… She was initially no world-beating runner but her determination and desire to improve saw her qualify to compete in the 2013 World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Making her first national team was a pivotal moment in her career, although she has challenging memories of the event.
“Back then I had issues around race anxiety, I had stomach problems the night before the race and when I got to the start line I was absolutely trashed,” explains DeBues-Stafford whose problem with race anxiety can be connected to her mum’s premature death.
Finding the experience “overwhelming” she trailed home 75th in the women’s U20 race. Yet she was determined to learn from the experience and bounced back the following year to place ninth in the 3000m final at the World U20 Championship in Eugene, Oregon.
Green Bay’s other Aaron has long been overlooked because of his size. But he’s been a revelation in his first season under Matt LaFleur—and he may be the key to the Packers’ playoff success.
… Bielsa probably should have won more in his career. Three league championships won under Argentina’s two-titles-a-year system and the 2004 Olympic gold is a meagre haul for somebody Bilic discusses in such revered tones. That is a failing but Bielsa’s entire career feels a rebuke to the idea a life can be measured out in trophies or medals.
He is an obsessive. He comes from a wealthy family – his grandfather was a judge, his brother was Argentina’s foreign minister and his sister a provincial governor – and earns a reported £6m a year. Yet he seems to have little interest in the trappings of wealth. He lives in a one-bedroom flat above a shop in Wetherby, drinks coffee and holds team meetings in the Costa, shops in Morrisons and eats regularly at a local Italian restaurant called Sant Angelo. He walks the 45 minutes to training at Thorp Arch most days and rarely seems to wear anything other than his Leeds tracksuit.
But he is aware of his obsession, knows just how ridiculous it is.
… “I think as we started talking, the worlds of sports science and analytics is something I’m interested in and as we talked, I think it’s just a common interest in those things,” Rhule said as the Panthers introduced him as the fifth head coach in franchise history Wednesday in a practice bubble Tepper built for the Panthers in one of his first acts as owner. “I think the big things is they’re always evolving…..We have catapulted Baylor, they have catapulted here. We monitor the loads on players. It really comes down to the application of it and can you get alignment from your football staff, your sports medicine staff, your sports science staff.”
Human growth and development depend on a proper balance of nutrition, physical activity, and rest. Nutrition provides the building blocks for our bodies, and volumes have been written on the best methods to achieve optimal nutritional benefits; physical activity stimulates the development of bone and soft tissue cells that respond to increasing physical forces; and rest allows recovery from physical activity, but its effects are more difficult to monitor. Infants and children are directly influenced by the lifestyles of their parents, as parents attempt to provide the proper balance between nutrition, physical activity, and rest. As kids progress beyond adolescence into their teenage years, their balance is subject to many outside forces—most notably, their peers. Adult lifestyles are often established early in life, so those early years are crucial in establishing good habits. The American Heart Association recommends that kids (aged 6-17 years) get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day.1 Adults, on the other hand, should get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week.1
One of the avenues for keeping children and teenagers physically active and building a healthy lifestyle is sports participation. At the early stages, these activities must be fun or it’s unlikely that kids will be interested and participate. As kids mature physically, their motivation to participate may develop as they experience the challenge of competition. Some young athletes will thrive on competition as it motivates them into more rigorous training and conditioning routines. Others, often the less talented, may wither as competition intensifies, choosing other pursuits for their time. Keeping all kids in the game becomes more challenging as their varied paths of interest emerge.
For the first time, physicists from the University of Würzburg have successfully converted electrical signals into photons and radiated them in specific directions using a low-footprint optical antenna that is only 800 nanometres in size.
Kathleen Bachynski is an assistant professor of public health at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Her new book, “No Game for Boys to Play,” explores the history and culture of youth tackle football in the United States. Bachynski said the book grew out of her graduate student research on sports injuries.
The book covers the history of the sport, including its rise to become the country’s most popular spectator sport and the huge increase in participation among boys and young men over the 20th century. Bachynski also describes how protective equipment marketers walk a tightrope to present the sport as both too dangerous to play unprotected and suitably safe if their equipment is used. The book also details medical debates about the benefits and risks of the sport — discussions that began more than a century ago and are still happening today, as researchers continue to build a better understanding of how physical activity helps the body and how impacts can affect the brain.
Sports Illustrated, RedskinsMaven blog, Chris Russell from
… The Washington Redskins announced today Dr. Kevin Wilk as the team’s new medical consultant. Wilk will report directly to Head Athletic Trainer Ryan Vermillion.
“Kevin Wilk is one of the most established and successful physical therapists in our industry,” said Washington Redskins Owner Dan Snyder. “He has worked with some of the greatest athletes in sports and has known Ryan Vermillion for years. He is a great addition to our medical team and will be a tremendous asset to our players.”
During the years 1976 through 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese. Today, about 40% of adults are obese. Another 33% are overweight.
Coinciding with this increase in weight are ever-rising rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and health complications caused by obesity, such as hypertension. Even Alzheimer’s disease may be partly attributable to obesity and physical inactivity.
“The diet in the U.S. and other nations has changed dramatically in the last 50 years or so, with highly processed foods readily and cheaply available at any time of the day or night,” Ali Güler, a professor of biology at the University of Virginia, said. “Many of these foods are high in sugars, carbohydrates and calories, which makes for an unhealthy diet when consumed regularly over many years.”
… As of January 7, the La Liga champions are averaging 12.2 shots per game, as calculated by journalist Thore Haugstad. That is an unimpressive figure which ranks the table-toppers below Real Madrid, Villarreal, Sevilla, Real Betis, Atletico Madrid and Osasuna, the latter of whom are down in 12th place.
The picture is even worse when you look at the numbers for Europe’s top five leagues. Aston Villa, who are outside the Premier League relegation zone by a single point, average 12.8 shots per match. Brighton and Southampton, two teams who are also involved in the battle against the drop, also take more attempts than Barcelona.
It should come as no surprise that the gambling industry has hitched itself to the world’s most popular game. Here are some of the ways that the betting industry has become inextricably linked to football.
Sponsorship
Half of the Premier League’s 20 clubs have a gambling sponsor on their shirt and the proportion rises to 17 out of 24 among clubs in the Championship, which is itself sponsored by Sky Bet. Labour has said it would ban gambling shirt sponsorship if elected.
… Many fans would agree with the general claim that American men tend to have big serves, aggressive game styles, and not a whole lot of subtlety. Certainly John Isner fits that mold, and Sam Querrey doesn’t deviate much from it. While Fritz is a big hitter who racks up his share of aces and second-shot putaways, his style isn’t so one-dimensional.
