Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 22 Oct 2009 -

As debate continues over health system reform, a proposal with vast preventive power is drawing widespread support. Scientists, physicians, public health experts and others have rallied in favor of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act of 2009. The measure (S. 1810 in the Senate and H.R. 3851 in the House), provides that the Department of Health and Human Services update federal physical activity guidelines at least every five years.

The bill’s sponsors reflect bipartisan support for healthy lifestyles as preventive medicine: Reps. Bart Gordon (D-TN), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Zach Wamp (R-TN); Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).

“The first federal guidelines for physical activity, released in October 2008, were a big step forward,” said James Pivarnik, Ph.D., FACSM, president of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). “The American public would be well served by guidelines that are updated regularly, like federal guidelines for nutrition, based on the latest scientific and medical information.”

ACSM led the call for federal physical activity guidelines, and a number of its members lent their expertise to the process of developing them. In 2006, ACSM convened a broad coalition of more than 40 organizations, resulting in six key calls to action - including the creation of regular updates to federal physical activity guidelines. Another recommendation, a National Physical Activity Plan, is under development. Many organizations involved in the 2006 policy roundtable are among those who have endorsed the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act (click here for list ).

Helping Americans of all ages and health status increase their level of physical activity can do much to cut health care costs, improve individual quality of life and boost productivity, according to research by ACSM experts and others. Physical activity and exercise have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and conditions including overweight and obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and others. Recent research shows:

- Seventy-five percent of every dollar spent on health care goes toward treatment of chronic diseases.
- Estimates project that, by 2010, 20 percent of children in the U.S. will be obese.
- 52 percent of U.S. adults do not meet minimum recommendations for physical activity. Only 35.8 percent of high school students are physically active 60 minutes or more, five days per week; just 33 percent attend physical education classes daily.
- Those living in poverty, people of color, people with disabilities, and rural residents face increased obstacles to engaging in safe physical activity and suffer significant disparities in their overall health status.

“Given the low cost of exercise-as inexpensive as a pair of walking shoes-and its manifest health benefits, we need to do all we can to help people engage in appropriate types and amounts of physical activity,” said ACSM’s Pivarnik. “I hope that, while Congress wrestles with health reform legislation, they will pass the guidelines act with its potential for a huge payoff in terms of preventive health care and of dollars saved.”

Source
American College of Sports Medicine

Join us in our quest to find the most uplifing inspirational videos to add to your collection.  Our Sports Law Handbook is dedicate to Coach Will Glover the father of the author. Many young men and women are guided by these teachers and instructors. Coaching is a calling and we are putting out a call to those coaches that made a difference in your life.   If you have an inspirational story of how a coached changed your life; we’d like to hear it. Send your story. 

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The NCAA News

Men’s basketball assistant – Former NBA player and scout Dennis Nutt was chosen as an assistant men’s basketball coach and fund-raising consultant at Coker. Nutt, who played professionally in the NBA, European Basketball Association and the Continental Basketball Association, most recently was a college scout for the Charlotte Bobcats and an assistant men’s basketball coach at Coastal Carolina.

Men’s and women’s golf – Gary Nelson was named as director of golf and assistant coach Rich Yokota was promoted to head men’s coach at San Francisco. Nelson has spent the past four seasons in charge of the men’s program, which earned the 2009 WCC championship, while Yokota has been a member of the Dons’ golf staff for the last three-plus seasons. 

Men’s and women’s swimming and diving assistant – Marc E. Christian, a decorated former swimmer at Kenyon, was selected as a graduate assistant coach at Delaware. Christian was a nine-time all-American, a member of three NCAA championship teams, and captured five NCAA relay titles.

Conferences

The ECAC hired Keith Clarke as the director of Division III governance and officiating.  Since 2001, Clarke has worked as founder and president of ‘Sports From the Neck Up,’ an orientation program for Division I male and female freshman athletes. He also has been an official, working with the Southshore Basketball Officials Association, refereeing high school basketball, and the American Softball Association.

Coaches Vs. Cancer and Health Insurance Reform 2:18

Coaches Tubby Smith, Oliver Purnell, John Thompson III, Mike Brey, and Ed Dechellis describe how cancer has affected their personal lives as they visit capitol hill with the American Cancer Society to speak out for cancer prevention and research. October 14, 2009 (public domain)

Coaches Vs. Cancer and Health Insurance Reform 2:18

Coaches Tubby Smith, Oliver Purnell, John Thompson III, Mike Brey, and Ed Dechellis describe how cancer has affected their personal lives as they visit capitol hill with the American Cancer Society to speak out for cancer prevention and research. October 14, 2009 (public domain)

The NCAA News

A high percentage of collegiate and professional athletes begin the season dehydrated, putting their health at risk even before they begin strenuous workouts, according to researchers at Indiana State University.

The rate is especially high among football players, with as many as four out of five members of one college team exhibiting dehydration during pre-season physical examinations, said Susan Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training in Indiana State’s College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services.

With many teams undertaking grueling workouts twice a day during some of the hottest weeks of the year, football players are especially at risk from dehydration, Yeargin said. That risk was recently in the spotlight in Louisville, Ky. where a high school coach faced reckless homicide charges for the August 2008 death of a player who succumbed to heatstroke. Prosecutors claimed the coach there acted irresponsibly by withholding water from athletes during a practice.

Ideally, the ISU study could help others to avoid a similar fate.

“We hope that our study will serve to educate players, coaches and health care providers and help ensure a higher level of safety for athletes at all levels,” Yeargin said.

Approximately 80 percent of NCAA Division I football players and 50 percent of NFL players who participated in an ISU study were found to be dehydrated during pre-season physical examinations, Yeargin said. Approximately 30 percent of NCAA Division III players were dehydrated.

Dehydration affects the human body in many ways, Yeargin said.

“It’s going to affect an athlete’s physical performance they’re not going to have the dexterity to catch the ball correctly, they’re also going to have cognitive effects such as trouble remembering plays,” she said. “Physiologically, their core body temperature could be higher than it should have been if they were hydrated. Their heart rate will be higher, and they’re going to perceive that they’re working harder than they actually are.”

The study, conducted at the start of the current football season, involved the teams of Indiana State and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as well as the Indianapolis Colts.

Indiana State student-athletes in volleyball, cross-country and soccer were also surveyed. Fewer participants in those sports were found to be dehydrated.

The study also served to show athletes how they can self-regulate their hydration level, said Lindsey Eberman, assistant professor of athletic training.

“One factor is teaching them about urine color and how they can self-recognize how hydrated they are. We think that has a significant impact on their day-to-day practices. If they recognize their hydration level as lower, they can instill the correct pattern of behavior to ensure that they become hydrated before the next practice,” Eberman said.

Urine that is clear in color indicates sufficient hydration while a dark yellow or brown color indicates an individual is dehydrated, she said.

Many athletes, football players in particular, showed improvement in just one day after receiving tips from Indiana State professors and students about ways to self-monitor their level of hydration.

“We saw really good results for that,” Yeargin said. “A good number of the guys came back hydrated after following those tips.”

Another goal of the research is to stress to team physicians and athletic trainers the importance of collecting accurate data during physicals, Yeargin said.

“When they get a baseline body mass on someone during pre-participation physicals they need to make sure that it is a “true” baseline measurement. If they’re going to use that as their primary starting point measurement and the person actually weighs more than that because they were dehydrated when it was taken, then health care providers can’t trust any of their other weight measurements for the rest of pre-season,” she said.

A side benefit of the study is that it educated undergraduate athletic training majors about the importance of research, the professors said. Coincidentally, their study was conducted during the time of the Kentucky high school coach’s trial and Yeargin and Eberman took their students to Louisville last week to sit it on the proceedings.

“The involvement of students in research is so important to the profession of athletic training. Students need to realize how significant research is and how they can apply it to their clinical practice,” Eberman said.

“It can help me if I happen to research in grad school or in the professional community because I will have a better understanding of the importance of research and how to do it,” said Tiffani Vaal, a junior from St. Meinrad.

“As a freshman I had no interest in getting involved in research. I thought it was way too much work, but now that I’ve seen it I know I can do it and it’s interesting,” added Shannen Falconer, a junior from Winnebago, Ill.

Falconer, who was a student-athlete in high school, did not expect such a high percentage of Division I athletes to exhibit dehydration.

“You know you’re going to work hard and sweat a lot and yet to come in already dehydrated was really surprising,” she said.

Source: Indiana State University

Men’s basketball – Zach Spiker was named as head coach at Army. Spiker has been an assistant coach at Cornell since 2004. Before joining Cornell, he spent two seasons as an administrative assistant at West Virginia and was a graduate assistant at Winthrop from 2000-02.

Western Michigan hired Dave Kuzara as the sixth head coach of the Bronco women’s gymnastics program. In addition to formerly spending 10 seasons in charge of the program at Massachusetts, Kuzara also previously was as an assistant coach at Arkansas, West Virginia and Michigan.

Men’s basketball – Southwest Minnesota State head coach Greg Stemen resigned, effective immediately. In eight seasons, Stemen, the winningest coach in the program’s history, posted a 141-97 career record and led squads to one Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship, one NCAA region championship and an appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight.

Men’s and women’s track and field – Dan Steele was chosen head men’s and women’s track and field and cross country coach at Northern Iowa. Steele, who recently finished his seventh season at Oregon, was the 2009 indoor track NCAA coach of the year.

Baseball – Shenandoah chose Patrick Wingfield as an assistant coach. Wingfield, a 2008 Virginia who played third base for the Cavaliers, will assist with the varsity program and serve as associate head coach of the junior varsity team.

Men’s and women’s swimming and diving – New York University added Lizzie Rippe as an assistant women’s coach.

Topics in Chronicling America – Baseball’s Modern World Series

The information and sample article links below provide access to a sampling of articles from historic newspapers that can be found in the Chronicling America: American Historic Newspapers digital collection (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/). Use the Suggested Search Terms and Dates to explore this topic further in Chronicling America.

Important Dates:

• September 1903: The compromise known as the “National Agreement” resolves the conflict between the rival American and National Leagues and lays the foundation for the Modern World Series that continues to this day.

• October 1904: Despite the National Agreement, John T. Brush, president of the National League champion New York Giants, refuses to compete against the American League and the World Series is cancelled.

• January 1905: John T. Brush proposes formal rules for annual World Series Contests.

Suggested Search Terms:

• [Try the following terms in combination, proximity, or as phrases using search pages in Chronicling America.]
• Individuals: Connie Mack, Fielder Jones, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, Frank Chance, John T. Brush
• Teams: Pittsburg Pirates (note that the spelling “Pittsburgh” did not occur until 1920), Boston Americans, New York Giants, Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers

Sample Articles from Chronicling America:World Series of 1903

• Pittsburg’s Success in the Championship Series with Boston Depends on These Men, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 2, 1903, Night Edition, Page 12, Image 12, Cols. 4-7
• Boston Americans Defeated Pirates, Deseret Evening News (Great Salt Lake City, UT), October 3, 1903, Last Edition, Page 7, Image 11, Col. 1
• Bostons are Champions, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 13, 1903, Night Edition, Image 1, Col. 3
• Boston Team Wins World’s Championship, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 14, 1903, Page 8, Image 8, Col. 1

World Series of 1904

• It Looks as if the Highlanders are now the Real New York “Giants”, The Evening World (New York, NY), September 28, 1904, Evening Edition, Page 10, Image 8, Cols. 1-8
• Two American League Managers J.T. Brush was Afraid to Play, The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, UT), October 31, 1904, Last Edition, Page 7, Image 7, Cols. 2-3

World Series of 1905

• When the Giants Took the Quakers into Camp, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 10, 1905, Evening Edition, Page 2, Image 2, Cols. 2-7
• New York Wins First of Series, Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA), October 10, 1905, Page 3, Image 3, Cols. 1-2
• Giants’ Turn to be Shut Out, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 10, 1905, Evening Edition, Image 1, Cols. 1-8
• Giants Win Third, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 13, 1905, Evening Edition, Image 1, Cols. 1-8
• New York the Greatest of All Ball Teams, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 15, 1905, Page 37, Image 37, Cols. 5-6
• Giants Champions of the World, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 14, 1905, Evening Edition, Image 1, Cols. 1-8

World Series of 1906

• Facts and Opinions of World’s Championship Series , The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 9, 1906, Last Edition, Page 8, Image 8, Cols. 1-7
• Cubs Get Revenge for First Defeat by White Sox of American League, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 11, 1906, Page 6, Image 6, Cols. 4-6
• White Sox Again Defeat the Cubs and Forge Ahead, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 11, 1906, Evening Edition, Final Results Edition, Image 1, Cols. 7-8
• Great Baseball Leaders Predict Pennant Outcome, Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA), October 14, 1906, Page 7, Image 9, Cols. 2-3
• Championship Flag Waves Over Chicago American White Sox, Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA), October 15, 1906, Page 6, Image 6, Cols. 2-3

World Series of 1907

• Winner of Opening Clash Expected to be Champion, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 8, 1907, Last Edition, Page 10, Image 10, Cols. 1-7
• Cubs and Tigers Battle Twelve Thrilling Innings to a Draw, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 9, 1907, Page 10, Image 10, Cols. 1-4
• Father Knick Mourns for What Might Have Been, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 8, 1907, Final Results Edition, Page 12, Image 12, Cols. 1-8
• One Faint Hope Left Detroit in Games for World Pennant, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 12, 1907, Last Edition, Page 8, Image 8, Cols. 1-4
• Supremacy of National League Firmly Established; Chicago Cubs Winners of World Championship, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 13, 1907, Sports – Real Estate, Page 2, Image 18, Cols. 1-3

World Series of 1908

• Cubs Capture Place in Finals of Grand Grapple for Title, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 9, 1908, Last Edition, Page 10, Image 10, Cols. 1-5
• Cubs Look Like Better Team than the Detroit Tigers, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 10, 1908, Final Results Edition, Image 7, Cols. 1-8
• Detroit Wins Third Game, Deseret Evening News (Great Salt Lake City, UT), October 12, 1908, Image 1, Cols. 3-5
• Cubs Again Show Their Class and Take Tigers Into Camp, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 14, 1908, Page 8, Image 8, Cols. 1-4
• Badly Battered Tiger Suffers from Twisted Tail, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 14, 1908, Last Edition, Page 12, Image 13, Cols. 1-6
• Cubs Greatest Baseball Team in the World, The Evening World (New York, NY), October 15, 1908, Final Results Edition, Image 14, Cols. 1-8
• Tigers Engulfed; Scarce a Gurgle, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), October 15, 1908, Last Edition, Image 10, Cols. 1-6

World Series of 1909

• Pirates Win First Game of Series from Detroit Tigers, The Pensacola Journal (Pensacola, FL), October 9, 1909, Image 1, Cols. 1-5
• Detroit Wins Second Game of the Big Series, The Pensacola Journal (Pensacola, FL), October 10, 1909, Section 1, Image 1, Cols. 1-5
• Pittsburg Beats Detroit and Leads in Championship Race, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 14, 1909, Page 10, Image 10, Cols. 1-5
• Pittsburg Pirates Win Championship, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 17, 1909, Page 51, Image 51, Cols. 1-2
• Final Game of World’s Series Taken by Pittsburg Pirates, The Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA), October 17, 1909, Image 1, Cols. 5-7

World Series of 1910

• Philadelphia and Chicago Loom Up as Pennant Winners, The Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.), August 21, 1910, Fourth Part, Image 32, Cols. 1-7
• Athletics Again Victors–Reds Down Naps–Giants Win, The Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA), October 19, 1910, SPORTING SECTION, Image 5, Cols. 1-7
• Mackmen Triumphant—Cobb Predicts Four Straight, The Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA), October 21, 1910, SPORTING SECTION, Image 5, Cols. 1-6
• Cubs Tie in Ninth and Win in Tenth, The Salt Lake Herald-Republican (Salt Lake City, UT), October 23, 1910, Section One, Page 10, Image 10, Cols. 1-5
• Mack’s Merry Men Maul Cubs and Win World Series, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), October 24, 1910, Page 7, Image 7, Cols. 1-3
• Connie Mack’s Men are Now Champions of the World, The Salt Lake Herald-Republican (Salt Lake City, UT), October 24, 1910, Page 7, Image 7, Cols. 1-7

United States: Federal Court Rules State Law Governs NFL Players’ Drug Test Results

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(Oct. 02, 2009) A United States federal appeals court has held that National Football League (NFL) players can use state law to challenge penalties for positive tests of substances banned by the league.

In 2006, five NFL players, including two from the Minnesota Vikings, tested positive for a substance banned by the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids, a policy that is part of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NFL and its players. The players were suspended for four games without pay. The players, joined by their union, challenged their suspensions in federal court. The Minnesota players asserted that Minnesota law governs their case, including the Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (DATWA), which bars punishment for initial positive drug test results and gives rights to employees to explain results and request retesting. The district court upheld the right of the players to pursue their claims that the NFL’s suspension of the Minnesota players had violated their rights under DATWA.

The NFL appealed this decision, arguing that the players’ state statutory claims were preempted by federal law, namely, section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, which governs suits for breaches of CBAs. In its review of whether federal or state law applied, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit determined that section 301 preempts state law only with respect to claims that are based on a provision of, or require interpretation of, a CBA. Applying this test, the court found that the players’ claims were based on Minnesota law and not the CBA. The court thus upheld the rights of the players to challenge the NFL’s actions under state law. (Williams v. National Football League, Nos. 09-2247/2462 (8th Cir. Sept. 11, 2009), available at http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/09/09/092247P.pdf.)