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 The Lack of Medical Coverage in High School Football
The ability to diagnose and treat injuries in college and professional athletes has improved during the last few years. However, this has done little to improve sports medicine coverage for high school athletes, which is the largest group of competing athletes. Some surveys estimate that more than 1,000,000 high school students play football in the United States. Researchers have revealed that the injury rates among high school football players is read more

Equipment Review: Dartfish
The Emmy Award winning software program Dartfish has been used in the Olympics and is probably the most practical coaching tool ever made. The system is made up of a computer software program and one or multiple cameras. The software program gives coaches an instructing capability unlike anything they have ever experienced before. The program uses videography to biomechanically breakdown sports skills. Basically coaches capture an athlete doing a sports skill and then use the software package to breakdown the movement. read more

Injuries in Men's Ice Hockey
Ice hockey is considered one of the fastest and most aggressive team sports. The rink is enclosed with rigid walls (“the boards”) and the competition surface is made of solid unyielding ice. The players travel at high speeds on two single small blades of steel. They constantly accelerate, decelerate, and balance their body over thin blades that are only millimeters thick. They frequently slam into walls, their opponents, and the ice. This type of activity puts hockey players at read more

NSCA Strength & Conditioning Professional Standards & Guidelines Project

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is campaigning to athletic directors at high schools across the U.S. The purpose of this campaign is to read more

Cold Related Injuries in Winter Sports

Athletes who have to compete in the outdoors constantly have to endure environmental stresses. In winter sports, cold and wind exposure can lead to a multitude of injuries such as frostbite. Since the skin is the only line of defense for the body from the cold, the skin is what becomes injured. Athletes wear protective clothing to shield themselves from the cold and wind. However, if the read more

Hip Flexor Training for Speed and Agility

Training protocols for improving speed and agility performance usually include hypertrophy (muscle growth) of certain muscle groups, neural training, strength training, movement specific training (components or techniques of sprinting) and other general speed training principles. There are many different theories and programs to use to design a speed and agility training program. For example, researchers in one study found that read more

NCAA’s Banned Substances: Supplements

Many high school and college student athletes use dietary supplements but unfortunately many supplements contain substances banned by the NCAA. Also in the dilemma of supplements is read more

Game Tactics: Exercise Physiology, Biomechanics, and Sports Psychology

When coaches know the exercise physiology, biomechanics, and sports psychology of athletics, they can increase their chances of winning exponentially.   Part of game tactics and strategies is to know read more

Body Size and Composition of NFL Players

The size and composition of NFL football players as evolved over the years. There are mixed reviews that the NFL players of today are bigger and heavier than earlier players. Factors related to rule changes and position skills may have lead to higher body mass such as in offensive linemen. Rule changes in the 1970’s such as no “chop blocking” and “posting” caused the majority of offensive line play to happen above the waist. This has changed the biomechanical requirements and the body design of the offensive lineman. Offensive line play has moved to rely on upright body leverage and mass acceleration techniques for drive blocking. Also skill requirements have changed to quick upright shielding and positioning for pass blocking. These skills require a different athlete build, then older styles of play. read more

Nutritional Ergogenic Aids

The American College of Sports Medicine has defined an ergogenic aid as one that is a physical, mechanical, psychological, nutritional, pharmacological, or any treatment that directly improves physiological variables associated with exercise performance or removes restraints that may limit performance. read more

High School Football Injuries:
The New Synthetic FieldTurf vs. Natural Grass

Recent reports have estimated that more than 1 million athletes are now playing high school football. The rising number and cost of knee surgeries and rehabilitation alone has reached more than $1 billion a year. If you combine the cost of injury with the psychological trauma to the athletes and setbacks in training typically experienced by athletes after a significant injury read more


Body Art Increases Risk of Injury

Body art is becoming increasingly popular. More athletes are receiving tattoos, skin brands, and piercings. There are a few things athletes should consider before receiving a type of body art. Athletes should consider read more

Psyching up”, Does it enhance performance?

If you have ever been in an athletic locker room or on the side lines you have heard coaches and players say “let’s get fired up” or “pump it up, let’s go”. These phrases are directed towards athletes, telling them to get “psyched up”. Many athletes in sports such as football psych themselves up prior to performance. Psyching up refers to the use of self directed cognitive strategies that are designed to enhance physical performance. The most common strategies are preparatory arousal, imagery, attentional focus, prayer, andpositive self talk. Not only is the strategy of arousal important but the timing of the psych up routine is also important. Based on the techniques mentioned, a psych up routine should read more

Practices of Strength and Conditioning Coaches in the National Football League

In 1998 researchers Ebben and Blackard surveyed 26 National Football League (NFL) Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Coaches to find out what principles and practices they used to train their athletes. Unfortunately, this information is 7 years old and is the only scientific evidence we have of strength and conditioning methodologies used by the NFL. The media has vaguely reported S&C methods in the past but these reports are more hear say and not backed by the scientific community. read more

What are the practices of Major League Baseball Strength Coaches?

Previous knowledge of professional sports strength and conditioning programs has not been available. Lately all practices and protocols have been speculated on by the media, but in some sports have never been evaluated and reported on by the scientific community. Therefore, researchers at Marquette University conducted a study in order to examine the strength and conditioning practices of Major League Baseball Strength (MLB) and Conditioning (S&C) Coaches. Twenty one MLB S&C coaches participated in the study. The following sections represent information obtained by the researchers on the practices and protocols of MLB S&C coaches. read more

Off the Field Athlete Life Management: A Relation to Coaching Job Performance

A coach’s job performance is primarily judged by the community, parents of the athletes on the team, and the organization administration. Coaches are evaluated by the team’s achievements on the field. The performance of the athletes determines the team’s success which then reflects on the coach’s ability to perform his/her job. Coaches are constantly being evaluated by the community, parents, and administration. Often, coaches perform optimally (i.e. provide the best coaching and training possible), however, some coaches fall short of optimum team performance due to read more

Injury in Youth Sports

Youth Sports has become increasingly popular and highly competitive in the United States. Youth sports provide physical, physiological, psychological, and sociological development of young participants. Although youth sports has many benefits, the negative side to sports is injury and burnout. Some scientist and sports professionals believe the extreme competitive nature of youth sports produces young athletes that become injured or burnout as a result of read more

Sleep II: Recommendations for Sleep

There are three primary recommendations to obtain both quality and quantity of sleep. The following sections will provide you with guidelines on obtaining the proper amount of sleep. read more

Sleep I: Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Performance

Multiple studies show that high school and college students make up a majority of the sleep deprived population. Attitude, mood, and performance in the classroom and in athletics may be adversely affected by sleep deprivation. Coaches and trainers should be aware of sleep deprivation and realize its impact on health and performance. read more

The Science Behind Mouthguards

The science of mouthguards involves disciplines of science such as biomechanics and exercise physiology (e.g. breathing and air flow). A well designed mouthguard will allow an athlete to breath through the mouth, communicate, reposition the jaw, and distribute and absorb forces. Mouthguards are designed to protect from two basic types of traumatic impacts, read more

Resting Morning Heart Rate: Can it predict training status?

Resting heart rate has been used by some athletic professionals to measure training status of an athlete. With endurance training, the resting heart rate will reduce due to structural and physiological adaptations of the cardiopulmonary systems (i.e. the systems become more efficient with training). However, with overtraining, there may be a rise in morning resting heart rate. Morning resting heart rate is taken immediately after an athlete wakes up. Morning heart rate is used as the “gold standard” because external factors (e.g. physical activity) that may affect heart rate are reduced. Some researchers suggest that read more

Achievement of Peak Performance Using the Tapering Method

The pinnacle of an athlete’s performance capabilities is known as “The Peak” (i.e. peak performance) during the athletic season. The peak occurs at the most important competition, usually national or world trials. In most sports the peak is preceded by a marked reduction in training during the days before a major competition. The reduction in training is known as “tapering”. Tapering is the period of training just before a major competition that induces peak performance. Some scientist such as Johns, Houmard, and Kobe state that tapering before a major event is of vital importance to an athlete’s performance and to the outcome of an event. It is believed by many athletes, coaches, and sports scientist that after a period of high intensity and/or high volume training, performance can be enhanced during a particular event if read more

Performance maintenance through preseason injury and illness prevention

If an athlete becomes injured or ill during the preseason, then he/she may not be able to maintain optimum performance levels during the regular season. Also depending on the severity of the injury or illness, the athlete may not ever return to optimum performance levels. Therefore, it is very important to prevent injuries and illnesses. During preseason training athletes can read more

Exercise Induced Immune System Suppression: Risk of Airborne Viruses

Research has shown that when athletes participate in athletic activity, their immune system suppresses for a few hours post activity and then rebuilds itself stronger during rest. This has proven that moderate intensity athletic activity enhances immune function. However, research has demonstrated that prolonged moderate intensity athletic activity (i.e. endurance sports) may read more

Injury: Early Detection is Key

Athletes have been known to become injured or feel pain and not seek help. They refuse to tell the coach, parent, or medical team. Some athletes do this because they have been taught all their life to be tough and don’t show signs of weakness. While others are afraid if they report the injury, that they will be held back from playing. These attitudes and practices can severely harm athletes. Athletes should read more

The Coach’s Responsibility in Injury Prevention

Each year sports medicine professionals see and treat millions of injuries. Most injuries are minor, while others are career ending, crippling, or fatal. In recent years the number of injuries has increased. Therefore, researchers are working on ways to educate sports professionals to learn how to decrease injuries. One sports professional who has a direct impact on an athlete’s injury probability is the coach. The coach plays a major role in injury prevention among his/her athletes. The way in which coaches regulate equipment, practices, conditioning, and games all play a large element in an athlete’s likelihood of becoming injured. Coaches have the responsibility to read more

How Should You Stretch Your Hamstrings

Tight hamstrings can lead to multiple problems such as low back pain and hamstring muscle strains (i.e. pulled muscle). Therefore, hamstring flexibility can be a key component in injury prevention. There is a recent debate among biomechanist, physical therapist, and athletic trainers on the best method to stretch the hamstring muscle groups. Some professionals state athletes should stretch their hamstrings with read more

Old News: Exercise and Resistance Training ARE Safe for Children

Resistance training in our young population has taken abuse for the last thirty years due to unspecific reports and non qualified personnel instructing youth strength training programs. Today, with the advancement of science in exercise, we have been able to denounce the myths that have followed the strength and conditioning field and educate youth strength coaches. Resistance training and exercise have been shown to read more

Mental Imagery

Mental imagery is a mental practice that athletes use to enhance performance. It is a skill in which an athlete uses all the senses to create a mental experience of a performance. In other words, the athlete simulates reality by mentally rehearsing a motion, a sound, a vision, an exertion, and more. For instance, olympic swimmers are so good at mental imagery that they can imagine every single stroke of a race. They can start a stop watch when they see themselves dive into the pool, and stop it when they hit the wall. The fascinating thing is when they stop the watch; they are usually with in a tenth of a second of their actual race times. By using this mental technique the swimmers can read more

How to Prevent Overreaching and Overtraining in Athletes

A major problem in sports today lies in the training, competition, recovery, and rest cycle. The cycle consists of the amount and type of training stress, competition stress, recovery, and rest an athlete receives. An imbalance in the cycle in combination with non athletic stress such as that experienced in home, work and/or school life, can lead to overreaching and eventually overtraining. Overreaching is read more

Hydration: Affects on Performance and Safety in Athletics

Hydration status of an athlete is of vital importance. Not only will hydration status affect an athlete’s performance during competition, it will also have a direct affect on an athlete’s safety. Even modest levels of dehydration can cause impairment of exercise capacity and decrease the ability of an athlete to achieve optimum performance. This means that athletes will experience a reduction in their quality of practice and game time abilities. Further more, a dehydrated athlete could read more


How Can Training and Coaching Influence a Champion?

Training
Training is required to reach and maintain champion athletic performance. Research indicates that there is a direct relationship between skill level and training. Both quality and quantity of training can influence the skill level of an athlete. Training should be modified so that optimal efforts and concentrations are required. This will maximize the psychological, physiological, and structural adaptations of the athlete. For instance, read more

Coaching
In most cases a coach constructs 100% of an athlete’s practice time. It is important for athletic development that a coach create an environment that is optimal for learning. Expert coaches meticulously plan practices to optimize mental, physical, and physiological changes in an athlete. They also read more

Profile of a Steroid User

Sports can be profitable by landing substantial professional contracts and endorsements, or by landing full paid college scholarships. The possibility of gaining large profits in sports brings an elevated level of competition. Teams may only have 5-10 slots to fill and there may be hundreds of athletes trying out to fill those slots. Therefore, read more

Over Training Syndrome

Most athletes train to their max every time they enter practice or competition. Training with maximum effort is a must if an athlete wants to be a champion. However, the road to becoming a champion can involve vigorous training. This type of training can be so grueling that it hovers on the edge of torture. In fact, it can bring the average non athletic man to tears, yet something in an athlete drives him/her forward day in and day out. It is that drive that read more

What is talent? A discussion of the ten major factors of athletic talent.

Talent is a culmination of physiological, psychological, and structural factors. Most of the time it is not just one factor that makes an athlete posses a talent. It is a combination of many factors. For instance, an athlete may be a fast sprinter because he/she has a large percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers. It could also be because the athlete has great technique and is a biomechanically efficient sprinter. Thus, it can be a combination of factors that can make an athlete faster than his/her opponents. Let us now explore a few of these factors and see if we can pin point some of the things that make an athlete talented. I have outlined ten major factors that I believe make up talent. Many topics make up each of the next ten sections. I have singled out a few and explained them in detail. read more

Why is Quick Acceleration Important in Sports?

In most sports the ability to accelerate early and breeze by your opponent or beat a throw to home plate will separate the great athletes from the good ones. The ability to accelerate to maximum running speed quickly is an essential component of becoming a successful athlete. In athletics whoever can travel from point A to point B the fastest, is the most effective. Quick acceleration enables read more

How Wearing a Wallet Can Decrease Performance

Low back pain is a major source of decreased performance in sports. There are so many causes of low back pain that it is hard for sports medicine professionals to diagnose the mechanism of the injury. It can be caused by tight hamstrings, tight hip flexors, tight calf muscles, altered movements of bones in the ankle, improper foot wear, and many others. However, one culprit for low back pain in athletes is a man’s wallet. Sitting for longed periods with a wallet in the back pocket, will cause read more