eat sensibly, be active and be supportive and encouraging."
Last summer, Lifestyle Family Fitness donated more than 11,000 memberships to teens at its 55 locations. This year, the Teen Initiative program will run through August 15 and provide free access until 4 p.m. on weekdays and all-day access on weekends.
Additionally, the nonprofit Teen Fitness Connection helps hook kids up with other health clubs in their area offering free summer memberships. "I'm not so naïve as to think that health clubs are the only way that teens can pursue a fit lifestyle," Teen Fitness founder Gary Carleton told Athletic Business last year. "So now we're engaging mixed martial arts and karate schools to adopt this initiative, as well."
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ASU Logo Controversy: The Devil Is In the Details
A member of the Chicago Police Department's Area One Gang Enforcement says the new Nike-designed three-pronged pitchfork logo for the Arizona State University Sun Devils is similar to the one used by the Satan's Disciples street gang. Thus, he warned that gang members will likely wind up wearing ASU gear.
Here's what the new logo looks like, and an ASU associate athletic director has claimed it's "not even close" to that of the Satan's Disciples.
 
Nevertheless, as Arizona Republic columnist Bob Young wrote, "There isn't much ASU or any other pro or college team can do to prevent a gang from adopting its gear."
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Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Natatorium Ventilation Code Changes Could Prove Costly
The collaboration of various entities that will one day yield the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC)
may be helping ease the nerves of pool operators who otherwise might
have feared another costly regulation in the mold of the Virginia Graeme
Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. With any luck, though, they know better
than to sleep through the comment period for "Ventilation & Air
Quality," the first of the modules to be released.
Nothing in the module's abstract suggests anything other than a
commonsense approach. With an increase in attention given to airborne
illnesses caused by excess chloramines in the air, the ventilation
module naturally includes a call to increase the amount of makeup air
required, with the amount of the increase depending on whether the pool
contains flat water, agitated water or hot water, and bearing in mind
the "venue or deck patron density" (meaning the square footage per
person). But two aspects of the module have some observers shaken up: 1)
The increase in makeup air would not replace the relevant standard set
by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE), but be added to it; and 2) The new standard is
intended "for new or modified construction," which could require an
extraordinary retrofitting of HVAC equipment to every existing indoor
pool.
Scot Hunsaker, president of Counsilman-Hunsaker, a St. Louis-based pool
engineering, planning and design firm, sits on the board of directors of
the National Swimming Pool Foundation (as does AB's president,
Peter Brown), so he can't say the ventilation requirements come as any
surprise. Nevertheless, he doubts that the implications of the code's
wording are fully understood. "The ventilation module will probably have
the most significant impact on the aquatics industry of any," he says.
"This may represent the first time the health code addresses ventilation
issues rather than deferring to ASHRAE, and the changes could have
significant first-dollar costs and second-dollar costs for operations."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't make it
extraordinarily obvious how you can make your voice heard. On the CDC's Modules for Review
page, scroll down to Ventilation & Air Quality, and click on "Draft
4/13/11 for Public Comment" to download the PDF. A link in the 16-page
document takes you to a Microsoft Word comment form, another link to
which can be found farther down the modules page under "How Do I Submit
Public Comments?"
One-quarter of the 60-day window for public comment has already passed.
On June 12, all public comments go to the Technical Committee for review
before the module is officially released.
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Are Colleges Gaming Title IX Compliance?
Today’s New York Times reports that college athletic departments often use deception to comply with Title IX. “Many are padding women’s team rosters with underqualified, even unwitting, athletes. They are counting male practice players as women. And they are trimming the rosters of men’s teams,” wrote Katie Thomas, with reporting help from three additional Times staffers.
All of these things fall under the heading of roster management, a concept AB first covered in 2000, then again in 2002, when the University of Wisconsin was accommodating 170 student-athletes on its women’s rowing team. In between, then-Wisconsin head football coach Barry Alvarez (the school’s current athletic director) drew AB’s attention when he defended the number of walk-ons on his roster, which at the time was decimated by suspensions relating to a student-athlete extra-benefits scandal.
But the Times article nonetheless alerted us to the lengths to which schools are currently willing to go to comply with Title IX. For example, 21 University of South Florida women competed in cross-country in 2001. By 2008, after the school had launched its football program, the number of women’s cross-country athletes had grown to 75 — more than four times the size of an average Division I cross-country team. As recently as the 2009-10 academic year, South Florida reported 71 women on its cross-country team, yet 43 of those women never ran in competition.
Running is an activity that allows the same athlete to be counted up to three times — as a member of the cross-country and indoor and outdoor track teams — even if their membership amounts to a mere open invitation to condition in the off-season of their primary sport. Walk-ons have been used to pad the rosters of women’s tennis programs and to provide practice opponents for the scholarship athletes. According to the Times, the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces Title IX, “does not require athletes to compete to be counted. Still, some have questioned why elite Division I programs are opening rosters to underqualified athletes.”
Then there’s the case of Sarah Till, a 2009 graduate of South Florida, who says she quit the track team and forfeited her scholarship during her sophomore year, but still found herself listed on the rosters of all three of the school’s running teams the following season.
Russlynn Ali, the assistant education secretary who heads the OCR, told the Times that it was fair to count athletes multiple times, but that “if they didn’t know they were on the team, in all likelihood we would determine that not to be a meaningful participation opportunity.”
Another practice revealed in the article involves male athletes who practice with women’s teams being counted as female participants, a tactic that has become routine in Division I and one that the Department of Education allows. (Using men as practice participants for women’s teams is something the NCAA has considered banning in the recent past.) Division I women’s basketball champion Texas A&M reported 32 players in the 2009-10 academic year, although 14 were men.
Apparently the roster gender bending doesn’t go both ways, however. According to the Times, Cornell included 19 men among the women’s fencing, volleyball and basketball teams in its 2009-10 numbers. Yet Cornell counted the five female coxswains for the men’s rowing team as female athletes.
Ali told the Times that universities investigated by her office would never get away with counting men as women, but acknowledged that a formal inquiry is rare, adding, “I would hope, as someone who cares about these issues, that that data is accurate and that institutions would not try and game it.”
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Friday, April 22, 2011
SEC Experiencing Statuary Arms Race
It’s an arms race with legs, heads and torsos, too.
The universities of Florida and Alabama have within the past two weeks dressed up their football stadiums with statuary, and Southeastern Conference rival Auburn has announced it will do likewise, leading some observers to question what represents the bronze standard these days.
At halftime of its spring game, Florida unveiled statues outside The Swamp of its three Heisman Trophy winners — Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow, who is now immortalized at the advanced age of 23. A-Day festivities at Alabama featured two Nick Sabans — one being the actual head coach of the Crimson Tide, the other being a larger-than-life rendition of said head coach. The real and historically transient Saban has been in Tuscaloosa all of four years; the fabricated one outside Bryant-Denny Stadium isn’t leaving any time soon. Apparently, one national championship casts you in the same light (and weather-resistant metal) as the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant. Never mind that Bryant’s Tide rolled to six national titles over a quarter century of service to the university.
But the real head-scratcher is Auburn’s decision to erect a statue of Cam Newton, the living memorial to one-and-done collegiate athleticism. Newton indeed won a Heisman, just like fellow Tiger alums Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson (John Heisman, the former Auburn coach for whom the trophy is named, will get his own bust when the display debuts next year), but a cloud of controversy still hangs over the almost-22-year-old Newton’s legacy after one season at the school. As the half-million-dollar, donor-funded likenesses of the Auburn three are in the works, NCAA investigators are still trying to determine whether Newton’s father pocketed tens of thousands of dollars from AU boosters during Cam’s recruitment.
“Is it just me, or didn’t giving someone a statue used to feel rarer, different, more discriminating and important?” asked Johnette Howard yesterday at espn.com. “Didn’t persuading someone to cast you forever in bronze use to require a bit more gravitas — not just one good BCS Championship Game?”
“There’s an arms race going on among a lot of these sports people, but it’s especially true right now in Southern football,” sculptor Harry Weber, who cast the Cardinal hall-of-famers assembled outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis, told Howard. “I think it’s all just part of the instant-celebrity, instant-veneration thing America has going on.”
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10:09 AM
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Blog: Think Outside the Rink
When you think of three-season athletes, what two types of facilities come to mind? If you thought of athletic fields and gymnasiums, you’re in the majority. You probably did not raise your hand and say, “Oh, I know! I know! Ice rinks!”
I wouldn’t have, either — but that was before I watched the staff at Baltimore’s municipal facility, the Dominic DiPietro Family Skating Center, diversify their offerings and continue to coax people through the doors, even as the calendar turns and the mercury climbs.
Ice rinks are like pools, I’ve learned. When they’re first open, everyone wants to be there — particularly kids. But as time wears on, attendance drops off. From October through December, the rink (locals call it “the Mimi;” it rhymes with “shimmy”) is busy with the things you’d expect — ice skating, hockey, parties, lessons and clinics. Sometime after Christmas, the crowds start to slack off, so the staff shifts gears and offers co-ed broomball leagues.
For the uninitiated, broomball is a bit like ice hockey except that it’s played in flat-soled shoes. You can learn about the equipment, rules and more by going to the sport's official site. It’s a great late winter pick-up, and it works well to attract teens and adults who want to stay active.
The Mimi is an indoor facility; the ice is covered by a tension-supported structure. It’s not air-conditioned, though the ice keeps it cold in the winter. But as the months creep forward into spring, it becomes impractical to keep frozen, so the ice is thawed, the coils are covered, and the area is used for yet another athletic activity: co-ed Wiffle® Ball leagues.
It’s actually a great location, since spring can be cool and rainy, and having Wiffle® Ball inside the structure avoids the possibility of rainouts. Bonus: The lighter, slower ball has zero chance of hurting the Mimi’s fabric. Those who need rules for that sport can go here.
By the time summer rolls around, the Mimi is too hot and humid to play in. That’s okay, since other municipal facilities — pools, tennis courts, ball fields, bocce courts and more — will get lots of traffic. And as we've seen, it’s only a matter of time until kids get tired of those, too. And when they do, the Mimi will be ready to welcome them back.
What's the point of all this? Maybe to encourage people to do what the city's rec professionals are doing: Keep folks interested. Lots of facilities have more than one use. Get creative, introduce new sports and you can keep the crowds coming back.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
FAU Football Players Feed Construction Crew
To show appreciation for those responsible for building their new home, members of the Florida Atlantic University football team served lunch Tuesday to about 300 construction workers.
Dressed in their home jerseys, FAU players dished out barbeque sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw and drinks. After lunch, awards were presented to the workers for maintaining an injury-free work zone. The players then got a tour of the $70 million facility, which will feature 6,000 premium seats, including 24 suites, 26 loge boxes, 1,000 premier club seats and 4,000 priority club seats. Overall capacity will be 30,000. The team has played its home games off campus at 20,000-seat Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale since 2003.
Photos courtesy of Florida Atlantic University
According to assistant athletic director Katrina McCormack, the idea for the players to serve lunch came from FAU’s athletic media relations office in conjunction with head coach Howard Schnellenberger.
Following a non-conference schedule that features Florida, Michigan State and Auburn, all on the road, the Owls will officially open their new stadium Oct. 15 against Western Kentucky, one of five games to be played this season on the Boca Raton campus. The stadium will serve as the centerpiece of FAU’s Innovation Village, located in the north central area of campus.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Blog: Always Be Persistent, Consistent and Committed
Achieving and sustaining a healthy and high quality of life has parallels to the requirements of building a growing and profitable business. Both involve facing daily obstacles and deterrents, and both require the support of great people to encourage you to stay on track.
Anytime Fitness founders Chuck Runyon and Dave Mortensen are a classic example of a successful entrepreneurial story. They had the foresight to hire John Kersh, who has proven to be a real impact player in helping expand the Anytime Fitness brand to almost 20 countries. John’s experience and journey within the organization is a direct result of the entrepreneur’s personal growing pains and perseverance.
I recently had the opportunity to interview John on my weekly radio broadcast and was blown away by his story. With a history of being both an entrepreneur and a hired gun, his last adventure prior to joining Chuck and Dave may have taught him some of the most valuable lessons, from which we can all draw strength when the inevitable tough times are upon us.
John started a retail fitness business in South America with every penny he owned, and then some. Despite not speaking the native language, he opened up more than 15 sites and actually made a positive impact on the people in the market; however, the work took a substantial toll on John, his health and his finances. It could have had an unhappy ending…
Most of us find it hard to see the value and powerful lessons that can come from challenges. Yet, it seems that John has transformed his experience into a force for good with Anytime Fitness and is making a real difference in many parts of the world.
Here is what I gleaned from my time with John:
• How we think is everything, and managing interpretations is vital.
• Neglecting one’s own health is too high a price to pay. You must find the time to care for yourself — even while many are dependent on you — because no one else will do it for you.
• Look to advisers and mentors to help you work through challenges. No one needs to be Superman; others have blazed similar trails for us to learn from.
• You have to be clear on your goals and expectations of yourself and others.
• Most things of value in life take longer to achieve and require more money or energy than you may have originally envisioned.
• Life is an obstacle course, and problems never go away; the bigger challenge often triggers the bigger issue to be resolved.
• Neglect of family, even unintentional, is time and experience that is gone forever.
In whatever road we travel, we are defined by the choices we make. Being responsible for the outcomes is one of the great life lessons we can learn. Stories like John’s invite us to review our priorities and allocation of time, and seek support in considering alternative ways to fulfill our health and professional goals.
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Survey: Social Networking Impacts Sports Participation
Social networking is impacting sports participation patterns in the United States — particularly for people between the ages of 12 and 30, commonly referred to as "Generation Y." According to the 2011 Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association’s "Sports & Fitness Participation Topline Report," the approach of Generation Y toward athletic activity and exercise is changing because of the influences (though perhaps subtle) of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and texting. That's why marketing to this group of users is more important than ever.
Individuals born between 1980 and 1999 outnumber both Baby Boomers (born between 1945 and 1964) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) in every area of sports participation: individual sports, racquet sports, team sports, outdoor sports, winter sports, water sports and fitness sports. The most popular Generation Y category is fitness sports; 51.3 million are engaged in some type of fitness-oriented pursuit, and as a result of their strong social attitudes, they gravitate toward group exercise. Since 2009, group cycling, cardio tennis and high-impact aerobics have all experienced double-digit gains in overall participation, according to the survey.
“The social mind-set of Generation Y is the reason why health club memberships are picking up and group-oriented exercise classes are gaining in popularity," says SGMA president/CEO Tom Cove. "Generation Y enjoys working out and exercising with friends, whereas Generation X has been focused more on individual pursuits. For Generation Y, it’s as much about the socialization as it is the perspiration.”
Social networks, both real and virtual, also are being credited at least in part for increased participation in triathlons and adventure racing. Since 2009, overall participation is up 63.7 percent in traditional triathlons, up 39.5 percent in nontraditional triathlons, and up 23 percent in adventure racing, according to SGMA's survey.
“It appears that this trend is tied to a basic desire to belong to a group and identify with a team or club,” says Steve Furniss, founder of TYR Sport, a manufacturer of products and accessories for swimming and endurance sports. “The triathlon is unique in its ability to couple a person’s fitness routine with a strong sense of community and social interaction, particularly for those not inclined to traditional sports. Other appeal factors include the fact that it is an adult sport, it appeals to both genders, it offers training diversity and has the cachet of being the latest ‘Everest’ fitness endeavor, much like accomplishing a marathon was for many in the 1970s and 1980s. However, unlike a marathon, triathlons and adventure racing have so many formats that it can encompass a greater participant base. Triathlons and adventure racing offer social interaction and a sense of community while providing the ability to stay fit. That’s a powerful formula.”
In team sports, many traditional endeavors such as outdoor and indoor soccer, tackle football, baseball, basketball, cheerleading and court volleyball have experienced small degrees of growth in overall participation since 2009 — reversing a recent trend. The other good news is that overall participation in some niche team sports has shown dramatic increases since 2009. Those include rugby (up 50.7 percent), lacrosse (up 37.7 percent), field hockey (up 21.8 percent) and beach volleyball (up 12.3 percent).
This year’s "Sports & Fitness Participation Topline Report" includes overall participation figures for 119 sports in 14 different categories. The most popular sports and activities (as measured by people who participate at least once a year in any given activity) have a strong focus on fitness, as evidenced by four of the top five activities:
1. Walking for Fitness (114.1 million participants)
2. Bowling (55.9 million)
3. Treadmill (53.1 million)
4. Running/Jogging (49.4 million)
5. Hand Weights (45.9 million)
Finally, in a survey of non-sports participants, respondents indicated that they would be most interested in participating in swimming and weight training.
Copies of the 2011 "Sports & Fitness Participation Topline Report" are available from SGMA.
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
NRPA Park Revitalization Initiative Arrives in Atlanta
The National Recreation and Park Association has named Atlanta’s historic Selena S. Butler Park as the next site for its Parks Build Community revitalization initiative. That initiative was launched in 2009 in an effort to demonstrate and support the integral role America’s parks play in revitalizing underserved urban areas.
The first park selected to receive an extensive face-lift was Marvin Gaye Park in Washington, D.C.; the first phase of that rejuvenated park opened in August 2009, and improvements there continue.
“Our ongoing updates to Marvin Gaye Park are made possible through our collaboration with various organizations, as well as generous donations from partners and sponsors,” says Barbara Tulipane, NRPA's CEO. “We must now apply the experience and lessons we continue to learn from D.C. to achieve our goals and reach our own raised expectations for this project in Atlanta.”
Named after a key figure in the fight for racial equality in American education and located near the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Butler Park (pictured, above and below) has been in dire need of revitalization since suffering severe damage during a 2008 tornado. Work is scheduled to begin next month, with a dedication ceremony expected in early November. NRPA is working with sponsor organizations PlayCore and Superior International Industries, plus local partners such as the City of Atlanta Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affair and various neighborhood groups.
NRPA officials say they hope Parks Build Community serves as a template for revitalizing underserved parks and public recreation spaces around the country.
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Blog: Over-45 Fitness Program Is a WINNing Ticket
The Columbia Association, to which I belong, does so many things right with regard to their athletic facilities and programs. They instituted that great Fitness Bingo program, and they also have classes, leagues and all kinds of other great stuff. If I let myself get carried away, I could start gushing, and that would embarrass everyone.
I think the greatest program CA does, though, is something called When If Not Now (WINN), which is a fitness program designed for those age 45 and up. Why 45 and up? Because (as you’re well aware), statistically, people in that segment of the population are less likely to begin exercising if they're currently inactive. And because it's an age at which by becoming active, it's still possible to decrease the potential for health problems down the road.
Basically, the eight-week program reaches out to those age 45-plus and coaxes them into one of CA's three fitness facilities with the goal of teaching them about healthy living through exercise. WINNers, as they're known, get meetings with a personal trainer who provides orientation to the facility’s equipment and discusses available classes, programs and sports. The trainers understand their clients aren't working toward crossing the finish line of the IronMan; they're more interested in finding an exercise program that takes into account concerns like arthritis and osteoporosis. The goal of the trainers, therefore, is to help the participants choose those activities they are interested in and comfortable with, with the ultimate goal of keeping them coming back and achieving long-term health.
It's a great program, and one of the most popular the club offers. It even has its own page on the Columbia Association's website. There are highly visible, well-placed motivational posters around the athletic club featuring WINNers talking about how much fun the program is, and how many new things they've tried. Every fitness facility should be trying some version of this — it's a great way to bring in new customers and make the gym more user-friendly.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Blog: Zumba's Great — Just Not for Us
We’re going to come right out and say it, and then go hide behind something sturdy in anticipation of the response.
We’re not big fans of Zumba.
We tried it for a while. It was fine. Then we let it drop, and we are not planning on offering it again.
Push those veins back in your forehead. We’ll explain, because we don’t want to come off like the Planet Fitness executive who insulted the entire personal training side of our business.
We do understand Zumba’s appeal. The classes are terrific, and they fulfill the basic idea that people want to enjoy their workout. Most people don’t want to lift weights or ride a stationary bike, but they do like to dance and party, which is why Zumba positions its classes as parties. Millions of people all over the world obviously love those parties.
So, what’s our problem? We have two. One is the growing Cult of Zumba, and two is how Zumba instructors are sent into the world. The two issues are closely related.
Every Zumba instructor is an independent contractor. As a result, these contractors knock on every door they can find to earn a living. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. But these aren’t like the personal trainers from whom we field inquiries; these Zumbies, let’s call them, are coming out of the woodwork with the zeal and nearly religious fervor of network marketers. The result is that Zumba is everywhere — churches, schools, community groups, dance schools, gyms of all sizes, and the list goes on. Is this a bad thing? In general, no. Zumba gets people moving and introduces them to a healthier lifestyle. However, as a business model, we question how saturated a community can get with Zumba before there simply isn’t enough business to sustain the army.
So, why aren’t we offering it? As we mentioned, we did for a while. Our group fitness director got certified and joined the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN), which kept her status as a certified instructor for $30 per month. The classes were well received, but not a big deal. We thought about getting other instructors certified, but it seemed silly to pay $30 a month for each instructor when they’d all be getting the same information from ZIN. With just our club to teach in, since our instructors do not work elsewhere, and with Zumba on our schedule only a few times a month — all of which meant that a lot of effort would be invested by our instructors for little return — it was an easy conversation among all of us that we should just let Zumba go.
Now the inquiries from the Zumba army come in almost weekly, but we simply do not utilize outside contractors for our classes, nor is there enough demand in our clubs for Zumba to revisit our decision. (It’s actually useful that the name is so well known, as we’d be well aware if prospects were demanding Zumba.) There’s almost a shocked reaction among Zumba instructors when they see we’re not offering it — maybe that’s why they’re licking their chops when they contact us. We’ve been offered “regular” Zumba, Zumba for kids, water-based Zumba, and maybe more.
So, again, we think Zumba is great as a way to get people moving. The folks at Zumba have a business model predicated on creating an army of independent instructors and turning Zumba into a movement, and that’s obviously working for them. It’s just not a fit for us.
OK, you can yell at us now. Let the comments fly.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Is Beer Stand Trickery at Play in L.A.?
Webster defines “dodger” as “one who uses tricky devices.” Is beer stand trickery taking place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles?
One would think that buying beer in volume would give you the best value for your dollar. Not so, according to Katie Sweeney, editor of yumsugar.com. Sweeney bought small, regular and large beers at Dodger Stadium to see just how much of a difference size makes. With the cups offering no clues as to their volume other than they get progressively taller, Sweeney drank a regular-size beer first, then poured the small into the regular cup, nearly filling it. Topping the cups off with water at home confirmed that the small, priced at $6, held 18 ounces and that an extra two bucks bought her exactly two more ounces in the regular cup. The $10 large beer, which comes in a cup bearing the Dodgers logo, holds 26 ounces — still two ounces more than the average fan can metabolize in an hour. (A study released earlier this year claims that 8 percent of fans at professional baseball and football games are legally intoxicated.)
So Sweeney’s bottoms-up bottom line for ballpark consumers is this: at three ounces per dollar, the small beer is the most economical. Extrapolating that ratio to the other beer prices, consumers may get taller cups when they buy regular and large beers, but they are shorted four ounces in each case. Writes Sweeney, “Moral of the story: if you don’t mind waiting in line, buy small beers.”
But is this truly a case of the Dodgers scamming fans, as suggested in the headline of Sweeney's post? “I don’t believe it is,” says Jill Pepper, executive director of the nonprofit TEAM Coalition, which provides alcohol management training to professional and collegiate sports entities, including all 30 Major League Baseball clubs. “I think the reality is that they have a certain inventory of cups, and they get certain deals from their provider of product. So between those three sizes and how much they pour into each of the sizes, they are able to price things differently.” (The Dodgers did not immediate respond to Pepper's attempts to confirm her theory.)
According to Pepper, who tracks each MLB team’s largest single serving of beer, the Dodgers have reported that they top out at 24 ounces, two fewer than the capacity of the largest cup in Sweeney’s experiment. “It happens in many venues,” Pepper says, “that they have a certain cup size that they have purchased and they have in supply and they have to use, so they assign what serving size goes into that cup and they discuss with the vendors how full to make it. As a person familiar with how beers are poured at stadiums, they’re typically not that full.”
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Parking Lot Beating Gives Dodgers Another Black Eye
AT&T Park will see extra security tonight, based on something that happened 11 days and 400 miles removed. As San Francisco and National League West rival Los Angeles begin a three-game series, the savage beating of a Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium on Opening Day remains an open wound.
Bryan Stow, a 42-year-old paramedic from Santa Cruz, had part of his scull removed to relieve brain swelling after being knocked to the ground and kicked by two assailants who remain at large. The incident is the latest in a string of violent acts, including two murders, that has made Dodger Stadium arguably the most dangerous venue in professional sports.
And it’s hard to imagine how the Dodgers could look much worse. For the first time since 2005, L.A. opened the season without a full-time head of security. Following the Stow attack, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt indicated publicly that he was satisfied with Dodger Stadium security. McCourt announced that he had hired former L.A. Police Chief William Bratton as a security consultant, but only after enduring the criticism of current L.A.P.D. Chief Charlie Beck, who has vowed increased security at future Dodger home games. “You’re going to see a sea of blue, but it’s not going to be Dodgers blue. It’s going to be L.A.P.D. blue,” Beck said last week. “This is going to be a game-changer.”
The Dodgers added reward money to a sum that now totals $150,000, but their contribution reportedly came after the Giants had already made their own.
As for what recourse exists for Stow, who is said to be in stable condition, a lawsuit against the Dodgers is plausible. According to AB contributor John Wolohan, an attorney and professor in the Sports Management and Media Department at Ithaca College in New York, sports organizations have a duty of care regarding the safety of patrons that extends beyond the stadium footprint and into the parking lot. “I’ve never been to a Dodgers-Giants game, but assuming it’s a lot like Red Sox-Yankees, you’d want more security, you’d want a heightened police presence on a game like that anyway,” Wolohan says. “The expectation is that there might be problems, so they have a higher duty of care in a rivalry game like this.”
Like many teams, the Dodgers currently display a Fan Code of Conduct before every game, and offer permanent signage with a hotline for fans wishing to report bad behavior. But blogger Phil Wallace at LAobserved.com thinks more can be done to strengthen parking lot security. “The Dodgers have a large number of security personnel inside the stadium, but outside the stadium, there's often no one to be found,” Wallace wrote last week. “They should look to increase the number of security officers in the parking lots, and even consider moving some people from inside the stadium to the outside once a game ends. There should also be more security cameras so they could identify people like the individuals who were responsible for [the March 31] beating.”
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Friday, April 08, 2011
Rhabdo Headaches Persist for Player, Iowa
Earlier this week, University of Iowa senior defensive back Willie Lowe revealed that he’s still experiencing symptoms of rhabdomyolysis, the rare muscle condition brought on by extreme exertion that landed Lowe and 12 teammates in the hospital after a workout in January.
Lowe told ESPN.com’s Joe Schad on Tuesday that his weight is still down by 20 pounds and that he has headaches every few days. Lowe is not sure he’ll be able to play football again, but he has requested and received a release from Iowa that will allow him to transfer out of the Hawkeye program if he chooses. As of this writing, it appeared as though he was still undecided about his future.
Meanwhile, the rhabdo headaches persist for Iowa. KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids reported this morning that athletic director Gary Barta and university president Sally Mason are looking into how the school and the athletic department handled and communicated the situation. Head football coach Kirk Ferentz, who contends that the same workout has been conducted in the past without incident, was criticized at the time of the player hospitlizations for not immediately returning from a recruiting trip.
A separate internal investigation completed last month cleared all players, coaches and trainers from any wrongdoing.
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Blog: It’s OK to Be a Beginner
The other day, I was passing through one of the city's parks when I saw a group of people who had set up a badminton net and were teaching their kids to play. Badminton, like all sports, takes practice, meaning a lot of near misses, and not so near misses, were going on. Right on cue came some passersby who made comments that the scene belonged on America's Funniest Home Videos, and they kept yelling "A swing...and a miss!" and other rude stuff. You can pretty much guess what happened next: The kids didn't want to play anymore.
My first thought about this scene — to be honest, it was my second thought, but my first printable one — was that we need to reinforce in kids the fact that it's okay to be a beginner. Fortunately, the adults there were on the same page, and they took control of the situation. They moved the would-be spectators along, and coaxed their kids back onto the court.
Kids idolize athletes, and they're used to seeing the finished product: The pro slam-dunking a ball, the figure skater landing a perfect jump on the ice, the baseball player making a shoestring catch. They don’t always recognize that everyone starts out a novice.
A lot of us, me included, never get beyond the imperfect stage as athletes. And as we become adults, we learn that being strong and healthy can trump being an Olympian because we have talents elsewhere. But kids haven't learned that yet. They're perfectly ready to write themselves off as failures because they whiffed.
As we head into the summer rec season, we need to make sure kids understand that everyone was a beginner, and many still are, and that's OK. We can practice and improve, not sit around and refuse to play until we're better at it. Not being as self-conscious about our ability is the first step toward self-acceptance, and toward continued physical activity, at all levels.
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Thursday, April 07, 2011
Blog: Life Can Be Longer Than ‘Too Short,’ And Better
Some say that life is too short, when in fact most of us take too long to begin living it. Many of us have grand travel plans to that infamous place called “someday” — the place we’ll go to enjoy ourselves and try something we have always wanted to try. Of course, not until our obligations and responsibilities are taken care of.
The problem with this mentality is that by the time we finally find the time, our life choices have caught up with us, and our quality of life is not what it once was. Spend some time with Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging, and you will be inspired to learn that our DNA is not our destiny. Milner explains that how long we live our lives, and how well we live it, is remarkably elastic and can be manipulated.
Citing Dan Buettner and the research that produced the hit book Blue Zones, Milner references areas in Italy, Japan, Costa Rica, Greece and the U.S. that have large population segments of citizens living disability-free to 100 and beyond. For example, in Loma Linda, Calif., studies show an average life span that is 10 to 12 years longer than the average American’s.
While the characteristics and behaviors won’t be found on an infomercial, try these tips to improve your physical, emotional and mental health:
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• Move naturally — exercise
• Hang out with family and people you really enjoy
• Think positive thoughts — expect the best
• Have an attitude of gratitude
The results can be astonishing. Gwen Johnson, who is over 90 years old, recently jumped out of an airplane to celebrate life. Sid Newman, 90, just launched a new company. Bill Bell is training for his 25th Ironman at the age of 85; he started participating in the sport at 60.
As we pursue methods to provide products and services that can engage people in healthy lifestyle choices, we can create an environment that supports the information shared by Colin. Better yet, we can embrace the characteristics and behaviors noted above through our own lifestyle choices. People hear what they see — hopefully they can hear you loud and clear.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Blog: You Can’t Stop Some Members from Canceling
Let’s face it, health club members are going to quit. Many of them. By some accounts, most of them. We do our best to stop it, or at least control it, but once someone has made up her mind to quit, there is very little we can do as club managers to reel her back in.
Some industry data says that at least 30 percent of health club cancellations are out of our hands due to jobs, relocations and other life events. Other cancellations will reference finances, while still others will use the “no time” argument. And some people are just looking for a reason to cancel:
“I didn’t get a free locker.”
We heard this one a few years ago, when we were about to open a new locker room. Rob thought he said the following to a long-time member who paid annually for a locker rental: “Don’t bother renewing your old locker now.” The member heard: “Don’t worry about ever paying for your locker. You can have one for free.”
He was therefore horrified when he was approached to pay for his dedicated locker in the new locker room and, instead, he canceled. When the confusion was sorted out, everyone agreed it was an honest mistake. So, would the member put aside his cancelation request and continue his membership? No, he was still insulted that we wouldn’t give him his locker.
“I don’t like the U-turn.”
Our main facility is on a split highway, and several years ago the access to our driveway was changed. Rather than making a dangerous left turn across two lanes of oncoming traffic, a U-turn was required that added maybe 60 seconds to the time it took to get here. We wrote letters to the Department of Transportation and posted them for everyone to see. We called our township and state representatives and expressed our members’ concerns, all to no avail. We lost several members because of this, one of whom had been a member for 10 years and whose travel time was now seven minutes instead of six.
“I don’t want to share.”
We ask our members to limit their time on any piece of cardio equipment to 30 minutes. We recently had a woman quit because of that limit. Did it impact her workouts? Nope. Was she being inconvenienced by people trying to move from treadmill to treadmill to get around the time limit? Nope. Was it impacting her in any way? Nope. She just didn’t like it.
“You didn’t get angry enough.”
Several years ago, health clubs and malls in our area were hit by a rash of car break-ins. One of our members, who had left her purse on her front seat, was one of the victims. We of course called the police and cooperated with the investigation. We also offered what we thought was the appropriate sympathy and assistance to the member, but she quit shortly thereafter. Did she feel unsafe in our parking lot? No. Was she worried it might happen again? No. She was upset that our staff person at the front desk wasn’t angry enough on her behalf.
Certainly, there was something “real” in each of these stories that set the members’ minds to leaving. A perceived insult. Inconvenience. Limited time on equipment. Not chasing the car thief like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. In each case, we just sort of did the best we could, but sometimes that’s not good enough. Sometimes, they’re just gonna quit.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Reality Check: Madden NFL 12 Will Stress Concussion Safety
The forthcoming Madden NFL 12 video game will show players not only receiving concussions but remaining sidelined for the rest of the game. Additionally, according to The New York Times, game announcers Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth will explain that the player was removed because of the seriousness of head injuries. Player animations, however, will not display helmet-to-helmet tackles, hits to the heads of defenseless players or dangerous head-first tackling, according to Phil Frazier, executive producer of Madden 12. He added that the game, scheduled for an August release regardless of an NFL work stoppage, will serve as "a teaching tool."
The game's namesake, Hall of Fame coach and longtime television announcer John Madden, approves of the changes. “Concussions are such a big thing, it has to be a big thing in the video game,” Madden told Times reporter Alan Schwarz. “We want that message to be strong.”
Last month, the NFL announced that 223 concussions were reported in 333 games during the 2010 season, including preseason and postseason. Also, in the aftermath of former NFL safety Dave Duerson's suicide in February, the league is pushing for all 50 states to adopt legislation to help prevent concussions in young players.
Peter Moore, president of Madden NFL maker EA Sports, said last week at the World Congress of Sports in Miami that it was "wrong" when previous versions of the Madden game would allow concussed players to return to the field the following quarter, according to ESPN.com. Moore says "we have an obligation in our industry" to recognize that brain injuries are one of the biggest on-field issues facing all levels of football today.
"I am excited that EA Sports recognized the unique opportunity they have to educate our youngest athlete[s] on concussions," Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard University football player and professional wrestler and now co-director of the Sports Legacy Institute (a leading provider of concussion education, treatment and research), said in a statement to TIME magazine's Techland. "Whether you see Madden as 'just a video game' or not, this is recognition that the concussion crisis is too large to pass on this chance to reach six-year-olds."
But some bloggers have asked if this new degree of realism is necessary in the video game world, a virtual universe in which millions of people kill millions of other people on a daily basis. "How will video game players react when, during a playoff drive, their star player goes out with a game-ending brain injury?" asks Dave Banks, writing for Wired's GeekDad blog. "Will they reboot their game and hope to avoid the random injury the next time? Or will they take it in stride and appreciate the level of realism that EA Sports has brought to this year’s version of Madden? And, for that matter, will concussions be an option that players turn off?"
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Friday, April 01, 2011
NATA Says Time is Running Out for Sports Safety Legislation
Despite widespread awareness of an upward trend in catastrophic and sometimes fatal injuries to young athletes, legislative action has been slow to follow. This according to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, which points out that although at least 75 bills in 32 states and the District of Columbia related to youth sports injuries have been introduced this year, only five have been signed into law.
“It is disappointing that so much legislation been introduced, yet so little has been passed,” NATA president Marjorie J. Albohm said in a recent press release urging legislators to take action.
Citing sudden cardiac arrest, heat illness and concussions as three of the most pressing and dangerous types of injuries sustained, NATA cites data showing that 50 injuries proved fatal to young athletes last year, while four deaths have already been reported in 2011. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high school athletes account for two million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations each year.
“With young athletes participating in year-round play both at school and on youth league and travel teams, it is critical for coaches, parents, athletic trainers, administrators, and others to ensure the safety of student athletes, yet only 42 percent of high schools have access to athletic training services,” said Albohm. “The continued enactment of legislation will help keep our young athletes safe.”
A review of the 75 youth sports safety bills that have been introduced in state legislatures this year shows that the overwhelming majority (53) are addressing concussions or brain injury. Sudden cardiac arrest and mandatory AEDs represent the second and third most popular subjects of legislation, respectively, followed by bills that would mandate schools having access to athletic trainers. Individual state legislatures are also addressing bills related to cheerleading (Mass.) and steroids (N.Y.). Of the five bills that have been enacted, four are related to concussion awareness, prevention and treatment (South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado), while Resolution 75 in New Jersey encourages school districts to improve staff and student preparedness for incidents of sudden cardiac arrest.
While a small handful of bills have either been voted down or withdrawn, most of them are now in the hands of legislative subcommittees, where NATA — with a vested interest in promoting the athletic training profession — fears they will languish, especially as most legislative sessions have already expired or are soon to.
Said Albohm, “What makes this even more concerning is that state budgets are in crisis, so legislators are cutting programs that keep kids safe. In many cases athletic trainer positions are at risk of being terminated — eliminating the very people who protect and provide medical services to physically active children.”
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Blog: A Skateboard Event to Get Kids Plugged Into
When I was in grade school and refusing to contemplate injury (translation: when I and my friends were as dumb as a box of hair), I was a skateboard rat. In those days, skateboard-specific facilities didn't exist in Baltimore, so the whole world, or at least the whole neighborhood, was my playground. Sidewalks, parking lot ramps, curbs — anything that presented a challenge was worth taking on.
These days, kids are still skateboarding, but since society is more cognizant of the dangers presented by sidewalks and parking lot ramps, and since parents are more likely to sue if kids get hurt because of those dangers, we have skate parks. And like all sports facilities, they compete for kids' attention against formidable opponents like Xbox, the Internet and 24-hour TV.
That's why I was really pleased to see a promotion on our community association website for Go Skateboarding Day. It's held on Tuesday, June 21 (the first day of summer) and sponsored by the Go Skateboarding Day Foundation. The celebration was founded by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC)and has been running since 2003.
According to the Go Skateboarding Day website, the agenda is simple: “Skateboarders everywhere will show their love and support for skateboarding by holding fundraisers, contests, protests and demos. They’ll skate across cities, gather in skate parks, stream into their local skate shop and some will even revel in the solitary act of skateboarding alone at their favorite spot...this is just one more reason to blow off your television/computer/videogames and go skateboarding."
In my opinion, that last part is something we should all get behind: getting kids unplugged so they can learn to get wired at the skate park. Those with skate parks in their communities can get into the act by planning a corresponding event, then going to the site's interactive map and registering it. You can also download banners, promo kits and more. Don't have a skate park? Partner with a local skateboard shop and find out if someone can come give a demo for kids in your area.
I'll show up at my community skate park on the evening of June 21 but I won't be hopping into the half-pipe. If you're planning to, though, I'll hold your iPhone while you sign the waiver: two things we definitely didn't have the last time I rode a skateboard.
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