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

FOREWARD

The United States Sports Academy, in
cooperation with the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, presents the Arab
world with its own International Physical Fitness Test Manual based on norms
collected and processed on Arab youth, ages 9 to 19. This fitness test is
one of the few developed outside the Western world and is believed to be
the only such test battery that measures the basic components of all physical
activity, i.e. speed, strength, suppleness, and stamina.

This test was introduced to 199 physical
education teachers by Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich on 15 January 1977 in Manama.
This test was initially developed by the International Committee for Physical
Fitness Testing in Tokyo in 1964 at which time Dr. Rosandich served that
committee as its first Secretary.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA. This past week
on campus at the United States Sports Academy we had Tan Sri Dato' Elyas
Omar, the former Lord Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, the magnificent capital city
of Malaysia, to receive an honorary doctorate during our 26th Annual Graduation
Celebration.

Dato' Elyas served for more than a decade
as the Lord Mayor of Kuala Lumpur and was perceived to be the second most
powerful man in Malaysia next to the Prime Minister. He had a rather unlimited
budget during the heyday of Malaysia, when they were showing a national growth
of nearly 20% per year. He built the very beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur,
a mix between Asian and Western architecture, into a bustling capital city
with buildings that are the highest in Asia, and a fast transit system that
takes the people from one end of the city to the other, over the bustling
streets of bazaars. He maintained the beauty of the traditional British railway
stations, except this one features Islamic architecture, which is not what
one would see in Victoria station in London. The same is true with many of
the buildings including City Hall, the Parliament and the Selangor Sports
Club in the heart of the city.

From Knute Rockne, the basketball
movie "Hoosiers," and many other highly publicized
"win one for the Gipper" speeches, we have observed
the magical powers of the pregame pep talk. In fact, today it
is widely believed that coaches must give their team an emotional
message before sending them into competition. Unfortunately,
what has been forgotten over the years is that the pep talk is
just one type of arousal adjustment technique, a tool to be used
only under certain circumstances. Furthermore, as the following
example illustrates, raising the emotional level of every player
on the team may have disastrous consequences.

Game-Day USA

During today's precompetition
activities, Steve is extremely excited and nervous. Today marks
the first time that his parents are able to attend one of his
games and he is beginning to feel the pressure of having to live
up to their unrealistic expectations. Next to him, sits Jerome.
Jerome has just completed his typical pregame routine. He is
both mentally and emotionally ready to play. Rafael, on the other
hand, appears listless and bored. He shows no energy or emotion,
acting as if he is only going through the motions.

INTRODUCTION

Today, the average of life expectancy has gone up in the United
States (U.S.) and is expected to increase even more in the future.
The U.S. Bureau of Census (1994) predicted there will be more
than 40 million people over 65 years old in the year 2010. The
growth in the senior population of the U.S. is a similar trend
throughout the world. Consequently, the health, fitness and well-being
of the senior population are of increasing concern in today's
society.

Aging is a normal biological process in human beings involving
the gradual alteration of body structure, function, and tolerance
to environmental stress. From approximately age 30, effectiveness
of various physiological functions begins a subtle decline that
becomes more obvious around age 55-60. However, physiological
aging does not occur at the same rate throughout the population.
At the present, it is difficult to distinguish reasons of decline
in physiological functions. The reasons could be from advancing
age, deconditioning from physical inactivity, disease, or any
combination of them (ACSM, 1995).

Changes in the penalties for
Alabama High School soccer players receiving misconducts have
had very little effect on the numbers and types of cards issued
during the 1997 and 1998 Alabama high school soccer seasons.(note:
high soccer is a spring sport in Alabama). Although ineligibility
penalties for yellow cards were eliminated, there was a slight
increase in the number of yellow cards issued per game in 1997,
but the number of yellow cards issued per game in 1998 was almost
equivalent to 1996. At the same time, revised red card (includes
red/yellow cards) penalties seemed to have very little effect
on the number of. red cards (ejections) issued per game.

Redmond, Wash.-January 1999-In
big cities, sports arenas are among the top five places where
sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs-but what about towns that
don't have major league stadiums? If little league or the varsity
squad is the only game in town, that's where the people will
go, and that's where SCA will happen.

SCA is one of the most common
causes of death in the US, claiming about 325,000 lives each
year. Until relatively recently, treatment for SCA-an electrical
shock known as defibrillation-was usually administered either
in a hospital or by emergency medical service (EMS) personnel.
Innovative communities are looking for ways to improve access
to defibrillation. They are equipping firefighters, police-and
now high school coaches and athletic trainers-with automated
external defibrillators (AEDs), allowing them to provide critical
treatment before EMS arrives. The leading seller in the field
is the LIFEPAK® 500 AED, manufactured by Medtronic Physio-Control
of Redmond, Wash.

Unlike the models of defibrillators
intended for use by paramedics, nurses and doctors, AEDs do not
require extensive medical knowledge to understand or operate.

36.4% of high school students
smoked cigarettes during the past month, while 16.7% smoked cigarettes
on 20 or more days during the past month, and 9.3% used smokeless
tobacco.

Only 29.3% of high school students
ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables during the
past day. 4.5% took laxatives or vomited to lose weight during
the past month. 4.9% had taken diet pills to lose weight during
the past month.

63.8% of high school students
did vigorous physical activity three or more days during the
past week. 20.4% did moderate physical activity five or more
days during the past week. 48.8% were enrolled in physical education
class. 27.4% attended physical education class daily.
--Center for Disease Control, based on a survey by the 1997 Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance Systems survey.