Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Massive Youth Football Gambling Ring Busted in South Florida
An 18-month investigation of a youth football gambling operation in South Florida culminated in the arrest of nine men, all coaches and assistants from the league. “Operation Dirty Play,” as the investigation was called, started with journalists from ESPN who videotaped parents exchanging money in the stands. According to investigators, larger sums of money were exchanged off the field, and as much as $100,000 was wagered on a youth football championship.
"It's about kids being exploited unfortunately by greedy parents and greedy grown-ups and coaches who were basically nothing more than criminals," Broward County sheriff Al Lamberti told the Associated Press.
The South Florida Youth Football League is comprised of 6,000 players between the pee-wee and teen levels. While authorities found no evidence that coaches rigged games or that players were aware of the bets, ESPN’s "Outside the Lines" reports that players were recruited and their parents offered money to play on a certain team.
The investigation also highlights the lax background check standards for youth coaches; six of the coaches involved had extensive criminal backgrounds. The alleged ringleader and president of the Fort Lauderdale Hurricanes, Brandon Bivins (known to the community as ‘Coach B’) has a criminal history that includes convictions for cocaine possession, marijuana possession and grand theft auto. Moreover, the investigation uncovered that Bivins was also operating a gambling house out of a barbershop, taking wagers not just on youth games but professional and college games, as well.
"(Bivins has) been to Florida state prison. He's out and he's coaching youth football," Lt. Frank Ballante said.
When authorities were first notified of the investigation, Deerfield Beach City improved its screening process for youth coaches, but requirements vary among the cities in the youth league.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sandy Impacts High School, College, Pro Sports
At least 18 people are dead and millions of homes and businesses are without power after Superstorm Sandy battered the Eastern Seaboard on Monday. At times like these, sports hardly seem to matter. In fact, according to MaxPreps.com, high school events from Massachusetts to Florida were rescheduled or postponed as Sandy approached land, and college and professional sports teams were affected, too.
MaxPreps reported that in New Jersey, Wildwood High School's football field was underwater even before the full brunt of Sandy hit, and Atlantic City High's football coach Tom Kelly was already worried about communication: "Half of the city is underwater," he tweeted Monday. "Hard to get in-touch with my guys."
The site, powered by CBSSports.com, also posted the following updates:
• In Connecticut, a ban on athletic events taking place on Sunday was lifted in order to get events moved up. The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the state's governing board, moved up many of its events from this week to Sunday because the last date to complete the regular season is Thursday.
• In New York, the Section 1 football semifinals were postponed from today to Wednesday.
• All events scheduled for Monday in Rhode Island were postponed, according to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.
• The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association plans to reschedule many of its regional tournament games in several sports. Once the weather clears, "there are no days off if the tournament is behind schedule, except Sundays," the association posted on its website.
• In Massachusetts, the Boston City League soccer and volleyball playoffs were postponed.
Further inland, Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League officials said that Sandy could affect the first round of Class A and AA football playoffs this weekend at natural-grass sites. "The most disturbing thing is they're going to make a declaration Thursday morning if we can use our field," Dave Leasure, head coach at Springdale High School, told Trib Total Media. "That's the hardest thing for me, after we've earned home field."
Rutgers officials deflated its air-supported practice dome in advance of the storm and canceled team activities and practices Monday and Tuesday, according to MyCentralJersey.com. Other major campuses — including UConn, Maryland, Boston College and Temple — shut down Monday, as well, leaving football practice schedules quite literally up in the air for Tuesday.
College basketball is taking a hit, too. The Sporting News reports that:
• Penn State postponed its on-campus Media Day, scheduled for Monday, after campus was closed. No new date was chosen.
• Virginia Commonwealth University was closed but the team has maintained its regular practice schedule. The Rams play their first exhibition game Thursday against Virginia Union.
• Villanova, whose campus also closed, was able to adjust its practice times to early Monday, before the worst of the storm had arrived, and the team was hoping to return to the court later Tuesday.
• At Virginia, classes were canceled but the storm had yet to make a severe impact. Monday practice for the basketball program was moved to the morning hours.
As David Harten of NBC Sports wrote Monday night: "With exhibition games starting soon around the nation, teams don’t necessarily have to worry about totally altering their schedules, but with this storm looking to cause a lot structural damage and flooding, [that means] repairs to college campuses and athletic facilities."
In the pro ranks, the NFL has pushed back its trading deadline from tonight to Nov. 1, and some NBA teams revised travel plans in advance of season openers, according to TIME.com. Airlines were expected to resume regular East Coast flights Wednesday.
As if rain and flooding weren't enough, up to three feet of snow is forecast for parts of West Virginia by Wednesday morning — which could wreak more havoc on high school and college schedules.
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Blog: Increasingly, There’s No ‘They’ in Team
We've all seen our share of opportunities for adults to get fit in unusual ways. There's obstacle racing, having people throw paint on you while you run a 5K, and boot camps of all sorts.
No wonder we forget about the more traditional opportunities for adults, like team sports.
Remember those? Sports like softball, baseball and basketball? Or even kickball and flag football?
A lot of people don't think about those opportunities. And men are thinking about them less and less, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association's recent survey that shows a distinct decline in adult men participating in team sports.
The U.S. Trends in Team Sports Report 2012 shows a 13 percent drop in the number of men participating in team sports since 2008. In fact, it wasn't just men's participation that went down; there were 2.5 percent fewer boys (age 6-17) participating in sports overall as well.
Maybe this isn't a surprise. Earlier this fall, the National Federation of State High School Associations reported that an all-time high of 7,692,520 students participated in sports during the 2011-12 school year — but the gain was attributable to a significant increase in girls’ participation (an additional 33,984) that more than made up for a 9,419-participant drop in the boys’ figures.
For the record, the SFIA study shows growth among both girls' and adult women's participation in team sports, something that bears out the numbers in the NFHS study.
When the high school sport/gender fluctuations were first reported in this blog, there was no consensus on the reason, but there certainly was a lot of speculation. Some people thought it was a fluke. Others blamed Title IX, a lack of sports programming for middle schoolers, high registration fees and more.
In SFIA's research, while plenty of kids may be interested in sports, other factors are at work:
"There is a shortage of available facilities and local recreation leagues (a supply issue) and there has been an evolution for team sports, such as basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and baseball, into a tournament and 'showcase' based model that puts less importance on regular, local league play (a demand issue)."
In fact, the survey noted that nearly 40 percent of team sports participants plan to increase their spending this year on “travel to take part in sports/recreation activities” and “team sports outside of school.” This dovetails with the previously reported growth of sports tourism, in which (a) parents are spending more to travel with their children to out-of-town or out-of-state tournaments, or (b) adults themselves are investing in travel to participate in events like marathons, hiking trips and more.
So we circle back to the same questions we had before, only this time, we're talking about men, rather than teenage boys. Where are they going, if they're not playing on teams? Are they strapped for time and trying to work out on their own, or in clubs? If they're in clubs, are they participating in group fitness programs like boot camp, and are those taking the place of a team sport? Or are they training for singular pursuits, such as marathons or triathlons or perhaps even obstacle races? And if any or all of these are true, why aren't we seeing these same numbers among grown women?
Only one thing for sure: Title IX isn't our culprit here. So what is?
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Friday, October 26, 2012
Texas Group at Center of Shabbat Fiasco Makes Changes
The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which was accused earlier this year of religious discrimination by an Orthodox Jewish day school in Houston, has approved a policy effective immediately that accommodates religious observances of all its member schools. As The Dallas Morning News reports, sports teams will no longer be required to participate on the Sabbath or other traditional religious holidays — including Christmas, Easter and Yom Kippur.
"As the TAPPS membership has grown, so has the uniqueness of TAPPS member schools," reads a statement on the association's website. "In order to provide the opportunity for all of our member schools to participate in team sports, the TAPPS Executive Board believes that accommodations are necessary to protect the Sabbath and religious days of observance of our schools. … The accommodation for religious observance shall be the standard as TAPPS prepares for state competitions that are accessible to all member schools and the students that they serve through team activities."
In February, Houston's Beren Academy was set to forfeit its semifinal game in the TAPPS 2A state basketball tournament because the scheduled tip-off time conflicted with the observation of the Jewish Sabbath. But after lawyers representing three Beren players and their parents applied for a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court, alleging religious discrimination against TAPPS and the Mansfield Independent school District (host of the state championship), the organization amended the game's schedule. Beren then advanced to the state finals, where it fell to Fort Worth's Nolan Catholic High School.
TAPPS' new policy has been in the works for several months, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Blog: Election-Themed Events Could Really Be the Ticket
Since I've already heard the "Monster Mash" and "Thriller" about a
hundred times, it must mean it's almost Halloween. And that means the
fitness tie-ins and promotions are in full swing. You can get chased
around by zombies in an obstacle race, play tennis in a costume or participate in my favorite event of the moment, based on the title alone: Zombie Zumba. Plus, I'm sure, a whole lot more.
And if you're a sports person, you'll probably appreciate some of the top costumes this year, including the always appropriate Blind Referee (only people on this site will find it offensive), the multiple Olympic gold medal winner costume — BYO Speedo, or wear warm-ups, depending on how cold it is outside — and the Charlie Sheen character, Wild Thing, from the movie, "Major League."
I
do love Halloween. But honestly, I wish sports event promoters would
pay attention to what else is going on in the country as a way of
gaining participation. Like, say, the election. After all, it's the
number-one topic in most conversations these days. Granted, everybody’s
probably sick of it by now, but it’s still surprising that we aren’t
seeing any election-themed events. With the presidency, Senate and House
on the line, you'd think organizers of sports events would be jockeying
for position to host 5Ks where people could express their political
affiliations by turning out in numbers (5Ks with Team Blue and Team Red
participants, anyone?). It’s a real lost opportunity, if you ask me.
Wouldn't
this be a great way for campaigners for any local or national office to
get involved as volunteers, or even athletes? Sports event organizers
could set aside a special area where campaigners could distribute their
literature — provided other volunteers from their camps perform
nonpartisan tasks like handing out water or helping with registration —
and that they do it in a nonpartisan manner, which come to think of it,
might be asking a lot.
But
there are still lots of advantages. There is a whole pool of people out
there just waiting to show their spirit. And there wouldn't even be a
need for event T-shirts, since everyone else would probably have one of
their own already — or various campaigners could furnish theirs to
like-minded participants, if they wanted. And if it's designated as a
charity event, organizers could choose a local nonprofit with no stated
political affiliations — a soup kitchen, a hospice program or something
similar — as the beneficiary.
Is anyone holding anything like this? Planning to? How is it polling?
Or have you already done an elections promo? Was it a winning ticket?
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Record FHL Crowd Warms Up to Outdoor Hockey
Two numbers to take away from Wednesday night’s professional hockey game between the Williamsport Outlaws and the Dayton Storm (aside from the 5-2 final score in favor of visiting Dayton): 3,447 and 67.
The first represents a record attendance figure, by more than 300 fans, for any Federal Hockey League game ever played. The second represents the game-time temperature at Bowman Field, Pennsylvania’s oldest minor-league baseball stadium, where the Outlaws are playing their entire season on a temporary outdoor rink.
The players weren’t the only ones in short pants on opening night. “It’s interesting watching outside without being cold,” said 26-year-old fan Kyle Bertin, as reported by the Associated Press.
Unseasonably warm weather denied Williamsport players ice time for weeks during training camp, but the season opener went off without a hitch. “Hockey in [near] 70-degree weather,” Outlaws’ coach Chris Firriolo told television station WNEP. “No one thought we could pull it off.”
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Three MLB Teams Making Atypical Off-Season Moves
As the Major League Baseball season reaches its zenith in the coming days, three teams excluded from the 2012 playoffs announced during the first week of October that they were already preparing to make adjustments for next season — not just to their rosters, presumably, but to their home ball parks, too.
The San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners — who ranked 28th and 29th, respectively, out of 30 MLB teams in terms of home runs per home game this season — announced that their outfield fences will be moved in during off-season stadium renovations, while the Chicago Cubs will be moving the brick wall behind home plate closer to the action at near-century-old Wrigley Field for the second time in seven years.
The Padres’ Petco Park will see fence distances shortened by 12 feet (to 390) in left-center field and by 11 feet (to 391) in right-center. The Mariners will see Safeco Field’s left-field power alley shrink from 390 to 378 feet and the fence straightened as it heads toward center field and the park’s deepest point at 405, four feet shorter than before. The Cubs have been granted permission by the Commission on Public Landmarks to move the brick wall behind home plate to accommodate 56 new seats, a more modest renovation compared to the three rows added from dugout to dugout before the 2004 season.
The smaller outfields at Petco and Safeco are expected to boost power numbers in those parks, but conventional wisdom might also hold that Wrigley’s latest change will render the friendly confines all the more confined and all the friendlier for hitters (think extended at bats and improved batting averages). In 2003, a Cubs team that came within one victory of advancing to the World Series hit .258 for the season both home and away. In 2004, with foul territory reduced by 10 feet around the home plate area, a Cubs team that failed to make the playoffs hit .274 at Wrigley. In fact, the Cubs have posted sub-.265 team averages at home in only two of the nine seasons since the 2003 renovation, peaking at .290 in 2008 (the second of back-to-back playoff years) and bottoming out at .245 this season (in which Chicago’s 61-101 record was its worst for a 162-game schedule since 1966).
One can read only so much in the ivy leaves as to what the future — and another row of premium seats — might bring in Chicago. In Seattle, alterations to Safeco, which was designed with an even larger field of play before Ken Griffey Jr. reined in pre-construction plans, are seen as nothing short of game-changing — in more ways than one. “It’s a more attractive location now for players outside the organization who might consider coming this direction,” said Mariners manager Eric Wedge, as reported by the Associated Press. “I think it’s a good decision.”
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Monday, October 22, 2012
Blog: Yankee Fans Are Voting with Their Feet
Over the years, as the ticket prices for many sporting events have skyrocketed and various surcharges, such as PSLs, have been tacked on, some of us have wondered when fans will say enough is enough, forcing prices downward. The answer, thus far, has been: Not for some time yet. A small percentage dump their season ticket packages, but there are always others out there (people as well as corporations, who in the sports context are people, my friend) who will gladly pay whatever it takes to make it through the turnstiles.
Finally, though, a large group of fans has said enough is enough, and fortunately for the sports industry at large, it's not a team or league that is having to deal with the fallout. News out of New York is that Bronx Parking Development Company, which operates lots around Yankee Stadium, has defaulted on nearly $240 million worth of bonds because its projections of lot usage have turned out to be wildly overstated. According to a story in today's New York Times, the nearly 9,300 spaces have been just 43 percent full on game days, leading to a shortfall in 2012 alone of $767,000.
What would solve the problem? The company says a voluntary restructuring by bondholders — meaning that they would have to accept less than they are owed on the company's bonds — is necessary. But the simpler method, according to economists as well as fans, is to cut prices, which are as high as $58 per game, leading fans to opt for public transportation or lower-priced parking, including free on-street spaces within walking distance of the stadium.
Sadly, the city provided more than $200 million in subsidies to convert parkland into lots, and is owed $25.5 million in rent and payments in lieu of taxes accumulated since 2007. On the plus side, an average of around 4,100 fans rode Metro North trains to weekend games this season, easing traffic around the stadium and burning less fossil fuels, both of which please city planners, local residents and environmentalists.
The team is unaffected either way — this time around, anyway. This must be a relief as, since the new $1.5 billion stadium opened in April 2009, few teams have found their pricing structure under as much scrutiny as have the Yankees. Seats in the Legends Suite, which occupies the first eight rows in the lower bowl, were initially priced at an average of $510 apiece, with the highest-priced seat at $2,600 a game. But these high-visibility seats have gone consistently unfilled, an embarrassment for the team, and are increasingly available on the secondary market for as low as $200. Under these circumstances, Bronx Parking Development Company probably ought to heed the advice of its former customers.
"The whole thing is supply and demand," one fan who parked for free on the street last week told the Times' Ken Belson. "If they charged $20, the lots would fill up."
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Fan in Critical Condition Following MetLife Escalator Fall
A 42-year-old man is in critical condition after falling 21 feet from an escalator Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Few details exist as to what factors may have contributed to the incident, which occurred at about 4 p.m. after the New York Giants rallied to defeat the Washington Redskins, 27-23.
It was the second escalator fall this season. In August, 25-year-old Jonathan Kelly fell three stories from an escalator at Reliant Stadium in Houston and died at a local hospital. He was believed to be attempting to slide down the escalator’s rail, the same type of action that claimed the life of Robert Seamans, 27, at Denver’s Coors Field in May 2011.
The fan injured Sunday, David Chupcavich of Orange, Conn., landed on a steel stage and was airlifted to Hackensack University Medical Center. An investigation is ongoing, according to New Jersey State Police. His condition has not been updated since Sunday night per the privacy wishes of Chupcavich’s family, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.
Just as fans falling from upper decks has raised questions about railing heights, the latest entry on a lengthening list of stadium escalator falls and mechanical failures begs the question: Can anything be done from a design standpoint to prevent future tragedies? “It would be nearly impossible to foolproof an escalator against every potential scenario that could cause an accident,” says Dotty Stanlaske, executive director of the National Association of Elevator Safety Authorities, which oversees certification of elevator and escalator inspectors. “And that’s because of the nature of what they’re intended to do — convey people. Unfortunately, people don’t always utilize them the way they should.”
The barrier along either side of an escalator must measure a minimum of 40 inches vertically from deck level to handrail, according to current code language, Stanlaske says. “The handrails are high enough that they’re the same height as most railings on stairways and in stairwells,” she adds. “You don’t expect people to go over those, but unfortunately sometimes they do.”
That said, it’s hard to envision many design scenarios in which a person could free-fall 20 to 60 feet from a stairway. Couldn’t a guardrail above and beyond the handrail be incorporated to better contain escalator passengers? “It’s not that there can’t be,” Stanlaske says. “Certainly anybody could put something up, a wall or some kind of barricade, for the full run of the escalator. But then they have to consider whether it’s a pinching hazard or a sheering hazard. The only way that you would make the escalator totally safe from falls over the edge would be to ensure that there’s no space at the edge for people to fall through or fall down from, and buildings aren’t going to want to spend that kind of money. You have to rely on common sense [of passengers].”
ASME A17.1 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators does state — and has for at least a decade, according to Stanlaske — that “a caution sign shall be located at the top and bottom landing of each escalator, readily visible to the boarding passengers” and containing the following language: “Caution. Passengers only. Hold handrail. Attend children. Avoid sides.”
MetLife Stadium, which opened in April 2010, features 38 “heavy duty” escalators, according to manufacturer Fujitec, whose escalators can also be found at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The MetLife Stadium website breaks that number down further as 30 escalators and eight “premium” escalators, though the distinction is not clear. The total, which compares to 21 total elevators in the stadium, is “14 more escalators than the old stadium and will contribute significantly to getting from your car to your seat in record time,” the site says.
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Armstrong Stripped of Tour de France Titles
Less than two weeks after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a report revealing doping allegations and losing nearly all of his endorsements, Lance Armstrong has now lost all seven of his Tour de France titles, as well. The International Cycling Union announced today it had accepted the USADA’s findings and decision to ban Armstrong from competition for life, formally stripping him of titles earned between 1999 and 2005. Because so many of the second-place finishers in the events have also been linked to doping allegations, no winners will be named for those years, says Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
“We’ve come too far in the fight against doping to go back to the past,” said ICU president Pat McQuaid in a news conference. “Something like this must never happen again.”
Armstrong continues to deny the doping allegations but has said he will not contest the charges.
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Survey: More Parents Paying for High School Protective Gear
An estimated half of high school coaches and athletic directors say their budgets for purchasing protective sports equipment have been reduced during the past three years, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association. Approximately 400 participants responded to the survey, which covered baseball, football, boys’ and girls’ ice hockey, boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, and softball.
Here are some of the findings:
• Most protective equipment for baseball, softball and football is purchased by schools, while parents pay for the majority of ice hockey and lacrosse equipment. Nearly 4 in 10 schools reported an increase in parent involvement of purchases for ice hockey equipment.
• Protective equipment is often replaced within three years. Football is the exception, with nearly half of schools that responded replacing helmets and shoulder pads no sooner than every five years.
• When schools purchase protective equipment, they generally buy from the team dealer. About 70 percent of schools indicated that a team dealer representative had visited within the past six months.
• Most respondents check prices before making protective equipment purchases, but they are less likely to comparison shop online.
“The association felt that a report that talks about the purchasing habits of high schools for protective equipment would be of great benefit to team dealers who sell directly to the schools,” says Bruce Hammond, director of marketing and communications for the Mount Prospect, Ill.-based NSGA, when asked about the impetus for the first-time survey. “We feel this report is especially timely and valuable due to the continued funding issues that affect schools across the country.”
The survey report is available to NSGA members at no cost. Nonmembers may purchase a copy here.
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Friday, October 19, 2012
Cheerleaders Win Banners Battle, At Least Until June
A group of high school cheerleaders in southeast Texas appears to have won its battle for religious freedom, at least until the middle of next year. State District Judge Steven Thomas issued an injunction on Thursday that allows Kountze High School cheerleaders to continue using run-through banners decorated with Bible verses at home football games. Thomas ruled that the school district's ban on the Biblical banners violated free-speech rights.
The cheerleaders now are free to display the messages until June 2013, when a full trial is scheduled. "This gets us through the football season," Mike Johnson, senior counsel for the Liberty Institute, a religious liberties defense organization representing the cheer squad, told ABC News. "We have four more games, including [tonight]."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which recently stepped up its efforts to eliminate pregame prayers and other symbols of faith from high school sports (citing First Amendment violations), forced the Kountze Independent School District to ban the banners in September. The Madison, Wis.-based church-and-state watchdog contacted the district after at least one resident complained about the use of the Bible verses, which change from week to week.
On Oct. 4, Thomas declared that he needs more time to issue a final ruling on whether the large scriptural banners — "But thanks be to God, which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57) read one recent banner — violate the First Amendment. So he initially extended a temporary order last month to allow the banners for at least another two weeks.
The Anti-Defamation League quickly issued a statement in which it called the judge's decision misguided: "Public schools are for children of all faiths or no faith, and these banners were clearly being displayed in the context of school-sponsored activities. Faith is a profoundly personal decision, so students should not be subjected to an exclusionary school-sponsored religious message on campus or be forced to choose between attending quintessential school events – football games – or being subjected to an unwanted religious message."
On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Gov. Rick Perry voiced their support for the cheerleaders and urged them to continue their fight against the district.
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: East Oakland Sports Center
Boasting one of the few recreational natatoriums in the country for underserved populations, the East Oakland Sports Center was lauded by the judges both for its design and for what it means to the community it serves. The project has a long history: The architect began working to bring it to fruition in 1999, when the city and then-city council president identified Ira Jinkins Park as the future site of a new community recreation and aquatics center. Although popular, the park, like the neighborhood in which it was located, suffered from blight and crime, and local youths had few opportunities to access recreational facilities.
A preliminary design for a 100,000-square-foot facility was so well regarded that the San Francisco Bay Area Olympic Committee included the proposed recreation center as one of the training sites in its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. With public funds tight, the architect worked with the city council to develop other schemes to bring costs down, paring the elements down to those that were most relevant to the community.
The resulting 25,000-square-foot LEED Silver center showcases its programmatic elements (and allows those inside to monitor park activities, boosting security) with a highly transparent massing volume. Judges were sold on its simple, straightforward approach, with minimal, industrial-style components and small touches such as the banner-like shade screens along the west elevation fronting the lobby. “The building effectively adds a sculptural feature to the park setting,” offered one judge. “It has a modern, canonical composition to it.”
Judges’ Comments:
What I really liked was its dramatic street presence, which was both uplifting and protective — a jewelbox of community pride.
— James Braam, 360 Architecture
I was drawn to it because of its location in East Oakland, and the importance of these types of facilities to communities, especially ones that struggle.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
Excellent manipulation of elements to create the imagery of a glowing beacon, announcing the proposed neighborhood revitalization.
— Amado Fernandez, Hughes Group Architects
Architect of Record:
ELS Architecture and Urban Design
Berkeley, Calif.
Aquatic Design Engineer:
Aquatic Design Group
Carlsbad, Calif.
Programming Consultant:
The Sports Management Group
Berkeley, Calif.
Cost: $18 million
Square Feet: 25,000
Funded By: Government funds, municipal bonds
Major Facility Components: Natatorium, dance and aerobics studio, fitness center, locker rooms, learning/media center
Photo by David Wakely Photography
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
2012 Facility of Merit Winner: Hillcrest Centre
Hillcrest Centre now has two Facility of Merit awards to its credit — it adjoins the previously completed Aquatic Centre at Hillcrest Park, which AB honored in 2011. Formerly the temporary-use 2010 Vancouver Olympics curling venue, this project involved the conversion of the shell space into a variety of legacy community uses. Materials selection was key to the judges’ enthusiasm; angling for LEED Gold certification, the designers specified wood interior cladding, window casings and millwork throughout the facility, more than half of which was Forest Stewardship Council-certified. “They used a very sophisticated palette of materials,” one judge commented. “It was like art. At the same time, I felt like it didn’t take itself too seriously — there was a genuine playfulness about the overall facility that made it extremely welcoming.”
The judges were also impressed by the project’s plan organization, which aligned the building with a row of large heritage trees and created a generous central concourse with entries oriented toward vehicular access to one side and a network of pedestrian paths branching out toward the nearby neighborhood on the other. Wide use of glass aids in wayfinding and makes the concourse a magnet for socialization. “The building has very clear public circulatory systems, and you really see through to a lot of the major spaces, as well as out to the park and the mountains to the north,” said one judge. “The sense of transparency all the way through the building really works.”
Judges’ Comments:
It’s an adaptive reuse of an Olympic venue, it achieved LEED Gold, but it was the interior design that set this project apart — the people-spaces were very intriguing.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
I particularly liked the interior of this project, which showed a thoughtful use of color as well as wood to create a series of experiences within the interior street. Wood threaded through the lobby ceiling reinforced the movement pattern with custom wood benches oriented toward the activity spaces.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
Large interior wood panels on the walls of the curling venue gave the space a warmth and character that doesn’t exist in most ice facilities.
— Jack Patton, RDG Planning & Design
Architect of Record:
Hughes Condon Marler Architects
Vancouver, B.C.
Cost: $87.5 million (Canadian)
Square Feet: 144,775
Funded By: Government funds
Major Facility Components: NHL-size ice rink, eight curling sheets, gymnasium, fitness center, multipurpose rooms, games room, arts and crafts rooms, childcare space, branch library
Photo by Ed White
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
2012 Facility of Merit Winner: Portland State University Academic and Student Recreation Center
Housing a mix of public and private uses — the ground floor incorporates retail storefronts, and upper floors are occupied by the Student Recreation Center, the university chancellor’s office, the PSU School of Social Work and the City Archives — this collaborative effort between Portland State University, the City of Portland and the State of Oregon was among the most intriguing projects to AB’s panel of judges. “It was a really complicated program that all had to be condensed onto one urban block,” one judge noted, “and the way the designers layered different functions on different floors was really interesting. They put retail on grade, and then were audacious enough to put a pool over the retail.”
The building occupies the southern half of a master plan superblock, completing the existing Urban Plaza, with the entry lobby designed as an extension of the plaza, utilizing the same brick paving and incorporating an overlook terrace for outdoor dining. Above, major building components are arranged vertically accordingly to critical functional relationships and overall building massing, allowing the recreation center to be contiguous and the overall massing to step to the north for solar exposure in the plaza. LEED Gold certified, the building’s multistory design incorporates a fifth-floor eco-terrace (which one judge remarked was “surprising to find in a gym environment”), among other sustainable features. “The designers clearly paid close attention to how all the functions would fit within the urban plaza,” another judge said, “and they extended landscaped design clearly out to the perimeter of the building plan.”
Judges’ Comments:
A very studied solution to an urban infill project, where you could tell a lot of thought went into the section and how different program elements stacked together.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
Having those delightful urban terraces brings the scale out to the street, and also creates intimate rooms for these athletic venues three and four stories above grade.
— Stefanie Greenfield, Cambridge Seven Associates
The building sections were the real magic of the project. There was kind of an inherent understanding of sustainability, and though the plan was ambitious, it was also inspired in terms of what the spaces are actually like inside the building.
— James Braam, 360 Architecture
Architect of Record:
Yost Grube Hall Architecture
Portland, Ore.
Aquatic Design Engineer:
Rowley International Inc.
Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Cost: $69.5 million
Square Feet: 208,000
Funded By: Government funds, university funds, student fees
Major Facility Components: Gymnasium, jogging track, natatorium, fitness center, climbing wall, retail space, academic space, university administration space
![48 PSU-ASRC-Night Shot of North Elevation[1].jpg](/editors/uploads/48%20PSU-ASRC-Night%20Shot%20of%20North%20Elevation%5B1%5D.jpg)
Photo by Christian Columbres
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Victim in Fatal Deck Fall Was Drunk; Should That Matter?
It comes as no great shock that University of Tennessee football fan Issac Grubb was drunk Aug. 31, when he fell from the upper deck at the Georgia Dome, suffered severe head trauma and later died. What’s surprising is that it took this long to come to that conclusion.
More than a month after Grubb joined a growing list of 20-something males to fall from the upper decks of American stadiums, an autopsy report released Oct. 2 stated that preliminary screenings found no signs of alcohol or drugs in Grubb’s system, but a doctor said the initial results were not definitive. On Friday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among other local news outlets, reported that toxicology tests conducted by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office had found Grubb to have a blood-alcohol level of .169 — more than twice the limit allowed to legally operate a motor vehicle — at the time of his fatal 45-foot fall.
A spokesperson for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which staged the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Tennessee and North Carolina State, said Grubb entered the upper deck’s Gate C at 7:23 p.m. and fell over the deck’s railing an hour later while celebrating a Tennessee touchdown.
And while intoxication likely played a role in this tragedy, it shouldn’t have, and not for the obvious reason that Grubb shouldn’t have been as drunk as he apparently was. He could have been passed out from excessive alcohol consumption and still spared his fate if railing heights had been adequate. “No perceptual or motor ability or anything like that should have any bearing on whether that person can successfully be stopped by a railing,” public safety expert Jake Pauls told AB last summer, after a fatal fall at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, resurrected the railing debate. “And so the fainting situation is something that we always considered as a possibility. It could be a person jostled. It could be a person having a medical event. Whatever. The guardrail has to do its job regardless of how sentient the person is or what his or her IQ is.”
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: California State University Northridge Student Recreation Center
Situated on the outer fringe of the CSU Northridge campus between future sports fields to the east and existing campus buildings to the west, the site of this new recreation center provided an opportunity for the building to delineate a new campus edge to the community, while establishing a terminus to the campus’ main pedestrian axis. Utilizing this singular position, the east façade is comprised primarily of glass, creating a “human billboard” that reveals the activities within and addresses the university’s desire to advertise the recreation programs provided by the university. It’s the west façade that really caught the judges’ attention, however: The three-story lobby is protected by a perforated metal veil that allows the introduction of light and maintains visibility of activities, but reads differently depending on the time of day. Commented one judge, “It’s monolithic and solid by day, providing a continual play of shadows as the light changes, and transforming in the twilight to a transparent vision — a building in flux.”
More than one judge remarked on the project’s consistency, with bold use of spot color (which needed to reflect the university’s mascot colors) and framing of entry portals in various materials subtly echoed in the front desk and in the frames of wall displays. In another signature move lauded by the judges, angled exterior walls become “furniture walls” at the floor level, supporting the backs of spectators along the gym wall.
Seeking LEED Gold certification, the building utilizes strategies including displacement ventilation, in which bleacher seating is designed to integrate part of the building’s ventilation system, providing low-velocity air flow from underneath the seating to cool the basketball court areas.
Judges’ Comments:
This is a bold and graphic building with a clear, integrated design approach to the exterior and interior expression. Cloaked in a metal sunscreen veil, the facility transforms from opaque to illuminated at night. This project presents a fresh and exciting contemporary model for today’s student recreation center.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
I loved the structural columns coming up at these angles and running around the track inside the structure — it just seemed like a really great space to inhabit.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
This project was so sophisticated — not only was there great juxtaposition between the two facades, but they just took every detail through the building and made it consistent.
— Stefanie Greenfield, Cambridge Seven Associates
Architect of Record:
LPA Inc.
Irvine, Calif.
Aquatic Design Engineer:
Aquatic Design Group
Carlsbad, Calif.
Cost: $41 million
Square Feet: 120,000
Funded By: Student fees
Major Facility Components: Gymnasium, multiactivity court, climbing wall, running track, racquetball court, fitness areas, multipurpose studios, leisure pool, locker rooms, team room
![54csunsrc6[1].jpg](/editors/uploads/54csunsrc6%5B1%5D.jpg)
Photo by Costea Photography Inc.
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Monday, October 15, 2012
Blog: Stacking — Perfect for Guinness, Not a Sport
If you're a sports aficionado, I know, absolutely know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you've used this sentence:
"That's not really a sport."
Don't even try to lie. You have used that sentence. And I don't
care what activity you were referring to (and many come to mind), you
know you've said it. Seriously — you have.
A friend who is a sportswriter has told me that he defines a
sport as something that combines athletic ability with some kind of a
start/finish line, or with some kind of an indisputable point system.
That means, by his definition, races (on foot, on skates, on skis, in a
pool, on bicycles) count since they use a start/finish line, as do
competitions like baseball, tennis and soccer, since they have a defined
point system as determined by the existence of a goal.
Now, at this point, I am going to take shelter behind something
big and sturdy and note that he doesn't count what he calls “performance
art” like cheerleading, gymnastics, ice skating, diving and
synchronized swimming to be sports because those are judged
subjectively. And before you go off on me, remember these are his
definitions, not mine. (For the record, he agrees those people are
athletes; he just doesn't define what they're doing as a sport.)
So there are his basic parameters. Mine might be a little more
lenient. But recently, I came across a press release for a
sport/competition/event that I have to admit neither one of us had heard
of before: sport stacking. I must have missed that issue of Athletic Business.
Sport stacking, in which competitors stack specialized plastic
cups in specific sequences in as little time as possible, defies both
our definitions of sport, and perhaps yours as well. The World Sport
Stacking Association’s website
has plenty of information on it, including the information that "in
2005, the name was changed to its current WSSA in response to growing
awareness that stacking is considered a sport."
I will allow that it's an art and that it requires precision and
speed, admirable qualities to exhibit under pressure. But — um — a
sport? Nope, I'll say it's not one, and I'm not even going to take
shelter while I do it. If you do consider cup stacking to be a sport,
and if you're done composing your rebuttals to me, you'll want to take a
break and hear this next part. WSSA is planning The WSSA Stack-Up
for Nov. 15. The Stack-Up is the organization's yearly attempt at
breaking the Guinness World Record for most people stacking cups at
multiple locations in one day. The number to beat is 412,259. If you
want to enter, you can go to the site and learn all about that.
So, there you have it. Putting cups in pyramids. Not a sport. Just my opinion.
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: Clarkson Community Centre Pool Expansion
Part of the City of Mississauga, Ont.’s community center revitalization initiative, the Clarkson pool expansion extends the existing facility out toward the main street for increased presence and identity. The building pushes forward and is linked to an existing skate park, making both the park and the building more central to the site plan rather than a concession at the edge of the site. A large amount of strategically placed glazing communicates the interior functions of the new pool to the exterior, while advantageously opening up the building to receive much more natural light than previously. The transparency projects interior activities to the outside world as passive advertising and a means of keeping eyes on the street, staying true to Jane Jacobs’ notions of city building.
Judges lauded the detailing that made this simple rectangle effective from both outside and inside. The formation of an interior lobby between the existing gym and the new pool, and the transparency between those three spaces and to the outside, extends the public realm from the street into the heart of the community center and offers a light-filled, comfortable space where immediate visual orientation is provided and social interaction is encouraged.
“I appreciate the transparency of the box and how the designers were trying to open it up and be a new urban connection to the park,” said one judge. “The idea that an architectural solution can repair a site, become guardian and cultivator — I thought they really accomplished that.”
Judges’ Comments:
I appreciated the simplicity of program and materiality, the delightful dance of the interior palette, and the overarching thoughtfulness of the concept of transparency.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
Exquisite detailing and strategic use of natural light demonstrate sensitivity to how materials are brought together to create an inspiring space.
— James Braam, 360 Architecture
One of the most beautiful interiors we saw, with balance of light and warmth of wood. Keeping the wood sun screening on the inside creates a much more beautiful interior, adding texture and filtering light within the pool environment.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
Architect of Record:
MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Toronto, Ont.
Cost: $9 million (Canadian)
Square Feet: 21,175
Funded By: Government funds
Major Facility Components: Natatorium, lobby, change rooms, administrative suite
![75Clarkson_Pool Interior[13].jpg](/editors/uploads/75Clarkson_Pool%20Interior%5B13%5D.jpg)
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Friday, October 12, 2012
Playing with Concussion: Evaluation Criteria, 'Tough Guy' Mentality to Blame
Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson took a helmet-to-helmet hit in a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 30. After undergoing a series of tests per the NFL’s concussion protocol, medical personnel cleared him to return to the game.
Now, nearly two weeks later, Johnson admits that he did suffer a concussion.
“Our evaluation was that he was not concussed,” Coach Jim Schwartz said in an interview. “He was thoroughly checked. We’re very strong in our evaluation. He was cleared to go back in the game, and he was on a protocol after that, and he was cleared then. We’re very strong in our evaluation, and ... as an organization, I think we have some credibility when it comes to concussions.”
While the medical personnel's assessment may have been carried out correctly, the problem lies in that the criteria used for concussion evaluation is too subjective, according to a report published in the Oct. 2 edition of the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The study, part of a larger ongoing investigation into the effects of repeat head impacts conducted by Brown University, Dartmouth College and Virginia Tech, examined 450 student-athletes playing football or ice hockey at the schools using sensor-equipped helmets. The impact readouts from the helmets were compared to assessments made by trainers and physicians.
Of the more than 486,000 head impacts recorded during a five-year period, a total of 48 concussions were diagnosed. Of those, only 31 could be tied to a specific impact, and an immediate diagnosis was made just six times, with many athletes not experiencing symptoms for several hours after the incident.
"The term 'concussion' means different things to different people, and it's not yet clear that the signs and symptoms we now use to make a diagnosis will ultimately prove to be the most important pieces of this complicated puzzle," said study leader Ann-Christine Duhaime, director of the Pediatric Brain Trauma Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Some patients who receive a diagnosis of concussion go on to have very few problems, and some who are not diagnosed because they have no immediate symptoms may have sustained a lot of force to the head with potentially serious consequences."
The findings suggest that concussions occurring in sports differ from other medical contexts, where the cause is more evident and the diagnosis simpler. The study’s authors recommend replacing the term “concussion” within a broader concept of a “concussion spectrum” to better address the range of factors that contribute to head injuries in athletes.
Better diagnostic criteria may have helped the Lions' medical staff sideline Johnson, but the situation also sheds light on the “tough guy” image that still perpetuates sports and causes athletes to downplay potential symptoms.
“It’s a part of football. You get concussed, you gotta keep on playing,” said Johnson in a radio interview. It’s not just football; NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted this week that he has driven in at least five races with a concussion.
In addition to the potential harm returning to action means for a concussed player (or, Earnhardt Jr.'s case, other drivers on the track), the decision sets a poor example for young athletes. In light of recent events, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell took the opportunity to address the issue while speaking to students at Centreville High School in Clifton, Va., on Wednesday.
"You've got to make sure that if you're injured and don't feel right, if something hurts, your head or your ankle or anything else, you've got to make sure you tell your coaches and your parents,” he said. “Make sure they understand what happened to you. It's not about football. There's nothing wrong with raising your hand and saying, 'I don't feel good.' "
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: JELD-WEN Field Renovation
A 1930s-era downtown stadium that was formerly shared with a Triple-A baseball team, JELD-WEN Field is now a state-of-the-art home for MLS soccer and the Portland Timbers. Stadiums rarely feature the kind of iconic element found here: A dynamic cantilevered steel canopy clad in cedar, which replaces the smaller original roof constructed of wood timbers. The canopy covers most of the new seats in the 19,000-seat stadium, and backs up to a promenade and open concourse with public views to the action inside. It touches the concourse level at only nine points, giving the impression that it floats above the seating area; to minimize the number of supports, the design team sloped the support columns so they could function to resist both gravity loads and lateral loads from wind and earthquakes. Steel plate girders and pipe trusses interconnected by a system of steel tie rods are visible only from above the canopy.
Many of the smaller details similarly pay homage to the Pacific Northwest context, with prominent examples being the use of unpainted wood-formed poured concrete (with the wood grain clearly visible), and the inclusion of wood (under glass) in informational kiosks that feature custom-designed graphic panels depicting the history of the stadium and the neighborhood. Special lighting turns these kiosks into glowing lanterns at night.
Judges were big fans of the renovation and adaptive reuse. “The fact that they rescued this old urban stadium was wonderful as a basic conservation move,” said one judge. “They really took advantage of the opportunity that was there.”
Judges’ Comments:
How appropriate that the team name, “Timbers,” would drive a design that features such dynamic use of wood.
— James Braam, 360 Architecture
This is the first time I’ve seen a stadium project of this scale be accessible at the urban level.
— Stefanie Greenfield, Cambridge Seven Associates
They made that big parasol that faces the field and at the same time reaches out to the street, which really was a great urban gesture. The project had that sort of extreme, big-scale ambition, but it also had small-scale ambitions that were consistently successful.
— Viktors Jaunkalns, MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Architect of Record:
AECOM
San Francisco, Calif.
Associate Architect:
Oh planning + design architecture
Portland, Ore.
Cost: $35 million
Seating Capacity: 20,000
Funded By: Private donations, corporate sponsorship, government funds
Major Facility Components: Roof canopy, seating sections, widened concourses, KeyBank Club, restrooms, concessions stands, upgraded locker rooms, new weight training facilities, office space, team meeting room, renovated press box, onsite sports medicine clinic
![85_JeldWen Field075[1].jpg](/editors/uploads/85_JeldWen%20Field075%5B1%5D.jpg)
Photo by Steve Wanke Photography
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Thursday, October 11, 2012
2012 Facility of Merit Winner: Brant Sports Complex
AB’s panel of judges found a lot to love in this small public ice complex in Paris, Ont., beginning with its advantageous use of a constrained but sloping site to allow players and spectators to enter at different levels at either end of a two-story glazed gallery. Initially viewed as an obstacle to arena design, the site’s constraints were eventually embraced as offering an opportunity to reduce the mass of the building and to celebrate the activity taking place there. Running the entire length of the arena’s north façade, the resulting gallery creates an architectural billboard by using ample glazing and fritted glass graphics that together broadcast activity to the surrounding community.
Inside, a viewing gallery provides panoramic views into both rinks and gives access to public amenities such as meeting rooms, restrooms and a concessions area. During the day, these spaces are washed with natural light that permeates the rink areas, as well.
The judges took note of two details that add to the facility’s simple yet thoughtful aesthetic. First, tessellated beams used above the rinks offer an articulated look while allowing ductwork and other mechanicals to be tucked away within the roof structure. Second, fritted graphics on the exterior, as well as translucent exterior panels specified to reduce the amount of artificial illumination required, read as “frost” to passersby, suggesting the activities taking place inside. “There was obvious care taken in the engineering,” said one judge. “The complex still has that industrial, utilitarian quality about it, but it felt humane, too — a very thoughtful project.”
Judges’ Comments:
The use of frosted glass really evoked a quality of ice and snow, which obviously speaks to the activities within. It felt really right.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
The architects showed great restraint in neither over-designing nor under-delivering. I loved its outward voice, with the arctic-scape billboard façade and the way it looks when it’s illuminated to people driving by.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
It took an otherwise utilitarian building and elevated it to real public-building stature, with generous entrances and great visibility of surfaces. Urbanistically, it took advantage of the sloping site to allow spectators and players enter at different levels.
— Viktors Jaunkalns, MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Architect of Record:
Perkins+Will
Toronto, Ont.
Cost: $20 million (Canadian)
Square Feet: 80,000
Funded By: Government funds, private donations
Major Facility Components: Two NHL-size ice sheets, 700 spectator seats, concessions area, a pro shop, locker rooms, meeting rooms
Photo by Lisa Logan Photography
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012
2012 Facility of Merit Winner: University of Massachusetts Amherst Recreation Center
Prominently sited along the university’s main thoroughfare, this recreation center project centers on a public concourse that extends through the building and reaches out to the east in the form of a new landscaped quadrangle, thus creating a link between campus athletic and academic facilities. Inclusion of the new quadrangle reflects the university’s commitment to a pedestrian-friendly campus and speaks to a perceived paucity of high-quality outdoor space offering opportunities for relaxation, informal recreation and socializing.
The new building offers plenty of such space indoors, but the judges said that what is particularly striking is the way such spaces are integrated into the circulation and other areas. “It was very resourceful,” said one judge. “In the plan there didn’t appear to be a lot of space dedicated to the social environment, and yet the experience of the building is definitely about that.” Noteworthy in this regard is an open stair that serves as an amphitheater designed for both informal and programmed events.
Judges otherwise took note of the building’s complementary look, its red brick evoking the adjacent campus arena and other campus buildings, but with the welcome addition of wide expanses of glass and aluminum shading devices. Its elevations relate to varying site conditions; the south elevation, for example, which faces the main approach to the campus, is a curved glass wall that gives views into the fitness areas (a combination of horizontal aluminum louvers and fritted glass panels offer privacy and provide shade). By contrast, the west elevation’s glazing responds to the low aspect of the sun by incorporating an “egg-crate” arrangement of horizontal and vertical aluminum panels.
Judges’ Comments:
A very thoughtful plan organization, executed skillfully with an understanding that buildings have a responsibility of addressing the social aspects of campus life.
— James Braam, 360 Architecture
A well-studied solution. The building has a very logical plan and arrangement of spaces, combined with clean, consistent interior design, while the exterior is contextual with the rest of the campus.
— Robert McDonald, Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative
The magic here is that the brick building feels so solid and so massive, but when you’re inside, it feels so light and elegant.
— Stefanie Greenfield, Cambridge Seven Associates
Architect of Record:
Sasaki Associates Inc.
Watertown, Mass.
Cost: $38 million
Square Feet: 120,000
Funded By: Student fees
Major Facility Components: Gymnasium, fitness center, jogging track, multipurpose rooms, locker rooms, administrative spaces
![30[1].University of Massachusetts 10.jpg](/editors/uploads/30%5B1%5D.University%20of%20Massachusetts%2010.jpg)
Photo © Robert Benson Photography
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Sandusky Sentenced to 30-60 Years, Will Likely Die in Prison
Jerry Sandusky will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually abusing young boys. Centre County (Pa.) Judge John Cleland on Tuesday morning sentenced the 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach to 30 to 60 years. In June, a jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 young boys from disadvantaged homes, using the Penn State football program and his charity, the Second Mile, to gain access to the victims.
USA Today reports:
Sandusky, appearing in court in a bright red jail jumpsuit, delivered a sometimes rambling four-minute statement in which he denied his crimes, saying that he would "fight" to overturn the verdicts against him.
"They can make me out as a monster, but in my heart I know I didn't do these alleged, disgusting things," Sandusky said before the judge.
Sandusky was proceeded by three of his victims, two of whom spoke through tears, about how he had "betrayed" their trust. One of them, designated by the state grand jury as "Victim 4," looked directly at Sandusky and told him: "You should be ashamed of yourself. I want you to know I will not forgive you. I don't know if I could ever forgive you."
The short hearing ended with Judge John Cleland describing Sandusky's statement as "unbelievable."
Sandusky also took to the airwaves Monday night, via a recorded statement played on a Penn State radio station in which Sandusky said, “They can take away my life, they can make me out as a monster, they can treat me as a monster, but they can’t take away my heart. In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage.”
Despite the sentencing, this case is far from over, according to New York Times reporter Tim Rohan:
Four of Sandusky’s victims are suing the university. Victim 1, as he has been called in court, has written a book set to be released Oct. 23.
Mike McQueary, the former assistant coach who testified to seeing Sandusky sexually abuse a boy in the shower on Penn State’s campus in 2001, sued the university last week for misrepresentation and defamation, saying the university had mistreated him since Sandusky’s actions became public. McQueary had reported the incident to [Penn State head football coach Joe] Paterno, who was faulted for not responding aggressively, and other Penn State officials.
[Penn State athletic director Tim] Curley, who is currently on leave, and [Gary] Schultz, a former [Penn State] senior vice president, are scheduled to stand trial in January on charges of perjury and failing to report child sex abuse, relating to the incident McQueary reported in 2001. Last month, Schultz and Curley asked to be tried separately, and both have pleaded not guilty.
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Blog: Running As Punishment Does Nobody Any Good
When I played freshman basketball at a Catholic high school in Wisconsin back in the 1980s, one of my teammates earned the nickname "Plop" because of the sound his flat feet made when we ran laps around the gym. I remember running laps around that gym with "Plop" and the rest of my teammates a lot, often as punishment for forgotten indiscretions; in fact, the running is what sticks out most about that season — which was my last playing organized hoops.
The reason I'm even thinking about stuff like this is because of a Des Moines Public Schools investigation into the behavior of Tom Mihalovich, a now-suspended football coach at Lincoln High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Mihalovich may have violated school bullying and corporal punishment policies by requiring a sophomore player to run sprints and laps after the boy made derogatory comments about Lincoln's varsity team. The district's investigation revealed that the player ran at least 20 hill sprints, completed 20 up-down drills, ran two laps around the practice field and did additional hill sprints in approximately 30 minutes. According to Lincoln's athletic trainer, the player was not given a water break.
Corporal punishment, as defined by Iowa state law, means "the intentional physical punishment of a student" and "includes the use of unreasonable or unnecessary physical force, or physical contact made with the intent to cause harm or pain." The law does, however, allow for a specific exemption for “reasonable requests or requirements of a student engaged in activities associated with physical education class or extracurricular athletics."
Running or extra conditioning could be considered corporal punishment, according to Thomas Mayes, an attorney for the Iowa Department of Education. "But there is no bright line that can be drawn between what is reasonable and unreasonable," he told Des Moines Register reporter Daniel P. Finney.
“Good common sense would indicate we’re past using conditioning and running in a punitive manner,” Mike Dick, executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, told Finney, who explained the history of the practice in his Register article: "Running as punishment may be a casualty of evolving standards in education and athletics. In 1954, Texas A&M University football coach Bear Bryant subjected his squad to a grueling 10-day camp in which players who sought water were considered soft. Today, such a practice is considered dangerous and criminal, in part because of better understanding of how the human body works and also because of several deaths related to dehydration in football camps."
Perhaps the most famous incident involving dehydration during football practice involved Max Gilpin, a 15-year-old sophomore from Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville, Ky., who died from heat stroke while running sprints commonly known as "gassers" with his teammates in 94-degree heat in August 2008. Medical personnel testified at the trial of his first-year coach, David Jason Stinson, that Gilpin's body temperature was 107 degrees when he arrived at the hospital. Although Stinson was found not guilty on charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment, and later settled a civil suit out of court, he was thought to be the first high school coach indicted for the practice-related death of a player, and prosecutors referred to Stinson's "barbaric conditioning" regimen in their case against him.
Even the National Association of Sport and Physical Education has come out against running as punishment in a 2009 position statement: "While some people believe that physical activity used as punishment and/or a behavior management tool is effective, experts perceive this practice as a 'quick fix' that actually might discourage the behavior it is intended to elicit. Using negative consequences to alter behavior suppresses the undesirable behavior only while the threat of punishment is present; it doesn’t teach self-discipline or address the actual behavior problem. Therefore, student behavior patterns are not changed."
Amen to that. Running with "Plop" all those years ago did nothing to make either of us — or the rest of the team, if memory serves — better basketball players. In fact, it probably built up resentment, whether we knew it at the time or not. I don't recall ever getting physically sick after running all those laps, nor am I implying any wrongdoing on the part of the school or my coach. I'm simply agreeing with a guy like Ric Powell, activities director at Des Moines East High School, who told The Register that he encourages his coaches to put specific disciplinary expectations in student-athlete handbooks. “I tell them to put it in writing,” he said. “If you’re late to practice, then you run this much, and so on. That way everybody knows what the expectations are. I review these handbooks every year before they’re distributed and sometimes you have to say, ‘OK, this is too harsh. We need to back off here.’ ”
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: University of Central Missouri Student Recreation & Wellness Center Renovation and Expansion
It’s a complicated renovation and addition, involving co-locating two programs within three formerly separate historic stone buildings on a tight site fronting a campus quadrangle, but the solution is actually quite simple, said AB’s panel of judges. Wrapping the 1938 Morrow gymnasium so that the new structure bridges the gaps between that building and two other older buildings, the plan transforms the Morrow gym by inserting a new fitness mezzanine and expands a contemporary image to the east with a new addition. The addition was by far the most notable element, the judges said, with the new, gleaming curtainwall becoming a complementary element to the perpendicular, textured stone building on its flank. “It’s all about the height, the scale and proportion of it,” remarked one judge. “It really celebrates the historic buildings, and that clear juxtaposition of what was new and what was old made it a very exciting project.”
The great advantage of the curtainwall is its embrace of natural light from the north, which washes the main fitness floor while displaying fitness activities along its face. Daylighting is also harvested in the south gym through the introduction of new clerestory windows, part of the effort that saw the new building attain LEED Gold status. Vital to this effort are a geothermal field installed beneath the new campus green, which allows the building to perform with half the energy usage of a normal university building, and the conversion of an obsolete swimming pool into a rainwater cistern, used for storing roof drainage that is used to irrigate the surrounding landscape.
Judges’ Comments:
The addition respects the original building very well, just by bringing a little bit of a glass element in front of the existing building, and reinforcing the location of the front door in a manner that doesn’t take away at all from the building behind.
— Amado Fernandez, Hughes Group Architects
The curtainwall could have been a real challenge in terms of being sympathetic to the original structure, but it was handled in such a skillful manner that the scale of it is very compatible.
— Jim Kalvelage, Opsis Architecture
I thought it was the best example of how with minimal intervention you can get maximum results.
— Viktors Jaunkalns, MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Architect of Record:
Gould Evans
Kansas City, Mo.
Programming Consultant:
Brailsford & Dunlavey
Washington, D.C.
Cost: $28.2 million
Square Feet: 145,951
Funded By: Government funds, university funds, student fees, private donations
Major Facility Components: New gymnasium, renovated gymnasium, fitness center, jogging track, climbing wall
![43_Exterior_UCMRC[1].jpg](/editors/uploads/43_Exterior_UCMRC%5B1%5D.jpg)
Photo by Alistair Tutton
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Monday, October 08, 2012
Study: Blacks More Likely to Favor College Athlete Pay
NCAA president Mark Emmert has long held that college student-athletes should not be compensated beyond the aid they already receive. A University of Texas at Dallas study has found that the public is inclined to agree with him.
Researchers interviewed more than 420 randomly chosen households throughout the country and found that roughly two-thirds of respondents did not favor paying college athletes. However, African-Americans were twice as likely as whites to support athlete compensation. Gender, marital status and level of education were also considered. The study results appear in the journal Sport in Society, with possible follow-up studies to offer a wider sample.
“These surveys aren’t meant to suggest a specific course of action. Rather they are tools that can be used to help better inform interested parties about the public’s views and concerns over key issues,” said Nicole Leeper Piquero, a UT Dallas social scientist. “This kind of measure of the public’s pulse on the pay-for-play issue is useful for thinking about how best to deal with the financial aspects of college sports and to provide information for considering any residual effects this change may have on all aspects of education.”
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2012 Facility of Merit Winner: BC Place Renovation
Dubbed a “chameleon” by one judge, Vancouver’s BC Place had a complete makeover beginning with an aggressive re-branding of its public spaces and the addition of suites and club seats prior to serving as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. This alone was enough to impress AB’s judges, from the addition of vibrant colors throughout concourse portals, restrooms and concessions areas to the “phenomenal” implementation (as one judge exclaimed) of a color-coded signage and wayfinding system.
Major work taking place after the Olympics began with the replacement of the air-supported roof (which the designers say has resulted in an annual saving of $350,000 in energy), along with the sound, video, lighting and other systems that typically hang from stadium roofs. The new cable-supported roof utilizes ETFE, a material more commonly found outside of North America, in combination with high-efficiency transparent glass, allowing the opportunity to bounce colored LED light off the applied frit pattern on the horizontal ribbed expanse, thereby creating a dynamic façade that can both mirror and generate spectator energy. Glass incorporated, as well, into all exit-ramp landings offers views and sunlight into the main circulation routes of the building. Entrances that had previously been underground (a requirement of the old air-supported roof) were brought to the surface, giving the stadium an enhanced street presence. In an apparent first, the 55,000-seat bowl can be visually cut in half horizontally by a secondary roof screen at the midpoint of the seating in order to scale the facility for smaller audiences.
From the incorporation of programmable, color LED lighting into the façade and roof to the unique transformation of the view when the roof is retracted, AB’s judges were wowed by the “flexible and innovative” design. The exterior, said one, “is like an urban light fixture, extending the ambition of the project.” “It’s really stunning,” offered another judge.
Judges’ Comments:
Heroic, iconic, colorful, urbane and appropriate.
— Stefanie Greenfield, Cambridge Seven Associates
A tremendous revitalization of a building that has become a bold, urban icon. It really stands out in the city skyline and at street level.
— Jack Patton, RDG Planning & Design
The integration of lighting really took what was one kind of program and changed it into a piece of public art.
— Viktors Jaunkalns, MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
Architect of Record:
Stantec
Vancouver, B.C.
Associate Architect:
Cannon Design
Victoria, B.C.
Cost: $430 million (Canadian)
Seating Capacity: 55,000
Funded By: Government funds
Major Facility Components: New roof; 55 new suites and club seating section; upgraded concessions areas, lighting, signage, restrooms
Photo by Michael Elkan Photography
Click here for the full photo gallery
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The 2012 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 these two weeks, 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 New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 30.
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Blog: Looking Deeper Into Our Cancellations
There is nothing that ruins our collective mood quicker than a flood of cancellation requests. And man, have we been in a bad mood lately.
Because we take the vast majority of our cancellation requests via our website, we receive them in our email inboxes in real time. It’s bad enough when a family of five submits their requests overnight and we wake up to that in our email. At least as the morning fog lifts and the caffeine hits the blood, we realize it was all one family. It’s much worse when our inboxes are full of requests that are unrelated. All of those people wanted to cancel at the same time? How is that possible?
Certainly, we see spikes of cancellation requests from time to time, but the last eight weeks have been abnormal. So, as we often do when we’re perplexed about what the heck is going on with our business, we dug into our data and hoped it would shed some light.
Forty percent of our recent cancellations have been the result of relocations. The percentage is actually in line with our history, but the sheer number is much higher than normal. This could be a reflection of our local economy. Our area is still plagued by unemployment at over 10 percent, which is higher than our state and national averages. If local residents are finding opportunities elsewhere but a corresponding number of new workers are not coming into our area, this will hurt in the long term. So far, our new membership sales are holding up OK, but the trend is a concern.
• Ten percent of our cancellations were for medical issues, either something that the member is dealing with or something a family member is dealing with. Surprisingly, the vast majority of these cancellations were due to the latter, and these members quit in order to care for their loved ones. There isn’t much we can do about these cancellations.
• Six percent were for financial reasons, either their finances ("I lost my job and can't afford anything") or our cost ("too expensive to continue"). We actually thought this percentage would be higher, considering our concerns about our local economy, but it seems that we don’t need to worry about our prices.
• Fourteen percent provided no reason. In most cases, these people provided instructions — "My year is up, do not renew me." They could likely be combined with the next group...??Thirty percent who we categorized as "Other." The consistent thing was that these folks cited time-related or value-related issues. Our facilities were too inconvenient, a new local job was taking them too far away each day, they had purchased home equipment so they didn’t need to come to us anymore, work had gotten too busy — or they cited the dreaded and generic “non-use.”
What are we taking away from this analysis? In terms of the percentages, there was nothing shocking when compared to our looks at previous data. Medical was a bit high, and financial was a bit low, but nothing crazy. And there’s nothing we can do about relocations.
So, then, what of the spike in the raw numbers in the last two categories, which is where we can have the most impact?
Last October, we started seeing nice membership growth, so some increase in cancellations 12 months later is to be expected, but not at this rate. It’s likely that we have let members slip through the cracks, despite our best efforts to run an organized and efficient retention program. We try to focus on our missing members and our less engaged members, but somewhere in those last groups of cancellations, we have surely let slip away a few who might still be members today.
So, it seems we have to get back to our basic blocking and tackling. Of the last two groups, how long did they go from last visit to cancelation? Were they getting our regular email communications and aware of activities at our clubs? Did they take advantage of our services when they were new members?
Once we know more about the members who have canceled, we need to dive into where we are with members who fit the same profile and could be at risk. It’s tedious, time consuming and challenging, but our only other choice is to stop reading our email.
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8:12 AM
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Friday, October 05, 2012
Battle Over Scriptural Banners Reaching Biblical Proportions
What began with one resident's complaint about the use of run-through banners decorated with Bible verses at Kountze (Texas) High School football games has turned into a national controversy. Reporters from coast to coast have invaded this small southeast Texas town of fewer than 2,200 people that has become — at least for now — the center of the debate over religious freedoms.
On Thursday, an estimated 80 cheerleaders, parents and other supporters gathered in the Hardin Country Courthouse as State District Judge Steve Thomas declared that he needs more time to issue a final ruling on whether the large scriptural banners — "But thanks be to God, which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57) read one recent banner — violate the First Amendment. So he extended a temporary order granted last month to allow the banners for at least another two weeks. A new hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18. (Kountze's regular-season football schedule runs through Nov. 9.)
After cracking down on school districts in Georgia and Mississippi for what it calls First Amendment violations involving pregame prayers and other symbols of faith at high school sporting events, the Madison, Wis.-based church-and-state watchdog Freedom From Religion Foundation forced the Kountze Independent School District to ban the red-and-white banners, which measure 30 feet long and 10 feet high.
During Thursday's proceedings, cheerleaders — who in this case are represented by attorneys from the conservative Liberty Institute in Plano, Texas — testified that the idea to use Bible verses on banners took root at a cheer camp this summer, without any involvement from the squad's advisors. When the district banned the banner, "it felt like my religion wasn't really accepted," Kieara Moffett, a 16-year-old Baptist, told the judge, according to The Los Angeles Times.
"This is government speech. It's on public property" countered Tom Brandt, attorney for the school district, adding that Kountze's cheerleaders signed a "cheerleader constitution" that limited their behavior and designated them as school symbols. "The cheerleaders represent the school."
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that student-initiated prayer at football games was unconstitutional.
For now, though, it's business as usual in Kountze, and the cheerleaders are expected to hold their heads — and banners — high at tonight's home game against Woodville.
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Thursday, October 04, 2012
40,000 TRX Suspension Trainers Being Recalled
Fitness Anywhere has issued a voluntary recall of approximately 40,000 early-model TRX Suspension Trainers due to a faulty strap-length adjustment buckle that can break and cause injury. The models affected by the recall are Professional (P1) and Tactical (T1) Trainers sold to health clubs and gyms between January 2006 and December 2009. Owners should stop using the recalled models immediately and contact Fitness Anywhere by phone at (888) 221-7417 or by email at customercare@trxtraining.com for a replacement.
A more detailed description of the products, as well as images, can be found at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website.
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Wednesday, October 03, 2012
N.H. School Board Member Proposes Killing Football Program
A proposal to ban high school football in Dover, N.H., a small city in the state's southeastern corner, has taken the community — including Dover High School athletic director Peter Wotton — by surprise. "I sure would like to believe [football will survive]," he told Foster's Daily Democrat. "Just the idea of what football is — it's an event. It entails the band, the cheerleaders, the community. That's what makes football so different from the other sports. Good and bad."
The bad is what first-year board member and retired physician Paul Butler focused on when he suggested at Monday night's school board meeting that the city's schools drop football because of the long-term effects of concussions. According to the paper, Butler told his fellow board members that it is the duty of the "governors of the school district" to end the game of football altogether before lawsuits and lawyers require the district to do so. He cited lawsuits filed by former NFL players affected by concussions and brain injuries accusing the NFL of hiding information linking football-related head trauma to permanent brain damage. "I think it's the moral thing to do, the ethical thing to do to try to stop football at Dover High School and throughout Dover," Butler told Daily Democrat reporter John Doyle.
The topic was not discussed further at the meeting, but Butler — who played football in high school and college — told NBC affiliate WHDH that he's ready for a fight. "I'll do my best to try to convince the other members of the school board that it’s a dangerous game and that we should abandon it,” he said. "Football, unlike hockey, unlike lacrosse — both of which are violent games — is the one where the head gets repeatedly banged. … I think it’s bad to take this away, I certainly do. But it’s worse to let it continue."
Butler may want to check his sources. Two years ago, a group of more than 250 doctors, researchers and officials called on hockey organizations — from youth groups on up to the NHL — to ban hits to the head. They cited one astonishing statistic that indicated 700 concussions are reported each year among the 9,000 11- and 12-year-olds playing youth hockey in Alberta, Canada.
Dover School Board member Rocky D'Andrea, who also is a local youth baseball coach, said he doesn't think Butler's proposal will gain much traction. "I'm not supportive of it," he said, adding that there are ways to deal with the serious issues of concussions in sports other than dropping a sport entirely. "Concussions happen in every sport," D'Andrea said. "I know it's an issue, and I'm not trying to belittle it. But getting rid of a sport? If you get rid of football, you might as well get rid of all sports."
A new state law in New Hampshire, passed over the summer, mandates that coaches and other athletic officials immediately pull from the game any athlete they suspect of having sustained a concussion. A written authorization from a health care provider and parent is required before that athlete may return to play.
For years, the National Federation of State High School Associations has made "The Case for High School Activities" in an eight-page document that cites — among other things — a report suggesting that students who participate in "more vigorous sports like soccer or football" perform approximately 10 percent better in math, science, English and social studies classes than students who don't play those sports.
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Blog: Something’s Missing from This New Outdoor Complex
I recently attended the grand opening of the tennis area of a new sports park in Maryland. It was a great fall day — bright sunshine, happy people, everyone pumped up about the possibilities for kids and adults to get involved in physical activity.
But as I looked around the new facilities, I realized something was missing — the chance to socialize.
Make no mistake, the outdoor courts were gorgeous. They had the lines for 10 and Under Tennis to encourage children's play. The soccer fields were equally nice, and included a lighted stadium court. There were even fields for cricket — cricket! — as well as an aquatics center, a pro shop and a host of other facilities. It was altogether an impressive area.
But there was nowhere to sit and watch the action. No picnic tables, no bleachers, no benches. Parents who came to watch their kids play had a choice — stand at the fence and look in at the tennis courts, or sit in their cars in the parking lot some distance away. Neither of those options seemed particularly appealing, given that in our area, summers are hot and humid, and winters are cold and inhospitable. Even the indoor tennis courts, covered by inflatable structures, lacked seating areas. Parents could stand around the periphery, or they could sit on the court surface. Not exactly welcoming.
I'm hoping that since it was only the opening of this complex, spectator seating is going to be added at some point. But if that aspect has been overlooked in the interest of saving money, it's actually a hugely self-defeating move for the park itself.
The irony here is that sports parks exist to promote sports, to keep kids active, and to enhance sports tourism in the area. All of those things generally mean that you want families to come visit. But if you want that, you have to provide the facilities for them. That means seating for parents and others, snack bars, rest rooms and water fountains to keep everyone happy (and to satisfy building codes), and playgrounds for the younger set. And no matter how good your court surface is, no matter how well lighted your soccer fields are, no matter how nice those other facilities are, if you don't have ways to occupy people who aren't playing, you're going to hear complaints.
Builders of sports facilities have noted on multiple occasions that watching sports is as much fun as playing them. It's why balconies overlook racquetball and squash courts. It's why bleachers are provided next to softball diamonds. It's why pools have decks and lounge chairs, as well as splash pads, hot tubs and tot pools nearby.
When you take spectators and non-athletes out of the equation, you take a good portion of the excitement out of the game. For kids who are playing , you take out the joy of showing off their skills for their parents and friends.
I really hope this facility — which seems to have everything else going for it — gets a social life, and soon.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Study: Interventions to Get Kids More Active Ineffective
While increased physical activity has been linked to lower body mass indexes in children, exercise interventions to increase activity levels have little impact on the overall health and activity of children, according to a study recently published in the British Medical Journal.
The findings are the result of a meta-analysis that examined the outcome of 30 exercise intervention trials conducted between 1990 and 2012. The trials, which involved youths 16 years old and younger, lasted at least four weeks and provided participants with additional weekly activity sessions. Rather than increasing the overall amount of time youths spent active, though, researchers found that in some cases these added sessions actually resulted in lower overall activity during the week, and in instances when total activity time did increase, the effect was negligible (overall activity time increased by just four minutes on average) and short-lived.
"Physical activity interventions are not increasing physical activity sufficiently to impact on the body mass or body fat of children," said lead researcher Brad Metcalf, of the department of endocrinology and metabolism at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Plymouth, England.
The authors of the study speculated that such exercise interventions might be replacing other opportunities for activity, such as after-school clubs or free play time. Moreover, said director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center Dr. David Katz in response to the findings, the results point to the need for a more encompassing approach to changing exercise behavior.
“We have cause to question if we are doing enough to make routine activity the cultural norm, so that such programming can achieve greater effects,” said Katz. “An intervention, no matter how good, can only achieve so much if not surrounded by cultural supports.”
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Monday, October 01, 2012
None More Black: London's All-Black Basketball Court Shines
Hailed by officials at Brixton's Black Prince Community Hub as "the new home of London basketball," The Regal — a snazzy and royal-looking all-black basketball court used for the World Basketball Festival in June — has now become a permanent fixture for everything from youth-development leagues to national-level games.
Photos courtesy of Nike
Built by Nike and the London-based design house Hotel Creative, The Regal uses a fully sprung beech sports court made by New York-based Junckers Hardwood Inc. and finished with a distinctive black oil and lettering with gold logos. The court also features walls covered with "flock-effect" street art, gilt-edged baskets and smoked-glass backboards mounted with LED lighting linked to the game clock and shot clocks.
As Hardwood Floors magazine, AB's sister publication, reports;
Nike funded the overhauling of the basketball court at Brixton's Black Prince Community Hub for The Regal, which has retractable seating for 160 spectators. The Black Prince Community Hub is co-owned by Better and the Black Prince Trust, two charitable organizations. The Regal court is open to anybody, with regular pick-up games scheduled throughout the week (the schedule can be viewed on the The Regal's Facebook page). Nike even tapped a former England and Great Britain national player, Junior Williams, to develop a year-long program of free clinics.
Simon Charlesworth, brand manager of the Nike brand in the U.K. and Ireland, told DesignBoom, "We want to grow the game, and what better way to do so than with an inspirational facility that is centrally located, undercover and, most importantly, that provides free access to London ballers?"
This video chronicles the court's evolution:
Speaking of black, last month, AB reported that West Salem (Ore.) High School has installed what is thought to be the only outdoor black football field in the United States.
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Washington State to Schools: Replace Native American Mascots
Washington schools with Native American mascots are being urged to drop references to Totems, Warriors, Braves, Redskins and the like after the Washington State Board of Education passed a resolution last week. According to ABC News, the resolution is similar to one passed by the board in 1993 and cites research conducted by Stephanie Fryberg, a member of Tulalip Tribes in Washington State and an associate professor of Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of Arizona.
According to ABC's report:
Fryberg and the American Psychological Association presented their research on the psychological consequences of using Native American mascots before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in May, 2011. Other findings include an increased achievement gap between Native American[s] and other students and negative effects on race relations in the United States.
In the past decade, 10 Washington State high schools gave up their Indian-named mascots, including Eatonville Middle School, which went from the Warriors to the Eagles, and Eisenhower Middle School in Everett, which went from the Warriors to the Patriots.
But 50 more, including some tribal schools, haven’t given up their nicknames. And despite the resolution, the board doesn’t have the authority to require schools to comply with the change, board spokesman Aaron Wyatt told [ABC affiliate] KOMO. However, he added, there will be no adverse consequences for schools that don’t voluntarily choose a new mascot.
The mascot debate is nothing new. In May, the Oregon State Board of Education voted to ban Native American mascots, nicknames and logos from eight high schools. Those schools have five years to comply, or they will risk losing state funding.
Just last week, AB reported that sports venues used by the University of North Dakota will be allowed to retain some Fighting Sioux imagery and still host NCAA postseason events — seemingly settling seven years of debate that included lawsuits, legislation and a statewide vote regarding the Fighting Sioux moniker. In all, 14 universities have stopped using Native American names after the NCAA in 2006 banned institutions that had Native American logos, mascots or nicknames from hosting post-season events, according to ABC.
AB editor Andrew Cohen even weighed in on the topic late last year.
Marcus Morgan, superintendent of the Reardan-Edwall School District near Spokane, told Fox News that he was open to the idea of discussing changing the high school's nickname from the Indians to something else — even though the topic has not been an issue during his tenure. About a quarter of the district's population consists of Native American or Alaskan Native students. "I think it's maybe time to ask the questions," Morgan said, adding that he would likely place calls to tribal leaders and other community officials to determine how far he should take the topic.
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2012 Facility of Merit Winners to Be Announced
For two weeks beginning one week from today, 10 days after judging wrapped up at the Intercontinental Hotel outside Chicago, the 10 winners of the 2012 Facility of Merit awards will be announced on the AB Newswire.
Did you follow that at all?
As we did last year, we will announce this year's winners, one each business day, beginning Monday, Oct. 8. The winners will be the subject of a dynamic video presentation that will debut prior to the keynote address by Peter Guber at the Athletic Business Conference & Expo in New Orleans on Nov. 29, as well as the subject of a feature in the December issue of the magazine.
Cambridge Seven's Stefanie Greenfield addresses the skeptics.
Out of 81 entries, all of which appeared in the June Architectural Showcase issue, 25 survived the first-day cutdown. (For an old but still relevant description of the judging process, go here.) Discussion went well into the evening, with several entries ultimately moving from on-the-bubble status to the second day's Big Dance.
RDG's Jack Patton, aided by Hughes Group's Amado Fernandez, makes his point to the other judges.
On day two, just two projects were named winners on the first ballot, which followed a morning during which all surviving entries were scrutinized and scored. Four hours of debate later, the 10th winner was selected. An hour-long discussion that followed will be the basis of the December feature story.
Thank you to our seven judges: Viktors Jaunkalns of MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller; Robert McDonald of Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative; Amado Fernandez of Hughes Group; Jim Kalvelage of Opsis; Jack Patton of RDG; Stefanie Greenfield of Cambridge Seven; and James Braam of 360 Architecture.
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Prime Fitness & Beauty: The Difference Is in the Details
"Are there fitness clubs like this in the United States?" So asked Francesco Iezzoni through an interpreter this morning as we toured the nearly two-year-old location of Prime, in a mall development outside Castel Maggiore (the club's other location is in the center of nearby Bologna). Yes, high-end clubs such as this exist, with many of the same components. But few U.S. clubs exhibit the aesthetic styling on display here in details large and small. Eschewing the elevator, we climbed two staircases to the entry lobby and immediately got a hint of the club's layout through the length of glass inset into the resin lobby floor, which crosses in front of the welcome desk and intersects one of the sales offices. Both the blue light in the floor cutout and its narrow view into the pool space were motifs duplicated in other areas of the club, from the vertical mirrored strips in the wall of the group exercise room to the orange lighting emanating from the side panels of "end tables" separating pieces of cardio equipment in the fitness area.
This particular club might be the proof of something I was told recently about clubs in certain Western European countries (especially those with low obesity rates): It differs from the American design sensibility of function first. Prime functions as you would expect a club to, with separation of wet and dry areas, visual cues connecting spaces and aiding wayfinding. Built in a large-span building where ample space was available, it also features an American-style, large-scale fitness center. (Our interpreter said that Italians entering the high-ceilinged room full of equipment gasped at the size and openness of it.) But attention has been paid — and euros, too — to give the spaces a real sense of style, something often missing from U.S. clubs.
"They tend toward the iconic; we're more practical," architect Doni Visani of Denver-based Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative told me recently. "In a place like Italy, I belong to a club, and it had better be grand looking because it’s as grand as I am — it looks as good as my Ferrari or my watch. It’s an extension of my designer clothing."
And it's coming to America, as our health club market becomes increasingly split between higher-end and lower-priced competitors. My November feature story in AB will have more to say on that score.
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