Friday, October 28, 2011
NFL to Provide Metal Detectors to Stadiums
National Football League franchises will begin using handheld metal detectors at games beginning next month, according to an e-mail issued Oct. 14 by NFL chief security officer Jeffrey Miller.
The e-mail, obtained by SportsBusiness Journal and reported Thursday by staff writer Don Muret, alerts stadium managers to the league’s plan to purchase 3,100 handheld devices from Garrett Inc. and to distribute 100 to each league facility at no cost to teams. Teams will also receive video instruction from Garrett on how to use the equipment.
On Sept. 11, a fan was arrested for illegally using a stun gun during a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. In addition, security threats identified this season in FBI and Homeland Security intelligence briefings led the NFL to conclude that the current system of fan patdowns is “not an adequate response.”
The timing of the security upgrade would seem perfect for the Green Bay Packers, who announced this week that they will not allow weapons into Lambeau Field, despite the fact that Wisconsin’s new concealed carry gun law takes effect Nov. 1. The Packers addressed any uncertainty about whether fans would be allowed to carry a concealed gun into the publicly owned stadium with a statement from the team’s head of security Doug Collins.
According to team spokesperson Aaron Popkey, fans will be allowed to keep guns in their cars, but not on their person — even in the parking lot. Moreover, the Packers have been employing their own metal-dection wands since Oct. 2. “We’re simply maintaining the ban that we had in place,” Popkey says. “Our policy at Lambeau has been to have no weapons at all. So when the law was passed, it was simply a matter of, ‘Alright, how does this affect our operations?’ And when we got all that sorted out, it came down to the fact that under the lease, we operate the premises, and so we can maintain our ban on weapons. And it does apply to the parking lot, as well.”
Violators could face arrest and citation for trespassing, which carries a $177 fine, according to Green Bay police.
Another related item of note to emerge this week: A new Gallup poll indicates that gun ownership in America is at its highest level in two decades.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Blog: Let Homeschoolers Learn in Your Club
I spent last weekend at the USTA's Tennis on Campus Fall Invitational, which was an amazing experience, with great play and neat kids. But it was actually an overheard conversation that really got my wheels turning, thinking about a potential business opportunity for any club interested in trying something new.
Two students from different colleges were sitting behind me. One happened to mention that she had learned tennis from her mom, a tennis player, as part of her homeschooling experience. "She used to take me to her health club and teach me to hit balls," the girl told her friend. "She counted that as my P.E. time."
With all the emphasis these days on getting kids fit, maybe there's a market for health clubs to offer short blocks of programming that would allow homeschooling parents the opportunity to drop off their kids so they can participate in supervised sports or active games for whatever period of time might be required by their state board of ed. If your facility is not already doing this, it would be a way to fill less-busy hours during weekdays, and a way to keep kids active. It would also be a way to bring in some extra money, and to raise the club’s profile among individuals who aren't currently members.
I know many clubs have all the pieces in place. Our club has a very nice, very private fenced-in playground, and great indoor facilities that can be used when the weather is inhospitable to outdoor exercise. Many clubs already offer childcare for parents who are exercising, and summer camps for kids while school is out. Programming for homeschooling families would be a great way of capitalizing on all those things. Programs could be tailored to specific age groups. Obviously, some activities and equipment should be off-limits to smaller kids, but there are certainly a lot of options for active play that wouldn't look like a routine, and therefore, wouldn't bore a child.
Homeschooling parents generally have close-knit communities, and are always interested in sharing information on resources available to them. A campaign of well-placed e-mails, phone calls, posters and advertising could pay dividends for a club that markets its facilities to the next generation, or at least to their parents.
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Pool Industry Trade Group Answers Crucial VGB Questions
In the wake of last month's startling reversal by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to change its guidelines regarding how aquatic facility operators comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals has issued a set of "frequently asked questions" to help clear up confusion. At issue is the CPSC's decision to redefine the term "blockable drain." Here is the entire document, which also can be downloaded from the APSP website:
1. What was this vote about?
On September 28, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to revoke a prior “interpretive rule,” which had defined an unblockable drain, a term used in the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA). The interpretative rule defined “unblockable drain” to include the drain cover, meaning that a small suction fitting (drain) with an unblockable cover which fit into a smaller, blockable sump would be classified as unblockable. As a result of the September 28 vote, the definition of an unblockable drain will revert to the language in the Definition Section of the VGBA and will include the sump, but not the suction fitting or drain cover. Hence, a large unblockable drain cover over a smaller blockable drain cannot be used to create an unblockable drain.
1.1 What is an unblockable drain? An unblockable drain is a sump that cannot be completely shadowed on an 18” x 23” rectangle. For example an 18” x 18” sump is considered “blockable” while a 24” x 24” sump is considered “unblockable.”
2. What does this vote mean?
Under the VGBA, public pools that have a single drain that is not unblockable must install one or more additional devices, such as an SVRS, automatic pump shut off, gravity drainage system or suction limiting vent system. A pool with an unblockable drain is exempt from these additional requirements. As a result of this vote, public pools and spas that have a single large unblockable drain cover over a smaller blockable drain will be required to install one or more of these secondary devices.
3. How does this vote affect existing public pools?
Existing public facilities which have a single unblockable drain cover over a smaller blockable drain are no longer considered to be in compliance with the public pool requirements of section 1404(c) of the VGBA unless they have installed one or more of these additional devices.
4. What is the deadline for compliance for existing pools?
The CPSC is contemplating a compliance date of May 28, 2012. The Commission has established a 60-day comment period for affected parties to provide input as to the feasibility of this compliance date. APSP will soon provide instructions for submitting comments to APSP Senior Director, Technical & Standards, Carvin DiGiovanni.
5. Does this vote and revised ruling affect channel drains and other typical unblockable drains?
Channel drains or other suction fittings/drain covers which cannot be shadowed by an 18” x 23” rectangle and have been tested and listed “For single outlet use” under the ANSI/APSP-16 2011 Standard and which fit over a sump of the same or unblockable size are not affected by this vote or ruling and are still considered unblockable. As stated by the Commission in a September 30, 2011, announcement:
“Again, this message only affects public pools and spas that used CPSC's 2010 interpretation to install an unblockable-sized drain cover over a blockable-sized single main drain, without adding a back-up system or device...”
6. Does this rule require the use of SVRS devices on public pools?
No. Public pools which have a multiple main drain system at least three feet apart or a single unblockable drain as that term is now defined are still not required to install any additional devices. Pools with a single drain that is NOT unblockable must choose from the list of additional devices cited in Section 1404(c)(ii) and in question 2 above if they have not already installed a recognized secondary anti-entrapment device/system. An SVRS is one of several options provided in this section.
7. Do covers affected by this new rule have to be removed from public pools?
No. There is no reason to replace the covers. Pools and spas that have a single drain of the type described above must now install one of the permitted additional devices. As stated by the Commission in its September 30, 2011, announcement:
“It is very important for the pool and spa industry to be aware that CPSC is not saying that unblockable-sized drain covers should be removed from facilities that installed them on small single main drains. Rather, the Commission is directing pool and spa operators to add a back-up system or device. The Commissioners and the staff, in fact, recognize that unblockable-sized drain covers are an advance in pool safety. Yet, layers of protection are an important principal that the VGB Act promotes.”
8. Does this vote affect smaller drain covers?
Drain covers which were not listed as unblockable are not affected in any way.
9. Does this vote affect existing residential pools/spas?
No
10. How do I obtain more information with regard to the CPSC vote?
The deliberations of the Commission took place on September 28, 2011. The webcast is posted here as Part 1 of the September 28, 2011, webcast. To go directly to the webcast, click here. For more information with regard to a specific unblockable drain cover that you may have, contact the manufacturer.
11. How do I make sure that I protect against all forms of entrapment?
The ANSI/APSP-7 Standard for Suction Entrapment Avoidance in Swimming Pools, Wading Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs, and Catch Basins addresses all aspects of suction outlet safety. The APSP Field Checklist also provides helpful solutions for all configurations. The Standard and the Field Checklist are available [from APSP] here.
12. What will APSP do to represent members and the public on this reinterpretation of an “unblockable drain”?
APSP has begun to solicit feedback from members during the 60-day public comment period for affected parties. APSP will soon provide instructions for submitting comments to APSP Senior Director, Technical & Standards, Carvin DiGiovanni. APSP will continue to support the most safe and common-sense approach which is backed by consensus standards that provide clear direction for [the] industry while protecting the health and safety of consumers. The ANSI/APSP-7 Standard for Suction Entrapment Avoidance in Swimming Pools, Wading Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs, and Catch Basins, as well as the APSP Field Checklist, remain the best tools for [the] industry to follow to protect consumers. They both are available at www.APSP.org/Store. Members can expect periodic updates on the CPSC decision, as well as calls to action when necessary.
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Memorials, Safety Measures in Year Since ND Lift Tragedy
A five mile-per-hour wind blows in South Bend, Ind., this morning. A year ago today, gusts 10 times as strong toppled a scissor lift holding University of Notre Dame student videographer Declan Sullivan, and effects of Sullivan’s death are still being felt.
On Saturday, the university dedicated a memorial to Sullivan outside its football headquarters, the Guglielmino Athletics Complex. Yesterday, Notre Dame announced the establishment of the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Fund, establishing a scholarship supported in part by money personally solicited by the university’s president. Tonight, a private mass will be held on campus for students currently living in Sullivan’s former residence hall, as well as those living in a separate hall with one of his surviving siblings.
The anniversary has also revived criticism of the decision last Oct. 27 to put Sullivan in the lift to begin with. When confronted this week with questions about the incident, Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly said, “Blame is not a word that we feel is appropriate. We never thought in those terms. We thought in terms of loss and making sure something like this never happens again.”
It was a response that prompted Neil Hayes to write in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times, “If Kelly doesn’t have moments of regret or times late at night when he stares at the ceiling second-guessing himself, he's not human. If he’s so obsessed with the Irish not losing to Navy for the fourth time in five years on Saturday to reflect on a senseless loss of life, he’s missing the only positive that can come from a tragedy that should have and could have been prevented.”
Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Sullivan tragedy is the preventive measures it has spawned. Notre Dame banned hydraulic lift use in March, and several other schools have taken proactive steps to ensure, in Kelly’s words, “something like this never happens again.” The University of Florida installed permanent towers earlier this year, and Arkansas State University replaced a tower that relied on wooden telephone poles with one made of steel, as reported by the Associated Press.
Throughout the peripheral second-guessing, finger-pointing and legal settlements of the past 12 months, the Sullivan family has remained appreciative of Notre Dame’s healing efforts, including its latest. “We are grateful to the university for helping to keep Declan’s memory alive in this way,” said Declan’s father, Barry Sullivan, in an announcement posted on Notre Dame’s website. “We are pleased that he will be remembered through a scholarship that will provide others with the educational opportunities he enjoyed at Notre Dame.”
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Coach's Tirade Hits YouTube; Support Comes From Facebook
The sanctity of the locker room isn't what it once was. Just ask Shawn Abel, the Collierville (Tenn.) High School head football coach who resigned this week after his pregame profanity-laced tirade was posted on YouTube as an audio recording. "My initial thought was, 'I can't believe the sanctity of the locker room has been violated,'" Shawn Abel told The Commercial Appeal of Memphis. "But I have to be the grownup in this situation. I have to be smarter. It was a lapse in judgment and I didn't use good judgment."
That realization led Abel to resign. "[Collierville principal] Dr. [Tim] Setterlund did not [ask for my resignation]. That was my doing," said Abel, who is on paid administrative leave from his position as an Advanced Placement calculus teacher. "My superiors have been very fair in dealing with everything. I am trying to find out what's going on with my teaching job. I think by shifting gears and going to a strictly teaching position ... I can still do some good."
Abel, who was nearing the end of his second season as Collierville's head coach, yelled at his team before last Thursday's game against Wooddale. According to The Commercial Appeal, Dragons athletic director Roy Kirkland said assistant Mike O'Neill would coach the team in Friday's regular-season finale at home against Ridgeway.
In a statement released to media outlets Tuesday, Abel said, "My intent … was to motivate, and my methods were grossly out of line. I offer no excuses for what transpired, only apologies and regret."
But just as technology might have cost Abel his coaching position, it also may work to his advantage. Josh Stovall, a 2009 Collierville graduate who played defensive end for the Dragons when Abel was defensive coordinator, created a Facebook group supporting Abel. As of late Wednesday afternoon, the "Support Coach Shawn Abel" group had more than 1,900 members. By Thursday morning, that number had jumped to 2,630 and was climbing steadily.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Fundraising Hoops Coach Accused of Human Trafficking
An assistant basketball coach at Lewisville (Texas) High School has been charged with human trafficking after allegedly forcing a student-athlete from Mexico who was living with him to work against the player's will. According to the Associated Press, Theodore Berry was arrested Sept. 28 and placed on unpaid leave from his teaching and coaching duties. A police report indicates Berry, 46, repeatedly threatened 16-year Cesar Landin because the boy — whose parents were paying Berry $300 a month for Landin to live with him, attend Lewisville High in suburban Dallas and play basketball for the coach's club team — refused to sell gourmet popcorn for that team.
According to an affidavit obtained by the Lewisville Leader from the Lewisville Police Department, Landin said that instead of playing club basketball, he "was forced by threats of violence to sell the popcorn in the city of Lewisville, Texas, or he would be beaten." The report also states that Landin's parents knew Berry was involved in fundraising, but told him Landin was not to participate in the fundraising. Landin said he was forced to sell the popcorn from Aug. 29 until he called his parents Sept. 17 to tell them what was happening, the report states. According to Landin, Berry "shoved" him when he learned that the boy had contacted his parents.
Police spokesman Kevin Deaver told local reporters that Berry was charged under a new state law that took effect in September specifically making forced labor prosecutable as human trafficking. The charge is a second-degree felony that carries a prison sentence of two to 20 years.
Lewisville ISD spokesperson Karen Permetti told the Leader that the district was notified of the incident Sept. 22. Berry was hired in August, and the district is now in the process of terminating him. Landin reportedly has already left Lewisville High. "My understanding is that he brought a child from Mexico because the child's family was wanting a better life for him," Permetti told reporter Heather Goodwin. "And it looks like the coach took advantage of the family situation."
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10:23 AM
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Aquatic Center Pool Will Become Pumpkin Patch Tonight
The pool at the South Jordan (Utah) Fitness & Aquatic Center will be transformed into a pumpkin patch during the facility's first "Halloween Pumpkin Plunge" tonight. During regularly scheduled open-swim hours between 6 and 9 p.m., the pool will be dyed a "spooky purple," according to promotional materials for the event, and participants will be able to wade into the water and pick out real floating pumpkins. Halloween music, treats and games also will be part of the event.
The nontoxic purple dye, which is clear enough that it will not inhibit views of the pool bottom, is the talk of the facility, according to aquatics supervisor Janell Durtschi. "It has fascinated people," she says. "I have staff who aren't working tonight who want to come in and look at it."
Durtschi has overseen similar events at other facilities — but without the purple water and with larger pumpkins. Tonight's pumpkins, as many as 80 of them, will be small and intended only for young children. Larger pumpkins tend to get mushy the longer they stay in the water. "I didn't want exploding pumpkins all over the place," Durtschi says.
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10:28 AM
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Study Tracks Head Impacts in Youth Football
A first-of-its-kind study by Virginia Tech could have a significant influence on the future of youth football helmet design. Working with a local youth football team comprised of children between the ages of six and eight, researchers used helmets equipped with sensors to track data on location, severity and frequency of head impacts.
Since 2003, Virginia Tech has used similar technology to track data related to head impacts in its collegiate team, developing the National Impact Database to catalog the information. The data was used to develop a safety rating system for adult helmets known as the STAR Evaluation System. Using the information gathered from their ongoing youth study, researchers plan to develop a similar rating system for youth helmets.
The results of the 400 impacts recorded thus far in the youth team show that head impacts are generally less severe compared to adults, but while fewer severe impacts have been recorded overall, the hits were harder than originally thought, on par with the intensity of concussion-causing hits in adult players.
Quantifying the characteristics of head impacts in youth football will not only allow for better evaluation of current helmet effectiveness but give manufacturers of helmets the information they need to improve design. Currently, youth helmets follow the same standards as adult helmets. The findings of the study will also have applications on head protection design for other sports.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Decision Against IOC Doping Rule a Boon for Athletes
The problem of doping in sport is as old as sport. Athletes are willing to try anything that might give them even the slightest advantage. To level the international playing field, the International Olympic Committee and various national sport governing bodies created the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. The goal of WADA was to create a uniform policy on drugs and uniform penalties for their use.
These policies are not always straightforward. For example, because of the presence of an apparent loophole — athletes who test positive for the first time receive a two-year ban, and therefore may not miss any Olympic competitions — the IOC created IOC Rule 45. Rule 45 states that any athlete with an anti-doping suspension of more than six months is automatically banned from the next Olympic Games following the end of the suspension.
Some people have argued that Rule 45 essentially punishes athletes twice, with the case involving American Olympic athlete LaShawn Merritt, the 400-meter champion at the Beijing Olympics, serving as Exhibit A. In late 2009, Merritt tested positive for a banned substance contained in an over-the-counter male enhancement drug he took. Merritt was banned from competing by WADA for 21 months (the penalty was for less than two years because he cooperated with authorities and was found to not have taken the drug to improve athletic performance), with the hopes of defending his title at the 2012 Olympic Games. The IOC, however, ruled that Merritt would be unable to compete in London because of Rule 45.
Merritt challenged the rule in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The court, in ruling that the IOC's application of Rule 45 was invalid and unenforceable, held on Oct. 6 that the additional penalty enforced by the IOC was greater than that allowed under the WADA Code, of which the IOC was a signing party.
Merritt's victory keeps alive his eligibility for 2012, and also impacts as many as 50 other athletes from around the world in track and field alone. The IOC said it "fully respects" the verdict and will comply with it, but added that it would push for Rule 45 to be included in a revised 2013 WADA code.
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WVU Police: Beer Sales Playing Role in Better Behavior
Beer sales have not met West Virginia University’s highest expectations in terms of revenue generation, but police records obtained by AB indicate progress toward WVU’s second stated goal for selling beer this season at Mountaineer home football games: quelling fan misbehavior.
When compared to the first four home games played last year, across-the-board decreases have resulted this season in the number of calls received by WVU police (from two hours prior to kickoff to two hours after the game), the number of incident reports filed and the number of arrests made (spanning the entire game day).
Police reports saw the largest drop, from 68 during the first four games of 2010 to just 24 during this season’s first four games — a 35 percent decrease. Sixteen fewer arrests were made, for a decrease of 20.5 percent. The number of calls fell by 27, or 15 percent.
WVU police chief Bob Roberts attributes the across-the-board declines to “the combination of the no-reentry policy change, the ‘High Five’ program and the sales.”
Fans can no longer partake in the long-standing tradition of leaving Milan Puskar Stadium for their tailgate parties at halftime and returning to their seats. Introduced in August, “The High Five Rules” for fans entering the stadium are:
No excessive drinking – intoxicated fans are not allowed inside or outside the stadium.
No foul or abusive language.
No smoking in the seating or concourse areas.
No throwing stuff (anything) onto the field.
No ignoring of the instructions of Event/Security personnel.
Still, the most arrests of any of the eight home dates in our comparison came this season during a Sept. 24 night game against Louisiana State. It was also the game that saw the highest attendance of 2011 and the most single-game beer revenue, with WVU netting $120,469 from sales.
With two games remaining on the home schedule (an Oct. 8 home game against Connecticut is not represented in the above comparison), it can at least be said that fan-behavior indicators are heading in the right direction. Says Roberts, “We are hopeful that trends continue.”
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Blog: Al Davis Would Know to Give Up on the UFL
By some quirk that only a true believer would pretend to understand, Al Davis died within a week of the United Football League going on life support. Yesterday, UFL founder and owner Bill Hambrecht announced the league was eliminating the final two weeks of its six-game regular season and holding its championship game Friday. With the four-team league having lost a reported $100 million over the past two years, cutting short the season was being counted on to "save the league the cost of salaries and team operations," as the Associated Press said, even though salaries are small by professional sports standards (players are paid a flat $5,000 per game).
Davis, of course, was best known for the 41 years he spent as principal owner of the NFL's Oakland Raiders, but he was also plucked from the coaching/GM ranks to take the helm of the American Football League in 1966, when he helped set the stage for the NFL-AFL merger in June of that year by aggressively targeting active NFL players (in all, seven quarterbacks) to be recruited for the rival league's young teams. Opposed to the $18 million in compensation the AFL would have to pay the NFL according to the terms of the merger agreement, and convinced that the AFL would prove to be superior to the NFL if left to compete directly with the more established league, Davis quit as commissioner that July and returned to the Raiders as a general partner.
The AFL remains the only rival league to succeed in going mano a mano with the NFL. Over the years, many pro football leagues have been formed, whether competing directly seasonally or regionally, or conceived as a fill-in at times or in places lacking pro football. All have failed. Three previous American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference preceded the AFL, and in more recent times, an early-90s expansion of the Canadian Football League into the U.S. was followed by a rapid contraction, the Professional Spring Football League (1992) folded before playing a single game, the Regional Football League played nine weeks in 1999, the Spring Football League of 2000 lasted two weeks, and the XFL lasted 12 weeks as an offseason diversion in 2000. (The World League of American Football, which counted seven North American teams among its 10 founding franchises, completed two seasons with U.S.-based teams, and had the support of an empire-building NFL.) The USFL, though influential, collapsed in 1985 after three seasons, $163 million in losses and an ultimately unsuccessful antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.
The UFL's Hambrecht said in a statement yesterday that the league would turn its focus to "building a blueprint for the long-term success of the league" and that there were plans to expand from four to six teams in 2012. This qualifies him to join the ranks of football's true believers, and perhaps he's praying for divine intervention, as well.
Why bother? What makes any group of would-be league and team executives think they can go up against the nation's most (or second-most) popular sport and survive? What makes anyone think that Americans don't get enough pro and college football? What on earth could they be thinking?
Just fold, baby!
The AFL survived because the salary structure of the NFL then allowed a new league with shallower pockets to entice athletes with contracts that were as good, or close to as good, as what was being offered by the entrenched league. Also, existing television contracts were of a scale (and demand given the lack of sports on TV was lower) to allow a rival to gain an electronic foothold. Many of the AFL's teams had tenuous holds on solvency, it is true, but a league with no history at all was able to attract enough high-profile athletes to entice spectators in the tens of thousands in many cities that the NFL didn't serve (it served only 12 when the AFL was founded) and an initial five-year, $10.6 million television contract with ABC. Just four years later, the AFL inked a $36 million television deal with NBC.
The UFL's teams will have played a total of 40 games (plus six championship and consolation games) over its three-year existence, and has lost $100 million. Speculation a couple of years ago was that the UFL could have a future as a developmental league under the NFL; others have called it a "second-tier" pro league with no connection to the NFL as a minor league.
Would you stake more than $100 million on a second-tier league? By any chance, do you believe in miracles?
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Judge Rules in Favor of Playoff-Bound Co-Op Football Team
A Milwaukee County judge settled a five-day dispute Tuesday regarding whether Milwaukee's Messmer/Shorewood co-op high school football team — which has never seen postseason action — is eligible to participate in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs. The team finished the regular season last Friday with a 48-21 victory, giving Messmer/Shorewood a 4-2 record in its first year as a full member of the Midwest Classic Conference North Division. As a result of Judge Kevin Martens' decision, Milwaukee's South High School has been bounced from the playoff field of 224 teams.
The WIAA fills that field by first taking conference champions and then adding teams with winning records in conference games. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Saturday, "Messmer/Shorewood meets the second standard. But it also might meet another criterion that would deny it playoff eligibility. The program left the Woodland Conference after the 2007 season to play an independent schedule. A rule in the WIAA playoff selection criteria states that teams that voluntarily withdraw from a conference shall be ineligible for playoff consideration for the next four years."
Administrators from Messmer/Shorewood (or "Messwood," as they refer to themselves) argued the rule no longer applies because the football program is now a member of a conference. But the WIAA disagreed, claiming that Messmer/Shorewood must complete the final year of a four-year postseason ban it began in 2008 after pulling out of the Woodland Conference without the association's approval. “As a last step, we are pursuing legal options," Messmer Catholic Schools president Brother Bob Smith said in a press release announcing Messwood's filing of an injunction to make the team eligible for the playoffs after exhausting the WIAA appeals process. "We feel we owe it to our student-athletes to honor their dedication and significant accomplishments this season."
Messmer (a private, predominantly black school) and Shorewood (a public, predominantly white school) united 10 years ago to field a co-op football team. Participation numbers at Shorewood had been dwindling, and the move helped Messmer return to the sport after decades of dormancy.
WisSports.net reports that jilted Milwaukee South administrators might now file an injunction of their own, which could further delay the finalization of brackets for the state playoffs, slated to begin Friday.
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Unhealthy Workforce Costs U.S. Economy $153 Billion
Companies hungry for further evidence that corporate wellness programs are desperately needed in this country, chew on this: A new Gallup poll found that just one in seven workers in America is of normal body weight and free of chronic illness, potentially costing the U.S. economy $153 billion annually in lost productivity due to an estimated 450 combined sick days taken each year.
Conducted earlier this year, the survey of more than 100,000 working individuals indicates that two-thirds of the U.S. workforce is either overweight or obese, and nearly half of that population suffers from at least one chronic health problem. Survey participants self-reported their own height and weight, leading Gallup pollsters to conclude — given the tendency for people to overestimate their height and underestimate their weight — that the numbers could be even worse.
Even among those individuals reporting a normal weight, 60 percent are currently dealing with an ongoing health issue, including a past diagnosis of a heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, asthma or depression, as well as recurring physical pain in the neck, back, knee or leg during the previous 12 months.
According to Dan Witters and Sangeeta Agrawal, who presented the data on Gallup’s website, “The $153 billion in lost productivity estimated in this analysis would increase if it included presenteeism, which is when employees go to work but are less productive in their jobs because of poor health or wellbeing. Including part-time employees would also add to the estimate of costs in lost productivity.”
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9:53 AM
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Blog: A Calf Injury Points to New Exercise Possibilities
When I felt something snap deep inside my calf during a squash game, I had no way of knowing it was my invitation to a whole new way of working out.
"What's wrong?" asked my opponent, a great guy who worked at the gym.
"I felt something go pop," I gasped.
I should have mentioned that my opponent had an Australian accent. "Pop's not good, mate," he said, looking concerned. "Pop is BAD."
No kidding, I thought as I dragged myself out of the court and hobbled over to the elevator, leaning against him for support. And as all idiotic weekend warriors do at such times, I was thinking, What if this is serious and I have to have surgery? How am I going to go without working out for months?
My friend helped me gather up all my stuff and get out to my car.
"Just remember, mate," he said before he closed the door, "No matter what, you'll be back here. And there's always the therapy pool in the meantime."
Which was how I found myself swimming laps on a regular basis for probably the first time since college. It was also how I learned about the class our athletic club offers in Ai Chi (an Eastern-inspired, warm-water exercise program) and all the different machines that don't work your legs. It was also how I learned about free weights and water weights.
The athletic club staff was great — they showed me how to use unfamiliar equipment and asked me how the injury was healing. I met a whole new group of workout buddies, and I actually came to enjoy the change provided by the different regimen. I also wound up with happening biceps, and that was pretty cool, too.
And really, all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. The injury turned out to be not a ruptured Achilles tendon (my biggest fear) but a ruptured plantaris (this is a muscle that in my decidedly un-medical opinion seemed to have no real purpose except to pop and hurt). Way, way less complicated than an Achilles injury, and it didn't require surgery. At the end of my rehab period, I wound up back on the courts and with a new appreciation for our club's facilities. I’m still using the pool regularly, along with some of the machines I hadn't tried before I got hurt.
I have to wonder: How many people get hurt and think, as I did initially, that they have to give up working out until they're fully recovered? Without my friend who reminded me about our club’s other exercise options, I might have gone the same route.
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Friday, October 14, 2011
School Bans Cheerleaders' Breast Cancer Tees
Cheerleaders at Gilbert (Ariz.) High School are causing a stir with clothing deemed by administrators to be inappropriate. The issue isn’t overly revealing uniforms but T-shirts the squad purchased as part of their plans to raise money for breast cancer awareness. The shirts, which 56 members of the freshman, junior varsity and varsity squads planned to wear during tonight’s home football game and a second home game later this month, feature the message, “Feel for lumps, save your bumps.” The school’s principal, J. Charles Santa Cruz, found the message to be inappropriate and banned the shirts.
The girls’ fundraising efforts were intended to complement the efforts of the football players, who will be sporting pink tape, gloves, laces and wristbands during the month. Team members say the message was in no way meant to be suggestive but felt it was conveyed in a way that was effective and appropriate for their age. "We're not saying anything a doctor wouldn't say," varsity cheerleader Natalie Skowronek told The Arizona Republic.
Other members felt that they were being treated unfairly in light of some of the inappropriate attire allowed at games or worn by other clubs, pointing out shirts worn by the school’s sign-language club that read, “I’m good with my hands.” Similar issues have been raised with bracelets sold by the Keep A Breast Foundation that bear the message “I (heart) boobies.” Across the country, administrators concerned that the language is inappropriate have banned them from schools.
The squad had originally planned to protest the decision by wearing the shirts and collecting breast cancer awareness donations outside the stadium during the game, but were told boycotting the game would result in disciplinary action. The principal has said the shirts could be worn if the cheerleaders removed or covered up the “save your bumps” slogan — and also suggested the girls wear plain pink shirts as an alternative.
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2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Drexel University Recreation Center
A recreational addition to the windowless 1960s-era Daskalakis Athletic Center, the Drexel University Recreation Center forms an integrated sports facility in a legible new center of collegiate and community activity. Its new face to the Philadelphia streetscape — primarily its south-facing window wall of clear and colored laminated glazing, augmented by metal and wood panels — engages the street with multiple points of access and transparency that showcases the interior activities. The faceted glassy facade evokes Drexel’s blue and gold insignia colors and features a random series of undulating bays that define individual user spaces within the larger communal environment of the fitness floor. The color scheme and showcase of activity even spills outside, with an outdoor plaza suitable for diverse functions such as dance, aerobics and commencement featuring a blue and gold permeable rubberized surface.
The judges saw the designers as having successfully met several different challenges — blending old and new building elements, adding large amounts of recreation space within a tight urban site and, above all, creating a signature look. “The exterior window system by day or by night elegantly reduces the overall massing and scale of the facility,” one judge remarked. “At night, the amount of activity witnessed from the surrounding neighborhood is quite unusual.” Added another judge, “The entire facade functions as an active billboard for exercise and fitness.”
Judges’ Comments:
This thoughtful addition wraps an existing gym and creates a new exterior expression on both street side and plaza side. Warm and inviting interiors play off of the daylighting and transparency.
— John Dierdorf, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects
This energetic project successfully transforms its site and provides a strong, contemporary and engaging expression that is successful in making meaningful connections beyond the edges of the site. The integration of abundant quantities of natural light has produced memorable spaces that would be a pleasure to use.
— Darryl Condon, Hughes Condon Marler Architects
That glass facade really makes this an iconic, memorable facility. The program spaces are light-filled and well-detailed, from the outdoor pervious rubber deck to the magazine racks in the fitness center.
— Jeff Piette, Kahler-Slater
Architect of Record:
Sasaki Associates Inc.
Watertown, Mass.
Associate Architect:
Ewing Cole
Philadelphia, Pa.
Cost: $42 million
Square Feet: 85,900
Funded By: University funds
Major Facility Components: Multipurpose gym, jogging track, squash courts, climbing room, fitness center, group exercise rooms
Halkin Photography
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Spurrier, Kentucky Deny Media Access in Separate Cases
The November issue of AB will examine how college athletic departments deal with student media in the wake of a recent University of Kentucky incident that drew national attention. The past eight days have shown just how tenuous the relationship between college athletic departments and the mainstream press can be, as well.
On Tuesday, University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier refused to address the media at his regular press conference as long as Ron Morris, a columnist for The State, was in the room. Pointing at Morris, Spurrier told those assembled that “we’ve got a negative guy over here that tries to hurt our program.”
During a two-minute explanation, Spurrier claimed Morris inaccurately reported that the coach lured prospect Bruce Ellington away from the USC basketball program. The story, written in the spring, was “completely untrue,” according to Spurrier, who said he talked to Ellington only after he had met with the basketball coach.
“So, I’m not going to talk when he’s in here,” Spurrier said of Morris. “That’s my right as a head coach.” He then instructed TV reporters to move to a separate room for a personal interview and informed writers “still left in here I’ll come back and talk to you right after that.”
On Oct. 6, Kentucky’s athletic department, still faced with questions over why a student reporter’s invitation to a basketball media event had been rescinded in late August, revoked the Lexington Herald-Leader’s access to freshman basketball player Michael Kidd-Gilchrist based on how reporter Jerry Tipton had handled a Q-and-A with the player.
DeWayne Peevy, UK’s associate athletic director for media relations, said in a statement that the way a question appeared in print Oct. 5 was not how it was asked during the interview, and that the altered wording “sensationalizes the story and was unfair to Michael and his family.” The question, which referenced the shooting death of Kidd-Gilchrist’s father, was clarified online the same day, but the paper did not issue an apology, something Peevy deemed necessary to move on.
Longtime local sports columnist and Sports Illustrated writer Billy Reed thinks Kentucky is being overprotective of players and missing an educational opportunity. “I don’t think the UK sports information office is really teaching them the right kind of lessons about how to deal with the media,” Reed told the Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper targeted by Peevy this summer, adding that the university “has made a bigger deal out of this story by issuing a media statement and issuing more retribution to a media organization rather than just handling it internally.”
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Thursday, October 13, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, Rice University
Integrating more than 100,000 square feet of recreation space into the fabric of a college campus isn’t always an easy task, but the designers of the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center managed it spectacularly, said AB’s panel of judges. Beyond utilizing a façade of cast stone masonry detailing and the university’s signature red brick, the designers achieved their goal by centering the building layout around an open courtyard with outdoor facilities, including a leisure pool, a 50-meter competition pool and two basketball courts. “With its complex set of programmatic elements, the design approach for this project successfully reduced the large volume into a series of elegant and well-detailed forms,” offered one judge. Another called the facility “sensitively handled,” noting the creative massing that breaks down the scale of large recreational components. A primary method was to locate large recreation spaces such as the gymnasium and MAC on the second floor, while the fitness center, fitness classrooms and offices occupy the smaller footprint below.
Covered walkways alongside the building link courtyards and other pedestrian corridors throughout campus, and allow pedestrians to experience the building features and activities up close. Sloped metal roof panels were used on three of the four roof areas, which provided the opportunity for higher ceiling spaces within the MAC, dance rehearsal studio and the multipurpose rooms.
Judges’ Comments:
This project sensitively held the campus street edge and also maintained a contextual scale, which is often difficult for recreational buildings with large program spaces. The interior detailing is superb — clean and restrained.
— Jeff Piette, Kahler-Slater
Elegant masonry detailing fits the campus vernacular well. The complicated plan layout offers visual connections between the spaces.
— John Dierdorf, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects
An interesting feature of this facility is its functional layout and massing, which is much more like the existing academic facilities on Rice’s campus rather than a more traditional massive block of the typical recreation facility. The development of an exterior courtyard with a leisure pool reinforces the courtyard concept found throughout Rice’s campus and further reduces the overall massing of the complex.
— Erik Kocher, Hastings + Chivetta Architects Inc.
Architect of Record:
SmithGroup
Dallas, Texas
Associate Architect:
Lake Flato Architects
San Antonio, Texas
Aquatic Design Engineer:
Counsilman-Hunsaker
St. Louis, Mo.
Cost: $32.6 million
Square Feet: 103,000
Funded By: Private donations
Major Facility Components: Two-court gymnasium, MAC, dance studios, racquetball courts, squash courts, fitness center, group fitness room, classrooms, offices, wellness suite
Photo by Paul Hester
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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10:40 AM
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White-Out Organizers Whistle AD for Interference
For six weeks, Texas A&M students and fans have been planning to create a white-out atmosphere at Kyle Field during Saturday’s home football game against Baylor. Organizers intend to support state wildfire relief efforts by selling white T-shirts and maroon towels, with more than 1,000 sales registered per week so far, according to student body president Jeff Pickering.
However, some feel A&M athletic director Bill Byrne hasn’t done their efforts any favors by posting this yesterday in his “Wednesday Weekly” blog: “When the television cameras turn on, there is no better sight than the sea of maroon coming from the 12th Man. We encourage fans to always wear maroon, because maroon is Texas A&M.”
Members of the Aggie Wildfire Relief Group claim they approached A&M officials with their white-out idea more than a month ago, and were told the university would not interfere with their efforts. A few have whistled Byrne for interference.
Others remain hopeful that the blog post will have limited impact in the end. “I think as the athletic director he has the right to say whatever he wants, but I mean I think the student body is still going to wear white because they have been representing it all over the place, especially Facebook,” A&M University student Emily Smith told College Station CBS affiliate KBTX.
“This is totally a student body effort,” added Pickering. “I think when our students wake up on Saturday morning for this historic last game against Baylor, kind of a Battle of the Brazos, we’ll be wearing white and waving maroon to stand for our fellow Texans.”
It was the second time in five days that Byrne found himself embroiled
in controversy based on his own use of online media. On Saturday, he
alleged via Twitter that the interior of A&M team buses had been
vandalized with spray paint and animal feces after the Aggies football
game at Texas Tech, ending the tweet with a word of snark: “Classy.”
According to the San Antonio Press-News,
Tech officials didn’t appreciate the broad-brush manner in which their
university and fan base were implicated and attempted to set the record
straight, claiming that washable shoe polish and fish bait were used in
the act and that the mess was cleaned up before Byrne even saw it.
A
Tech statement issued Monday read, “While incidents such as the ones
alleged are inappropriate and strongly condemned by Texas Tech, it is
no less wrong to condemn the entirety of our university, students and
supporters by posting inaccurate information on the Internet for the
purpose of sensationalizing the actions of one or a very few.”
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10:29 AM
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New LEED Standards Coming in 2012
In an effort to improve its system for measuring energy efficiency, the U.S. Green Building Council is stepping up ratings for LEED certification in 2012. The new system, which will be rolled out in November, will put more emphasis on ongoing green operations, requiring building owners to provide data on energy and water use and to apply for recertification every five years.
These new criteria, the USGBC hopes, will ensure that green features are not only installed but utilized and improved. Tracking energy data will allow building owners to gauge the effect of changes and continue to improve efficiency, and allow owners to compare their usage to similar buildings.
The changes come in response to public criticism that current LEED ratings don’t emphasize overall green operations rather than a list of individual green features. For more information on the new LEED ratings, visit http://www.usgbc.org, or check out SustainableBusiness.com.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA
Its 40-foot-tall glass curtainwall, complete with enormous YMCA graphics, amounts to an outsized hello to the streets of Houston, Texas, with the buzzing activity inside in full display. But the design of the Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA — a LEED Gold replacement for the original downtown Y that incorporates design elements from the 1941 building — actually builds on an intimate element common to early southern architecture. Designers envisioned this “front porch” as a two-story component comprising a café and outdoor seating area that serves as a relaxed, welcoming entry to the building. Tucked underneath the curtainwall that spans the upper three floors of the north façade, this gathering space is the gateway to a bustling facility, with visitors experiencing the building vertically from bottom to top, from the public spaces and locker rooms on the lower floors to the exercise spaces on the upper floors.
The judges responded to the active and social spaces, and in the way they meshed together around a grand central staircase intended to orient visitors and provide a place for social interaction — in much the same way that the front porch joins the building with the streetscape. In the words of one judge, “The project’s interior circulation is successful in unifying and bringing clarity to a large, vertically stacked facility. The project is also notable for the attention given to providing strong visual and physical connections to the surrounding urban context.”
Judges’ Comments:
Vertically stacked programs like this often lack cohesion. The designers obviously took great care to ensure a connection between floors, between program spaces and from inside to outside.
— Jeff Piette, Kahler-Slater
A terrific solution for a tight urban site. The “front porch” defines the entry transition from the street. There are nice design touches throughout, like clerestory windows in the locker rooms.
— John Dierdorf, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects
The overall design very nicely organizes the program elements of a YMCA and creates a strong visual connection to the street and downtown Houston beyond. The vertical organization, the curtainwall and the oversize graphics successfully support the designers’ vision of a front porch element.
— Tom Scarlata, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
Architect of Record:
Kirksey Architecture
Houston, Texas
Cost: $33.5 million
Square Feet: 115,000
Funded By: Donors and sale of existing property
Major Facility Components: Pool, gymnasium, running track, fitness center, racquetball courts, group exercise rooms, multipurpose room, women’s wellness room, cafe
Photo by Aker Imaging
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Blog: Fitness Instructor Had It Right: Take It Outside
Last Friday, I was passing by the room in our athletic club where group-cycling classes are held, and I heard the instructor tell the group, "I saw the weather forecast and it's going to be a wonderful weekend. I don't want to see any of you here on Saturday and Sunday. Go play outside!"
Everyone laughed, but as it turned out, that was pretty good advice. In fact, it was still ringing in my ears on Saturday when my husband and I went for a day hike on the Appalachian Trail. For the record, it seemed like everyone else had been given the same admonishment — I saw families, college students, inveterate hikers and those who looked like they were experiencing the trail for the first time. The leaves were just starting to change, and it was a perfect day to get out.
Something especially fun was hiking near a local Scout troop. Those kids were chugging up the trail. Their Scoutmaster was trotting beside them, encouraging them along.
"C'mon, guys," I heard him say as we approached a steep area, "This is nature's StairMaster."
The kids laughed and charged upward, having a great time. At the top, it leveled off for a bit before it wound up on Annapolis Rocks, which is a beautiful scenic vista.
The Scouts crawled to the edge of the rocks and leaned over to watch people use climbing ropes they had obviously set up that morning. They marveled at the way one guy was climbing "just like Spider-Man."
"Wow," said one kid. "That's nature's climbing wall."
Sometimes, we forget some of the best fitness facilities are in our own backyards, or a few miles away. They're forests, hiking trails, streams and lakes. If we're in more citified areas, they're municipal baseball diamonds, sports fields, walking paths and basketball courts. Either way, when we go there, we get an amazing workout. And when we return to our health clubs, we are in even better shape because of our cross-training (and our time spent outdoors in the fresh air).
The group-cycling instructor's advice to take a break from the athletic club scene was probably some of the greatest anyone could get. As fitness professionals, we might think it's counterintuitive, but occasionally, we all need something to shake up our routine. After all, if someone considers fitness his or her daily responsibility, it's all too easy to start thinking of it as drudgework, particularly on a pretty day. A break refreshes us and brings us back with renewed commitment.
Let's all make the commitment to encourage people — kids and grown-ups — to go play outside at least once this fall. It generally means many happy returns.
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Synthetic Turf Donation Gives D.C. Middle Schoolers New Place to Play
The students at Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, D.C., will be playing and exercising on a new synthetic turf field, thanks to a donation from the Synthetic Turf Council. In conjunction with its annual membership meeting, held this year in Washington, D.C., the nonprofit trade association sought out a deserving local school that would benefit from a synthetic turf field. It found Stuart-Hobson Middle School, which boasts standout academic performance but had no outdoor athletic fields for sports and fitness, only an asphalt playground.
 Photo by Kea Taylor/Imagine Photography
The new 13,200-square-foot synthetic turf field unveiled on Tuesday can be used year-round, increasing the students’ opportunities to engage in sports and other activities to improve their personal fitness. “We are committed to community wellness and environmental responsibility through the use of synthetic turf,” Rick Doyle, president of the Synthetic Turf Council, said in a news release. “Our members enthusiastically came together to build a field that increases opportunities for Stuart-Hobson students to be active and play outside.”
Concerned about the role the absence of safe places to play and exercise has had on the obesity rate among youth, members of the Synthetic Turf Council hope to work together to provide similar donations to host cities during future annual membership meetings.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Smith Aquatic & Fitness Center, Buford Middle School
Situated on the Charlottesville, Va., campus of Buford Middle School as part of a recreation complex that includes an adjacent Boys & Girls Club, the LEED Platinum Smith Aquatic Center won praise for a simple rectangular plan enhanced by judicious selection of materials — to cite one notable example, blue-colored glass tile and raised aluminum signage on the two-story east wall of the natatorium. The center “does all the right things,” said one judge. “It’s simple, monolithic in form but softened with the right materials and detail.”
In order to minimize the environmental exposure of the building, the facility was constructed into the hillside with the main entrance on the upper level and the locker rooms and natatorium on the lower level. The exterior design utilized thermally modified wood louvers, corrugated metal panels and strip aluminum storefront window systems in an effort to animate the large box of otherwise monolithic white ground-face block.
Care was taken to analyze solar modeling data to ensure best placement and treatment of window systems to maximize natural lighting while minimizing direct glare and solar gain. The natatorium thus strategically allows natural daylighting from many different orientations — high windows on the east side, low windows on the west and a north-facing clerestory — while restricting glare on the water surface. Vertical and horizontal aluminum airfoils were used to restrict direct sunlight into the natatorium. According to one judge, the project was “a great exercise in the control of daylighting and the detailing of the exterior materials.”
Judges’ Comments:
Close attention to appropriately controlled natural lighting and views, coupled with sensitive interplay of durable materials inside and out, creates a handsome facility that successfully breaks open the economical box structure.
— Mark Bodien, Moody•Nolan Inc.
The adage “less is more” certainly applies here. Both the inside and outside of the building have been carefully designed and skillfully detailed. It is also notable for its integration of significant sustainable design strategies.
— Darryl Condon, Hughes Condon Marler Architects
Both the exterior skin, comprised of cost-effective materials, and the interior colors and materials were eloquently used to create a modern feel to this facility. The dynamic use of blue tile on what would be an otherwise bland end wall of the natatorium is very successful.
— Erik Kocher, Hastings + Chivetta Architects Inc.
Architect of Record:
Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
Boston, Mass.
Associate Architect:
Train & Partners
Charlottesville, Va.
Cost: $8.25 million
Square Feet: 27,290
Funded By: Public funds
Major Facility Components: Leisure pool, competition pool, fitness center, multipurpose room, wet classroom, offices, locker rooms, family changing rooms, spectator viewing area
Photo © Philip Beaurline
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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9:16 AM
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Monday, October 10, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center
Connectivity and what one judge called “an unparalleled amount of interior and exterior transparency” mark the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. As one panelist explained, “While maintaining a unified and strong image on a major campus street, three user groups are clearly separated internally, while interior views connect activity spaces in ‘walls’ of activity and interest.”
Student fitness and recreation occupies the most central location of the three, spread through the north and central portions of the CRWC over a series of three levels that are open to each other. The wellness and recreation administration suites are located in the two-level east portion, while the aquatic center anchors the western portion. The natatorium was particularly lauded by the judges for its iconic dive tower featuring an internally lighted spine (“Its detailing and execution are terrific,” said one). Home to a competition pool, dive pool and leisure pool — with the latter separated by a full-length glass wall to allow access during swim/dive team practices, as well as precise control of the leisure pool’s higher temperature environs — the space is filled with natural daylight and provides views into and from many other CRWC activity areas.
The effect is much the same on the building exterior, with the north portion harvesting daylight through what amounts to a series of transparent interlocking “boxes” set on a columnar structural system. The boxes, through which the fitness spaces are visible to passersby, are set in front of a backdrop that houses the aquatic center, gymnasiums, multiactivity spaces and a climbing wall that measures 58 feet tall.
Judges’ Comments:
The Campus Recreation and Wellness Center has powerful energy within its industrial urban look. The dynamic spaces, views and gestures celebrate everything this building is about.
— Mark Williams, HKS Inc.
This building’s massing has been carefully designed to provide a strong presence. Its interior organization is clear and well organized, and it offers a high level of visual transparency and interconnection between its varied programmatic components.
— Darryl Condon, Hughes Condon Marler Architects
The design team was able to take very large programmatic spaces and organize them in a way that is easy to understand for its patrons. There’s a high level of openness and transparency that adds a fantastic vibrance throughout.
— Jeff Piette, Kahler-Slater
Architect of Record:
RDG Planning & Design
Des Moines, Iowa
Aquatic Design Engineer:
Counsilman-Hunsaker
Lakewood, Colo.
Cost: $51.3 million
Square Feet: 215,000
Funded By: Student fees, athletic department funds
Major Facility Components: Natatorium, fitness center, gymnasium, track, MAC, climbing wall, activity rooms
Photo by Kun Zhang, Dimension Images
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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9:24 AM
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Friday, October 07, 2011
Roof to Keep 78-Degree Sunshine Out of NLDS Game
It’s 78 degrees and mostly sunny in Milwaukee, a beautiful day for (indoor) baseball. Wait. What?
Major League Baseball has decided to keep Miller Park’s retractable roof closed for today’s deciding Game 5 of the National League Division Series between the Brewers and the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, and the reason reportedly is to keep conditions consistent with the first four games in the series. Arizona hosted Games 3 and 4 at retractable-roofed Chase Field. All four games in the series so far have been played indoors.
Chilly (but entirely tolerable) temperatures in Milwaukee last week kept the Miller Park roof closed, while dust storms this week forced the closure of Chase Field. But today’s decision has most people scratching their own domes. According to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel online poll that had tallied 433 responses three hours before today’s first pitch, fans who disagree with the MLB’s call outnumbered those agreeing with it by a 3-to-1 ratio.
One possible reason for the decision being bandied about is the late-afternoon start time and the strange sun/shadow contrasts that can occur on Miller Park’s playing field. However, those half-moon-shaped sun spots are caused predominantly by inoperable glass windows along the first-base side of the stadium, and not by the pie-shaped opening in the roof, which can (and has) been partially closed using only right-field panels to keep sun off of the left-field grass.
Post-season day baseball is a rarity these days. Near-80-degree weather on Oct. 7 in Milwaukee is likewise scarce. Too bad the two can’t team up.
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Feedback 'Positive,' But Beer Sales Flat at WVU
While the West Virginia University athletic department’s decision earlier this year to sell beer at Mountaineer home football games has brought positive feedback from fans, actual sales have fallen on the low end of expectations.
When WVU athletic director Oliver Luck proposed the new policy, he said he hoped beer sales would bring between $500,000 and $1.2 million in revenue to the athletic department. According to an Associated Press report, a profit of $279,445 on gross sales of $792,245 had been realized through four home games, with three remaining on the schedule. A Sept. 24 night game against second-ranked Louisiana State (the Mountaineers’ only loss of the season so far) proved most profitable at the beer stands, when WVU netted $120,469. Last week’s homecoming game against Bowling Green brought in the least beer revenue at $26,216. A difference in attendance between the two games of 15,453 was no doubt a factor in the sales disparity.
Luck’s other goal for the new policy, which coincided with the termination of WVU’s halftime pass-out policy, was to improve fan behavior in the stands. Athletic department spokesperson Michael Fragale indicated that fan feedback has been decidedly positive, as reported by the AP. However, the WVU athletic business office did not immediately respond to AB’s request for stadium ejection and arrest figures for this season and 2010.
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9:59 AM
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Blog: Football Tryout Denied; Discrimination Alleged
The Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law July 26, 1990, was intended “to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” In order to do this, the ADA requires public entities to consider whether reasonable accommodations could be made to remove any barriers to participation created by a person’s disability. Unfortunately, 20 years after its passage, individuals with disabilities are still being discriminated against and denied equal opportunities.
For example, in August, Connor Aldasch, a 14-year-old sophomore from Fulton, N.Y., was denied the opportunity to try out for the G. Ray Bodley High School varsity football team. Even though Aldasch, who suffers from Tourette syndrome, is captain of the junior varsity football team and reportedly had the support of two assistant coaches, Mike Conners, the varsity coach, overruled them. When asked why Aldasch wasn’t getting a tryout, Conners reportedly responded, “I already have three or four disabled kids on my team. How many am I supposed to allow on the team?”
The Fulton City School District has received three formal complaints from parent Mark Aldasch Sr., alleging that the district violated its policies and that the coach and athletic director have harassed him since the first complaint was filed. For its part, the school district conducted an investigation and found that none of the district’s employees had violated school policies with regard to Connor Aldasch — in fact, the district says, football team procedures have been consistently followed, with varsity sports reserved for those in 11th and 12th grades. There is no rule stating that younger students must be given a tryout, the district says. (There also appears to be no written policy on varsity sports being reserved for upperclassmen.)
Nevertheless, should Aldasch sue the school for discrimination — as of this writing, his intention was to get his son a tryout, not a trial — the district’s position will be difficult to defend. If ADA were invoked, the case would hinge on the concept of “reasonable accommodation.” If Aldasch was given the opportunity to try out for the varsity football team, and after reasonable accommodations were made for his disability he was deemed not good enough to make the team, or it was determined that his participation posed a danger to other athletes, the coach could then keep him off the team. As it is, however, and in the light of remarks attributed to the coach, it seems that the coach and school could be in violation of the spirit if not the letter of the law.
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2011 Facility of Merit Winner: The Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park
Part of the legacy initiative of the 2010 Olympics, Vancouver, B.C.’s Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park is an addition to the Olympic curling venue, known as the Vancouver Olympic Centre. The first step in a conversion to a recreation complex that will also include a community center, public library, preschool and field house, the center won plaudits from AB’s panel of architects for being, as one judge said, “complementary to the existing Olympic structure, while being strikingly beautiful on its own.”
The utilization of wood as the main structural component of the center captured the attention of the judges, as did the use of color throughout. More than half of the wood used on the project, which anticipates LEED Gold certification, is Forest Stewardship Council-certified, and its use helped the designers succeed in connecting the natural interiors to the landscape and trees of the park beyond. Wood interior cladding, window casings and millwork also lend acoustic dampening and a warm aesthetic to the project.
Careful manipulation of the building massing minimized the effects of such a large structure in relation to the nearby single-family fabric, while providing a meaningful fit with existing trees on the site. The judges agreed that the architect had succeeded in forming a cohesive relationship between the facility, the site and adjoining structure. As one judge said, “This new facility links to and references the recognizable Olympics venue exceptionally well.”
Judges’ Comments:
The wood structure’s form is both elegant and practical. The shape provides for terrific daylighting from both northern and southern exposures, and takes advantage of the views to the park and mountains in the distance.
— Tom Scarlata, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
A simple and elegant structural solution. This addition to a recreation facility was carefully composed to complement both the existing building and the complex site.
— Mark Bodien, Moody•Nolan Inc.
An excellent example of blending simple forms and the appropriate materials to create a facility that celebrates light and color.
— Mark Williams, HKS Inc.
Architect of Record:
Hughes Condon Marler Architects
Vancouver, B.C.
Cost: $34.8 million (Canadian)
Square Feet: 66,500
Funded By: VANOC and municipal funds
Major Facility Components: Indoor leisure pool, competition pool, hot pool; outdoor pool
Photo by Hubert Kang
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Thursday, October 06, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Mayor Sheila Doyle Russell Youth and Community Center
Flexible in use and sensitive to its residential surroundings, the Mayor Sheila Doyle Russell Youth and Community Center in Cambridge, Mass., serves an eclectic mix of users on three levels — a lower level housing private lounge and banquet space for the local VFW (along with underground parking), and two levels of highly visible community space. The various community spaces are located within and along a two-story glass spine that traverses the length of the building, culminating in the gymnasium, which is concealed within the contour of the site at the spine’s far end. This distinctive civic presence gives way on the other side of the spine to a more residential character by using a rheinzink metal cladding system, which is similar in scale to the clapboard houses on the busy residential street.
Inside, in one of the building’s most celebrated touches, fitness and teaching spaces open to communal space by way of rotating wall panels, which are used elsewhere in the shared-space corridor opposite the classrooms to create visual privacy between different program areas. The second floor recreation space is designed to accommodate large groups for dance, theatrical performances, community meetings and neighborhood functions.
The judges were impressed by the ability of such a small center to integrate its different users into communal spaces, while at the same time separating different functions on a difficult site. “It reflects an interesting mixture of uses,” one judge put it, “in a building that is both residential- and civic-scaled.”
Judges’ Comments:
This urban community center responds gracefully to its neighborhood context while also showcasing its own importance within the neighborhood behind an expansive glass face. The stacking of components is unique even to the extent that well-hidden parking is located under the facility.
— Erik Kocher, Hastings + Chivetta Architects Inc.
This project successfully combines a diverse set of programmatic elements on a small site in a manner that is respectful of its neighbors. Internally, a high level of flexibility provides for a variety of ways in using the spaces. The informal social spaces are particularly successful in this project.
— Darryl Condon, Hughes Condon Marler Architects
The building successfully integrates the recreation program and a private organization’s needs onto a challenging site. The youth and community center has a strong presence along the street while keeping within the scale of the residential neighborhood. The glazed wall puts the center on display and has a terrific presence.
— Tom Scarlata, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
Architect of Record:
Cambridge Seven Associates Inc.
Cambridge, Mass.
Cost: $13.5 million
Square Feet: 30,000
Funded By: Public Funds
Major Facility Components: Gymnasium, fitness center, exercise room, activity lounge, project room, computer room, kitchen classroom, meeting room, community room, VFW lounge and function room
© Peter Vanderwarker
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Wednesday, October 05, 2011
2011 Facility of Merit Winner: MetLife Stadium
Designers of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., faced a complex challenge in creating a facility that serves two masters and needs to fully change, potentially in a matter of hours, to an exciting fan atmosphere for followers of the Jets and Giants. AB’s panel of judges decided that the design team succeeded ably, with one judge remarking that the ambitious project both provides the needed flexibility and “presents a bold and dynamic expression” that nonetheless utilizes an exterior skin of aluminum louvers that “transform a large and complex facility into a light and contemporary form.”
Home to two NFL teams, the stadium is team-neutral on non-game days but, through the use of LED display technologies, each team can personalize the stadium environment, inside and out, with separate colors and team logos. Boasting more than 40,000 square feet of LED video displays, including more than 18,000 square feet outside the venue, the stadium experience can be altered outside, in the seating bowl and in concourses from a central control station. The original Meadowlands’ sightlines and intimate seating bowl have been re-created in the new stadium, except that deep overhangs were removed in order to meet the teams’ request that all patrons be able to see the full arc of a 90-foot-high punt. One of the many club-seating areas, the Coaches’ Club, offers field-level access and the option to stand outside at drink/food rails just five yards from the home team’s bench.
“This replacement of a dated, nondescript sports venue with a transformational new facility,” one judge said, “made for a memorable and technologically advanced award-winner.”
Judges’ Comments:
MetLife Stadium responds to the difficult challenge of creating individual environments for two very strong and unique sports brands within the same footprint.
— Mark Williams, HKS Inc.
Looking beyond this facility’s $1 billion cost, the unique shared-use arrangement sets it apart from all other new professional stadiums.
— Erik Kocher, Hastings + Chivetta Architects Inc.
LED lighting and electronic video boards allow the stadium operator to convert from the Giants to the Jets with the flip of a switch, providing dramatic identification for each of the teams.
— Tom Scarlata, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
Architect/Engineer of Record:
EwingCole
Philadelphia, Pa.
Design Architect:
360 Architecture
Kansas City, Mo.
Cost: $998 million
Seating Capacity: 82,566
Funded By: Private funds
Major Facility Components: Synthetic-turf field, seating bowl with 200-plus suites, separate Jets and Giants home locker rooms
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Blog: High School Sports Are the Number-One Ticket
Whether they’re cheering on their team or booing a ref’s call, the fans in the stands at high school games are doing one thing consistently — showing up in big numbers. And whether you’re optimistic and attribute that to a lot of school spirit, or whether you’re pessimistic and blame it on an economy that has us all searching for less expensive entertainment, it’s still a great trend.
The National Federation of State High School Associations has been tracking the numbers of high school athletes for more than 40 years now, but this is the first time it has compiled statistics on those who watch them. According to this first survey, in the school year 2009-10, more fans attended high school basketball and football events — 336 million — than the same sports at the college and professional levels combined (133 million).
And that’s just basketball and football. Attendance at events in the top 16 high school sports in student-athlete participation during the 2009-10 school year was approximately 510 million — 468 million during regular-season events and 42 million for state association playoff contests. We’re talking 10 million spectators at high school wrestling contests. And 1.3 million people watched high school golf that year. High school golf.
My incredibly professional take on that? Wow. Especially coming at a time when so many researchers have documented skyrocketing childhood obesity rates, it’s some of the best news I could hear. More spectators, particularly when they’re students, can mean more kids getting excited about sports, and by extension, more kids trying out for sports. After all, there’s no bigger motivation than the idea of a crowd of parents, siblings and peers cheering you on. And health clubs, among others, can use this opportunity to market to teens, whether though special memberships that make use of after-school hours, or through sports-specific training and clinics held prior to tryouts for varsity programs. Either way, it could spur more teens to make a commitment to fitness.
And it’s really great news for athletic directors, booster clubs and others who have been trying to lobby their administrations for funding to build better spectator facilities, including bleachers, concessions stands, parking lots and rest rooms. After all, a positive game-day experience doesn’t just depend on a win on the field.
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2011 Facility of Merit Winner: Stouffville Clippers Sports Complex
“Not your typical metal-building ice sheet,” was one judge’s understated
assessment of the Stouffville Clippers Sports Complex in Stouffville, Ont.
Both the facility’s layout — with unconventionally staggered ice sheets allowing for the insertion of a light-infused lobby at the building’s public corner — and its creative use of a custom metal structure resonated with the judging panel. So did the use of expansive interior glazed walls that allow views from the lobby into both rinks, creating a more engaging experience for spectators.
Expressed as a simple box clad in a continuous belt of corrugated metal siding atop a masonry base, the design is distinguished by its finely tuned fenestration. Punctuated by a dramatic pattern of diffuse slot windows around the rink’s perimeter and a double-height screen of clear glazing with aluminum mesh interlayer at the lobby entrance, the building responds to the needs for daylighting and glare control. Designed for maximum flexibility, the design incorporated many systems and features that expand the functionality of the arena as a venue for multiple sports and large tournaments. One example is the multiuse rooms, expressed as simple glass boxes overlooking the rink spaces, which double as box seating areas.
It all added up to an award-worthy facility, the judges said. In the words of one panelist, “The exterior and interior detailing of this complex successfully avoids the mundane box-like structures of many rink facilities.” Another summed up the panel’s deliberations: “This project is a great example of how careful consideration and fine detailing can transform a simple box into a dynamic civic facility.”
Judges’ Comments:
The design is very successful in its off-ice approach to elevating the experience of spectators and participants.
— Mark Williams, HKS Inc.
Wow, what an elegant exterior skin of simple materials — and inside, the lighting and daylighting makes you feel like you’re outside.
— John Dierdorf, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects
The simple clarity of this big box ice rink complex was punctuated with touches of color and carefully diffused natural light. The offset plan of the two ice sheets opens up a large and logically situated entry lobby to the parking, welcoming users and providing a generous pre-functions area for spectators.
— Mark Bodien, Moody•Nolan Inc.
Architect of Record:
Perkins+Will
Toronto, Ont.
Cost: $14 million (Canadian)
Square Feet: 76,534
Funded By: Municipal funds
Major Facility Components: Two ice sheets, main lobby, players’ lobby, change rooms, spectator seating
Photo by Lisa Logan Photography
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here for the full photo gallery
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Monday, October 03, 2011
Controversial Rule Bans 11-Year-Old From Scoring TDs
Demias Jimerson, an 11-year-old running back for Wilson Intermediate School in Malvern, Ark., "scores almost every time he touches the ball," according to Terri Bryant, the school's principal. In fact, in one game, the sixth-grader scored seven touchdowns for his undefeated team.
That's why the Wilson Intermediate Football League has invoked the Madre Hill Rule — named after the former Arkansas Razorbacks and Oakland Raiders running back. Once Hill, who also attended Wilson Intermediate School, scored three touchdowns, and if his team had at least a 14-point lead, officials banned him from scoring any more touchdowns.
"If you were looking at them, you would say they were very ... similar," Darryl Baker, who coached Hill and now referees Jimerson's games, told Fox16 in Little Rock. "They both run really fast [and] run with the same style."
Bryant, who also is commissioner of the Wilson Intermediate Football League, told reporter Josh Rosenthal that the rule isn't meant to punish Jimerson. Rather, it's there to help the other fifth- and sixth-graders on the field develop as football players, too.
But Tina Korbe, in a post on the news and commentary website HotAir.com, claims Bryant made the wrong move. "Doesn’t the principal see? Running with Jimerson does develop
the other players," Korbe wrote. "Maybe they’re not immediately able to discern the
ways they’ve improved. But, for every time a kid comes only oh-so-close
to tackling Jimerson, he’s going to tackle some other less-speedy
quarterback with greater ease. In other words, Bryant and the parents of
the other children are missing a prime opportunity to encourage their
kids to keep pushing and to teach them all that they can do is their
best but that, eventually, their best will pay off — if not on the
football field, then in the increased disciplined and irrepressible
optimism they cultivated while competing with Jimerson."
As for Jimerson, he doesn't seem to mind having to follow the Madre Hill Rule. "I … got shocked, because I didn't know that was gonna happen, but it did," he said. "I'm okay with it."
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2011 Facility of Merit Winner: California State University, East Bay, Recreation & Wellness Center
Described as the last piece to the campus life puzzle at California State University, East Bay, the Recreation & Wellness Center was purposely located at the edge of the academic zone and across the street from student housing, effectively becoming a transitional space between the two. Providing what one judge called “a strong visual identity through the use of strong forms and bold color,” the building’s most recognizable exterior element is an aluminum perforated screen veil devised to minimize direct sunlight, diffuse daylight and maximize vistas to San Francisco Bay. This is both an aesthetic touch and symbolic of the building’s (and campus’) broader mission of sustainability. The roof plane is shaped to funnel all rainwater to a series of bioswales, where a combination of native plants and climate-appropriate species absorb 100 percent of all storm water, avoiding city storm-drain systems. In addition, a ventilated trombe wall allows for passive heating of the gymnasium by capturing the sun’s heat within the exposed western-facing concrete wall and glazing assembly, which then radiates into the gym during the night. In all, 70 percent of interior spaces are naturally ventilated and passively heated, which eliminated the need for active mechanical heating or cooling systems.
The various sustainable features of the building, one judge said, were “integrated in a very tasteful way,” while another called such efforts “thoughtful” and “admirable.” The design’s “simple forms balance each other,” another panelist noted, “reinforcing and maximizing a tight site.”
Judges’ Comments:
The sustainability treatment of this facility separated it from the other projects judged by the panel. The collection and treatment of 100 percent of stormwater on site combined with only 30 percent of the facility requiring artificial ventilation, heating and cooling is unique in recreation center design.
— Erik Kocher, Hastings + Chivetta Architects Inc.
The large, south-facing screen provides sun control while offering views to the wellness area and back out onto the campus, and gives the building a strong identity. The building utilizes very economical materials in a sophisticated manner.
— Tom Scarlata, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc.
The simple concept and minimized finishes created great value for the budget, while energy- and resource-saving measures were carefully integrated into the bold, colorful design. The building fits its site and the campus like a glove.
— Mark Bodien, Moody•Nolan Inc.
Architect of Record:
LPA Inc.
Irvine, Calif.
Cost: $19.1 million
Square Feet: 54,148
Funded By: Student Fees
Major Facility Components: Two-court gymnasium, track, fitness center, wellness center, multipurpose rooms, locker rooms, juice bar
Photo by Costea Photography Inc.
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The 2011 Athletic Business® Facility of Merit™ awards were recently selected by a panel of sports and recreation facility architects during two days of judging in Chicago. The 10 winners are being announced in this space during the first two weeks in October, and profiles of all 10 will appear in the December issue of Athletic Business. The awards will be presented to the facility owners and architects at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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