United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

With all the research data on the health and fitness benefits of regular physical activity, why do most American adults remain sedentary? Primarily because it is difficult to change adult lifestyle patterns. If this were not the case, the recent Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health would have called for more than 30 minutes of movement, most days of the week as a fitness recommendation.

The 1990s have produced a wealth of information on the importance of strength training for older adults (Biomarkers, Living Longer Stronger, Strong Women Stay Young, Lifefit, Strength Training Past 50), but we see very few fitness facilities with a significant percentage of senior exercisers. What is the problem? It is partly lack of education and partly lack of motivation, partly the challenge of change and partly the fear of failure.

Abstract:

In their longitudinal examination of local and national newspaper reports of soccer hooliganism in Britain Dunning, E., Murphy, P. J. and Williams, J. (1986) concluded that hooliganism has been a feature of soccer crowds for about 100 years (Dunning et al. 1986, p. 8). They note that there were periods of decline until the mid-1960s when soccer hooliganism became a "cause for material concern" (Dunning et al. 1986, p. 8). Indeed, Taylor states that "there is no equivalent period in British soccer history to the 25-year period of more or less continuous soccer hooliganism beginning in 1961" (Taylor, 1984, p. 176). This study presents, places and portrays these soccer hooligan gangs within the larger context of British professional soccer during this period.

No event illustrates the social phenomenon of "soccer hooliganism" more dramatically than the deaths of 39 Italian spectators at the European Cup Final between the Liverpool Football Club and the Italian team Juventus, played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium on 29 May 1985 at the hands of soccer hooligans from Liverpool, England (Kerr, 1994).

When we begin to compete, what can we learn from the professionals to help us play at our best?

Be Prepared:

Essential for competition is putting in time and effort on the driving range and putting green. This insures not only the proper execution of your golf skills, but also the confidence that you have prepared for the competition.

The last thing you want to do is enter a tournament having to work on your swing mechanics during important rounds. The mind needs to be free to focus on targets and a plan to play the course in as few strokes as possible.

Become Familiar With the Course:

All of us are familiar with the home field/court advantage in almost all sports. The same holds true in golf.

Throughout the centuries, dietary intake has been a source of concern to athletes in search of an ergogenic edge over opponents.

It wasn't until 1866 that it was demonstrated that there was insignificant, if any use of protein as a fuel during exercise. Since that time, innumerable studies have refuted the notion that a high protein intake will enhance athletic performance.

Since the conclusion of the Kraus-Weber Tests in the 1950s, there has been ever- increasing awareness and concern for cardiopulmonary fitness and health in Americans. Endurance type activities such as Nordic skiing, cycling, running, triathalons, and swimming have become in vogue, and as a result, more intense attention has been devoted to dietary manipulations which may provide an ergogenic effect, thus prolonging time to exhaustion, or delaying the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) in an attempt to compete at a higher intensity, longer.

ABSTRACT

Changes in cognitive strategies can improve performances and lessen perceived fatigue during distance activities (Padget & Hill, 1989). However, such changes may be difficult and annoying for participants (Masters & Lambert, 1989). This study identified subjects' preferred cognitive strategies and examined the effects of a complementary cognitive strategy. Twenty-five subjects performed an 800 m free-style swim while being timed and assessed for heart rate. One week later, subjects read a Behavioral Instruction Sheet (BIS), appropriate for their style in the first swim and followed it during the second swim. Results showed that associative thinking was used more frequently than dissociative thinking by 73%, t(21) = 6.68, p<.05. No significant differences were found from the first to the second swim in performance times, RPE and heart rates with the exception of more muscular fatigue in the second swim t (16) = -2.17, p<.05. This study suggests that cognitive strategy training can not be completely associative or dissociative.

INTRODUCTION

During the past several years we have learned a lot about the effects of strength training and body composition. For example, a carefully controlled study at Tufts University showed significant changes in body composition from a basic program of strength exercise (Campbell et al. 1994).

The subjects added three pounds of lean weight, lost four pounds of fat weight, increased their resting metabolic rate by seven percent and increased their daily energy requirements by 15 percent after 12 weeks of strength training.

Research with over 1100 previously sedentary adults revealed similar body composition improvements from eight weeks of standard strength training (Westcott and Guy 1996). The program participants increased their lean weight by 2.4 pounds and decreased their fat weight by 4.6 pounds.

Of course, unfit individuals tend to improve their body composition at faster rates than people who are presently doing strength exercise. Many people want to know if strength training can further enhance body composition in well-conditioned exercisers.

International youth sport tours are travel programs that provide youth teams with the opportunity to travel to and compete against sport teams from other countries. In addition to competing, the team members and their family and/or friends are able to tour the countries, cities and areas where the competitions are held. These team sport competitions, therefore, afford experiences and benefits that are difficult to duplicate without international travel taking place. This paper will look at the benefits derived by team members who participated in European sport tours organized by this writer. The information for this paper has been obtained from written evaluations completed by past sport travel participants (team members, families and friends who completed the tour).

Training for Optimal Performance

Soccer is a major sport for young athletes in the United States, and is also rapidly becoming a major sport for males and females for all ages. Because young athletes go through puberty at different times, they vary a great deal among each other in size and maturity. These differences pose a challenge to the athletes and their coaches. The primary characteristics of a young athlete are: motivation; physical fitness (i.e. muscle strength, power, endurance, flexibility, proper body composition, and cardiac respiratory endurance); discipline, coachability; skills; ability to be a part of a team; ability to think under stress; and good spatial orientation.