Weight Training for Sports

Archive for April, 2010

College recruitment of student-athletes started in the 1880s as college football began its transition from an extracurricular activity to a highly commercialized sport. Prior to the turn of the century, compensation for collegiate athletes usually took the form of employment, free lodging (often at the home of a coach or supporter), meals, gifts and other special favors. Primarily funded by a school’s alumni and fraternities, incentives were offered to entice players to choose a particular school and to perform at the highest level possible. Most of the time, the promise of compensation was verbal, with players being assured they would be well taken care of, according to authors Penny Hastings and Todd Caven in the book, “How To Win A Sports Scholarship.”

The popularity of college football grew quickly and a new industry—college stadium construction—was born. Many institutions around the country built gigantic structures to house the fast-growing sport. These stadia, in turn, created pressure for colleges to attract large crowds to justify their enormous cost. As a result, winning became increasingly important. Along with garnering prestige for a college, winning helped to generate money. College administrators quickly realized that game attendance was markedly influenced by the quality of play and that greater numbers of enthusiastic fans brought in more dollars.

This created a heavy demand for each year’s available athletic talent, not only for football, but also for other sports, including track, rowing and baseball—sports that were also growing in popularity among spectators. With so many colleges looking to expand their appeal to potential students and donors, competition for gifted athletes increased, resulting in greater financial rewards being offered to student-athletes in an effort to win their favor. The modern age of college athletic recruiting had begun.

Although throughout the history of collegiate sports there have numerous calls for a return to purely amateur sports, they have largely been unsuccessful. In 1952 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) legalized the use of athletic scholarships for the purpose of attracting qualified student-athletes. Other athletic associations were established and they, along with the NCAA, began to regulate national college athletic standards. These associations and school administrators have instituted rules and regulations to help protect the student-athlete from exploitation, as well as to clearly define how much compensation can be given and in what manner.

Today, more than $1.2 billion is awarded in athletic scholarships yearly in American colleges and universities to both men and women. For many student-athletes, sports are their entry into college and the only way they can afford an education. For more information go to www.winaportscholarship.com

So what’s with all the rhetoric and discussion on MMA being a violent sport?  Have any of these detractors ever watched a football game?  Ice Hockey?  Rugby?  Talk about violent sports!  And these are all approved and sanctioned!  Senator McCain and a lot of politicians are on the anti-MMA bandwagon, although sources close to Senator McCain have told me personally that he’s “coming around” and is willing to take a closer look at the sport.  Well thank goodness for that, because what MMA was in 1995 is not what it is today.

A report by the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, (JOSS&M) stated “The incidence of injury in combat sports has not been adequately reported although it is important to identify the nature and frequency of injuries prior to the implementation of prevention programs.”  In their study, they “compared injury rates treated in Hospital Emergency Departments between different combat sports of boxing, wrestling, and martial arts.  A secondary objective described anatomic region and diagnosis of these injuries.  Data were obtained on all boxing, wrestling, and martial arts-related injuries that were in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database and resulted in Emergency Department visits between 2002 and 2005.” 

Their findings?  “Martial arts had lower injury rates compared to boxing and wrestling for all diagnoses (p

It’s a fantastic idea to buy basketball hoops for kids.  It will help them get into exercise, train their hand eye coordination, and make much more productive use of their time than playing video games or watching TV.  Buying basketball hoops for children is a little different than buying systems for adults.  Before you dive into the world of residential basketball goals, make sure that you have these facts in mind to make your kids enjoy the purchase that much more.

Make Adjustment Easy -  If there is one fact o be learned about kids and basketball hoops, is that they just love to be able to lower the rim to make easy shots and dunks.  But some adjustment mechanisms on basketball systems are definitely easier to use than others.  If you can, look for adjustment systems that have a trigger handle in the back, or even a crank that adjusts it up and down.  The one that you want to avoid is “rachet adjust” systems that need you to get out a broomstick or some other long stick to use.  They are a little tricky to use, even for adults.

Think About Getting a Portable in Their Room-  When getting basketball hoops for kids, you should definitely consider buying a somewhat smaller portable basketball system for their room.  Kids usually think it’s really cool to actually have a basketball hoop in their room, and you can get smaller sized basketball goals that adjust form four feet up to six feet, so that they fit a lot easier.

Go With In Ground for the Outdoors -  In ground basketball hoops for kids are extremely stable, so you should go with a permanent goal if you plan on doing your basketball games in your home driveway.  Because they are stabilized in the ground with cement, they can take a lot more abuse from your kids and still come up being fun to play on.  A smart accessory go with your in ground basketball system for your children is a pole pad.  This is just some vinyl covered foam padding that wraps around your pole and prevents injuries due to colliding with the system during a fast paced game.

Get the Right Sized Basketball-  Most good quality basketballs come in two main sizes: “Official” and “intermediate.”  “Official” is what NBA, college, and high school male players use, and intermediate balls are used by WNBA players and kids under thirteen.  If you have kids who aren’t yet teenagers, an Intermediate sized ball is a good way to go, because it’s a lot easy to handle, dribble, and shoot for them.  A smart choice for the basketball material is composite leather, just because it is incredibly durable, affordable, and easy to grip.