After school during the basketball season, Addison Potts heads to the gym for a two-hour practice with her team, Gateway Charter High School in Fort Myers, Florida. From the gym, she goes home, but basketball doesn’t stop there; at least an hour of ball handling or shooting awaits.
Andy Potts — her father, who has also doubled as her coach for the past two years — estimates his daughter spends 10 to 12 hours a week by herself in the gym. But for as busy as she is during the season, the off-season is when she trains the most. More shots, more ball handling, more strength training.
All the while, her friends are shopping, watching movies or enjoying the beach along the Gulf of Mexico. Potts doesn’t mind that she misses out on some of these opportunities because she’d rather be in the gym, which has opened up opportunities that many of her peers don’t get.
… In the weeks after her dad’s death, Mana was floored by the support she received from the Portland community. Dozens of friends, teammates and members of the Rose City Riveters wrote her letters. Her friend, Evelyn Shoop, helped collect them in box to send to Mana. Two years later, she still has a stack of thank-you cards that she has yet to deliver to all the fans that reached out. There are so many, and she doesn’t know where to address them.
It was easy to feel the support around her and she knew she could text her friends and family when she was overcome with emotion. But there were many moments in the months after her dad’s death when Mana needed an extra measure of help.
That’s how she found herself making the two-hour drive to Eugene each week to see Melissa Todd, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist with a specialty in sport psychology. Todd had previously been a professional runner and could understand the unique challenges of overcoming personal tragedy while relentlessly pursuing a professional career.
The hardest part, Deena Kastor says, is the second run of the day.
She’d much rather pour a glass of wine and start making dinner than hit the treadmill or head outside for another run around her home in Mammoth Lakes, California.
But the wine must wait until she’s eating dinner. The gratification is delayed. The miles are run. And little by little, Kastor, now 45, has wrestled herself back into shape to line up at the Boston Marathon on April 16.
It will be Kastor’s first marathon since Chicago in October 2015, where she ran 2:27:47 and set the American masters record at age 42. It was also two and a half years off from the heavy duty mileage of marathon training.
What do you do when you’re seeking a bit more excitement? If you’re Molly Huddle, you step away from the track and dive head first into training for the Boston Marathon.
The two-time Olympian is no stranger to the competition at 26.2-mile distance—Huddle made her long-awaited marathon debut at the New York City Marathon in 2016, running 2:28:13 for third place just 12 weeks after setting an American record in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But once she committed to training for Boston, she watched her fellow American marathoners continue to trend upward against the East Africans that have dominated the distance for so long.
In October, 26-year-old Jordan Hasay ran 2:20:57 for third place at the Chicago Marathon—just one minute and 21 seconds off the American record. In November, Shalane Flanagan—one of the most accomplished U.S. distance runners whose records Huddle has continuously broken on the track—ended a four-decade drought for American women in the New York City Marathon with a 2:26:53 first-place finish. Add in Desiree Linden—and defending Boston champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya—to the mix with Hasay and Flanagan, and the 2018 Boston Marathon is shaping up to be a battle of elites.
“We’re all going to raise our game,” Huddle says. “We don’t just want to be the top American on the day, [we want] to win. And it’s a tall order given that the international field is not weak. It gets my blood pumping when I see the names.”
The Seattle Globalist, Global Press News Service, Ley Uwera from
… “Many people buy into the belief that girls can’t make an iota of progress in boxing,” Bagunda says. “And yet, girls are physically tough enough, and boxing will help them defend themselves should the need arise.”
As an antidote to sexual violence and endemic poverty, these women take to the ring to prove their strength and strive to make money on the boxing circuit. All four women sat down with Global Press Journal to share their motivation for taking up boxing.
A’ja Wilson is rolling on the Gamecocks’ practice court, stretching her hamstrings over her head like a 6-foot-5 ballerina. She flips side to side, listening as her teammates debate the appeal of the various male leads in Black Panther. “Wakanda forever,” they chime in unison, breaking into giggles as they stand to run full-court drills — Wilson, 21, making short work of the 94 feet with her loping, jackrabbit stride.
The South Carolina forward is the best college player in the country, the projected No. 1 WNBA pick and the only three-time SEC Player of the Year — the rare big who can thread any needle. Wilson’s peers label her hard to guard, with weapons-grade versatility. She shoots from all angles, blocks shots the way a billboard blocks the sun. She is deceptively loose, smooth, slipping through any net like an oiled fish. On the surface, Wilson appears all rainbow-bright fun. In truth, she’s a shiv in a sequined pouch, a fairyland princess who can dunk.
“To be able to throw the ball up in the air knowing she’ll catch it, no matter how high, how far,” Gamecocks guard Doniyah Cliney says. “Her efficiency is ridiculous.”
… “You put your body through the wringer,” [Catelyn] Orel said. “It’s not a sport for the weak.”
So why establish the fact — obvious to those involved or deeply familiar with the sport — that gymnastics is hard on a body? Well, to use well-known analogy offered by Husker assistant coach Chris Brooks, to build a house, you have to have a strong foundation.
And for Brooks, who took over the team’s strength and conditioning this season in his first year with the Huskers, building that groundwork started with numbers in a season of high expectations.
“You just have to do the numbers (in the gym) to get there and have the girls build the confidence that whenever they get into a stressful situation, you can just go on autopilot,” Brooks said earlier this week during practice at Mabel Lee Hall. “You don’t have to think about the skills. Your body just has the muscle memory involved.”
It was August, 2012, and Becky Hammon, the point guard of the Silver Stars, San Antonio’s franchise in the W.N.B.A., was on her way home from the London Olympics. While waiting to board a connecting flight in Atlanta, she spotted the craggy face of Gregg Popovich, the head coach of the N.B.A.’s San Antonio Spurs. Popovich is widely considered one of the greatest coaches of all time, and is known for a capacity to inspire selfless team play even among players of colossal ego. One of his many fans, Barack Obama, has said that if he were a free agent in the N.B.A. he’d sign with Popovich. Hammon was far less famous, but Popovich was an admirer, and he recognized her, too. He had been watching her play since 2007, the year before she led the Silver Stars to the W.N.B.A. Finals. From time to time during the next few seasons, Popovich would call or text Dan Hughes, the Silver Stars’ coach, with comments about her performance.
Though only five feet six, Hammon was a commanding presence on the court: gum-snapping, energetic, her quick cuts and jab steps to the basket punctuated by a swishing ponytail. She could slip through a narrow space between two defenders and drive to the hoop, scooping a shot that would skim the rim and slide through the net. Like Magic Johnson, she flipped no-look passes over her shoulder, and, like Stephen Curry, she hit shots from half-court. But Popovich was most struck by her prowess as a court general: she had an uncanny ability to direct her teammates around the floor. “I’d watch the game, and the only thing I could see—it’s an exaggeration, I mean, but—was Becky’s aura, her leadership, her effect on teammates, her effect on the crowd, the way she handled herself,” Popovich told me. “She was, like, the ultimate leader. Energy, juice, vitality. At the same time, she was doing intelligent things on the court, making decisions that mattered.” In the N.B.A., a woman in charge was almost unthinkable, but he was considering hiring her.
… It started back then in 2006, when then-U.S. head coach Pete Vordenberg hammered down the mission to win a medal in cross-country skiing. On the women’s side, though, there was a lack of both depth and precedent.
Today, the squad has become known on the circuit for its insatiable love for the sport, support of each other, and flair for fun — but that success wasn’t a given. Rather, it came from an intentional change to the team culture and training within the U.S. program. Here’s how they did it.
British Journal of Sports Medicine, Amelia J.H. Arundale from
What did I do? I aimed to (1) examine the changes in biomechanics and injury incidence with utilisation of the 11+ prevention programme over two soccer seasons in collegiate women, (2) establish the incidence of lower extremity injuries and career duration after ACL reconstruction (ACLR) and return Major League Soccer (MLS) and (3) quantify the effects of a secondary injury prevention programme on function, return to sport, and second ACL injury incidence in athletes after ACLR. Why did I do it?
Due to the high incidence of ACL injuries in cutting, pivoting and jumping sports, it would change athletes’ lives if it were possible to prevent a first or a second ACL injury.1 Primary and secondary ACL injury prevention programmes have been developed but require outcomes testing to determine their efficacy and further improve their impact.
Throughout March Madness, staying injury-free was likely on the minds of many of the players and coaches as their teams moved closer to championship games. Teams capitalize on peak performance during the postseason, but unfortunately, injuries, especially those to the knee, can be devastating.
The knee is the most commonly injured joint in sports, and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most frequently injured knee ligaments. Damage to the ACL can happen to athletes in any sport, but basketball, soccer and football players are particularly susceptible. The injury can occur when an athlete suddenly pivots or stops, quickly changes direction or lands after jumping. Half of ACL injuries are accompanied by damage to other ligaments or cartilage in the knee, and surgery is generally recommended when dealing with a combination of knee injuries.
In addition to being a defender with the Seattle Reign, Yael Averbuch is the president of the NWSL Player Association, a group formed last season to represent the interests of players that are not allocated by the United States and Canada.
That status makes her Q-and-A last week with Soccer America all the more compelling. Not only did Averbuch talk about the illness which, to date, has kept her from contributing to the Reign this season, but she also offered her views on myriad issues around the NWSL, from the status of the PA’s quest to unionize to the hope of upgrading standards in a number of areas across the league.
The tone of her answers was understanding and cooperative, reflecting a recognition of where the league is at. Despite situations like the now-departed Boston’s, this offseason, the league is in a relatively stable place, and while some markets face significant challenges, the expected addition of multiple teams this offseason speaks to the foundations the league has formed.
American tennis player Madison Brengle filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Women’s Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation seeking damages stemming from their “abusive administration of the anti-doping program” regarding injuries she claims were caused by needle injections from drug tests.
The complaint filed Monday in Manatee County circuit court in Florida alleges the governing bodies repeatedly subjected Brengle to venipuncture anti-doping tests, despite repeated disclosures that she has been diagnosed with a rare medical condition that is triggered by injections.
“Tennis authorities ignored evidence of her professionally-diagnosed condition and refused to provide alternative testing or a medical accommodation, instead subjecting Brengle to testing that caused her to withdraw from tournaments and has now resulted in permanent swelling and weakness in her serving arm and hand,” attorney Peter R Ginsberg, who represents Brengle, said in a statement on Monday.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the percentage, by sex, of athletic trainers (AT) in employment leadership positions at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) institutions. This percentage was analyzed specifically in the power five conferences. Participants were 351 institutions in 32 conferences. A list of institutions by conference was obtained from the NCAA website. Each institution’s athletic webpage was used to locate the name, picture, and employment bio of the athletic trainer with the upmost authority. Manifest coding was used to note the sex of each athletic trainer holding a leadership position. One institution did not list who was responsible for its athletic training program resulting in a final sample of 350 institutions. Results found 286 institutions had male ATs (81.71%), 60 had a female AT (17.14%), and four had dual representatives (1.14%) in positions such as Assistant/Associate AD for Sports Medicine, Director of Sports Medicine, or Head Athletic Trainer. When separated by the power five conferences, 60 male ATs (92.3%) held leadership positions. For the remaining five institutions, Female ATs held four positions (6.15%) with one institution having dual representatives (1.54%). Currently, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association membership consists of a greater number of females ATs (55.16%) than male ATs (44.67%). Even with more female ATs in the profession, the representation of female ATs in the position of upmost authority in NCAA DI member institutions has not increased in the last 20 years. [full text]
Happy Equal Pay Day! (Or, as I like to call it, Women’s New Year.) Today is the day that marks roughly how far into 2018 women had to work to earn a salary equal to what men got the year before.1 We’d throw a parade and street fair, but we were too busy working to organize one.
This pay gap has been shrinking for more than three decades, but as of 2017, women still earn just 82 percent of what their male counterparts take home, according to calculations by the Pew Research Center. Since 1980, women have dramatically reshaped the workforce by earning college degrees and taking on paid labor at higher rates, but the pay gap persists despite these changes in part because women and men are still frequently split up into different types of jobs and industries. And jobs that are frequently done by women consistently pay less.
Research conducted by Francine Blau, a professor of economics at Cornell, suggests that this division between which jobs and industries men and women tend to work in — called sex segregation — is now the single biggest factor explaining the pay gap between men and women.
The New York Times, The Upshot blog, Claire Cain Miller from
Today, married couples in the United States are likely to have similar educational and career backgrounds. So while the typical husband still earns more than his wife, spouses have increasingly similar incomes. But that changes once their first child arrives.
Immediately after the first birth, the pay gap between spouses doubles, according to a recent study — entirely driven by a drop in the mother’s pay. Men’s wages keep rising. The same pattern shows up in a variety of research.
But the recent study reveals a twist. When women have their first child between age 25 and 35, their pay never recovers, relative to that of their husbands. Yet women who have their first baby either before 25 or after 35 — before their careers get started or once they’re established — eventually close the pay gap with their husbands.
The years between 25 to 35 happen to be both the prime career-building years and the years when most women have children.