Global Training for Youth Athletes

The majority of my information on today's topic is taken from one of the leading youth fitness experts in the world, Mr. Brian Grasso.


With that said let's get started.

Remember back in the day when you were a kid, you would go outside and play multiple games throughout the day. The day may start off with you and the fellows walking to your neighbor's house to ask and see if your best friend could come out but during that trip you wouldn't just walk on the sidewalk like normal kids, you would walk on the edge of the sidewalk to test your balance and coordination or play "Don't step on the crack cause it'll break your momma's back. Remember that was the game where you jumped the lines that separated the slobs of cement from each other on the sidewalk. Once everyone got outside you guys may warm up by playing a quick game of freeze tag. Then progress to playing some type of sport rather it was touch football, or basketball, or some type of organized play depending on the season that was in or televised on tv. Afterward, somebody would notion everyone going to get their bikes so you guys could ride up to the corner store to get some candy or something. And if you didn't have a bike, then you either rode standing on the back spokes of the guy who did have a bike, or you rode on the front handlebars as he used you as his personal Tom Tom navigation system. And at the end the day you guys may have orchestrated "the fastest kid in the neighborhood" race so to see who was the fastest kid in the neighborhood.

I had the opportunity this week to work with one of the local high schools where I currently reside. Before working with them, the coach and I met so that I had a clear vision on what goals she wanted for her team. I thought her response was going to be for me to come in and bring out all the toys and whistles that I have i.e. the agility ladder or some piece of agility/ speed equipment. But I was pleasantly surprised because that was not the case. What she said her number one goal that she wanted me to work with her girl's basketball team on was developing and improving upon their global skills and motor skills instead of concentrating on sports specific training.

Some reading this article may ask why???

And here is the answer. FOUNDATION.


Most parents, coaches, and trainers have narrow goals when designing a program for their youth athlete. However, like yesterday's post, the main goal for youth athletes should be for them to master the different motor skill components of coordination before they are introduced to more complex topics or sport specific drills and subjects. A global development of training approach not only ensures success in the future for the athlete but also prevents future injury.



The goal in early training for youth is to develop coordination through movement based stimuli so that they graduate later in their adolescence and post adolescence years to a more sports specific type of training that parents, coaches, and trainers are accustom to seeing and more familiar with their athlete participating in. First, let's define coordination. Most reading this post may think of coordination being a single ability or single skill; however, coordination is made up of several elements that work together. These elements are balance, rhythm, spatial orientation, and the ability to react to auditory and visual cues. An example of a coordination program would be a young athlete performing some type of spatial awareness exercise with no speed involved in the beginning and later progress to the same skill with the incorporation of a speed component combined with a change in the environment to make it more challenging for the athlete to master.


Research points out that coordination development is best introduced between the ages of 7-14 with the most crucial period of learning and training being in the period of 10-13. At the age of 16 usually is when the athlete has optimized the development of coordination. As a result, the drills planned should be age appropriate and structured so that it is challenging but yet fun for optimal results. Athletes who have a firm foundation with coordination development are far better athletes in the long term than athletes who are never exposed or are exposed to coordination/ global training later in their athletic career after these prescribed ages.


Why you might ask?


Because it is all about building a firm foundation to work upon. I like to use the analogy of a Jenga game, in which one piece missing could be detrimental in the end and cause the whole structure to fall. Thus young athletes should have a firm foundation so that they become a successful and healthy athlete in the long term.

Coordination development is a process of years of exposure to diverse yet versatile exercises and training. Coaches, parents, and trainers must understand that coordination training is a process and that each component builds upon the other. This statement alone should cause parents, coaches, and trainers to sit up and pay more close attention. Young athletes should have an opportunity to be exposed to different kinds of sports on a yearly basis so that they are introduced to a variety of coordination skills that they ordinarily would not be exposed to if they were to play the same sport year-round. Parents and coaches should not concentrate so much on sport-specific and specialized training for young athletes early on because it causes a faulty, weak foundation in the long term.

In addition, parents, coaches, and trainers should not wait to introduce global training in the beginning of an athlete's adolescent years because of the rapid changes that occur in their bodies during this period of time. The best time to introduce global training is during the pre-adolescence years when the athlete's nervous system is still highly plausible and their motor skill learning has not become fully developed permanently. Once the athlete masters the pre-adolescent stage, the next level to build upon is their adolescent years in which the main goal should be to refine those skills that were introduced in the pre-adolescent stage. Then and only then should the concentration be shifted to a more sports-specific or specialized type of environment for the athlete, which we will call the post-adolescence stage.

I must address the issue of genetics as it relates to global training. Less coordinated athletes will never exhibit the coordination of well-skilled athletes no matter how much global training they receive; however, improvement will be seen and achieved on a more personal level.

So to recap all that was covered today these are the base points that parents, coaches, and trainers should consider when training a young athlete in the beginning:


1. Start young – coordination improves as a result of learning and mastering new movements. Start young athletes off early with coordination-based exercises that challenge their abilities (within reason). The more coordination a young athlete has, the more ability he or she will display at any perspective sport.


2. Challenge young athletes on an individual and appropriate level – Some youngsters have good balance while others display good rhythm. The key to successful coaching is to undercover what elements of coordination each athlete requires and develop drills/exercises that most suitably target the weaknesses.


3. Change exercises frequently – young athletes learn quickly in most cases. Be sure to challenge them physically and intellectually with new exercises often.

Until then keep working hard. Tomorrow we will look at what sports every kid must play in order to be an overall stud on the field/ court/ or rink.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

The Recruiting Process: How to Protect and Help Your Athlete

This article was taken from FamilyResource.com and was written by Brent Elsasser and Gerald Masterson, Ph.D.

I remember when I was a junior and senior in high school playing football. I wasn't highly recruited coming out of high school. Heck, I don't even think that I was in the top 50 athletes in the city even though I was two time All Conference at the position that I was playing. I can remember the anxiety that I felt when it was time to sign my letter of intent; however, I didn't know what I was doing. My coach wasn't a great support system to use. He didn't do anything really in getting the schools to look at me; it was more my wrestling coach that tried to get some of the schools to look at me for football. My mother didn't have a clue as to how the recruiting process went cause I was her only son so she wasn't familiar with the process nor did she know what questions to ask the recruiter. It was very scary and frustrating at the time. We were like the blind leading the blind. We both were headed for the ditch. I wished I had someone that would have walked my mother and myself through the process that didn't have a bias interest in the matter.

Highly visible sought-after recruits receive heavy attention from college coaches, the media, boosters, and others that can make the recruiting process very straining on the recruit, their family, and even the high school coach. Recruiting blunders are a common occurrence as the need to win mentality in Division I college athletics is prevalent. As the high school coach of a recruit, there are steps that can be taken to help alleviate some of the pressures placed on your athlete.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has rules and you as a high school coach should be aware of these rules. First, the NCAA defines a recruited prospective student-athlete as a student who has started classes for the ninth grade or has received contact by a coach offering any financial assistance or other benefits before the ninth grade. The student officially becomes a recruited prospective student-athlete when contacted by a college coaching staff on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment.
Contacts

The NCAA limits contact during the year and specifies recruiting and non-recruiting periods. There are four periods specified by the NCAA: the contact, evaluation, quiet, and dead periods. The amount of face-to-face encounters and dialogue the coach is allowed with a recruit differs with each period. The contact period is the only time when coaches may visit the recruit's home and talk with the athlete and his or her parents. In the evaluation period, coaches can visit the recruit's school to observe the athlete at practice or a game and converse with high school coaches and guidance counselors. However, the coach cannot have dialogue with the recruit. The only in-person contact allowed during the quiet period is on the college campus during a visit. No face-to-face contact is allowed during the dead period. Telephone calls are permitted during all periods, with limitations on how often the coach may call. To view the dates for each recruiting period, visit the NCAA's website.
College Visits

A recruit can visit a college campus, either officially or unofficially, during the recruiting process. An official visit is paid for by the interested school and consists of transportation to and from the college, room and meals during the visit, and reasonable entertainment expenses such as a home athletics contest for the recruit and his or her parents. Before an official visit can take place, the recruit must provide a copy of their high school transcripts and ACT or SAT scores. The recruit is limited to five official visits, which can take place during the contact, evaluation, or quiet periods. An unofficial visit is paid for by the recruit and their family, except for complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest the school may provide. The recruit can talk to the coaches on any unofficial visit except during the dead period. A recruit can take as many unofficial visits as desired.
Signing Day

The most important day during the recruiting cycle is signing day, when recruits sign National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play for an institution. Signing a NLI binds the athlete to that college, with penalties if the athlete doesn't follow through, such as losing a year of eligibility for transferring to another school. The NCAA's recruiting year runs from August 1st to July 31st, and the NCAA specifies signing periods for each sport. The signing period for fall sports begins the first week in February and lasts until the end of March. Basketball has two signing periods; an early signing period lasting for a week in November and the second for a month beginning in mid-April. All spring sport recruits will sign their NLI during the November period.
Verbal Commitment

Until a recruit signs a NLI, which binds them to an institution, a prospect can only verbally commit to a school until they are able to sign. When a prospect verbally commits to a school, it is no more than a promise to the coaches he or she will sign. The athlete can break a verbal commitment, and many times coaches will continue to recruit committed prospects of other schools. Negative recruiting (supposedly against the rules), a practice in which coaches from a school will talk badly about another school in an attempt to gain a recruit's commitment, is common in the recruiting world. An important note here is that an athlete does not have to sign a NLI to attend a college.
NCAA Clearinghouse

For a high school athlete to be eligible to play at the NCAA level, the individual must register and be certified by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse. The student's academic background, including grade-point averages for core-curriculum courses and scores from an ACT or SAT, are evaluated to determine eligibility. It is a good idea for prospective college athletes to register with the Clearinghouse after their junior year, but before their senior year, so any academic deficiencies can be addressed during the senior year. A new requirement is that prospective Division I and II athletes must send their ACT or SAT scores directly to the Clearinghouse from the testing agencies.

Many college basketball and football programs generate 20 to 30 million dollars annually in revenue (Fulks, 2000, as cited in Letawsky, 2003). Between 1985 and 2005, the average budget for NCAA Division I-A football teams more than tripled and men's basketball budgets more then quadrupled (Wolverton & Lipka, 2007). Success on the field can bring recognition, visibility and increased revenue to the school and the head coach.

Only 5.7% of high school football players and 3% of basketball players will compete at the college level, and less than 0.1% advance to the professional ranks (NCAA). The pool from which coaches select is very small, leading to intense battles for players. Winning on the field or court starts with winning on the recruiting trail. This means the recruiting battle for the highly sought-after blue chip prospects can be extremely competitive and dirty.

Fans and boosters also follow the process intensely, as the perception is attracting the best athletes to a school equates to winning. The media now covers recruiting as part of their regular reporting of college sports, and websites dedicated to recruiting have popped up all over the Internet, with fans paying to read which recruits their favorite school is pursuing. Recruiting websites receive millions of visitors monthly and rank players with a star system (1-5, with five being the highest). These websites try to stay in constant contact with recruits and tend to call prospects without parental permission. Since college coaches are not allowed to comment on a prospective student-athlete until he or she signs a NLI, these websites have numerous journalists collecting information and conducting interviews that are then relayed to their subscribers. Many journalists can be unprofessional and biased, and have been known to misconstrue quotes made by recruits. As a coach you need to encourage your athlete to limit interviews with these websites and have parents become involved by setting boundaries. One easy solution to avoiding these journalists is to not give out cell phone numbers. If you have to give them a number, only give out a home phone number where parents can help protect the recruit.

Another reason not to give out cell phone information is the escalation in frequency of text messaging. Since the NCAA limits the number of phone calls coaches can make to recruits, coaches had been sending excessive amounts of text messages to recruits. However, the NCAA recently addressed this problem by eliminating coach-to-recruit text messaging effective August 1, 2007.

The early signing period currently in place in basketball is beneficial for recruits who know their college destination and want to end the recruiting process. However you should not push your athlete into making a decision if they are not ready or if they are trying to avoid the pressure. When an early signing period is not available and your athlete has made a verbal commitment, hold them to that decision. Let the athlete know that once they've given a school their word, it should be binding. This also means that when other colleges call to inquire about the recruit, they must be told to move on and to stop recruiting the individual.

As a coach, you must stay neutral and guide your athlete along through the recruiting cycle. Offer suggestions and support, but do not pressure the player to choose a certain school. Set limits for college coaches in contacting your player, and do not let the athlete be persuaded by negativity. Help the athlete make a list of pros and cons regarding each school to help them make the decision. The decision may become easier when everything is laid out in front of them.

The NCAA has a detailed compilation of rules and regulations regarding recruiting practices. It offers information to recruits to help them know their rights and for coaches to clarify boundaries and help them follow the rules. To become better acquainted with the NCAA's policies, visit their website at www.ncaa.org and click on "Legislation and Governance" then "Eligibility and Recruiting."
References

* Wolverton, B., & Lipka, S. (2007). Knight commission to fight high salaries and recruiting pressures. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 53 No. 22, p. 28.
* Judson, K.M., James, J.D., & Aurand, T.W. (2004). Marketing the university to student-athletes: understanding university selection criteria. Journal of Marketing for Higher Educations, Vol. 14 Issue 1, pp. 23-40.
* Letawsky, N.R., Schneider, R.G., Pederson, P.M., & Palmer, C.J. (2003). Factors influencing the college selection process of student-athletes: are their factors similar to non-athletes? College Student Journal, Vol. 37 Issue 4, pp. 604-610.
* Lipka, S. (2006). Hot-button recruiting. Chronicle of Higher Educations, Vol. 53 Issue 7, p. 37.
* Carey, J. (2007, January 29). Legal woes big challenge in recruiting. USA Today, Sports p. 3.
* Carey, J. (2007, January 23). Commission told of big changes in recruiting. USA Today, Sports p. 5c.
* Sperber, M. (2004). Sex and booze: two steps to winning football. Chronicle of Higher Educations, Vol. 50 Issue 27, p. 24.
* Jacobson, J. (2004). Rolling up the red carpet for recruits. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 51 Issue 6, pp. 37-39.
* National Collegiate Athletic Association, www.ncaa.org.
* Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, www.knightcommission.org.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Overweight Siblings Of Children With Type 2 Diabetes Likely To Have Abnormal Blood Sugar Levels

ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2008) — Overweight siblings of children with type 2 diabetes are four times more likely to have abnormal glucose levels compared to other overweight children. Because abnormal glucose levels may indicate risk for diabetes or diabetes itself, these children could benefit from screening tests and diabetes prevention education. Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published their findings December 9 in the online edition of the Journal of Pediatrics.
"To our knowledge, previous studies have not specifically looked at the risk of abnormal glucose tolerance among siblings of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This group has a unique combination of genetic and environmental risk factors," said Sheela N. Magge, M.D., M.S.C.E., a pediatric endocrinologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and primary author of the study. "Clinical experience suggests that children with type 2 diabetes often have an obese sibling, which makes siblings an appropriate target for prevention trials."
The study looked at 62 children: 20 obese subjects with a sibling who had type 2 diabetes and a control group of 42 obese children. The groups were similar for age, gender, racial distribution (predominantly African American), pubertal status and body mass index over 95th percentile.

The researchers found that overweight siblings of children with type 2 diabetes had four times greater odds of having abnormal glucose levels (impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes) than other overweight children. However, investigators found no significant differences in insulin resistance, as measured by the homeostasis model assessment.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Known risks include obesity, decreased physical activity, race/ethnicity, family history and insulin resistance. Obesity decreases insulin sensitivity, as does puberty, when all adolescents experience a period of relative insulin resistance. In obese adolescents already at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the increase in insulin resistance during puberty may be enough to unmask disease. Family history is also important; 74 to 100 percent of children with type 2 diabetes have a first- or second-degree relative who also has the condition.
Not all children with a family history of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance or obesity develop type 2 diabetes, cautions Dr. Magge.
The researchers also add that identifying groups at high risk for type 2 diabetes during childhood, such as obese siblings of children with type 2 diabetes, could help guide screening of obese children for abnormal glucose tolerance by primary care providers. This could also help to identify children who might benefit from participation in future type 2 diabetes prevention studies.
Dr. Magge's coauthors were Nicolas Stettler, M.D., M.S.C.E.; Abbas Jawad, M.Sc., Ph.D.; and Lorraine E. Levitt Katz, M.D.; all of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Research Resources.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2008, December 23). Overweight Siblings Of Children With Type 2 Diabetes Likely To Have Abnormal

Personal Trainer in Charlotte. NC

Sportsmanship: Teaching Kids How to Lose Gracefully and Healthy Part II

"No fair!"

"You cheated!"

"It wasn't my fault we lost!"

Have you ever played on a team with somebody who hated to lose? Or maybe you have a tough time if you lose anything — even a game of ping pong. Such omnipresent multimedia messages combined with a "winning is everything" philosophy embraced by increasing numbers of parents and coaches - makes it harder than ever for adults to teach kids that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game that's important. Some kids find it extra-hard to lose, but everyone needs to learn how to do it. Learning to lose without losing your cool is a skill, like learning to ride a bike. You might not be able to do it at first, but over time it will get easier. And when you can handle losing, people will call you a good sport.

Why Learn to Lose Gracefully?

Everyone wants to win. But any time two teams or kids are facing each other in a game or contest, someone will lose (unless it's a tie). Kids lose in small ways, like in a game of checkers, but they also might face losing in bigger ways, like when their team loses a championship game. Losing is disappointing, so it's not surprising that kids don't like it. Adults don't like it either.

I can remember just four years ago how competitive and caught up in my flag football games I would get. I got so caught up that many of the female team members (it was a coed team) stated that they didn't want to play on the same team as I ever again or they didn't want to play anymore altogether because of my conduct when we would lose. I never was able to (until recently) grasp and learn to lose without losing my cool. Everyone can learn to control how they react to a loss. In other words, what should you do when you lose?

The tricky part is that sometimes you might react before you even realize it. For example, I can remember when I was in high school playing junior varsity football, my best friend at the time played for the cross town rivals. We were clearly suppose to have beat them but we were off and they were on that night. Needless to say, we lost within the last two minutes of the game. Instead of being a good sportsman and shaking his hand, I shook everyone else hand as we walk down the line to congratulate them on a superb performance, and walk off the field without speaking to him. It took me a whole week before I had cooled off and returned any of his calls to apologize for my actions.

In addition, it's not surprising that the rise in bad sportsmanship -- and outrageous behavior in professional sports has resulted in a parallel increase of poor sportsmanship (e.g., trash-talking, violence) in youth sports. Regardless of whether we caution our kids to NOT idolize professional athletes who behave badly, kids will continue to be influenced by the behavior of the pros.

How can you instill in your child the importance of good sportsmanship and offset the "win at all costs" philosophy? Both parents and coaches can start by focusing on these issues:

Tips for Parents

# Be Your Child's Role Model. Offer praise and encouraging words for all athletes, including your child's opponents. Never openly berate, tease, or demean any child athlete, coach, or referee while attending a sporting event. When attending athletic events or watching them on TV with your child, refrain from criticizing or condemning athletes' performances.

# Do You Have A Hidden Agenda? Be honest with yourself about why you want your child to play organized sports. What do you want them to gain from the experience? Are your intentions based on providing them with pleasurable, social activities that develop a better sense of self-worth, skills, and sportsmanship? Or do you harbor dreams of them turning their topspin forehand into a collegiate scholarship, or riches and fame? A child's participation in sports and the importance attached to it should not be driven by a parent's desire to use their child's sports accomplishments for ulterior purposes.

# You Set the Rules. It's ultimately your responsibility to teach your children good sportsmanship, both as a participant and as a spectator. If you observe your child engaged in poor sportsmanship, regardless of whether their coach corrects them or not, you must discuss your child's misbehavior and insensitivity with them after the game. If a coach is ignoring, allowing, or encouraging poor sportsmanship, you need to make your objections known to the coach in a private discussion.

# Watching and Learning. Whether you're watching the Olympics on TV or attending a high-school sporting event, you can always find "teachable moments" regarding sportsmanship. Ask your child their opinions of: players who showboat and taunt their opponents; the costs to the team of a technical foul, or being ejected from a game for unsportsman-like conduct; and the appropriate behavior of opposing players toward one another after a game. During these "teachable moments" ask them open-ended questions and listen more than you talk or lecture.

Tips for Coaches

Coaches nurture good sportsmanship. They should embody parents' values regarding good sportsmanship. A coach must model good sportsmanship at every level and make it a core goal of his work with kids.

I recommend that every youth sports coach engage their players in a detailed discussion of good sportsmanship as soon as they forms their team. A written contract, perhaps titled The Good Sportsmanship Code, should be given to every child and parent to sign. The contract should spell out what the coach expects from each player in terms of good sportsmanship, including the following areas:

* Cheating
* Losing one's temper
* Negative criticism of teammates, coaches, referees, and opposing players
* Blaming teammates for mistakes or a poor team performance
* "Trash talk" and taunting opponents
* Showboating
* Arguing referees' calls and judgments
* The need to congratulate one's opponents after a game

Coaching children is an honor and a privilege that carries with it a moral responsibility to contribute to the healthy character development of young players. Coaches who equate "trying your best" as the definition of success -- and who value, expect, and demand good sportsmanship from their players -- help shape the moral, ethical, and spiritual character of children.

Communicate often with your child's coach to make sure they takes this responsibility seriously.

Here are some ways that your child can show others what good sportsmanship is all about:

and finally Tips for the Athlete

1. Be polite to everyone you're playing with and against. No trash talk — which means saying mean things while you're in the middle of a game.
2. Don't show off. Just play your best. If you're good, people will notice.
3. Tell your opponents "good game!" whether you've won or you've lost.
4. Learn the rules of the game. Show up for practices and games on time — even if you're the star of the team.
5. Listen to your coaches and follow their directions about playing.
6. Don't argue with an official if you don't agree with his or her call. If you don't understand a certain call, wait until after the game to ask your coach or the official to explain it to you.
7. Don't make up excuses or blame a teammate when you lose. Try to learn from what happened.
8. Be willing to sit out so other team members can get in the game — even if you think you're a better player.
9. Play fair and don't cheat.
10. Cheer for your teammates even if the score is 1,000 to 1! You could inspire a big comeback!


I leave you with two quotes from two famous coaches. The first is from Joe Paterno, Penn State Head Football Coach, "Success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. And the last comes from John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach, "Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

Reference: FamilyEducation.com
Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Nintendo Wii: A Combatant of Childhood Obesity

When Generation X was growing up, my generation, we were expected to play outside with friends and participate in sports. The only video game console that was out in the beginning was the Atari . And really who wanted to play with that with the horrible graphics that it had. That quickly died out with Generation Y. In this day and age, children are going outside less and playing video games and using their computers more, becoming less active than children their age several decades ago. Until now, video games have largely been a fairly passive activity, resulting in few calories burned. As a teenage kid, video games weren't my cup of tea. I can remember times when I would play my Nintendo only when I was either on punishment or the weather was too unbearable to go out to play. I can remember getting my first Nintendo NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) for Christmas. I got two games. One was the popular Mike Tyson's Punch Out. At the time, Mike Tyson had just came on the boxing scene and was terrorizing everyone he came in contact with. The other game was Contra. It was a military style game where you had to go through multiple levels to save the world. At that time, video games were still new and a lot of households didn't have them. Fast forward twenty years later, now the opposite has taken place. Most kids have multiple game systems in the home such as the Sony's Playstation I through III , or Microsofts' Xbox or Xbox 360, or the one that is making a lot of adults and children alike get off their butts and exercise, Nintendo's Wii. During the years, I have watched Nintendo come out with various versions of their game console, and through it all, I have been a big advocate of them because they always seem to create a way to make their games more interactive as oppose to sedentary.

I can remember with the NES game console, individuals had an option to purchase an additional piece of equipment called the Power Pad or the Power Glove that made the Nintendo NES games more interactive. The Power Pad was a piece of plastic that reminded me of the game Twister because it had these dots that were on it that required people to stand and play the game. The Nintendo Power Glove was a electronic glove that fit on your hand in which people could use when playing the NES. The problem with the Power Pad and Glove were that those two pieces of equipment were sold separately so many families would just buy the main game system and leave the Power Pad and/or Glove behind. So more and more game consoles followed, the Sega and Sega Genesis, Sony's Playstations, Microsoft's Xboxes. The graphics and story lines got better and better with each new company emerging. As a result burning off calories while playing traditional video games was next to impossible. Majority of the game consoles didn't require that much interaction in the area of moving around. More and more kids started to invest more heavily in video game consoles and video games, which in turn with the combination of poor nutrition caused more kids to suffer from childhood obesity. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has been on the rise for two decades. It has currently topped out at approximately 18%, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. While some of this can be attributed to higher consumption of fatty foods and soft drinks, the bulk probably has more to do with inactivity.

Until now, with the introduction to Nintendo's Wii. Now for the first time you can combine video games with a high degree of activity, resulting in more calories burned and healthier kids. Wii is the new interactive video game system from Nintendo. Rather than sitting down with a remote control, the user must stand and mimic the actions that he/she wishes to complete on the screen. New studies are showing that Wii games such as boxing, aerobics, bowling and tennis, are helping users to get much needed exercise while still enjoying video games. God bless scientists. I even have a couple of adult clients who love to not only play the Nintendo Wii with their kids or family members, but they themselves find a lot of enjoyment and pleasure with playing the Wii alone. Some have gotten the Wii Fit to supplement the days when they are away from me and my training sessions.

Motion sensor-controlled consoles can make an impact on a child’s energy expenditure and calories burned, however parents should encourage outdoor pursuits such as riding a bike, or playing a quick pick up game of football, baseball, or basketball. If kids aren't able to go outside or can't find the time to go outdoors, the Nintendo Wii is the best substitute in the video game market in comparison to the other companies.

Liverpool John Moores University, scientists there have been hard at work measuring gamers’ activity levels, and found that playing Wii for 15 minutes boosts children's energy expenditure by 156%, compared to 60% using normal joypads on other consoles. They study continued to say that this calculated for the average child who spent 12.2 hours a week playing games, to potentially burn off 1,830 calories.

In conclusion, traditionally, video gaming systems are expensive, as are the games that must be purchased separately. In today's economy, setting up a video game systems can be a burden on a family's pocketbook. If you are debating to purchase a game console for your children and family this Christmas, the Nintendo Wii actively encourages gamers to get up and play rather than sinking further into a sedentary lifestyle. However, playing new generation active computer games uses significantly more energy than playing sedentary computer games but not as much energy as playing the sport itself. Therefore, parents and children should use the game console as an auxiliary to whatever current physical active that they have in place for their family and themselves.

Until next time keep moving. I have next on Madden Football on the Wii. Let's Go Panthers!!!

Reference: Physorg.com and Selfgrowth.com

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Why We Need An Obesity Tax

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Like many New Yorkers, I remember a time when nearly everyone smoked. In 1950, Collier's reported that more than three-quarters of adult men smoked. This epidemic had a devastating and long-lasting impact on public health.

Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a new public health epidemic: childhood obesity.

What smoking was to my parents' generation, obesity is to my children's generation. Nearly one out of every four New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese. In many high-poverty areas, the rate is closer to one out of three.

That is why, in the state budget I presented last Tuesday, I proposed a tax on sugared beverages like soda. Research has demonstrated that soft-drink consumption is one of the main drivers of childhood obesity.

For example, a study by Harvard researchers found that each additional 12-ounce soft drink consumed per day increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent. For adults, the association is similar.

If we are to succeed in reducing childhood obesity, we must reduce consumption of sugared beverages. That is the purpose of our proposed tax. We estimate that an 18 percent tax will reduce consumption by five percent.

Our tax would apply only to sugared drinks -- including fruit drinks that are less than 70 percent juice -- that are non diet. The $404 million this tax would raise next year will go toward funding public health programs, including obesity prevention programs, across New York state.

The surgeon general estimates that obesity was associated with 112,000 deaths in the United States every year. Here in New York state, we spend almost $6.1 billion on health care related to adult obesity -- the second-highest level of spending in the nation.

Last year, legitimate concerns about links between consumption of fast food and the prevalence of heart disease prompted New York City to ban the use of trans fats in restaurant food.

No one can deny the urgency of reducing the rate of obesity, including childhood obesity. Obesity causes serious health problems like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It puts children at much greater risk for life-threatening conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

We must never stigmatize children who are overweight or obese. Yet, for the sake of our children's health, we have an obligation to address this crisis. I believe we can ultimately curb the obesity epidemic the same way we curbed smoking: through smart public policy.

In recent decades, anti-smoking campaigns have raised awareness. Smoking bans have been enacted and enforced. And, perhaps most importantly, we have raised the price of cigarettes.

In June, New York state raised the state cigarette tax an additional $1.25. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, this increase alone will prevent more than 243,000 kids from smoking, save more than 37,000 lives and produce more than $5 billion in health care savings.

These taxes may be unpopular, but their benefits are undeniable. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, for the first time in generations, fewer than 20 percent of Americans smoked. Lung cancer rates have finally begun to decline. As a result, we are all healthier.

Just as the cigarette tax has helped reduce the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths, a tax on highly caloric, non-nutritional beverages can help reduce the prevalence of obesity.

To address the obesity crisis, we need more than just a surcharge on soda. We need to take junk food out of our schools. We need to encourage our children to exercise more. And we need to increase the availability of healthy food in underserved communities.

But to make serious progress in this effort, we need to reduce the consumption of high-calorie drinks like nondiet soda among children and adults.

I understand that New Yorkers may not like paying a surcharge for their favorite drinks. But surely it's a small price to pay for our children's health.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Paterson.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Female Athletes and ACL Injuries

Last week, I wrote about the experience that I had with working with a local high school girls basketball team and the conversation that took place with the head junior varsity coach and myself. I briefly explained the goals that the coach was seeking with working with me; however, I failed to talk about one other issue or topic that came up in the discussion.

Anterior cruciate ligament commonly known as the ACL.

Eight years ago 2.5 million high school girls and 145,000 college girls played some type of competitive sport. No longer are the days that girls are just participating in non-contact sports such as golf or tennis. They are now participating in more violent contact sports like football, basketball, boxing, roller demolition derby, field hockey, and lacrosse to name a few. Each year, females participation in sport has rising substantially in every major market or competitive arena from club sports all the way to collegiate competition. Even though, more females are signing up and participating in sports, more are watching on the sideline rather than playing on the field due to sustaining more injuries like ACL injuries.

ACL injuries are the most common injuries that most females will be faced with while participating in athletics. Each year, 1 out of 100 high school female athletes and 1 out of 10 college female athletes will go down with an ACL injury. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (more commonly known as the NCAA) reports that in a given year, approximately 2200 collegiate females are expected to go down with an ACL injury. These stats suggest that females are 4 to 8 times more likely to sustain this type of injury than males. Also research data shows that on average, an ACL reconstruction surgery costs a family $25,000 a year. In addition, the data from high school and college suggest that they spend over $100 million annually on reconstruction surgeries for females.


The question is why are females more susceptible to ACL injuries than males? And are there exercises that can be done to prevent them from being injured?

Many experts (myself included) think the reason why females are so susceptible is because of the anatomical differences that females have in comparison to males. In addition other common factors are muscle imbalances and variations in movement patterns.


Anatomical Differences

In the knee joint, an intercondylar notch lies between the femoral condyles. The ACL moves within this notch, connecting the femur (more commonly known has the thigh bone) and the tibia(more commonly known as the shin), providing stability to the knee. The ACL prevents the tibia from sliding forward and rotating inward. The majority of women have a small notch, therefore restricting ACL movement. When movement is restricted, the femoral condyles can easily pinch the ACL within the joint, especially during twisting or hyperextended movements. This ultimately can result in a tear or rupture.

The other difference lies in what is called the Q angle or the angle from the hips, femur, and tibia. The femur is affected because it meets the tibia at this angle and if a person has wider hips (which most females do in comparison to their male counterparts) it can have an affect on their ACL. The wider the hips, the larger the Q angle. At this greater angle, forces are concentrated on the ligament for stability each time the knee rotates. This increases the rotational forces on the ACL, raising the probability of a tear. A large Q angle also results in a more pronated foot (a foot that is turned outward), further stressing the knee.

Muscle Imbalance

The balance and relationship between how the quadriceps and hamstrings work together plays a crucial part to knee stability. Research shows that female athletes tend to have quadriceps to hamstrings muscle imbalances -- with the quadriceps as the dominating knee stability muscle. On the other hand, men have a better balance between quadriceps and hamstrings. They engage the hamstrings first when performing a movement, which actually decreases stress on the ACL. Therefore, the stability of the knee is more quadriceps-dominant (an ACL antagonist) in females and more hamstrings-dominant (an ACL agonist) in men.

So let's relate this concept to female involvement in sports. As stated earlier, females are now engaging in similar activities like their male counterparts which place the same demands on their bodies and knee structures with similar intensity (equal twisting and loading forces on the knee joint). Twisting, cutting and landing movements all stress the ACL to provide stability. As the quadriceps contract, additional stress is put on the ACL, increasing the risk of injury. So, if females or more quadriceps dominant, they are more susceptible in putting their ACL in danger of tearing because it is stressed more during the activity.

Variations in Movement Patterns
Contrary to what a lot of you reading this article may think, the majority of ACL injuries come from non-contact incidents on the field or court. These injuries are divided equally among the three main non-contact movements -- planting, cutting and straight-knee landings with hyper-extended knees. For unknown reasons, women tend to perform all these movements with straight legs. Straight-legged activities require the knees to absorb forces equal to four times an individual's body weight as well as encourage hyperextension of the knee joint. Hyperextending the knee is one of the major contributors to non-contact ACL injuries. Also, videos have show that women tend to perform planting, cutting and landing movements by turning the knees inward, further exaggerating the Q angle stress on the ACL and therefore increasing risk of an ACL rupture.

How can the athletic community assist females to decrease the risk of an ACL tear?

Obviously, anatomical characteristics that increase the risk of ACL rupture cannot be changed. As a result, the focus for prevention has been on teaching athletes the correct motor patterns to prevent excessive stress on the ACL through jump training (landing and propelling). Finally, because quadriceps-hamstring strength imbalance appears so important, athletes must also work to maintain flexibility of both of these muscle groups. As muscles are strengthened, flexibility can be lost unless athletes conscientiously cool down and stretch at the end of the workout..

The bottom line is:
• ACL injuries are a big problem
• ACL injuries are a bigger problem for females
• ACL injuries are preventable

Every serious female player (of ANY age) should:
Practice proprioceptive training (a good idea for competitive male soccer players as well)

Strengthen hamstrings by:
• Jump training and/or leg curls
• Avoid turning and landing with straight legs
• Cool down and stretch after exercise
These measures can help prevent serious injury and will almost certainly improve performance to boot. Sorry about the pun. I just couldn’t resist.
Reference:
Stephanie Vlach, M.S., is the Manager, Fitness Education for the Life Fitness Academy.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Female Sports Injuries: The Creature from Jekyll Island

Majority of you reading this probably are wondering what is the Creature from Jekyll Island about. Well, yesterday while preparing for my speed camp, I was reading an article entitled The Creature from Jekyll Island, and I thought that since I had posted yesterday about the benefits of sports participation for females, why not talk about some of the injuries that most females sustain from playing sports. Jekyll Island is a real island located off of New York. It was a private island, it was a resort club, it was where the families of the very, very, very wealthy went to escape the cold winter months of New York. There you will find documents where a very small group of billionaires from New York met to establish what we now call the Federal Reserve Bank. But enough about the real Jekyll Island, I thought it would be cool to name this entry The Creature from Jekyll Island. Jekyll and Hyde is a portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from each other; in mainstream culture the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next. So I thought since yesterday I posted about the "Hyde" or benefits of participation of females in sports, it would be rightfully deserving to post about the "Jekyll" or injuries that most females are susceptible to while participating in sports.

Female high school sports has increased 900% which equates to female participation doubling every 10 years. As stated in yesterday's blog post the benefits for female participation are numerous. Some of those benefits are:

female athletes are less likely to:

• Be in abusive relationships
• Teen pregnancy
• Chemical use
• Obesity
• Cardiovascular risks
• Develop breast cancer

however, females who participate in sport are more likely to:

• Finish high school
• Enroll in college
• Have an increase in self confidence
• Have better bone density
• More positive body image
• Learn and implement goal setting skills
• and develop team work capabilities

As discussed in a previous blog post, female athletes are more likely to injure their knees than male athletes. They are 2 to 8 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury. They are 2.5 times more likely to go down with a MCL/ LCL injury. And they are twice as likely to sustain a menisci injury. The mechanisms that causes these types of knee injuries are usually non-contact in nature. They usually come from females trying to change direction or cut on a surface, decelerate, or land from a jump.

Training programs should be designed to include prehabilitation components within it.
Within the program exercises should include:
• Stretching
• Plyometric type of exercises (type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in a specific sport),
• Proprioceptive balancing exercises (the term proprioception refers to a sense of joint position. Proprioceptive training is highly common in rehabilitation of injured athletes, but it can just as easily be used to prevent injury),
• Strengthening
• Flexibility
• Incorporate some hamstring activation type of exercises
• Landing drills with the emphasis on landing on the ball of the toes
• and Deceleration training

Concussions and cervical neck strains are injuries that females sustain while playing sports with soccer having the most incidents reported. Majority of the concussions appear to be from head to head collusion with other female soccer players. At the same rate, more females are suffering worst from post concussion syndrome. Post concussion syndrome or PCS, is a set of symptoms that a person may experience for weeks.
Symptoms include:
• Dizziness
• Lethargy
• Decrease concentration
• Poor sleep
• Decrease appetite
• and Memory deficits

Some girls who play sports or exercise intensely are at risk for a problem called female athlete triad (FAT). Female athlete triad is a combination of three conditions: disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. Amenorrrhea is the absence of menstrual period for more than 3 months. A female athlete can have one, two, or all three parts of the triad. In 2007 the American College of Sports Medicine redefined FAT as recognizing the relationships among energy availability, menstrual function and bone mineral density, which may manifest into eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis in at-risk female athletes. Triad disorders are thought to be most common among female athletes in sports or activities which emphasize a lean physique or low body weight, such as gymnastics, swimming, or track and field.

Our last group of injuries are shoulder and foot related. Generally females have more joint laxity than males which predispose them to injuries of the shoulder joint. At the same rate, females are 9 times more likely to develop foot disorders from playing sports. The main culprit for foot injuries and disorders are improper fitting of the shoes.

Some of these disorders are:
• Metatarsalgia-general term used to refer to any painful foot condition affecting the metatarsal region of the foot. This is a common problem that can affect the joints and bones of the metatarsals.
• Bunions
Hammertoe-twisting of the toes that are caused by high heels, narrow shoes and wearing improper shoes
• Neuromas-refers to any swelling of a nerve

In conclusion the rate of female participation is outpacing males. Injuries sustained by female athletes are unique in that they are intrinsic and extrinsic in nature. The ultimate goal is to empower female athletes, promote musculoskeletal health, and facilitate a lifelong participation way after their high school and collegiate careers are over.

Reference:
www.naot.org
Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Motivating Female Athletes

Yesterday I was working with one of local high schools in the town and I made an observation. The team is predominantly female with the head coach being a female and her assistance being a male. I usually talk with both coaches after practice just to see how things are going with the team and it's funny to hear them talk about their perception on what they think the girls need to improve upon for the team to get better. Now, both coaches are really experienced in the field of coaching basketball but their approach and methodology are different. The male coach has coached basketball for 30 plus years, with majority of the population that he has coached being males. The head coach, which is a female, is a former basketball center, who coaches female athletes majority of the time. This made me start to wonder about their language and delivery towards the girls and how the female coach gets more positive feedback from the girls and the assistant sometimes runs up against resistance when he instructs them to do different things.

Is there a possibly that there should be a different approach when coaching females? Or should females athletes be coached the same as male athletes? I asked two females for their perspective on the matter. One was an current athlete and another was a former athlete.

My findings showed that female athletes compete for different reasons than boys and require different kinds of stimuli to achieve. WITH THE POPULARITY of women's basketball at an all-time high, hundreds of young female athletes are beginning to dream of playing professional basketball. I can remember when my little sister started put pick up the sport and how excited she was with wanting to become the best possible athlete she could be. Many times females are being coached by individuals who do not understand the many factors involved in motivating and coaching female athletes, and this can lead to much frustration and misunderstanding.

The three basic areas that must be addressed in motivating female athletes are:

camaraderie among the players and between coaches and athletes,
a positive self-perception,
and the realization that female athletes compete for different reasons than males and require different kinds of stimuli to achieve.

The girls' coach must also understand that males look for an action oriented environment for competition, while females prefer a more meditative ambiance which explains why the two coaches approaches were totally different and one gets through to the female athletes and another is received with resistance. They want to be addressed in a friendly and respectful manner and are turned off by yelling, screaming, and the throwing of objects.

Overbearing displays of emotion create a hostile environment that could cause sensitive athletes to drop out.

Coaches who believe in yelling should do it only sparingly and should direct it at the group rather than the individual.
It's possible that winning for winning's sake is less important for the average female and that she is more goal-oriented than the average male. Likewise, girls are also different from boys in their need for nurturing a family-like camaraderie with teammates and coaches which explains the head coach talking about how the girls get excited about buying each other gifts for special occasions. It is important for them to feel comfortable with their teammates and coaches, and they have to be motivated to achieve.

Where male teams predicate enjoyment largely on playing time and winning, the most enjoyable kind of team for a female coach is a group of girls who get along well both on and off the court. The teams who have the best camaraderie are almost always the ones who are the most successful in terms of team unity and seasonal improvement.

Team Chemistry

The role of team chemistry has different shadings in female and male sports. Whereas it is an essential prerequisite for optimal performance in female sports, it is more a by-product of optimal performance among male teams.

Self Perception

Many female athletes tend to have lower levels of confidence than men. Their confidence depends on three things:
1. nature of the task
2. need for clear and positive feedback
3. social acceptance.

To enhance a girl's sell-perception, coaches must make certain she is comfortable with the nature of her task. The sport she is competing in must be gender-role appropriate. She must feel comfortable in it, just as a boy would be comfortable playing football, but feel at ease playing on team.

Feedback

Females also need clear and positive feedback. Ambiguous, negative criticism will likely impair their self-perception. They are much more likely than boys to be disturbed by negative comments. They respond very well to positive feedback as well as praise and encouragement. John Wooden believes that coaches should seek out private opportunities to praise athletes who need it. Too many coaches are too willing to criticize and too reluctant to dole out much-needed compliments (quick to criticize and slow to commend). Many coaches contend that such verbal reinforcement is the key to success in coaching women.

All in all females athletes want to have fun just like their male counterparts. However, team chemistry, self perception, and feedback are areas that need to be addressed and developed in order for females to be motivated and have success in their sport.

Personal Trainer and Sports Psychology Consultant in Charlotte, NC

Sudden Death: Young Athletes Dying In Sports part II

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the tragic incidences that have been occurring in the world of sport as it relates to youth athletics. The past couple of years, numerous athletes have been cleared by the physician to participate in their sport later to collapse and die while participating. This post is a follow up and is taken from News 14 about the latest case, a 15 year old basketball player that died during the team's first game. Our heart goes out to his family, friends, teammates and coaches, and all that knew him.

WINSTON-SALEM – The state medical examiner has determined that the high school basketball player who died after collapsing during his team's first game died from an uncommon heart condition.

The autopsy showed 15-year-old Khalid Prince, died Saturday from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that weakens the heart.

"It is the result of viruses that are directed at the heart," Dr. Vinay Thohan, Wake Forest University associate professor of cardiology, said. "In the process of the body healing, or killing off the viruses, it starts to attack the heart also, and when it attacks the heart, it makes the heart weak."

Thohan, who did not treat Prince, said the condition is seen in young athletes but is not common. About 5 to 9 percent of young athletes who die suddenly suffer from myocarditis, he said.

And it can develop at any time."The challenge is this can occur after a routine physical," Thohan said. "So an individual may have had a perfectly normal, routine physical, develop myocarditis two months into their season and have an unusual course."

And since it can develop even after a physical, he said people should know the symptoms.

"If two weeks ago you were able to run five miles without getting short of breath and now you can't run a mile without feeling short of breath or having palpatations or feeling like you're going to pass out, that is a clear change in the way you are feeling," he said. "And that should be evaluated by a physician."

Students and staff at Parkland High School are mourning the loss of the freshman starting point guard, who collapsed after a basketball game Dec. 2. He passed away at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Parkland Principal Tim Lee said Monday that Prince was cleared to play both basketball and football for the school.

So what causes myocarditis and what are the symptoms?

Myocarditis is an uncommon disorder. In children it is usually caused by viral infections that reach the heart, such as the influenza (flu) virus, Coxsackie virus, and adenovirus. However, it may also occur during or after other viral or bacterial infections such as polio, rubella, Lyme disease, and others.

When you have an infection, your body's immune system produces special cells that release certain chemicals to fight off disease. If the infection affects your heart, the disease-fighting cells enter the heart. However, the chemicals they produce can damage the heart muscle, causing it to become thick and swollen. This leads to symptoms of heart failure. In addition, the virus or bacteria damage the heart muscle.Symptoms may be mild at first and difficult to detect.

Possible symptoms include palpitations (heart racing or "skipping" heart beats), low energy levels, and low exercise tolerance. Symptoms of congestive heart failure also include rapid breathing, clammy sweating, poor appetite, poor weight gain in young children, and swelling around the eyes, hand, and feet (more common in older children and young adults).

Symptoms in children over age 2 may also include:

* Belly area pain and nausea
* Chest pain
* Cough
* Fatigue
* Swelling (edema) in the legs, feet, and face


How can one be treated with myocarditis?

There is no cure for myocarditis, although the heart muscle inflammation usually goes away on its own in time.

The goal of treatment is to support heart function and treat the underlying cause of the myocarditis. Most children with this condition are admitted to a hospital. Activity can strain the heart and therefore is often limited.

Treatment may include:

* Antibiotics to fight infection
* Anti-inflammatory medicines called steroids to control inflammation
* Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a medicine made of the substances that your body produces to fight infection, to control the inflammatory process
* Medicines called diuretics to remove excess water from the body
* Medicines to treat heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms


Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC
Taken from news14.com and www.drugs.com/enc/myocarditis-pediatric and www.med.umich.edu/mott/chc/patient_acq_myo.html

How to Deal with Pre-Game Anxiety: 'The Jitters' part I

The movie Any Given Sunday, by Oliver Stone, is a great movie on every level of the game of football. I love the motivational speech at the end entitled "Inch By Inch" that Al Pacino gives in the locker room right before their wild card game. I love how they show the seriousness and the battle that the medical staff have to go through throughout the season with making decisions on who really can play and who sits. I love how they showed both sides of the athlete's decision making process of when they could play and when they couldn't play, for example Laurence Taylor's character vs LL Cool J's character. The part of the movie that I wanted to concentrate on the most is pre-competition anxiety or jitters. Remember when Willie Beaman, played by Jamie Foxx, was asked to go in after both quarterbacks had gotten hurt? He was so unprepared mentally that it affected his performance. At the start of the movie, we find our friend Willie over on the sideline reading a newspaper and eating sunflower seeds. The quarterback coach has to yell at him to find his helmet and go in because he was over there acting like he had an all expense paid vacation to Club Med. Remember how unprepared and rattled he looked in the game? Remember the part where he vomited in the huddle before calling the play? Remember how he got under the tackle instead of the center to call the play? Remember even when Al Pacino called a timeout after the first play was over at the beginning of the second half and he talked on the sideline with Willie? Remember Willie's words were something of the nature that the game was going too fast? These are all examples of the pre-game jitters.

Now the movie had to sale and progress on so they had to make ole Willie get his act together during the course of the third quarter in the movie. Actually it was just a couple of series and he was able to overcome the jitters that he had and threw a touchdown to tie the game in the second half.

That depiction of his pre-game routine was accurate with how athletes' mental preparation is key to how well or poorly they perform during the actual game. I had a similar situation when I was a red-shirted sophomore in college playing football. I got so nervous before the game that my performance was horrible. I was on the traveling team, but I wasn't expecting to start for another three weeks. However, the first string safety had gotten hurt during the week and they made an adjustment to start me hours before the kick off at pre-game meetings. I was extremely nervous. I remember going back to the dorm to get the rest of my stuff after pregame meal and feeling like my whole world was turning upside down. I couldn't think straight for nothing. From the time that I went to my dorm until the time I was on the field everything seemed to be going fast. I can remember later thinking how the time felt like it did when I was in a car wreck, how things seemed to speed up after the impact. All the information that I had practiced was gone. It was like I had never played or started football ever in my life. I had been a starter in every facet of my career up until that point (little league to high school). Needless to say, my actual performance was horrific. It was so horrible that my coach pulled me and they put the third string safety in to play the entire game.

No matter how good you are, sometimes you’re going to choke.

So what was the problem?

What I was going through was what sports psychologist and mental coaches refer to as pre-competition anxiety. Commonly known as the jitters or butterflies, accept in my case, and in Willie's case, we were experiencing it at the highest level possible to the point that our performance suffered dramatically.

Pre-competitive anxiety is a state of arousal that is unpleasant or negative and occurs during the 24 hour span prior to competition. The worry that is associated with PCA is not just experienced with our heads, but with our entire body. Our bodies provide us with numerous cues such as muscle tension, butterflies, desire to urinate and cotton mouth that suggests that we are
out of control. Our thoughts become self-focused, self defeating and negative. Most of us will have a combination of these responses during the pre-competitive period. However, the degree to which they influence our performance is largely dependent upon the interaction of our own uniqueness and the competitive situation.

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF PCA?

Pre-competitive anxiety results from an imbalance between perceived capabilities and the demands of the sport environment. When the perceived demands are balanced by the perceived capabilities you experience optimal arousal, often refereed to as the flow state or what we commonly know as 'the zone'. In this state, everything appears to go smoothly, almost effortlessly. However, if your perceived capabilities exceed the sport challenge, arousal will decrease, resulting in boredom or lack of motivation. If the opposite occurs (perceived challenges exceed capabilities), you will become over aroused, resulting in worry and anxiety. As you can see, then, PCA results when skills and abilities are not perceived as equivalent to the sport challenge.
Research has demonstrated that at least five factors underlie PCA:

1. physical complaints—digestive disturbances, shaking and yawning;
2. fear of failure—losing, choking, living up to expectations, and making mistakes;
3. feelings of inadequacy—unprepared, poor conditioning, low skill/ability,and feelings that something is wrong;
4. loss of control—being jinxed, bad luck, poor officiating, and inclement weather; and
5. guilt—concerns about hurting an opponent, playing dirty, and cheating. Whether or not you experience PCA is dependent upon several factors, such as skill level, experience, and your general level of arousal in daily activities.

HOW CAN PCA AFFECT PERFORMANCE?

There are two primary ways that PCA can affect your performance.

First, a high state of physical arousal may be counterproductive to your particular sport activity. For sports requiring endurance, power, or both, PCA can be very draining on an athlete's energy level. In sports where calmness is critical (e.g., golf, archery, free-throw shooting), PCA can significantly interfere with your ability to stay calm. A high state of physical arousal can also interfere with sports requiring a focused channeling of power. The increased tension usually interferes with this channeling. Examples of such sports include hitting in baseball, karate, and field events such as javelin, discus, and shot put.

Second, research has demonstrated that anxiety can significantly interfere with your ability to think clearly. When you are anxious, your thoughts generally turn inward to focus on yourself, which may result in an inappropriate focusing of attention. Actions that were once automatic require constant thought, which further interferes with your ability to adjust to make quick, on-the-spot decisions. In addition, these thoughts may be negative and result in preoccupation with what you can't do, rather than what you can do.

DOES NERVOUSNESS ALWAYS LEAD TO BAD PERFORMANCES?

Definitely not. Whenever you anticipate an event that is important to you, it is normal to feel some nervousness. In fact, it is a sign of readiness. This type of readiness is known as positive arousal and is usually referring to many of the physical cues you experience. Elite athletes channel this energy to work for them rather than against them. Answers to the following
questions may help you distinguish between positive arousal and negative anxiety:

1. How much does my sport require me lobe 'pumped' as I enter the competition? Some sports may require a higher state of arousal (e.g., weight lifting) than others (e.g., golf).
2. Do I often have thoughts of self-doubt about my ability?
3. Do I often have thoughts about factors that are beyond my control? Answering "Yes" to the last two questions are indication that you are moving from positive arousal to negative anxiety. If you find yourself nervous but still confident in your ability, that is a sign of readiness. However, worrying about your ability to perform at levels that you normally are able to perform with ease, or worrying about factors over which you have no control may interfere with your ability to enter a competition mentally ready.

Tomorrow we will go over strategies that both players and coaches can utilize to help deal with overcoming pre-competition anxiety.

Until then keep moving.
Personal Trainer and Sports Psychologist Consultant in Charlotte NC

Sudden Death: Young Athletes Dying In Sports

Gladiators. Invincible. Freaks of nature. Gods of the Grid Iron. Superheroes. Athletes are looked upon as men and women of steel sometimes. They are marveled as immortal- coded and blessed with genes from the gods of sports. But in the last 3-4 years, a number of high school and even middle school athletes have collapsed and died during practice, games or scrimmages. It's not just one sport. It's been football, lacrosse, tennis, hockey, etc. More and more athletes around the country are dying in sports. In North Carolina recently, a 15 yr old player collapsed and died during a basketball game. Sean Fisher was only 13 years old; Max Gilpin was 15 years old; Douglas Morales a 17 year old high school student; Ereck Plancher a college freshman. These students all died as a result of participating in football training. I can remember when I was in high school, one of our offensive linemen also played basketball died during a organized scrimmage in the preseason of basketball. He was only a freshman.

Students who train year round anticipate being able to play in their favorite sport. In fact, they prepare and practice sometimes all year, hoping to make the team. However, in order to participate in any form of physical activity, most schools require a clearance from a physician. The fact that the students are cleared for physical activities/sports is no longer a reason to feel confident that they are going to be safe while playing their sport.

For example, I had a client recently who sustained a concussion during the preseason. Yet he debated rather or not he was going to tell his coaches about his injury. He wanted to play so bad and wanted to impress the coaches so much, he was willing to jeopardize his health and life.

Likewise, I wasn't always a saint myself. Heck, even now, I sometimes try to defy the laws of nature by pushing through injuries that I know I shouldn't. I can remember on two occasions in my early career, in which I put my health and life on the line just to play. One was when I was playing little league football against our cross town rivals the Tiny Vikings. I got hit so hard that I experienced double vision for a whole series; however, I stayed in the game and continued to play. Another incident was when I was a freshman in college, I wanted to make a name for myself to the point that I played through a mild shoulder separation and a mild concussion without telling anyone on the coaching or athletic training staff the whole preseason. My reasoning was that I didn't think that the injuries were too serious enough for medical attention, as well as, I didn't want to seem weak and have to miss practice or God for bid be pulled from a game.

So what's going on here? What is the problem?

Who is responsible for this?

Is it the physician's giving the physical responsible?

Is it the coaches' fault for pushing and putting high expectations on the players especially if you are in a highly successful program?

Or is it the player's fault for playing Russia Roulette with their health?

Are students who are physically cleared appropriately tested?

Are we listening to their concerns/complaints?

Are they being pushed too far during training?

Or better yet, could the parents be the guilty party because they are enthusiastically counting on their child to perform?

As the coaches/trainers prepare the team to play the game, they focus on intense drilling. The goal of the coach/trainer is to build endurance mentally and physically. Students may experience shortness of breathe, exhaustion, dizziness and other signs of fatigue – but the coaches/trainers often ignore the complaints as they are focused on building endurance and physical stamina – perhaps it is more in the form of thinking mind over matter – work through the challenges because you most likely won't be able to stop for a drink of water/Gatorade/etc. during an actual game.

Here are some things that parents can do:

Have your child thoroughly tested - including an EKG that may be able to detect any heart abnormalities during physical activities. If you feel uncertain, go ahead and ask for a stress test/heart ultrasound.

Tell your doctors as much information as you can about your family history (has anyone had a sudden cardiac arrest at a young/early age?)

Talk to your child - ask him/her about their physical response during activities? Be specific in asking if they have experienced any shortness of breath, chest pains, feeling faint or weak?

Do not take anything for granted - a heart murmur is serious. Remember the movie John Q with Denzel Washington.

Speak to your school's trainer or coach, ask him/her if they have the necessary equipment to assist the students in the event someone collapses on the field/during practice? Have they received the training to operate the equipment?


For the coaches:

Communicate with the athletes that injuries will not cause them to lose their position.

Do not encourage kids to play through an injury.

Likewise discuss with them that playing injured only puts them in more danger than if trying to play through the pain and ignoring the signs and symptoms.

Encourage an open door policy with your players to talk about any and everything regarding the team.

Express that playing injured doesn't categorize them as being tough.

Explain to them that getting hurt is a part of the game and it shouldn't be looked upon it as being shameful.

Don't question the validity of their injury.

Don't give them the silent treatment or alienate them from the team.

While the physicians may not be too keen on the idea of the thorough physical testing, keep in mind that this is your child. If your car broke down, you would take it to the mechanic and have it repaired or you may even decide to purchase a new one. On the other hand, if your child collapses, you may not be able to have him/her fixed and there is definitely no replacement for the loss. If the physician is unable to perform the tests due to insurance restrictions then by all means pay for it yourself. You may find that it is actually affordable or perhaps you can ask your physician to work out a payment plan. It's less than the cost of a funeral and the lifelong emotional pain that may cost you in therapy fees.

In getting a thorough examination and in support of your child's team, you have done your best. Now it's time to cheer them on - Let's Go.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Teaching Kids How to Lose Gracefully

My mother use to tell me that even though I was a great athlete, I was a terrible loser! I can remember playing little league football and getting so upset with losing I would cry myself to sleep in the car. I can remember getting angry at my teammates after a lose and wanting to fight them because they didn't take the lose as bad as I did. I can also remember in high school standing in front of the whole varsity team screaming obscenities and challenging everyone of them to fight me after practice because they we had lost the week before which knock us out of the playoff hunt. I also recall, locking myself in the house during the weekend after losing games on Fridays and shutting down to the point that I won't take phone calls and talk to my own mother.

One particular lose stands out the most. It was my ninth grade year, we were undefeated and were squaring off against our cross town rival. Our coach wanted so bad for us to win, as did I, because all my middle school friends now went to this school and were at the game. We lost bad. When I say bad the score was us- not enough to them- pick a number to infinity. The coach was so upset with us, but he wasn't upset because of the lose per se, it was the style of losing that we displayed. The team had given up completely before the end of the third quarter which we could have clearly come back and won the game. He was so mad that the next Monday, we ran the majority of the practice. After practice, he sat us down and explain that losing wasn't the issue. He told us that it's how you deal with loses and adversity. Now that was the first time I had heard the word adversity used so after practice I had to go home and not only soak from all the running but find a Webster's Dictionary and learn what the definition of adversity meant. He explained that life was like a football game. Some days you win, some days you lose, but those days that you lose are more important because it's how you recover and come back from those loses that matters the most. Needless to say, we went on to win out the rest of our season. (I think the running put the fear of God and coach in us and it had nothing to do with his speech).

I have revisited coach's speech many days after when I have had to deal with a tough project, my business, relationships that haven't worked out the way I wanted them to, and my personal life in general. I always remember that its how you deal with adversity that really matters not the actual lose per se. I had the opportunity to read a book by John C. Maxwell entitled Failing Forward. In this book, the author talks about the major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure. Maxwell takes a closer look at failure-and reveals that the secret of moving beyond failure is to use it as a lesson and a stepping-stone. He covers the top reasons people fail and shows how to master fear instead of being mastered by it. I believe that sports are a great vehicle, when taught properly, to assist young athletes with learning to embrace mistakes and failure instead of avoiding it altogether.

If you look at some of the great inventors and pioneers of this great country you would see that they had magnetism towards failure and mistakes. Look at Abe Lincoln he failed miserably in a lot of ventures before going on to become the world famous President of the United States that freed the slaves. Henry Ford is another that was mistake prone with the T model car. Likewise, others such as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell were also advocates to learning from their mistakes to become successful. Basketball great, Michael Jordan once stated that "people are quick to remember the shots that go in; however, there are more that you missed than you actual make."

Youth sports provide children with a number of benefits. It takes them outdoors and away from the television, computer, XBox, whatever. It helps to teach them how to be a part of a team. It helps to teach them how to work as a part of team and how to understand that everyone can have a valuable role to play.

And from an entirely different perspective it provides a great place to teach children how to lose. Winning is easy. Anyone can win, but losing is not so easy. Learning how to lose is a good way to learn how to deal with adversity. It is a way to help develop coping skills and that is a critical part of raising a healthy child.

This lesson is relatively simple; however, in the country and society we live in, it is one that is not taught on a daily basis. Many times when we are playing games with others we are going to lose. You cannot win every time, even the greatest athletes lose a game here and there. If you don't believe me, think of Tennessee Titan quarterback, Kerry Collins. He is now the poster child for how to deal with failure successfully and resurrect your career.

In fact it is easier to win than to lose. Tonight think about incidents that has occurred in your life in which you lose rather in sport career, in personal life, or in your business/ career. Think about how you handle it gracefully and what lessons did you learn from it.

Until then keep moving.

Personal Trainer and Sports Psychology Consultant in Charlotte, NC