Hansons-Brooks Athlete Anne-Marie Blaney had one heckuva a race at the U.S. Cross Country Championships last month! The long distance athlete finished ninth overall and earned a spot on the U.S. team at the upcoming World Cross Country Championships on March 30 in Denmark. Anne-Marie has a successful track record in cross country- she finished second overall at the 2018 U.S. Club Cross Country Championships where the Hansons-Brooks women finished second as a team. At the same event the year before, Anne-Marie was part of the championship winning Hansons-Brooks women’s team.
We caught up with Anne-Marie to get her take on everything from dealing with injury to her feelings about bananas as fuel for running.
… The most versatile player in women’s college hoops was born 21 years ago to parents who’d barely heard of basketball, who took years to understand why their kids got to shoot two free throws on some fouls, but other times just one. Dan Ionescu and Liliana Blaj only learned about the sport that would become their daughter’s lifeblood when their oldest son, Andrei, picked it up at his school in Walnut Creek, Calif., a Bay Area suburb. That’s where Sabrina’s family settled after fleeing the 1989 Romanian Revolution, and it’s where she was born 18 minutes before Eddy, seven years after her parents emigrated. In Walnut Creek the Ionescu kids learned the hardscrabble ethos of their parents’ home country: You’ll earn nothing if you don’t work for it.
When a social media movement starts up, the waves can spread fast and far.
Just ask U.S. women’s ice hockey forward Brianna Decker, a 2018 Olympic champion and 2014 silver medalist.
Decker was one of four women invited to take part in the NHL All-Star Skills Challenge last month in San Jose, California, alongside U.S. Olympic teammate Kendall Coyne Schofield and Canadian Olympians Renata Fast and Rebecca Johnston.
Although Decker’s performance in the Premier Passer competition wasn’t televised, a video shot by a fan in the stands showed that she breezed through the drill quickly. Taking it a step further, it appeared she’d actually run the course quicker than any of the NHL players who took part.
Kansas State University, The Collegian student newspaper, Margaret Kohlrus from
Senior guard Kayla Goth, sophomore guard Rachel Ranke and junior forward Peyton Williams are three recognizable names from Kansas State’s women’s basketball team. A name that many may not be as familiar with is women’s basketball athletic trainer, Becca Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald received her undergraduate degree at Kansas University. Before coming to K-State, she was a trainer for the track, football and basketball programs at Ball State University and KU.
Now, Fitzgerald works side by side with the women’s strength coach, AJ Kloss. Together they decide what treatments and warmups are needed before each day of practice based on the team’s improvements and injuries. Kloss works to build up strength and muscles while Fitzgerald focuses on rehab.
Oiselle Running Apparel for Women, Catherine Watkins from
… The Canadian Olympic marathon team selection process differs from the process in the USA. The selection process for the US Olympic Marathon team involves a marathon trials where all athletes who have achieved the A or B standard in the marathon or a standard in the half compete, with the top 3 finishers earning their US Olympic marathon team spot, The Canadian system up until now, has not used a trials system for the marathon. In the past Athletics Canada has taken the IAAF time standard for the marathon, then made the standard for the Canadian athletes faster than this in order to qualify. For example, in 2016, the IAAF marathon standard for the Rio Olympics for women was 2:45:00, yet the standard put forth by Athletics Canada for acceptance to the marathon team for women was 2:29:50. These tough standards have been challenging for many women to make and 2016 in Rio was the first marathon we had female athletes (Lanni Marchant and Kirsta DuChene) competing in the Olympic Marathon since 1996.
This year however, Athletics Canada has decided to change things up a bit. On October 20th at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (STWM) a Canadian Marathon Olympic trials will occur. Athletics Canada has stated that the first Canadian male and female marathoners to cross the line at STWM will be selected to the Canadian Olympic Marathon team provided they have achieved the time standard that Athletics Canada will set forth. (at this point that time standard is unknown as they are awaiting the IAAF standards for Olympic Qualification before they release their own standard). This means that many Canadians will be seeking fast times this Spring so that they potentially have the standard sealed up and that they can then compete for that coveted first position and potential Olympic team berth in Toronto.
The U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryout takes place March 1-3 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with 216 athletes vying for spots into the elite high performance pipeline.
U.S. Soccer announced today that it will partner with IF/THEN, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies supporting women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
IF/THEN, built on the mantra that “if we support a woman in STEM, then she can change the world,” seeks to advance women in STEM by empowering current innovators and inspiring the next generation of female pioneers.
Background The risk of reinjury and other sequelae following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) remains high. Lack of knowledge regarding factors contributing to these risks limits our ability to develop sensitive return to play (RTP) tests. Using a running task, we evaluate whether fatigue induces alterations in foot progression angle (FPA), a proposed biomechanical risk factor and could be used to enhance RTP test sensitivity.
Method Transverse plane foot kinematics (FPA) were assessed for 18 post-ACLR subjects during a treadmill running task, before and after a generalised lower limb fatigue protocol. Subject’s contralateral limbs were used as a control group.
Results A small but significant difference between FPA for ACLR and contralateral limbs was observed before but not after fatigue. When confounding variables were considered, there was a significant difference in FPA change between ACLR and contralateral limbs from the prefatigue to postfatigue state.
Conclusions Following ACLR athletes may develop a knee-protective movement strategy that delays the progression of osteoarthritis in the ACL-injured knee. This may, however, increase the risk of ACL reinjury. Following the onset of fatigue this proposed movement strategy, and thus osteoarthritis protection, is lost.
Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology journal from
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture occurs most commonly in young and active individuals and can have negative long-term physical and psychological impacts. The diagnosis is made with a combination of patient’s history, clinical examination, and, if appropriate, magnetic resonance imaging. The objectives of management are to restore knee function, address psychological barriers to activity participation, prevent further injury and osteoarthritis, and optimize long-term quality of life. The three main treatment options for ACL rupture are (1) rehabilitation as first-line treatment (followed by ACL reconstruction (ACLR) in patients, who develop functional instability), (2) ACLR and post-operative rehabilitation as the first-line treatment, and (3) pre-operative rehabilitation followed by ACLR and post-operative rehabilitation. We provide practical recommendations for informing and discussing management options with patients, and describe patient-related factors associated with a worse ACL-rupture outcome. Finally, we define evidence-based rehabilitation and present phase-specific rehabilitation recommendations and criteria to inform return to sport decisions. [full text]
This study evaluates the effects of a week-long tournament on the psychohormonal states of collegiate female soccer players. Eight players’ cortisol (saliva sample), mood states (Incredibly Short Profile of Mood States [ISP]), and state-anxiety (state subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) were assessed 1 hour before and 15 minutes after every game. Cortisol increased significantly after most matches, with intramatch differences observed (p < 0.05, d > 1.2). Match intensity influenced cortisol secretion, with greater secretion as intensity increased. The ISP demonstrated intramatch differences for the subscales’ fatigue, depression, tension, and vigor (p < 0.05). Matches lost produced a higher total mood disturbance (TMD) index compared with matches won (p = 0.001, d = 1.4). Cortisol correlated with the TMD and various mood subscales before a winning outcome, with the ISP correlating at all times with the anxiety scores (p < 0.05). In conclusion, these results indicate that physiological and psychological variables combine to contribute to the stress response during a tournament. Focusing on high-intensity activities and minimizing fatigue are important, as both are associated with raised cortisol and negative mood states. Finally, implementing a mood questionnaire over a tournament can be beneficial, as sensitive information on players' hormonal and perceived anxiety states, which subsequently affect physical performance, can be obtained.
Karla Mosley wants you to know that people with eating disorders look like her too.
“I’m a woman of color and I certainly didn’t know that people like me had eating disorders,” she says. “I thought it was a white, rich, female, adolescent disorder.”
Only one of those identifiers fits Mosley who’s black and binged and purged for years. But Mosley, an actor and a regular on the day time soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, is sharing her story of battling bulimia and getting her health back.
She’s part of a growing movement of people of color working to raise awareness in their own communities, and among researchers in the field, about how these disorders affect people of all backgrounds — and body types. [audio, 7:14]
Whether feminine terms are used before or after male terms can influence people’s interpretation of scientific research results, according to a new study in the Journal of Sex Research.
“I often think about words and how language can shape our reality. Persistently placing masculine terms before feminine ones can suggest that men come before women. After reporting high rates of this male firstness bias in peer-reviewed psychological journals, we investigated its potential effects on readers,” said study author Malachi Willis, a PhD student at the University of Arkansas.
The New York Times, Kevin Draper and Kevin Armstrong from
When the Mets hired Brodie Van Wagenen as their new general manager last October, they wholly embraced, even promoted, his status as an unconventional outsider — a converted player agent. The team made a similarly unorthodox addition on Tuesday, announcing that Jessica Mendoza, a baseball analyst for ESPN, would join the team’s front office as a baseball operations adviser to Van Wagenen.
The Mets said Mendoza, a softball gold medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games who joined ESPN in 2007, would focus on player evaluation, roster construction, and health and performance.
UB students ventured downtown to the Buffalo Marriott Harborcenter last Friday for the Innovation Sprint, where they took on the tall task of how to increase attendance for teams in the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL).
The format for the event, sponsored by UB’s Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars, was a pitch contest, where students met for the first time and worked together in groups to create a pitch worthy of implementation in the real world.
Behavioural Public Policy Blog, Cass Sunstein from
… How does social change happen? One answer points to the role of social norms, which can be both powerful (in the sense that they greatly affect behavior) and fragile (in the sense that they can collapse in a short time). If norms lead people to silence themselves, a status quo can persist — even if some or many people hate it, and even if those who seem to support it are actually pretty indifferent to it. One day, someone challenges the norm. Maybe it’s a child who says that the Emperor has no clothes. Maybe it’s a guy who lives by himself, up on a hill. After that small challenge, others may begin to say what they think. Once that happens, a drip can become a flood.
Most of us live, at least some of the time, in accordance with norms that we dislike or perhaps abhor. We might not think about them; they are part of life’s furniture. But in our heart of hearts, we dislike or abhor them. The problem is that none of us can change a norm on our own. To be sure, we can defy a norm, but defiance comes at a cost, and it may end up entrenching rather than undermining existing norms. What is needed is some kind of movement, initiated by people who say that they disapprove the norm, and succeeding when some kind of tipping point is reached, by which time it is socially costless, and maybe beneficial, and maybe even mandatory, to say: Me Too. (
The Conversation, Marilyn Giroux and Jessica Vredenburg from
Naomi Osaka has made history as the first Japanese woman to claim a Grand Slam singles title after defeating Serena Williams in the final of the US Open.
However, her defining performance was overshadowed by controversy around sexism and double standards in sports. As our current research suggests, female and male athletes are held to different standards – and this also filters through to endorsement deals. “Bad boy” sports stars with an anti-hero or rule-breaker image are generally welcomed by sponsors, but female athletes aren’t treated the same.
A cycling race in Belgium was thrown into disarray when the leader of the women’s race, which set off 10 minutes after the men’s, almost caught up with her male counterparts and found herself in danger of being impeded by their support vehicles.