Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Blog: The Holidays Are No Excuse to Stop Working Out
The chicken-egg question has a correlation in the world of personal fitness. There are many variations on it, but they all go more or less like this:
"I'm not coming to the gym until I look better in shorts."
And this:
"I'll start swimming laps when I'm not embarrassed to be seen in a bathing suit."
And this:
"It's not worth going running now because it's the holidays and I'm just going to eat a lot and cancel it out."
Anyone who works in the industry has heard it before. It's the most vicious cycle out there, and it results in people procrastinating eternally about starting a health or fitness routine.
My friends and I have talked about it, and the idea we keep coming back to is this: it's easy to be self-conscious, and it's easy to think anybody else who passes through the doors of the gym is a hardbody, a person with perfect willpower, a judgmental person with two percent body fat, or whatever. And the longer people stay away because of those thoughts, the easier it becomes to convince themselves that they'll go back...someday. When the time is right. When the holidays are out of the way. When all the stars and planets align. When they can wear the size they want.
But the regulars already know the secret: Once you get started on your own routine, you're on your way to realizing that most people are somewhere in the middle of hardbody and homebody. And something else: Coming through the doors of that health club on a regular basis (whether you're wearing Spandex, a swimsuit or anything else) is ultimately the only thing that is going to make you look better, feel better, stay on your diet better, wear your clothes better. No matter whether it's January, June or November.
It is an idea that was brought home to me rather abruptly when a woman at my club, whom I hadn't seen for several months, started coming again regularly. Everyone was glad to see her, and I overheard someone ask her what had finally brought her back.
"You know," she said, "I just kept finding reasons to think it wasn't worth it to come. We were going to be going on vacation, and I felt like it wasn't going to be worth going to the gym before that because I knew I was going to eat a lot. Then Halloween was here, and I knew I was going to be eating the kids' candy and it didn't seem like it would make sense for me to go to the gym and exercise. One day I realized the next excuse would be the holidays. There's always going to be something coming up where you can eat too much or not work out, but I was tired of having my life ruled by that."
For her, the tipping point was simple: She was sick of procrastinating. I just wish there was a way to market that mindset to everyone, without the wait.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Crash Prompts Renewed OSU Travel Policy Scrutiny
Oklahoma State University’s transportation policies are under renewed scrutiny following the plane crash Thursday that killed two members of the Cowboys women’s basketball coaching staff — the second fatal crash involving an OSU basketball travel party in 11 years.
After the first crash, which claimed two men’s basketball players and eight others affiliated with the program in January 2001, the university’s travel policy was modified to require at least two turbine engines for planes transporting student-athletes. However, the policy allows coaches to make their own decisions regarding their own air transportation.
OSU women’s coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna were killed aboard a single-engine Piper that went down 45 miles outside Little Rock, Ark. Weather has been ruled out as a cause, and National Transportation Safety Administration officials have said there is no indication that 84-year-old pilot Olin Bransetter, an OSU booster, would not have been qualified to fly the plane.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said Monday that a university review of travel guidelines was appropriate, stating that OSU and other schools may want to adopt the policy in place for her own travel. “We do have standards for my flying,” she said, as reported by The Oklahoman. “We have two pilots and a twin-engine airplane. That is something that OSU wanted when it came to the teams. That is something that certainly President [Burns] Hargis and I'm sure the other universities will consider when they talk about what they're going to do in the future. I think it's a discussion that we do need to have.”
Stefanie Pemper, who as Navy women’s basketball coach only flies commercial, says she understands why some coaches charter flights, particularly when a recruiting trip takes them into rural parts of the country. Just getting to an airport offering commercial flights can take as long as the flight itself. “Maybe that’s time away from their families, and maybe those schools need to change rules if necessary and let those families fly with the team,” Pemper told the Washington Post. “I mean, I don’t know, but it’s just really, really sad, and I just hope people really think about safety and if ways could be improved to protect these athletic programs and players and coaches.”
Maryland women’s coach Brenda Frese added of inherent travel risk, “I’ve become very much more in tune and probably sensitive to that since having kids, but that can happen with you just getting in your car. It can come at anytime, obviously, and you have that perspective of just how fragile life is.”
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Blog: Bridal Boot Camps Should Spur a Fitness Honeymoon
Boot camp programs need no introduction. They're one of the most popular fitness regimens out there. And as a result, there are a lot of variations that are marketed to specific populations — college students, people trying to get a jump on the New Year — you name it.
One of the latest is Bridal Boot Camp. It harnesses the power of the typical boot camp program along with the powerful desire of many women to get in shape in time for their big day. And yes, there are trainers who have reality TV shows about it. But let's not go there; I'm not a fan of that kind of entertainment, and honestly, I think it's putting too much stress on the fact that weddings have become a multi-bazillion-dollar industry.
What's essential is that this is a concept that could help promote longtime fitness. Pre-wedding workouts (for men and women) can make people aware of how good it feels to get in shape and stay that way. And it doesn't have to be boot camp-style programs, either. Those who want to get in shape can turn to whatever routines they find appealing — cardio workouts, strength training, swimming, yoga, group exercise, or playing in league sports like tennis or basketball.
Ever looked at a bridal magazine? About 80 percent of it is devoted to attire, meaning dresses and tuxedos and stuff. The rest of it has information about (in descending order of content) honeymoon destinations, table furnishings and appliances. In other words, the emphasis is on the day itself, not on what comes afterward. No wonder too many people work on getting in shape for the big day and not for long-term health in the years that follow.
Maybe one of the professional associations — IHRSA, for example — will consider running some kind of advertising in some of the more popular wedding magazines. The focus of the ad could include a way to find a club near the reader, and getting a tour and maybe a free two-week membership. Whatever it takes, really, to get someone in the door and aware of all the great things there.
Perhaps we as an industry can work together to promote programs so that even after the wedding has come and gone, the honeymoon with our health clubs never ends.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
High School Football Coach Arrested in Porn Scandal
The bad news about high school coaches behaving badly continues. This time, Michael Pickering, a 40-year-old assistant coach of the freshman football team at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., has turned himself in for providing players access to a pornographic website. He allegedly told police there were "issues" on the football team and that he had passed on the access code to players as a way to "create camaraderie among members of the team," according to local media reports.
The Westport Board of Education contacted police after someone filed a complaint, according to WTNH.com. The members of the team verified the allegations to police, who then obtained a search warrant for Pickering's computers. The coach turned himself in and was arrested for three counts of risk of injury to a minor. In addition to coaching the Wreckers freshman football squad for nine seasons, Pickering coaches freshman lacrosse and works in the school district's maintenance department.
The Westport News reported Friday that a Facebook group called "Free Pick" was created by Staples sophomore football player Austin Nicklas to reflect the "shock" many local residents have felt since the allegations against Pickering surfaced earlier in the week. As of 10 a.m. (CST) on Monday, the group had more than 830 members. A similar Facebook group was created last month for Shawn Abel, the varsity football coach at Collierville (Tenn.) High School who resigned after the audio of his profanity-laced locker-room tirade was posted on YouTube.
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NYU Panel Discuss Proper Medical Treatment of Athletes
Experts from New York University's School of Continuing and Professional
Studies and NYU's Langone Medical Center recently participated in a
panel discussion regarding the ethics of who is responsible for ensuring
appropriate medical treatment of injured athletes. Particular focus was
paid to diagnosis and care of head injuries and concussions. The issue
is one of great concern for sports leagues and athletes at all levels of
play — especially the more than 40 million children in the United
States who participate in at least one sport. According to the National
Youth Sports Safety Foundation, 21 percent of young athletes say they've been pressured to play with an injury.
Key takeaways from the panel discussion include:
• Understand the issues. A great deal has been learned about concussions in the past 10 years,
but they are complex and can be difficult to diagnose. While medical,
sports and equipment experts are working to evolve technology,
guidelines and rules to keep contact and collision sports safe, equipment alone does not protect the brain from being jarred during
contact.
• Awareness is vital. The more players, trainers, coaches,
parents and sports organizers understand the real and often hidden
dangers of head injuries, the more likely the right decisions will be
made on the practice field, on the sidelines and in the locker rooms.
Though the media and the Internet often are blamed for glorifying the
violent side of sports, they also play a key role in spotlighting the
potential long-term dangers of head injuries. Professional leagues,
retired players and other advocacy groups have also helped the medical
community adopt best practices.
• Everyone is responsible. All panelists agree that — no matter
what the age or level of play — when a potential injury to the brain is
involved, there is no gray area. Athletes must be removed from play and
receive appropriate medical attention, despite the desire by players (and sometimes coaches and parents) for them to continue playing.
Moderated by Arthur Miller, professor and director of public dialogues
at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the panel
included orthopaedic surgeons, professional team physicians, ethicists,
former professional athletes, coaches and members of the sports media.
The discussion took place in front of several hundred medical, law and
sports management students and local coaches, and a video of the event
can be found here.
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In Nickname Flap, Some Sioux Keep Fighting
The Sioux keep fighting for “Fighting Sioux.” Well, at least one Sioux tribe does, anyway.
Despite North Dakota governor Jack Dalrymple signing legislation Nov. 9 that overturned a short-lived law requiring the University of North Dakota to use “Fighting Sioux” as the nickname of its sports teams, the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe is pushing to put the issue to a public vote. This is the same tribe whose lawyer filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 1 against the NCAA, claiming the tribe’s rights were violated when it was not allowed a voice in the often-contentious, decades-old debate over the university’s American Indian imagery — in place for the past 81 years.
As reported by the Associated Press, attorney Reed Soderstrom said Thursday that the Spirit Lake tribe he represents wishes to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot. If a majority of voters approves, the state constitution would be amended to mandate the state university’s use of “Fighting Sioux.” Supporters must gather at least 27,000 signatures before Aug. 8 to put the initiative on the ballot. Soderstrom believes a constitutional amendment would finally put the issue to rest. “It won’t be etched in stone,” he said, “but almost.”
In 2005, the NCAA placed UND on a list of schools that would face sanctions if it didn’t change a name the governing body deemed “offensive.” Since August, the NCAA has banned the university from hosting postseason play and its athletes from wearing Sioux regalia during postseason contests. The nickname has also served as a sticking point as North Dakota seeks membership in Division I’s Big Sky Conference.
The NCAA has allowed schools with American Indian monikers and mascots to continue their use, but only with tribal approval. The Florida State Seminoles represent perhaps the most oft-cited example. But while the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe fights on for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, the Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal council still refuses to do so.
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Another Fatal Plane Crash Stuns Oklahoma State
Tragedy has again struck the Oklahoma State University athletic department.
For the second time in 11 years, an airplane carrying OSU basketball officials crashed, leaving no survivors. KOCO in Oklahoma City is reporting that head women’s coach Kurt Budke, assistant women’s coach Miranda Serna and two other individuals not affiliated with the university, including the pilot, were killed when their small plane went down Thursday night in Perry County, Arkansas. Budke and Serna were on a recruiting trip, according to a university statement.
“The Oklahoma State family is devastated by this tragedy,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of Kurt Budke, Miranda Serna and the other victims.
“Coach Budke elevated our women’s basketball program to new levels of success. He and his staff raised our profile in the nation’s toughest conference.
“Miranda was an up-and-coming coach and an outstanding role model for our young ladies.”
In January 2001, a small plane carrying two OSU men’s basketball players and six others affiliated with the team crashed in a farm field 30 miles east of Denver. The pilot and copilot also were killed. It was one of three planes transporting the Cowboys’ entourage back to Stillwater after a game against the University of Colorado.
As part of the school’s healing process, a bronze statue of a kneeling Cowboy with hat in hand was dedicated Feb. 23, 2002.
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2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award Winner: Kaiserslautern Military Community Youth Sports and Fitness Program (Germany)
For the youth sports staff at Germany’s Kaiserslautern Military Community Youth Sports and Fitness Program, winning the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award is the result of perseverance. “We have been trying for five years to win this prestigious award, and we finally did it,” says Allen Fleming, youth sports director at KMC. In 2010, the program received Honorable Mention recognition for the award that is presented annually by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business. It recognizes five youth sports programs across the country that are doing superior jobs of conducting diverse activities with a focus on providing safe and positive experiences for all participants, including children, parents and coaches.
KMC annually boasts participation of more than 6,000 children, ages 3 to 15. As one of the largest youth sports programs in the Air Force, it also serves the U.S. Army, Department of Defense civilians and members of the NATO community.
Through cooperation with other military installations, KMC is able to offer its youth participants opportunities to join other installations like Spangdahlem Air Base and U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder — allowing teams to enjoy the benefits of a larger combined youth sports program. According to Fleming, this cooperation among bases provides interactions that kids would otherwise never experience.
Since 2008, KMC has collaborated with Fussball Club Kaiserslautern, a local professional soccer team, and this partnership has broadened German/American relations for KMC’s youth sports program. For example, each year team members and KMC hold a soccer camp, with this year’s event accommodating more than 160 children of deployed military personnel.
KMC makes extra efforts to meet the needs of kids in families of deployed personnel by offering online registration — a simple option that allows parents who are away from their children to remain active in their kids’ lives. The staff also produces the “KMC Youth Sports News and Deployed Family Newsletter,” an electronic document that keeps deployed servicemen and women connected to their families.
Additionally, the NAYS Start Smart program, developed for parents to help their children accomplish basic tasks that build motor skills and fundamental sports skills, fills a programming need for the installation’s youngest participants. “Start Smart offers an activity that gets parents directly involved in their child’s development,” Fleming says. “Inadvertently, it gives spouses of deployed personnel a kind of support group to converse with.”
In 2012, KMC plans to expand its new special-needs sports program, called KMC KIDS (Kids in Developmental Sports). Created for children ages 5 to 15, this program teaches participants the basic skills necessary to participate in sports. Youth sports staff members also plan to hold specialty camps for sports like flag football, basketball and girls’ volleyball.
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The five winners of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business magazine, are being announced in this space during the week of Nov. 14. The awards will be presented to program administrators at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Ohio State Ready to Respect, Protect Penn State
The surreal journey that has become the Penn State University football season includes this potentially harsh reality: The Nittany Lions actually have to travel outside of State College, their small community that has been rocked by allegations that a former assistant coach sexually molested boys.
The team’s first road trip since Jerry Sandusky was formerly charged with 40 counts of various sex crimes comes this Saturday, when Penn State visits Columbus, Ohio. Though unwilling to divulge specifics to the public, OSU officials have assured their PSU counterparts that their safety is a top priority. “We have adjusted our security plan for this Penn State game to specifically watch over and assist the Penn State football travel party from their arrival and departure in and out of Columbus,”' associate athletic director Ben Jay told the Associated Press in an e-mail Wednesday. “We have been in communication with Penn State officials this week and they have made arrangements for additional security at their team hotel. Although we would prefer not to detail what changes we have made, I can tell you that we will redirect our police coverage for their coaches, players and visiting fans to observe any potential trouble before and after the game.”
During last week’s home game against Nebraska, Penn State players were joined by visiting Cornhuskers in an on-field prayer. This week, players and coaches from Penn State and Ohio State will meet at midfield for a handshake between the coin toss and opening kickoff, which is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.
“It’s important to remember the victims of this tragedy,” said OSU student body president Nick Messenger. “But it’s also important to remember that our visitors are not the people to whom we should direct our anger.”
Ohio State student-athletes, including members of the men’s basketball team, contributed to a short video titled “Best Fans in the Land” that encourages OSU supporters to show Penn State representatives respect on Saturday. As of this morning, the video had been viewed more than 10,000 times.
In particular, Buckeye football players, who have had to deal with the fall from grace of their successful and popular former coach Jim Tressel, can relate on some level to the adversity experienced by this week’s opponents. “You do feel for them,” defensive end Solomon Thomas told the AP writer Rusty Miller. “You don’t wish that on anybody else. You don’t try to use that to your advantage. We’re all college athletes.”
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2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award Winner: Town of Westport (Conn.) Parks and Recreation Department
For the Town of Westport (Conn.) Parks and Recreation Department, winning the Excellence in Youth Sports Award not only recognizes the work of its staff, but also the longstanding relationships with several community youth sports providers that are crucial to offering quality youth sports to local children. “While the department has led the effort to make youth sports a safe and positive experience in Westport, it could not have been accomplished without the cooperation of the providers themselves,” says Karen Puskas, program manager at the Town of Westport Parks and Recreation Department.
The only sport that Westport solely offers is basketball. The department’s relationships with such outside providers as Westport Little League, the Westport Soccer Association and the Westport Police Athletic League allow it to offer additional sports like lacrosse, softball, baseball, soccer, football, track, wrestling and more. “We work with each provider to make sure the community’s needs are being met at an affordable price and that a safe, positive experience is being made available to the children,” Puskas says.
That approach has paid off. The Excellence in Youth Sports Award, presented annually by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business, recognizes five youth sports programs across the country that are doing superior jobs of conducting diverse activities with a focus on providing safe and positive experiences for all participants, including children, parents and coaches.
Since Westport works with several providers to offer 11 sports to more than 6,000 children, Puskas and her staff have learned that communication is essential to keeping everybody on the same page. For example, Westport coordinates each provider’s games and practices in a way that does not make parents choose which child’s event to attend and works with the management of each provider to facilitate review of complaints.
Additionally, each provider is aware of Westport’s youth sports philosophy and is required to follow its policies. “All need to use town facilities for their programs, so they must abide by the rules, regulations and policies that we set forth,” Puskas says.
One of those policies is that every volunteer coach be trained by the NAYS-affiliated National Youth Sports Coaches Association. Recreation staff members at Westport believe that it is their responsibility to ensure that the volunteers working with children in a youth sports environment receive appropriate education. NYSCA training is designed to prepare youth sports coaches for their responsibilities by educating them in the psychology of coaching youth sports, communication, child abuse, injury prevention, nutrition and hydration, as well as skills and drills from nationally reputable sources specifically applicable to the sport that the coach is teaching.
“We became an advocate for the kids,” Puskas says. “Mandating that all providers have NYSCA training gives us the comfort of knowing that their volunteers have had some basic training in working with kids and gives the volunteers some guidelines to follow and be held accountable to.”
Despite winning the Excellence in Youth Sports Award, Puskas knows that now is not the time to slow down. “It’s always a challenge to try and find a way to stay on top,” she says. “We have come a long way and offer a great, positive youth sports program. So what’s next?”
For starters, Westport will continue to strive toward keeping the youth sports program fresh with newly involved parents by holding a “youth sports fun day.” This will include hands-on clinics to introduce youngsters to sport offerings and parents to volunteering opportunities. “We hope this event opens a few doors for everyone,” Puskas says. “We want to keep the programs vibrant.”
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The five winners of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business magazine, are being announced in this space during the week of Nov. 14. The awards will be presented to program administrators at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Coach's 'Welfare' Comment Sparks Racial Harassment Claim
Another day, another story of a high school coach setting a bad example. Derek Howard, a teacher and boys' basketball coach at Winnetonka High School in Kansas City, Mo., has been placed on paid leave after allegations that he made racially insensitive remarks to a student. According to local news reports, senior basketball player Marcus Williams Jr. was posing for a photograph in the school's hallway with students from a photography class when Howard happened by and said, "Hey, take a picture and at the bottom, label it 'future welfare recipient.' "
Williams, who filed a racial harassment complaint with the North Kansas City School District last week, told KCTV in Kansas City that Howard's comment was typical of the ones he has endured for two years. So he grabbed his smartphone and asked the coach to repeat his remarks. The resulting video captures a smug-looking Howard following Williams' request, adding that he was referring to "students that don't get good grades."
"I just felt belittled, crushed and utterly discouraged," Williams told the television station, adding the he did not try out for the school's basketball team this year because Howard has told African-American students they would grow up to be laborers who made less than $30,000 a year. "Countless times, I told him, 'Hey, this is hurting my feelings and you should stop.' I guess he thinks I'm just a kid and he can do whatever he wants."
“The behaviors reported by this student do not reflect our professional conduct standards and will not be tolerated,” North Kansas City assistant superintendent Dan Clemens said in a statement. “We expect all students to be treated with respect by all staff at all times. Administrators at the high school and district office have met with the student and his parents, and we are investigating thoroughly. This issue is a personnel matter and will be handled according to board policy.”
Williams, who played his recording for the school's principal, says Howard has apologized for his remarks, but the student doubts his sincerity. The student's father has demanded a public apology and wants Howard to seek counseling. “Ultimately, we want to shed light on how some teachers are bullying our kids,” Marcus Williams Sr. said. “I don’t care about money right now, man. I’m standing up as a concerned parent.”
The Winnetonka incident follows one in which Buffalo (Wyo.) High School football coach Pat Lynch resigned after distributing a "Hurt Feelings Report" to his players. The sarcastic survey was handed out prior to a playoff game and used lewd homophobic and sexist language to ask individual players if he suffered “permanent feeling damage” and if he needed "a tissue for the tears.” The coach may no longer be on the sidelines, but he remains a guidance counselor at the school, a fact that "makes no sense," according to the editorial writers of the Buffalo Bulletin, who have called for Lynch's dismissal.
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2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award Winner: Marine Corps Community Services Cherry Point Youth Sports (N.C.)
Despite only having a staff of two, the youth sports program at Marine Corps Community Services Cherry Point (N.C.) is striving to change the current youth sports landscape into a more child-friendly environment that stresses exercise, discipline, teamwork and sportsmanship. “We are passionate about having a hand in making those changes,” said David Guthrie, youth sports director at MCCS Cherry Point Youth Sports. “We know that change has to start at home.”
The pillars of this youth sports program — one of the recipients of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, presented by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business — are built on teaching fundamentals, equal playing time and sportsmanship. A win-at-all costs attitude is strongly de-emphasized.
According to Guthrie, one of the greatest challenges in running such a program comes when MCCS teams participate in league action outside of the Marine Corps community. “There are almost always sportsmanship issues during those games,” he said.
One solution may lie in making those outside leagues aware of the education programs available to them. “In order to deal with the issues associated with teams that are not ours, our goal for this coming year is to work with their parent organizations and encourage them to require parent training, such as PAYS,” Guthrie says. The Parents Association for Youth Sports is a NAYS program designed to give parents the information they need to resolve conflict and communicate clearly with their child and coaches. “At the very least, we want to insist that they require their parents to sign a code of ethics pledge,” he adds.
Parents at Cherry Point are required to attend a PAYS orientation that emphasizes sportsmanship and their role in the youth sports program. “Our parents support what we are trying to do wholeheartedly, which makes our jobs so much easier,” Guthrie says.
In addition, Cherry Point also requires its coaches to complete training through the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA). “Together with coaches who are good role models, parents are an effective tool for us as we strive to promote good sportsmanship,” Guthrie explains.
Like all military bases, Cherry Point is in a special position to properly train a generation of youths, volunteers and parents about what constitutes an appropriate youth sports environment. “Because our patrons are military folks and will be traveling to many other locations around the country and the world, they become ‘missionaries’ for the proper way to do things in youth sports,” Guthrie says.
The Excellence in Youth Sports Award recognizes five youth sports programs every year for doing superior jobs of conducting diverse activities with a focus on providing safe and positive experiences for all participants — including children, parents and coaches. “I have been in the youth sports field — both professionally and as a volunteer — for more than 40 years, and to be recognized with such a prestigious award, obviously, there was a lot of excitement and joy,” Guthrie says. “What an honor it is to have other professionals affirm what we are trying to do here with our programs.”
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The five winners of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business magazine, are being announced in this space during the week of Nov. 14. The awards will be presented to program administrators at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award Winner: Village of Evendale (Ohio) Recreation Department
Youngsters from the Village of Evendale (Ohio) sign up for the
recreation department’s youth sports programs to learn a variety of
sports skills and have fun participating in games with their friends and
teammates. But they also gain a greater appreciation of good
sportsmanship, thanks to the efforts of staff and volunteers. “We
believe that we are making a difference in the lives of our youths by
instilling good sportsmanship behavior and teaching all participants the
skills they need to advance,” says Kristen Maiden, program supervisor
for Evendale Recreation. “That, in turn, will impact the rest of their
lives.”
The Village of Evendale Recreation Department is a 2011 recipient of the Excellence in Youth Sports Award. Developed by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business,
the award recognizes five youth sports programs each year that are
doing superior jobs of conducting diverse activities with a focus on
providing safe and positive experiences for all participants, including
children, parents and coaches. “Winning the award was a group effort,”
Maiden acknowledges, crediting the cooperation of parents, coaches and
administrators.
![11_NAYS_Evendale[1].jpg](/editors/uploads/11_NAYS_Evendale%5B1%5D.jpg)
Evendale Recreation’s goal is to teach kids teamwork, respect and how to
play by the rules. Simply put, Evendale is about sportsmanship.
In
order to make that goal a reality, volunteer coaches and parents need
to greatly influence the youth sports experience, so the department uses
programs offered by NAYS to help educate them about their roles.
Parents complete training through the Parents Association for Youth
Sports, which provides information needed to resolve conflict and
communicate clearly with children and coaches. They also must sign
the Parents Code of Ethics — although, initially, some were less than
receptive to that. After the training, however, they understood the
value that parent education brings. “Parents are vital to our program,”
Maiden says. “Having them buy into our program has been a huge
compliment.”
Volunteer coaches at Evendale Recreation are
educated on their responsibilities and roles through another NAYS
program, the National Youth Sports Coaches Association, which covers
such topics as psychology of coaching youth sports, communication, child
abuse, injury prevention, nutrition and hydration. And just like
parents, coaches also must sign a Code of Ethics. “They are reminded
that when they wear our coaches’ shirts, they are representing our
community through their behaviors and sportsmanship,” Maiden says.
That
extra effort pays off: Twice within the past six years, the Ohio Parks
and Recreation Association has recognized Evendale Recreation coaches as
its Ohio Coach of the Year.
Additionally, Evendale Recreation
uses "Rate Your Coach" to assess coaching skills and participates in the
NAYS Measure Up! for Better Youth Sports national coach evaluation
study, and staff members monitor practices and games involving outside
organizations using the village's facilities.
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The five winners of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business magazine, are being announced in this space during the week of Nov. 14. The awards will be presented to program administrators at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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Study: Few Doctors Follow Heart Screening Guidelines
A recent survey conducted in Washington found less than half of doctors and only 6 percent of athletic directors were aware of the national guidelines for sudden cardiac death risk assessment, and less than 6 percent of doctors fully followed them.
In 2007, the American Heart Association reaffirmed a set of guidelines previously established in 1996, aimed at reducing the number of athletes who die as a result of sudden cardiac arrest, which can occur within minutes of onset. Currently, one out of every 30,000 to 50,000 high school student-athletes are estimate to die each year as result of sudden cardiac arrest, spurring a push for mandatory installation of life-saving automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in high schools.
In the survey, sent to more than 2,000 participants, doctors were asked about their conduct of pre-sports physicals and athletic directors about their schools’ requirements for physicals. Though the guidelines recommend physicians ask about eight specific questions about medical history and perform four key physical exam elements, the survey results found that doctors did not always ask the complete set of medical history questions, omitting questions about chest pain during exercise, unexplained fainting, family history of early death and family history of heart disease.
The study highlights the need for greater awareness of national guidelines, and survey participants unanimously supported the formation of a statewide standardized form incorporating the AHA recommendations. Requiring a more complete pre-participation assessment would help doctors identify at-risk athletes and order follow up tests, such as electrocardiograms. Such tests are already requirement for student-athletes in Italy and commonplace throughout Europe. Currently, schools in Washington do not require any sort of pre-participation cardiac risk assessment, according to the athletic directors who responded.
Dr. Nicolas Madsen, a pediatric cardiology fellow at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington School of Medicine and the study’s lead author, stressed the need for provider education and school policy requirements to increase awareness and compliance with the guidelines. Parents are also encouraged to do their part by asking whether schools offer a standardized pre-participation form that includes cardiac assessment.
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Monday, November 14, 2011
Coach Resigns Over Offensive 'Hurt Feelings Report'
You would think a high school guidance counselor would know better. Pat Lynch, who also served as the head football coach at Buffalo (Wyo.) High School, has resigned after distributing an offensive questionnaire to players.
Called the "Hurt Feelings Report," the sarcastic survey was handed out prior to a playoff game last month and used homophobic and sexist language to ask individual players if he suffered “permanent feeling damage” and if he needed "a tissue for the tears.” The form, which used lewd language and may be offensive to some readers, also contained nine boxes to check as "reasons for filing this report," including "I am a pussy," "I am a cry baby," "I am a queer," "I want my mommy" and "I am a little bitch." Below that list was a line for the “name of ‘Real Man’ who hurt your sensitive little feelings.” And at the bottom, three lines were available for signatures: the “name [of] little sissy filing report,” “girly-man signature,” “real-man signature.”
Varying versions of the form are in circulation on the Internet and can easily be downloaded and printed. Here is the one Lynch used:
"[Lynch] screwed up, he screwed up big time," Johnson County School District 1 superintendent Rod Kessler told the Wyoming Star-Tribune. “None of us are happy that it happened. It’s a black eye to the district. And it’s a black eye to Pat.”
News of the incident got back to the school board, Kessler told The Huffington Post, through word of mouth and community response — followed by an admission from the coach.
A letter of a apology from Lynch — who had been head coach at Buffalo for more than 13 seasons and led the Bisons to two state titles in 2004 and 2005 — was read at a public school board meeting last week and obtained by news outlets: “I would like to apologize for my lapse in judgment and the poor choice that I made from my position as the Head Football Coach for Buffalo High School,” the statement said. “I know that this situation has caused you pain and discomfort, and for that I am truly sorry. As a person and a professional, I believe I will learn and grow from this experience and use it to help others. I appreciate having had the opportunity to coach in this community for the past 22 years. It has been a rewarding experience. I am eager to earn back your trust as I continue to serve in a profession that I truly love.”
As for the board's decision to retain Lynch as a guidance counselor at the school, district officials are not commenting. “We’ve definitely classified that as a personnel matter,” Buffalo High principal Chad Bourgeois told ABCNews.com.
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Blog: Architect to Superheated Soccer Fans: Chill Out
You’ve no doubt heard the old business chestnut, “under-promise and over-deliver.” Although it’s way too soon to say whether the organizers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup will deliver on their promise of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event in 120-degree heat without players and spectators dropping dead of heat stroke, it’s already clear that they over-promised.
Word has begun to trickle out from last week’s International Football Arena conference in Zurich — IFA’s tagline, “Football’s Global Players,” lets you know where they feel they stand with regard to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo — that John Barrow of Populous, designer of the Sports City stadium in Doha, dismissed the idea of air-conditioned stadia as “notoriously unsustainable.”
“We are doing away with all the air conditioning kit that is going to cost a fortune to run,” Barrow told IFA conference delegates. “I think you can be more clever. It is about air movement, moisture in the air and it is about the temperature at the right time of day.”
This probably comes as a surprise to event organizers in the United States, Korea Republic, Japan and Australia, whose bids were beaten by a Qatar bid partly based on organizers’ assurance that air-conditioning and other high-tech means would be utilized to keep temperatures at manageable levels. Populous even built a small prototype of an air-conditioned stadium in Doha, which the UK’s Daily Mail notes “helped to persuade football’s governing body FIFA that a sporting event in the Middle East could be feasible.”
Barrow told IFA conference delegates the plan now calls for more traditional Arabic methods, such as wind towers that assist ventilation, and he even backed away from the Qatar bid committee’s promise that each of the 12 stadiums that will be built to host the World Cup could be regulated at 26°C. “It doesn’t need to be 26°C,” he said. “Fan expectation needs to be a little more relaxed.”
You hear that, fans? Chill out. If you can.
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11:36 AM
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2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Award Winner: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Youth Sports Program (Alaska)
This has been a tremendous year for the youth sports staff at the Joint
Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) Youth Sports Program in Alaska. A
joint-base merger of armed services and a wealth of updates to
programming and facilities have provided both challenges and
opportunities, resulting in a high-quality youth sports program for
local families.
As a result, JBER Youth Sports is one of five recipients of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards presented by the National Alliance for Youth Sports
and Athletic Business. The awards recognize five youth sports programs
every year for doing superior jobs of conducting diverse activities with
a focus on providing safe and positive experiences for all participants
— including children, parents and coaches.
“The biggest challenge we faced this year was the merger between
Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson,” says Paul Caron, JBER’s
youth sports and fitness director, who had to break down the “us versus
them” attitude that had been going on between the bases for years. “We
deliberately created our teams with both Army and Air Force coaches and
mixed the teams with children of parents from both services.” Games and
practices also are scheduled evenly on both bases in an effort to keep
things fair.
Caron reports that, after some initial rough spots,
the merger has gone smoothly. “Now, the kids, coaches and parents have
built up friendships within both services,” he says. “It’s not a divided
community anymore.”
Caron found that by introducing new sports
like volleyball and cheerleading for flag football, as well as bringing
back Little League All-Stars, program participation has increased by as
much as 45 percent. More than 1,500 youngsters currently play on JBER
teams, and that may increase in 2012 with plans to add an NFL Punt, Pass
and Kick camp and the NFL Play 60 program, plus a possible
Olympics-style “sports day” with track and field events.
Another
factor in the participation increase may be the effort Caron and his
staff have put into providing a better playing environment. They now
contract with paid scorekeepers and officials, which has improved the
caliber of activities. “It helps to have an experienced official
controlling the game,” Caron says. “Parents tend to believe an official
about a questionable play more than another parent.”
Caron also
credits recent successes to the recruiting and training of volunteer
coaches. JBER Youth Sports abides by the NAYS-affiliated National Youth
Sports Coaches Association, which provides a thorough education on
topics such as the psychology of coaching youth sports, communication,
child abuse, injury prevention, nutrition and hydration, as well as
skills and drills specifically applicable to the sport each coach
oversees. Since 2010, JBER Youth Sports has trained more than 400
volunteer coaches.
The organization also provides coaches’ shirts with three simple adult
rules listed on their back: 1. Make it FUN! 2. Set a good example! 3.
Cheer for everyone! “I have witnessed coaches deal with parents being a
little loud just by pointing to the back of their shirt,” Caron says.
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The five winners of the 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by the National Alliance for Youth Sports and Athletic Business magazine, are being announced in this space during the week of Nov. 14. The awards will be presented to program administrators at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 2.
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8:18 AM
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Blog: Active Alternatives to Thanksgiving Day Gluttony
My health club just put up its annual sign reminding patrons of shortened hours on Thanksgiving Day. I asked an employee one year if anyone actually works out on Thanksgiving. She laughed.
"Some people come in the morning," she said, "but a lot of people travel, or else they just figure it's a day to stay in and eat and watch football."
But as it turns out, some clubs and other organizations are being really creative. If people are interested in taking a break from their regular workout routine, they are still being encouraged to have fun and do some kind of activity. Some examples:
• Thanksgiving-themed races. There are turkey day 5Ks, fun runs, walks and more all over the place, and chances are there's one near you. Many races ask participants to bring cans of food to donate to local food banks. One weird but cool event in my area is the Gobble Cobble Turkey Day Turkey Trot, where the random prizes include turduckens.
• Flag Football. One of our local boot camp programs meets Thanksgiving morning, but instead of running or calisthenics, they offer an organized flag football program. I've also seen this idea used by community associations and churches.
• Gobble-Gobble Putt-Putt. I know — it's not exactly aerobic. But I was in a resort town one fall, and saw a sign promoting Thanksgiving Day mini-golf at a local establishment. Bring canned foods, play a few holes and go home before the course closes so the employees can get home to their own dinners. Kind of a fun thing to do outdoors with your out-of-town guests, I'm thinking.
• Work It Off Before You Eat It. Okay, this was officially cool. A club in Missouri is offering a 90-minute "gut-buster" Zumba workout that works as a pre-emptive strike against some of those calories participants are about to take in. The best part? Instead of paying a fee, participants bring items needed by the local Ronald McDonald House (a link to a list is included on the site). Oh, and by the way, the local newspaper picked this up and wrote an article about it. Great press for something that benefits a great cause.
These are a few ideas. I'm sure there are plenty of others, and I'd love to hear about them. Let me know what you're promoting so we can all share them and get ideas for next year.
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8:12 AM
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Thursday, November 10, 2011
Carrier Classic Readying With Rain Contingency
The Quicken Loans Carrier Classic will float Friday night’s basketball game between Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the vessel that helped bury Osama bin Laden at sea in May.
However, it’s water from above that could force the first-of-its-kind contest below decks. Rain is in the forecast for Veterans Day in San Diego, where the Vinson is moored, as the teams prepare to face-off and crews construct identical courts in both open-air and hangar settings. The game is scheduled to tip off at 4 p.m. Pacific, roughly the time rain is expected. A decision will be made around 3 p.m. as to where the game will be played.
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Dylan McCord courtesy of Department of Defense
While the two courts, supplied by Connor Sports Flooring and finished by Bona US, will look the same, the surroundings obviously won’t. Should the game be staged indoors, not only will there be a ceiling overhead, but seating capacity will decrease from 7,000 to 4,000, leaving some 3,000 ticket-holders high and dry. The game will be televised by ESPN.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Penn State Scandal Forces Paterno's Exit at Season's End
Joe Paterno, the winningest football coach in NCAA Division I history and once widely considered the most popular state employee (if not person, period) in all of Pennsylvania, will retire from the only head coaching job he has ever held at season’s end, according to Associated Press reports.
A Penn State University fixture for 62 years, including 46 as its head coach, Paterno has come under fire in recent days for his handling of sex-crime allegations involving former longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. In 2002, a graduate assistant reported to Paterno that he had witnessed Sandusky with a boy believed to be about 10 years old in the showers of the on-campus Lasch Center. The witness, Mike McQueary, currently serves as Paterno’s receivers coach.
Paterno is believed to have done nothing illegal, reporting the incident through appropriate channels. However, revelations that Sandusky continued to visit the Penn State campus, where he still maintained an office — and did so as recently as last week — have created a public outcry that more wasn’t done to stop the former coach, who allegedly committed more sex crimes against minors following the 2002 incident. In a statement issued earlier today, Paterno said, "I wish I had done more."
Sports Illustrated posted “Joe Paterno Must Go Now” as its top online story yesterday afternoon, and it remained in that position as of this morning. (It has since been replaced by the retirement story.)
Despite notching his record-setting 409th win Oct. 29, Paterno’s active involvement in the day-to-day operations of his program has waned in recent years, as has his support as a head coach among Penn State loyalists. Retirement seemed all but imminent for the 84-year-old, whose contract was set to expire after this season. However, his exit under the current circumstances represents a long fall from grace for a man who gave so many years and millions of dollars to the university. His program has never been cited for a major NCAA violation.
Paterno is expected to coach the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions during their final home game Saturday against No. 19 Nebraska.
Earlier this week, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz stepped down from their positions amid charges that they perjured themselves before a grand jury investigating the Sandusky case. Sandusky was charged over the weekend with molesting eight boys between 1994 to 2009.
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10:25 AM
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Blog: Time for a Time-Oriented Fitness Tie-In
The end of Daylight Savings Time last Sunday morning brought the usual reminders to turn back our clocks (or, these days, appliances). Along with that, the greatest marketing idea to come out of this twice-a-year event: the notion of changing batteries in smoke and CO detectors. It sells batteries, and nobody can argue with the importance of staying safe.
Isn't it time the fitness industry made some of its own tie-ins, as well?
One of my friends raced in a Fall Back 5K last weekend. The race started around 1:40 a.m., right before the time change, so that runners finished before they started. Is that great or what? Someone in the fitness industry figured out how to harness the publicity generated by the time change, and get people excited about participating in this middle-of-the-night event.
There are a lot of other ideas, though, and they might be just the thing to get weekend warriors into some better habits. There's a recommendation that running shoes be replaced every 300 to 500 miles, depending on whose advice you’re listening to, what surface you're running on and so forth. Careful runners do it. But a lot of other people don't, and wind up with shin splints, knee pain and other injuries as a result. Those who play racquet sports are supposed to have their racquets restrung as many times a year as they normally play a week. Do they? Yes, if they have good habits — but again, not everyone does.
Some people just don't pay attention to the advice put out by the industry because they just think those sources are out to sell more shoes, strings, whatever. It generally doesn't occur to them that the recommendations were formulated with the goal of keeping them less prone to injury, and more prone to performing better.
Maybe what we need is a 'Do this twice a year' initiative to use as a baseline for those stubborn people (you know who they are) who don't want to follow the official recommendation: Change your clocks, and by the way, it's time to change out your running shoes. Or your racquet strings. Or get your bicycle tuned up. It might be a method personal trainers can use if they're faced with a particularly noncompliant client.
Don't get me wrong — I'm not advocating driving consumers into sporting goods stores in the spring and fall if they don't need new equipment. I'm not trying to undermine the pros' recommendations, either. The possibilities are there, and all we need to do is capitalize on them.
You can mark your calendars now for 2012's dates: Sunday, March 11, is when we spring forward. Sunday, Nov. 4, is when we fall back. Personally, I will be getting new shoes in time for the next Fall Back 5K.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2011
'Leatherheads' Study Reveals Modern Helmet Shortcomings
Old-fashioned “leatherhead” football helmets from the early 1900s are often as effective as — and sometimes better than — modern football helmets at protecting against injuries during routine, game-like collisions, according to Cleveland Clinic researchers in Ohio.
A study published online last week by the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine compared head injury risks of two early 20th-century leatherhead helmets with 11 top-of–the-line 21st-century polycarbonate helmets. In their biomechanics lab, Cleveland Clinic researchers conducted impact tests by crashing helmets together at severities on par with 95 percent of on-field collisions (75 G-forces or less) in collegiate and high school football games. For this study, researchers analyzed hits common in games and practices — ones that taken separately may not seem perilous, but when added together may lead to serious long-term injury.
For many of the impacts and angles studied in the lab, researchers found that leather helmets offered similar, or even better, protection than modern helmets.
“The point of this study is not to advocate for a return to leather helmets, but rather to test the notion that modern helmets must be more protective than older helmets simply because ‘newer must be better,’ ” says lead researcher Adam Bartsch, director of the Spine Research Lab in Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Spine Health. “Unlike cars, in which seat belts, airbags and crumple zones make the choice between a 1920s Model T and modern minivan a no-brainer, these results tell us that modern helmets have ample room to improve safety against many typical game-like hits.”
According to the Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co.'s website: "The leather football helmet was first worn in an 1893 Army-Navy game. A shoemaker from Annapolis created the first helmet for Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves, who had been advised by a Navy doctor that he would be risking death or 'instant insanity' if he took another kick to the head. Some of the first ‘helmet’ designs were held to a player’s head by three heavy leather straps fashioned by a harness maker, which in turn, gave the first football helmets the nomenclature 'head-harness.' ... Helmets were not mandatory until the 1930s. Most of the games played between 1890-1915 were played without helmets. It was common to see some players with helmets and some without. Around World War I, helmets were so flimsy they were often mistaken for aviator caps. As years went on, more and more padding was added."
Cleveland Clinic researchers note that helmet safety standards (as measured by the Gadd Severity Index) are based solely on the risk of severe skull fracture and catastrophic brain injury, not concussion risk. So while modern helmets may prevent severe head injuries, this study found that they frequently did not provide superior protection in typical on-field impacts when compared to leather helmets. The findings suggest that helmet testing should focus on both low- and high-energy impacts, not solely on potentially catastrophic high-energy impacts. This is especially true of youth football helmets, which are currently scaled-down versions of adult helmets. The lack of adequate knowledge surrounding adult helmet protection at low-energy impacts — as well as the current absence of any youth-specific helmet testing standards — may have serious brain-health implications for the three million youths participating in tackle football in the United States each year, clinic researchers say.
The leatherhead study is one of several projects Cleveland Clinic is undertaking to better detect and prevent brain injuries across a wide range of sports, including football, boxing, hockey and soccer. Teams of researchers are working to make safer youth football helmets (through a grant from NFL Charities), create an "intelligent mouthguard" that measures the number and severity of hits to the head among athletes, produce a blood test that can diagnose concussions and develop an iPad app that uses the device’s built-in gyroscope to quantitatively capture pre- and post-game measures of balance, memory and cognition.
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10:00 AM
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Friday, November 04, 2011
Blog: Survey Offers Fitness Trends, Not Tarot Cards
Pumpkins are on clearance, Christmas decorations are up and, in short, the headlong rush toward the end of the year has begun. And right on cue, the American College of Sports Medicine is trumpeting its Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2012.
Among the programs and activities to appear on ACSM’s top-20 list for the time is Zumba (“Future surveys will either confirm or reject” newcomers as “emerging trends,” says ACSM), while a notable program to have dropped out of the top 20 is Pilates. You can get more information at ACSM’s website.
What is interesting (and amusing) to me is the reaction to the survey I get during conversations with some colleagues in the fitness industry. One woman I was talking to said in an irritated voice, "Yes, I know that's what's big NOW, but what I want to know is what's going to be big NEXT."
Well, gee. Who wouldn't like to know that? I personally want to know where to invest my money so that I make a profit in the coming year. Oh, and I want to know what shot my opponent is going to hit next when I'm on the court with him tomorrow morning. And while I'm at it, I'd like to know what I'm going to come down with in 2012 so I can get what I need at the drugstore now and avoid standing in line when I'm sick.
The survey was filled out by 2,600 fitness professionals, not 2,600 psychics. It isn't a set of tarot cards or a crystal ball, and it's not meant to predict what is going to happen all of a sudden. Nobody can tell you exactly what is going to grow or decline in the fitness industry — to a certain degree, that's caused by marketing and product positioning, and to a much larger degree by what catches the public's demonstrably fickle imagination. It's a snapshot view of what is happening.
And what's happening is not hard to figure out — people are working longer hours and they need flexibility. They want to be able to take classes that are offered more often so that if they miss one, they have other options. They want the ability to exercise outdoors or away from home in case their schedule causes them to miss a workout or two at the gym.
It's not the actual information you gain from surveys like this that can be valuable; it's what you can take away after you've read them.
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9:21 AM
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Thursday, November 03, 2011
Tips from Ohio YMCA Lead to National Steroids Bust
Complaints about steroids being sold to high school student-athletes at the Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA in Lebanon, Ohio — one of the nation's largest Y facilities — has led law-enforcement authorities to break up a decade-old distribution ring that was operating in several states. In addition to announcing the indictment of 32 suspects who face 248 charges, nearly 100 weapons and anabolic steroids with a street value of approximately $600,000 were on display Tuesday at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Dayton Daily News. More than $300,000 in vehicles and cash also were seized.
Authorities say the anabolic steroid ring uncovered drugs imported from China and processed at a secret lab in Tennessee to peddle to high school student-athletes and other customers across the country. Among those indicted are a bank manager, a pro wrestler and a stay-at-home mom, and one of the suspects recently died. Most do not have criminal records, unusual in drug cases. Charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking drugs and drug possession.
Dubbed Operation "Bulk Up," the two-year investigation involved an undercover Drug Task Force officer making numerous visits to the Countryside YMCA weight room under the guise of working out. He reportedly purchased steroids from a suspect in April 2010; in December 2010, the seller became an informant and assisted agents from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau in Cincinnati in an arrest, the Daily News reports. Additional undercover purchases also were made, authorities said.
According to Cincinnati.com, the Warren County probe began in January 2010, when authorities received two separate complaints about steroid abuse at Countryside YMCA, which included concerns that some of the drugs were being dealt to high school athletes. Mike Carroll, president of Countryside YMCA, told reporters he immediately contacted prosecutors when he heard about the complaints. “Our desire is, of course, zero-tolerance and to try to get that element out of the Y and out of the community," he said.
James Deir, resident agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, called this the largest steroids investigation he has seen in a long time. “It’s, bar none, unbelievable in the amount and the complexity of it,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday.
John Burke, commander of the Warren County Drug Task Force, also revealed that "there are at least two [professional athletes] we feel have an involvement in this operation. The investigation is ongoing, and there may well be charges [against the athletes]." Burke did not identify any of the high school student-athletes or their schools.
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9:57 AM
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Blog: I Think Indian Mascots Are Insulting — So Sioux Me
I first wrote about the issue of Native American mascots and logos in the October 1993 issue of Athletic Business — at a time when the issue was already 20 years old. My story was called "Chief Injustice." I think it still fits.
Awareness of the demeaning nature of these symbols only went national (that is, off the reservation) when a group of Native American students and staff petitioned the Stanford University dean of students in 1970, objecting to the name and likeness of the school's athletic teams, the Stanford Indians, as well as the Indian-themed rituals that took place at athletic events. In 1972, after 42 years as the Indians, the school changed its teams' name to the Stanford Cardinal.
 Stanford Indians, c. 1970
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Fighting Sioux
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Although counter-protests by people wedded to "Indians" continued for a number of years, all hell did not break loose. And today, the Cardinal — a color, like the Crimson Tide — is respected, revered, even (this year) feared on the gridiron. They may not "scalp" their opponents any longer; they're no longer on the "warpath." But the school's athletes didn't become any less...fierce...with the name change.
The discussion on the AB Newswire over the past 24 hours has centered on names and logos that "honor" tribes. I won't wade in further. I would like to point out a very comprehensive story that is worthwhile reading despite not being up-to-date on the recent battles over the Fighting Sioux. It is particularly notable for pointing out that although athletic programs can change their depictions of Native Americans, or alter their rituals, the larger group of fans does not always show the same respect, having been born and raised in a culture that has caricatured the American Indian from well before the time it took their land, their lives and their culture away.
I also am including a number of images found on the Internet. Supporters of the Seminoles will say that their logos are different, that their name honors the tribe. You can decide for yourself whether depicting a race of people as a symbol is degrading or not. I think the protesters were right in 1970, and I think they're right forty years later.
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9:32 AM
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Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Sioux Claim Rights Violations, Sue NCAA
Native Americans in North Dakota are claiming their rights have been violated — not by the University of North Dakota and its use of Fighting Sioux as the school’s nickname, but rather by the NCAA, which they claim has left them out of the nickname debate.
According to the Grand Forks Herald, attorneys representing the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe and nickname supporters at Standing Rock filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, claiming the NCAA’s efforts to force retirement of the UND name and logo “violate Native American civil rights, equal protection rights and religious rights.”
“Obviously, the Native Americans felt slighted by all of this,” North Dakota house majority leader Al Carlson (R-Fargo) told the paper. “The NCAA turning a deaf ear to them is not a good thing, and the people the NCAA thought they were helping are people who feel they’re being discriminated against.”
Carlson had shepherded a law through the Legislature’s regular 2011 session mandating the university’s continued use of the Sioux nickname. That law could face repeal as early as Monday, as a special session will be held to discuss it and other state matters. Carlson had expected a repeal vote to pass, but says the new lawsuit holds the potential to change the outcome.
UND ended its own lawsuit against the NCAA in 2007, agreeing to retire the name if it failed to gain tribal support. Sioux attorneys now claim that the settlement is invalid since tribes were not directly involved in the debate. NCAA spokesperson Erik Christianson responded to the latest lawsuit with a one-sentence e-mail to the Herald, reiterating the association’s position on Native American mascot use: “Our policy only applies to NCAA championships, which is within our jurisdiction to regulate.”
If it were to retain the nickname, UND would be ineligible to host NCAA-sponsored post-season events. But dropping the name also has its price. In a recent Associated Press report, university president Robert Kelley estimates that such a change could cost the university nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in new logo development and uniform, facility, website and stationery updates. That figure does not include alterations to Ralph Englestad Arena, the privately owned home of UND ice hockey.
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10:33 AM
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Prep Baseball Team Dresses Up For Halloween Game
Simi Valley (Calif.) High's annual Halloween baseball game — in which the school team's players and coaches were required to wear costumes — was played Friday, and photos from the festive event have finally found their way onto the Internet. Coach Matt La Belle placed no restrictions on creativity. "They can be whomever they want to be, as long as it's appropriate," he told the Los Angeles Times.
Gumby, Superman, Popeye, The Michelin Man and someone with a waist-length wig pretending to be Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu were among the characters that took the field. Rick Chandler wrote on NBC Sports' Off the Bench blog that his favorite moment occurred "when the kid dressed as a banana slipped rounding second."
All that silliness must pay off: Simi Valley is expected to be among the best teams in California's Southern Section Division 1 this spring, according to the Times.
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10:21 AM
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Blog: WVU Defection Will Net the Big East Big Money
West Virginia University has formally notified the Big East Conference that it plans to leave the conference and will begin competing in the Big 12 in Fall 2012. The problem, however, is that the exit clause for the Big East Conference requires that any school leaving the conference must give a 27-month notice, plus pay a $5 million exit fee. West Virginia, which paid $2.5 million already as required on notification, and will pay the other $2.5 million when they leave, would like to waive the 27 months. The Big East, however, is refusing to waive the waiting period and claims it will hold West Virginia and two members leaving for the ACC, Syracuse and Pitt, for the entire 27 months.
Since the 2012 Big 12 Football season is only 10 months away, the question is: What happens now?
If you look at the problem in simple legal terms, the answer becomes clear.
West Virginia and the Big East Conference have a contract. In most cases, when one party breaches a contract, the non-breaching party seeks monetary damages. The three types of damages are: 1) Expectation interests, the money the Big East expected from the contract; 2) Reliance interest, the money the Big East spent in reliance on the contract; and 3) Restitution interest, and money/value the Big East provided West Virginia.
In this case, the Big East expected certain monetary benefits, such as continued BCS standing in football, from having West Virginia in the conference and the financial benefit that comes with being a BCS conference.
The Big East, however, is seeking non-monetary damages. In particular, they are asking the courts for “specific performance.” Specific performance is awarded at a court’s discretion and is an equitable remedy developed to provide relief when an action for monetary damages is inadequate. In other words, the Big East is claiming that no amount of money can make the conference whole if West Virginia leaves before the 27-month waiting period.
It is clear West Virginia is in breach of the contract. What will the damages be, and what will make the Big East whole again? Since the Big East is already set to announce a replacement for West Virginia, it is difficult to see how a court will require West Virginia to wait the 27 months. Clearly, as in most cases involving college sports, the Big East will be made whole with a large check.
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Posted At
9:46 AM
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Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Blog: Club Members Care About Little Things…Like Tissues
We always try to remember that the most important things to our members are the little things. Years ago, we had three new treadmills delivered on the same day that one of our staffers thought it would be nice to put potpourri in the women’s locker room. We never thought that 50 cents worth of potpourri could trump $15,000 worth of fitness equipment, but it did.
Just last week, we learned this lesson again. This time, it was tissues. Really.
We ran out of tissues. Now, there are certain things that we never allow ourselves to run out of. Toilet paper is number one on the list. In fact, we’d consider that Rule #1 of operating a fitness facility — never, ever run out of toilet paper.
But tissues? We ran out. Big deal, right? We figured we’d get them on our weekly visit to the local warehouse supply store. Naturally, we also could have picked up some at any supermarket or convenience store to hold us over, but…they’re tissues. It’s not even cold and flu season yet. Doesn’t everyone just grab some toilet paper whenever they can’t find a tissue?
Apparently, they don’t. In the 36 hours it took us to make our weekly BJ’s Wholesale Club run, the issue of the missing tissues took on a life of its own. “Are there any more tissues?” “Did you guys run out of tissues?” “I need a tissue — are there any?”
On Friday morning, we were carrying in the weekly supplies. “Did you get tissues?” asked an exasperated staff member. “Yes.” “Oh, thank goodness,” said a member with great relief who seemed otherwise lost in checking her e-mail on her phone.
Our childcare manager approached. “Do you know I met more members this week who don’t have kids then I think I ever have,” she said. “They were all coming into the babysitting room for my tissues.”
Now that we’ve seen tissues rise to the level of mission-critical, we can worry a lot less about all of the new equipment — group cycling bikes, weight machines, treadmills — we’d like to bring in during 2012. Maybe we’ll just upgrade to two-ply, or spring for the ones with aloe lotion.
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Posted At
9:16 AM
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