Doubles luge is growing. The sport’s governing body and the International Olympic Committee are trying to establish women’s doubles luge in an effort to achieve gender parity in the sport, and Park City is playing a special role in the sport’s creation.
Last season, USA Luge held a women’s doubles luge camp at Park City’s Utah Olympic Park as part of the organization’s search for the sliders with the right stuff.
USA Luge found Maya Chan, 15, and Reannyn Weiler, 16; two sliders with two years of individual experience apiece, who were, literally and figuratively, a good fit.
… Tami Alade indeed is a gift given her unlikely path to Stanford and her role with the No. 1-ranked Cardinal volleyball team, which plays host to Washington State on Friday in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Alade moved to Canada at two, settling near Edmonton, where her father was accepted into law school.
“Life as an immigrant is hard,” Alade said. “It was tough for a while. There were points where my parents just wanted to give up and go home. But they knew, for us, this was for the best. So they stayed.”
Women’s Running spent an evening in late 2017 with three of running’s most talented and inspirational athletes at the Mammoth Crib (a training hub for elite athletes) in a wide-ranging conversation over dinner. In the fourth and final installment of this video series, American marathon record holder Deena Kastor describes the buildup to her 2015 Chicago Marathon, a race she initially felt unprepared for but during which she ultimately set a new U.S. Women’s Masters marathon record.
… “I think it is so cool what we are physically and mentally capable of, and I plan to continue to explore that by running long distances,” Dauwalter recently told Women’s Running. Her Western States victory earlier this year concluded a special race that many trail and ultrarunners know about and celebrate. “Western States 100 is one of the most competitive 100-mile races in the United States. It is also the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race. It was really special to be able to take part in the race this year as the history, the stacked field and the beautiful trails make it a ‘bucket list’ race for many. To have all of the training and preparation come together pretty smoothly on race day and to share the experience with so many runners, volunteers, friends and crews, made it a day that I’ll never forget.”
Twitter UK has launched a new #WomenInFootball campaign with sisters Rosie and Mollie Kmita telling the story of how they ‘broke the mould’ to earn respect in their sport. Rosie, a professional footballer at West Ham, and Mollie who plays for Gillingham, believe ‘women’s football is going in the right direction’ and hope to inspire the next generation of female players.
… “One thing we want(ed) to do is get a coach that could find that connection with the players,” [Brian] Ching said. “I think that’s something that we’ve lacked in the past. We’ve had great coaches that have had great soccer minds but I think that connection with the players wasn’t quite where it needed to be. The more I talked to James the more I saw it was about creating that connection and trying to help the players get where they want to go.
“Over the years I have seen that part of the game maybe a little bit different where women respond a little bit better when they feel a personal connection and when they feel like you’re in their corner and backing them. I really feel like James is on the path to making that connection.”
To compare the effects of thoracic load carriage on the ventilatory and perceptual responses to graded exercise, 14 pairs of height-matched, physically active males and females completed randomly ordered modified Balke treadmill exercise tests with and without a correctly sized and fitted 20.4 kg backpack and work clothing. Subjects walked at 1.56 m.s- 1 while grade was increased by 2% every 2 min until exhaustion. Ventilatory responses were measured with open circuit spirometry and perceptual responses were evaluated using the modified Borg scale. Inspiratory capacity maneuvers were performed to calculate operating lung volumes. RESULTS:
Despite height matching, males had significantly greater lung volumes and peak oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O2peak). Peak [Formula: see text]O2 and ventilation ([Formula: see text]E) were lower (p < 0.05) for all subjects under load. Throughout exercise, the ventilatory equivalents for [Formula: see text]O2 and carbon dioxide production were significantly higher in females, independent of condition. At similar relative submaximal intensities (%[Formula: see text]O2peak), there was no difference in [Formula: see text]E between conditions in either group, however, all subjects adopted a rapid and shallow breathing pattern under load with decreased tidal volume secondary to lower end-inspiratory lung volume. The relative changes in breathing pattern and operating lung volume between unloaded and loaded conditions were similar between males and females. Females reported significantly higher dyspnea ratings for a given [Formula: see text]E compared to males; however, the relationship between dyspnea and [Formula: see text]E was unaffected by load carriage.
CONCLUSION:
The relative response patterns for ventilatory and perceptual responses to graded exercise with thoracic loading were similar in males and females.
Serena Williams won the Australian Open while in her first trimester of pregnancy. A Sherpa woman in her third trimester climbed to Everest Base Camp. Paula Radcliffe, who holds the world record in the women’s marathon, ran twice a day in the first five months of her pregnancy. Olympic track athlete Alysia Montano competed in a high-level 800-meter race while 34 weeks pregnant. Pregnancy can feel like one long list of things not to do. But these women are demonstrating that exercise doesn’t need to be on that list — and the science backs them up.
Research produced by UEFA shows that mothers who play sport double the likelihood of their children doing the same, and that teenage girls are likelier to play football if they have a brother.
Speaking at the annual Sport For Business women’s sport conference in Dublin yesterday, UEFA’s business development co-ordinator Polly Bancroft stressed that active mothers are particularly influential in their children participating in sport.
“Our research showed that if fathers play sport their children are 50pc likely to play but if their mother plays sport as well, they are 95pc likely to play,” she said.
You thought it would be tough to top last season, when the players on the bench for the Nebraska volleyball team were known for the celebrations they did after big plays in the match, right?
Well, this year these dancing Huskers may have just done it.
Last year the cheers included acting like the players were dunking a basketball, and dancing after a block. And they still do some of those same cheers, to help provide energy for the team.
This year the team’s thing is that several times the bench players have done a line dance during breaks in the action when a video review challenge is taking place.
… I felt ready to start running again after eight to 10 weeks. I didn’t try anything too intense; my first “runs” were more like “swing your legs for 20 seconds, then walk for 20 seconds.” I had to recondition my (new) body to get it used to running again. Running felt foreign after weeks away, but I had to remind myself that I was also in a new body, in charge of an entirely new identity.
It wasn’t that I looked different; it was more that I felt different. I felt less firm, more cushiony and much weaker. Those feelings became less and less apparent the more I ran. Now, at eight months postpartum, I almost feel like my pre-pregnancy self. As a matter of fact, I ran my first half marathon weeks ago and, while I didn’t finish with a new PB, the race was pretty darn good for the minimal training I did.
… Samantha Magliato is on the Case Western Reserve University crew team. Part of her workout routine right now includes attaching a VivaLNK Vital Scout sensor to her chest.
“That’s where you can get a reading of your EKG, which shows the electrical activity of your heart,” Magliato explains.
Biomedical PhD Student Dhruv Seshadri monitors her real-time results on a mobile device. He wants to see if the data, her heart rate, stress level, performance and recovery rates, can translate into safer, more efficient training.
At a meetup in Barcelona this week, USA Cycling sports technologist Melissa McKeveny talked about how technology is impacting the sport of cycling, and what she feels the future holds. The event was run by global sports consulting firm N3XT Sports in collaboration with SportTechie.
Based in Colorado Springs, USA Cycling has a membership of more than 60,000. Team USA has decades of cycling success. At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Kristin Armstrong defended her time trial title for the second time, Connor Fields won gold in the men’s BMX, and the U.S. took silver in the women’s team pursuit on the track. This year, Chloe Dygert picked up the women’s individual pursuit world record at the World Championships in March, and Ashton Lambie took the men’s record at the Pan American Championships in August. The next big goal is Tokyo 2020.
Cycling is perhaps one of the sports with the most technological potential. “Technology in cycling has a tremendous and direct impact into performance,” McKeveny said.
The advent of Web-based sports injury surveillance via programs such as the High School Reporting Information Online system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program has aided in the acquisition of girls’ and women’s volleyball injury data. OBJECTIVE:
To describe the epidemiology of injuries sustained in high school girls’ volleyball in the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years and collegiate women’s volleyball in the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years using Web-based sports injury surveillance. DESIGN:
Descriptive epidemiology study. SETTING:
Online injury surveillance from high school girls’ (annual average = 100) and collegiate women’s (annual average = 50) volleyball teams. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
Girls’ and women’s volleyball players who participated in practices and competitions during the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years in high school and the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years in college. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):
Athletic trainers collected time-loss (≥24 hours) injury and exposure data. Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs), injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and injury proportions by body site and diagnosis were calculated. RESULTS:
The High School Reporting Information Online system documented 1634 time-loss injuries during 1 471 872 AEs; the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program documented 2149 time-loss injuries during 563 845 AEs. The injury rate was higher in college than in high school (3.81/1000 versus 1.11/1000 AEs; IRR = 3.43; 95% CI = 3.22, 3.66), and higher in high schools with ≤1000 students than in those with >1000 students (IRR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.23, 1.49). Injury rates did not vary by collegiate division. The injury rate was higher during competitions than practices for high school (IRR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.12, 1.36) but not for college (IRR = 1.01; 95% CI = 0.92, 1.10). Ankle sprains were common in both the high school and collegiate setting. However, liberos had a high incidence of concussion. CONCLUSIONS:
Injury rates were higher among collegiate than high school players. However, injury rates differed by event type in high school, unlike college. Concussion injury patterns among liberos varied from those for other positions. These findings highlight the need for injury-prevention interventions specific to setting and position.
The risk for knee osteoarthritis (OA) is substantially increased after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Tools are needed to identify characteristics of patients after ACL injury who are most at risk for posttraumatic OA. Purpose:
To determine whether clinical measures of knee function after ACL injury are associated with the development of radiographic knee OA 5 years after injury. Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods:
A total of 76 athletes (mean age, 28.7 ± 11.3 years; 35.5% female) with ACL injury were included. Clinical measures of knee function (quadriceps strength, single-legged hop tests, patient-reported outcomes) were assessed after initial impairment resolution (baseline), after 10 additional preoperative or nonoperative rehabilitation sessions (posttraining), and 6 months after ACL reconstruction or nonoperative rehabilitation. Posterior-anterior bent-knee radiographs were completed at 5 years and graded in the medial compartment by use of the Kellgren-Lawrence system. Logistic regression models were used at each of the 3 time points to determine the ability of clinical measures to predict knee OA at 5 years. Results:
Of the 76 patients, 9 (11.8%) had knee OA at 5 years. After adjustment for ACL reconstruction compared with nonoperative management, ipsilateral second ACL injuries, and the presence of contralateral knee OA, clinical measures of knee function at posttraining (6-m timed hop, Knee Outcomes Survey-Activities of Daily Living Scale) explained the most variance in posttraumatic OA development at 5 years (P = .006; ▵R 2, 27.5%). The 6-m hop test was the only significant posttraining predictor of OA at 5 years (P = .023; patients without OA, 96.6% ± 5.4%; patients with OA, 84.9% ± 14.1%). Similar significant group differences in hop scores and subjective knee function were present at baseline. No significant group differences in clinical measures existed at 6 months after ACL reconstruction or nonoperative rehabilitation. Conclusion:
Poor performance in single-legged hop tests early after ACL injury but not after reconstruction or nonoperative rehabilitation is associated with the development of radiographic posttraumatic knee OA 5 years after injury. Clinical measures of knee function were most predictive of subsequent OA development following an extended period of rehabilitation early after ACL injury.
“Despite their achievements in the classroom and the workplace, our experiments suggest that women and girls may still encounter bias in circumstances where brilliance is viewed as the key to success,” observes Andrei Cimpian, an associate professor in New York University’s psychology department and the senior author of the study in the journal American Psychologist.
“Although it is intuitive to think of gender bias as an adult phenomenon, the gender imbalances currently seen in many academic and professional fields may actually be due in part to processes that unfold early in development,” adds Lin Bian, first author of the study, who was a visiting researcher at NYU and doctoral student at the University of Illinois at the time of the study.
… “One of the quick responses everybody had was it was perceived to not be as lucrative — that female led films don’t make as much money. That was an assumption that most people in our industry were working with. Then the question was ‘Well is that true? Is that backed up by data?'” said Haubegger.
The group’s findings proved the opposite. “This critical, conventional wisdom is actually just not true, and we certainly should be able to see a greater number of female protagonists going forward,” she added.
A photo gallery published on the News Sentinel’s website chronicled the effort that went into Tennessee’s comeback victory over Stetson Wednesday night.
The images also updated an ongoing project involving the Lady Vols getting more in touch with each other. In this case, the best example was a photo of guards Meme Jackson and Evina Westbrook jumping and bumping for joy. There were other images of players slapping hands and touching palms.
… Foudy started our interview with some light banter for Chastain (“We are going to beat her team.”) before diving into the rift currently developing in American soccer between high school and USSF Development Academy play.
“I hate that they have to choose,” said Foudy. “I think they should be allowed to play in high school. I think there’s a very different element to high school that you don’t get in club level. You’re having to be a leader on the team. You’re having to play in front of your peers. You’re playing in front of the community.”
She also has concerns about youth soccer at the national team level, particularly after both the U17 and the U20 WNTs left their World Cups in group this year. “It’s not just this World Cup either,” Foudy pointed out, noting that both age groups have a record of underperforming. “It causes you to go, what’s going on here? We have more girls in this country playing than probably the rest of the world combined and more funding and support than clearly a lot of these countries. Why are we struggling? And I get that it’s a great sign that these countries are starting to promote and fund their programs better on the girls’ side but we still should be at least competitive in all these different levels.”
There are plenty of people who think women are not qualified to coach men’s sports (trust us, we talked to them). But trailblazers in the industry are breaking through barriers, little by little.
Sponsorship deals are routinely mocked, from Manchester United’s mattress partners to Everton’s Angry Birds sleeves, with some companies all too keen to get themselves associated with Premier League clubs. And we roll our eyes at the latest madcap scenarios players find themselves in at launch events.
However Uefa’s announcement that it has agreed a seven-year deal with Visa as the first sponsor of Uefa women’s football deserves the celebratory tone with which it was unveiled. Because, for a change, it actually is a groundbreaking deal. Why? Because as Nadine Kessler, Uefa’s head of women’s football, said, the aim is “to assign a clear value to women’s football”.
“At the end of the day it’s not about the monetary value, it’s more about showing people this game has value,” she says. “This is the message we try to send out.”
WOMEN ARE SIZABLY OUTNUMBERED BY THEIR MALE PROFESSIONAL COUNTERPARTS IN THE FIELD OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING. CULTURAL BARRIERS RESULTING FROM HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND HETERONORMATIVITY CONTRIBUTE TO THE MARGINALIZATION OF WOMEN IN SPORT IN GENERAL, AND HINDER THE ENTRANCE, RETENTION, AND ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN STRENGTH COACHES SPECIFICALLY. WE EXPLORE HOW MENTORSHIP IS A VIABLE OPTION TO SUPPORT WOMEN PROFESSIONALS AND MAKE ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO IMPROVE THE EXPERIENCE AND OPPORTUNITIES OF WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION.
A SUBSTANTIAL ISSUE IN SPORTING PROFESSIONS TODAY, INCLUDING ELITE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING, IS SEX IMBALANCE. ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN’S ROLES ARE COMPLEX AND INSTITUTIONALLY ENTRENCHED, CONTRIBUTING TO BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S SUCCESS. ALTHOUGH REAL ISSUES STILL EXIST FOR TODAY’S ELITE FEMALE STRENGTH COACHES, MURMURINGS OF CHANGE ARE AUDIBLE. FURTHER RESEARCH ON WHY SEX IMBALANCE IN STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING MATTERS AS WELL AS THE CREATION OF A CULTURE WHERE WOMEN FEEL INCLUDED AND WANTED IS PART OF THE SOLUTION. THIS ARTICLE WILL FOCUS ON WOMEN IN STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING, AND SITUATES IT WITHIN A BROADER SOCIAL CONTEXT.
Can you name a female scientist from history? Chances are you are shouting out Marie Curie. The twice Nobel Prize-winning Curie and mathematician Ada Lovelace are two of the few women within Western science to receive lasting popular recognition.
One reason women tend to be absent from narratives of science is because it’s not as easy to find female scientists on the public record. Even today, the numbers of women entering science remain below those of men, especially in certain disciplines. A-level figures show only 12% of candidates in computing and 22% in physics in 2018 were girls.
Another reason is that women do not fit the common image of a scientist. The idea of the lone male genius researcher is remarkably persistent. But looking to history can both challenge this portrayal and offer some explanation as to why science still has such a masculine bias.
