Streamline Your Life

2009-10-11T20:31:00.003-04:00

Florida State University football team is struggling so far this year, but the band is on top! What a "thrilling" half time show they put on at the FSU-Georgia Tech game!

A feminist love for football

2009-10-11T19:58:00.005-04:00

"The college football season is in full swing with its pageantry and rivalries. Essayist Diane Robert may be a feminist, but she just loves college football, even though it's violent, hypermasculine, warlike and imperialistic." - NPR

Diane Robert teaches English at Florida State University, and goes to all the FSU football games. This clip is short, poetic, and humorous. It raises issues of sport and gender, which I will likely blog about later, since that section is coming up with my social bases of sport class.

As an aside, the cheerleaders, in spite of all the fake smiles, silly cheers, cute hair, and painted faces do some crazy and amazing tricks on the sidelines! Except that I am aware of the high injury and death statistics and, therefore, fearful for them, I do enjoy watching them. They are historically there to cheer on the football players, but they are an act in themselves. And, interestingly, FSU has about 10 male cheerleaders as well.

Organized Sports vs. Play

2009-09-14T00:31:00.005-04:00

Summary & Commentary on Part 2 of Sport in Contemporary Society

The section starts off with a comparison of spontaneous play to the organized competitive team. One theme emerges as dominant: that spontaneous play is about keeping the action going. At the beginning this means negotiating rules everyone agrees to play by, whether or not they are the typical rules for such a game. As play starts, it means establishing handicaps and bending the rules for less-skilled players or teams in order to keep the score close and, therefore, exciting for all involved. There is flexibility allowed for digressions from the norm of play for highly skilled players as long as it does not disrupt play, thereby allowing these players more interest in the game so that they continue playing. The game is an end in itself, with just the play being the primary attraction, so the score is quickly forgotten and the next game is a fresh start.

This is in contrast to organized sports teams where rules are imposed, players are taught the correct way to do the skills and digressions or creativity are quashed. Rather than keep the competition or score close, the goal is to emerge a clear leader or winner and promote one’s self or team, possibly at the expense of others. Whether or not a player is having fun is secondary to accomplishing the prestige or status of winning. Therefore, the game is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end – that of achievement. And the score is long remembered, even brought up years later if it was a particularly important game.

All this regimentation in organized sports probably makes some of us nostalgic for the good ol’ days when spontaneous play was easy to find. The second section reads as an ode to spontaneous street games in New York City. The main fault for the demise of these games is a change in culture. Although there are a list of changes mentioned, one of the main ones for New York City may simply be the increase in traffic making games in the streets dangerous, if not impossible due to interruption. Fault is also bestowed upon this generation of children, but then a counterargument is that a festival featuring street games – adults teaching over 300 children the games and play through midnight - was hugely successful with children asking when this will be done again. But is it really spontaneous play if the games are taught, organized, and not continued until there is another festival?

Organized sports are a major feature of our society today – for good or bad. As discussed in the third section, they are a part of developing a masculine identity for young boys. Boys who develop sports careers get into sports because it is expected, and they start to like it because they are seen as natural. The compliments and status that comes from it bolster their identity as an athlete. Older male uncles or brothers serve as competition within a family hierarchy for attention from the father. Approval, and even increased intimacy, from the father is a main reason for continuing sports. In fact, sports seem to serve as a place for the intimacy men crave, but also fear. The rules and norms of sports create a safe place for bonding, and yet also set up conditions of love or self-worth based on ability.

Interestingly, though the life histories of the men– from how they entered sport, developed an identity with it and affinity for it, and continued it as a career – are similar across races and socioeconomic status, there emerged a few differences. One is that some young men from the lower classes gravitated toward sport due to fewer or no other options because of a lack of money for anything else or to gain the status needed to be left alone by their peers who turned to drugs or gang fights for status. The men from low SES backgrounds tended to see sports as their only option, or one of very few, for success. This is in contrast to men from middle to high classes who may have left their sports careers earlier to pursue an expanding array of options available to them.

Even with these differences, the stories are largely the same. The author’s main contention is that sports helped with the “gendering” of these men; it helped shape their masculinity.

The view is largely one-sided, though, as the interviews were all with men in an attempt to make up for the dearth of information on men. Feminists have focused more on the femininity of women, and I wonder if there is research looking at the development of femininity through sports. Maybe that seems like an odd topic, but I propose it in light of the slowly debunked belief based on history that sports are for males and, therefore, develop masculinity. Since most of our culture now agrees women are just as suited for sports, perhaps sports also can develop femininity. This question is evoked because I recognized myself, a woman, throughout these men’s stories. I started sports because I needed to learn to swim; it was expected living in Florida. I started to like swimming because I seemed to have a natural ability with it and garnered compliments and encouragement. My dad has always loved sports and admits he wanted boys in order to pass this on. He got his wish with his girls, and his implicit love for sports showed through subtly and conspicuously throughout my career. Part of the reason I swam was for the attention, approval, and love of my father, who was otherwise somewhat distant. We could share a sort of intimacy in this arena. And I developed a bond with my teammates that was unmatched in any other social aspect of my life, even though there was a competitive hierarchy and constant striving for achievement, sometimes at their expense and sometimes at mine. Is this an example of masculine “gendering”? I hardly think so. Some of the qualities are typically associated with men, but females are just as feminine when they incorporate values of strength, competitiveness, achievement, and physical prowess.

However, I have now left those days behind. Although I still value these things, they are employed in an academic arena instead, and I have been newly acquainted with play. I hesitate to say, “spontaneous play” as I think that ceases once schedules get so crowded no one is free at the same time spontaneously anymore. We have to plan our game times. Still, the spirit of an ultimate Frisbee pickup game is exhilarating when the game is all about the game, and the score is long forgotten before play is even over, and play only stops due to exhaustion, rather than smothering the opponent. Players are traded in order to even play, and because we are friends, we throw even to those who rarely catch, just to include them. Still, due to competitive natures, especially in me and another former professional soccer player, the game can sometimes turn ugly as we two turn to the familiar and learned hierarchical competitiveness within an environment not suited for that kind of intensity.

Spontaneous play is an art, one somewhat lost in the organized sport world. However, strangely enough, within organized swimming, spontaneous play crops up often on the pool decks and just outside them during long meets. There is such a long wait, sometimes up to 2 hours, between swimming events, that children can be seen playing wall ball against the gym wall or the outside wall of the natatorium. Other children play hand clapping games in the bleachers. Still others have board games or books, not exactly spontaneous play, but not iPods or portable Playstations either. The electronics are slowly killing the art of play here as well, but if children are left to themselves with perhaps just a ball, or nothing at all, they still tend to play, even in the midst of competition. With more awareness on how important this is, we adults need to foster, rather than crush, this spirit.

Speed Shrinking

2009-08-31T10:42:00.004-04:00

There is a misconception that going to counseling is going to get advice. In actuality, counselors are more of an educated sounding board, blank page, or way to discover what the client thinks. Counselor are not supposed to give advice. But now with the advent of "speed shrinking" advice is inevitable. You pose your question and get advice, almost fortune cookie type advice. The advice is necessarily shallow because the "relationship" is shallow.

Example of fortune cookie advice:

One middle-aged man told another therapist, Diana Kirschner, that he was worried about becoming unemployed. “I worry about losing my job, because I’m too young to get fired and too old to get hired,” said the man...[The counselor] asked the man if he had other interests. When he said he wanted to write a book, she responded: “Pursue this new venture. When you are in a situation like this, you must reinvent yourself.”

Does this help? Is this truly the best advice? Or just an easy answer to have something in 3 minutes.

Example of shallow advice:

...a 24-year-old product development manager at Ralph Lauren in New York, approached Ms. Kirschner to ask about the merits of online dating.
“Is it wrong?” she asked. “Is it a normal way to meet people?”
“It is very normal,” Ms. Kirschner answered. “As of 2007, the majority of people over 45 were meeting their lifelong loves online, and not through the traditional network of family, friends and business associates, and I believe this is now true for younger people.”

Why is she wondering? What is behind the question? And just because it is "normal" does not mean it is okay for her.

Even though we are an instant gratification society, there are just some things that take time. Counseling is one of them.

2009-08-31T10:36:00.003-04:00

I got married over the summer, and therefore, took some time off school and off this blog, but now I am back and full of ideas. One of the best parts of being back on campus is having a group to swim with. I love swimming enough to keep it up on my own, but after a while the intensity of the workouts slackens due to no accountability and no competitive goals. So it helps quite a bit to swim with a core group of college swimmers who either made the varsity team and dropped out, swam for the varsity team and graduated (like me), or were good, but not quite fast enough to make the team - whatever the background, all competitive swimmers who are now practicing because they want to, with no coercion, and no real reason other than a love for the sport. What a great environment! As a varsity swimmer, we looked down on the intramural swimmers, but now as a member in a different point in my life, I see what an immature mistake that was. I am very excited to up my intensity again and get into shape!

Yet another loss

2009-04-02T01:54:00.003-04:00

Yet another loss due to recession is the luxery of participation in sports. This saddens me as I think of all the benefits children get from sports. The article suggests the family fills the void by increasing games of catch in the yard, for example, but really nothing can take the place of healthy competition in a social context. Are sports really descretionary spending? Since they are not necessary for survival, I suppose they are. Already swimming, my passion, is an expensive sport. I imagine participation is way down, but I haven't seen numbers.

The very end of the article quotes a psychologist whose opinion is that the most affected may be those who use sports as the main form of family interaction. The adjustment to life without sports may be difficult for the family. Individually, for those children who have their identities strongly associated with athletics, the forced loss may be hard to deal with. They may feel lost and struggle to find who they are without sports. These difficulties, added to the financial strain, can be quite a lot to bear.

Is the club team you are involved in or coaching experiencing a recession of your own due the inability to pay? Are you affected yourself? What are you doing, if anything, in response?

Tip #6: Even if you are unable to exercise with your club, there are inexpensive ways to exercise - running outdoors, spontaneous community games, abs. Find a way to get your exercise in even if you don't have the added incentive of competition. Research has shown it can help beat the blues. You owe it to yourself.

No reason to throw your clubs.

2009-03-31T12:50:00.005-04:00

Kyle Lograsso @ Yahoo! Video

Wow! Here at FSU, there is a professor well known for not subscribing to the idea of natural talent. Anders Erikson says anyone can be an expert; all it takes is at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is different from mere play, experience, or practice without purpose and focus. But this little boy certainly didn't have any deliberate practice before his first perfect swing. And the parents' nurturing cannot account for it. They profess they knew nothing about golf, owned no clubs, and only chanced upon discovering the boy's talent when he happened to be playing with the remote and saw it on TV.

I really like this story because it isn't just about a prodigy and what he might be able to do. It puts sports into perspective. While we could be jealous, we end up rooting for this little guy, whether or not he's better at 5 than we are at our old ages, and whether or not grows up to be great. We just want him to grow up.

Oh, Phelps

2009-02-16T01:02:00.002-05:00

The first reaction I had to hearing about Michael Phelps latest image tarnisher was disappointment, but not surprise. The drug and alcohol culture among athletes surprised me my first year in college (having been sheltered from it to that point), but does not surprise me anymore. It seems the close bonds of a team that create trust (and desire for inclusion) and the high pressures of competition are fertile ground for this kind of forbidden escape. It's just disappointment because Phelps has been raised to a good-boy, perfect, almost god-like position as a role model for youth in sports. And then again, perhaps that is what we are forgetting...Phelps is, afterall, and in spite of his recent 8 Golds in one Olympics, human. But where have our role models gone? Can he still be our hero in spite of it?

Another point to consider is that he is getting far more publicity than athletes in the past. He has celebrity status, but not celebrity forgiveness. We readily look for and expect the downfall of our favorite actors, actresses, and singers, but athletes - new to the celebrity scene and known for their physical prowess rather than starved or flaunted figures - we expect to be perfect. Or maybe we just desperately want them to be perfect.

From a sports psychology perspective, I have to wonder what kind of pressures this puts on athletes. Top athletes are not only expected to excel in the sport, they are expected to excel in all aspects of life, and all in front of the watchful eye of the media.

Are Phelps mishaps forgiven? I believe they will be. I support what I see as fair consequences: losing sponsorships, including Kellog's, since they are counting on a clean image to promote child-friendly products, and suspension by USA Swimming. After Phelps has paid the price, he deserves another chance at winning fans for his character. We all slip up, and Goldberg has some valid points (watch video).

Of course, Phelps will always have fans for his abilities. In spite of disappointment, we all still rally and truly want him to succeed. Maybe he can still be our hero.

routine after the holidays

2009-01-29T10:40:00.004-05:00

Phew! It has been a while since I have posted. Holidays got me off routine.

As an athlete, holidays were always a tough time to navigate pool openings and such, but they were also an opportunity to get some really good training in without other responsibilities stealing time and energy away from the pool. Many college teams and large club teams take "training trips," and I was fortunate enough to take two trips to the Florida keys. Intense training periods really challenge an athlete and jump-start a season.

However, if, like me, you are not currently competing, then the holidays are a near impossible time to get in a regular workout. There were more people than usual out running the day before Thanksgiving. And there are creative ways - running from store to store shopping all day long, lifting turkeys, stirring dough - but none of these are routine. And the enormous mounds of food consumed are not completely burned off through this exercise. No wonder most New Year's Resolutions are about losing weight.

Here's hoping you are back in routine. What if you have an electric device check in on you to make sure? More on that coming soon...

To close, I have found that posting once a week is a bit of an unrealistic goal for me. With a full load of doctorate classes and teaching one undergraduate class, I cannot expect the time to post that often. That said, I will have at least one post a month, so please do check back!

depression in athletes may not be recognizable

2008-12-04T00:02:00.005-05:00

There used to be a myth that athletes don't suffer from depression. I am sure that is untrue. It is my opinion that athletes with depression present differently from the general population.

Examples:

One marker of depression is a loss of interest in activities that were previously pleasurable. A person with depression typically ceases doing the activities, but an athlete may respond almost the opposite and "work harder" or overinvest in more activities as an escape.
Exercise is frequently recommended for people with depression, but athletes appear not to respond to the serotonin boost from exercise.
Depression may be harder to detect in athletes because they are used to handling pain and hiding signs of weakness, so their facial expression may not resemble a typical depressed affect.

Tests for depression may still accurately diagnose an athlete with depression, and the predictive test in the previous post may still predict, but this is an area in need of further research.

Does anyone know of a well-known athlete who has publically disclosed battling depression?

Is it possible to predict depression?

2008-12-03T23:41:00.003-05:00

New Online Test For Depression

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2008) — A new universal test to predict the risk of someone succumbing to major depression has been developed by UCL (University College London) researchers. The online tool, predictD, could eventually be used by family doctors and local clinics to identify those at risk of depression for whom prevention might be most useful.

The risk algorithm, developed by a team led by UCL Professors Michael King and Irwin Nazareth, was tested in 6,000 people visiting their family doctor in six countries in Europe (UK, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Estonia). Its accuracy was also tested in nearly 3,000 GP attendees in a further country, Chile, in South America. The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, followed-up the participants at six and 12 months. The team modelled their approach on risk indices for heart disease, which provide a percentage risk estimate over a given time period. The algorithm was as accurate at predicting future episodes of depression as similar instruments developed in Europe to predict future risk of heart problems...

Professor Michael King, UCL Department of Mental Health Sciences, says: “Depression is a common problem throughout the world, but although we know how to treat it, we know very little about how to prevent its onset. We have ways of predicting the onset of heart disease or stroke, but none for predicting people’s risk of major depression. Our study is one of the first to develop a risk algorithm for just this purpose.”...

"Major depression is now a leading cause of illness and disability world-wide and reducing its prevalence is one of the greatest public health challenges of the twenty-first century. Depression will rank second to cardiovascular disease as a global cause of disability by 2020. Up to a quarter of people who visit their doctor experience major depression, with relapses frequently occurring for up to 10 years.”...

A website has been set up for the risk algorithm.

Journal reference:
Michael King et al. Development and validation of an international risk prediction algorithm for episodes of major depression in general practice attendees. Archives of General Psychiatry, December 2008

This online test uses risk factors long recognized among counselors as contributing to depression:

work difficulties
poor social support network
family mental and physical health problems
discimination
low mood in the past
personal health problems
inability to perform daily tasks
pain
feelings - not calm/peaceful, low energy levels, downhearted/low
inability to engage in social activities

I took the test. This is my result: "Given the answers to the questionnaire, your chance of becoming depressed over the forthcoming 12 months is 5.682%, as compared to the average chance of 7.73% in the European countries in which the instrument was developed." So I should be okay for another year! Of course, the limits are obvious, as any one of these risk factors could drastically change according to the events of my life, but I suppose that is the 5.682% part. Here's hoping you are also doing well.

Vocal Cord Dysfunction (long, but important post for swimmers who suffer)

2008-11-24T21:42:00.006-05:00

I got a surprise phone call from a resourceful swim mom seeking help for her 16-year-old daugther, who suffers from Vocal Cord Dysfunction. Her mother googled enough to find my article online.

Vocal Cord Dysfunction, simply and quickly, is a breathing disorder where the vocal cords close off partially when they should be open and so restrict air on the inhale, inhibiting a full inhale and often producing a high whistle as air squeezes through the tight space to get to the lungs.

This woman's daughter fits the typical profile; she's an overacheiver (in other words, one who strives to do the best she can in everything and usually excels), she's female, and she tries to use her will to deal with her disorder.

I know what it's like. I've been there. I fit that profile, too, and I swam in practice and races struggling for air, making loud whistling noises that pierced across the long course pool clear to the other side, and worried many people I wished would just ignore it. I simply wanted to work hard and swim fast...and not worry about if I was going to have enough air to finish the race. My worst memory of it was taking out my 200 meter freestyle in a championship final exactly where I wanted to, a blazing 1:01 for the 1st 100, and then instead of my typical 2-3 second split difference between the 100's, I ran out of air going into the second 100 and fell off my pace to a 1:11. Anyone watching might have thought I gave up or choked under pressure, but those who knew me saw my purple shoulders and blue lips. This is the worst, because the finals of a championships is where an overachiever performs, where all that hard work pays off. So this memory hurts worse emotionally than the times I had to be pulled out of practice, swim sets slower than I wanted to, passed out while swimming, and generally gasped for air every stroke of the way.

There's no telling when episodes are going to hit, though they are frequently worse around the time of a woman's menstrual cycle. I say this with confidence, though I have never seen research to substantiate it, because I kept a journal every day of my swimming career and recorded such information. The data lends evidence to the theory, and the mother who called said she definately noticed the same pattern. So much so, that as irregular as her daughter's menstrual cycle is as a young lady, her difficulty breathing can predict its onset. I hypothesized that the reason for this is the tightening of muscles (especially in thin, fit young athletes) during this period also tightens the vocal cords. This mother shared my theory with a voice doctor in her area, and he gave credence to the idea, saying it makes sense to him since the larynx (vocal cords) hold more fluid during a woman's menstrual cycle. If I had the subjects, I would be interested in researching this. Perhaps he will.

Although my article gives many good ideas for management, there are a few I have thought of that are not mentioned:

Swimmers are trained to automatically hold their breath or blow out underwater. When having trouble, it can help to do a 50 or so (it sometimes takes a 400) of under/overs using the lane line and concentrating on exhaling fully underwater and relaxing the neck and shoulders. Going underwater facilitates blowing out by counteracting the tendency to hyperventilate when out of air (which, in this case, only tightens the opening more).
Exhale fully! When swimming, all the time, exhale immediately after taking a breath. This is probably not the way you usually swim - breath, hold, exhale, breath - but it will help get all the air out and relax the cords for a better inhale. Swimmers, cut out holding your breath!
Use a front-mounted snorkel to promote smoothe inhale and exhale without holding your breath. This can help a swimmer keep practicing during a mild episode. Have her use the snorkel even if all the other swimmers are not using one.
Mentioned in my article is the importance of keeping the neck in line with the spine (top of the head forward, not eyes). The snorkel is meant to help learn this position.
The coach needs to spend time analyzing and looking at the breathing, body alignment, muscle use (neck, chest, shoulders, jaw, traps) while the swimmer is swimming. Swimmers need to learn to focus on relaxing the throat and jaw especially during back and fly, and the shoulders and neck during free (jaw as well, but not as much as in back and fly).
When in an episode, a swimmer can relax by lying down and lifting the rib cage to open the lungs. Maybe roll up a towel and lie with the roll width-wise just under the shoulder blades.
If running or otherwise out of the water, the athlete may want to stand up during recovery to open the lungs. However, if she is dizzy, it may be better to hunch over. I recommend lying down or, if in the water, doing under/overs and bobs for recovery.
The coach may need to watch for when to pull the swimmer out. The reason for this is that the typical stricken swimmer is one who will keep going no matter what, one who is determined to fight through the pain. Stopping will feel like giving up. Swimmers with VCD are not often the weak ones who stop at any excuse. So giving her encouragement, but making her stop when it is bad may be necessary.
Upon cessation of the exercise, the symptoms will clear up on their own. The duration of the symptoms varies. Unfortunately, once the symptoms start in an exercise session, they rarely go away, so when the swimmer tries to resume exercising, the symptoms will likely return.
Sets may need to be modified. Fins (with a snorkel) can be helpful in giving the swimmer a feel for speed. Broken distances are probably the most effective way to train (i.e. 200's broken at the 50 for 5 seconds or at the 75, 75, and 50 for 5 or 10 seconds). Sprints or fast swimming might require more recovery time to regain breath control (symptom recovery) before the next sprint. Sets with varied strokes can help. Fast swimming mixed with kicking might help. Just kick on your back rather than with a board. Kicking with a board puts the neck in a crooked position that makes it harder to breathe.
Don't panic! Panicing excites the sympathetic nervous system - the "fight or flight" response. That means it speeds up the heart rate and...increases respiration due to a need for more oxygen. Those with VCD are already short of breath and short on oxygen. Panic compounds the issue. As scary as it is when the throat closes and there is not enough air, those with VCD must learn to remain calm and have confidence that the cords will open again.
Try not to cry. This is an emotional, hard thing to deal with, but crying makes it harder to breathe.

The 16-year-old whom I got the call about has VCD so bad that she has had to quit swimming for a month while her mother seeks advice from anyone she can find. Speech therapists, through recommended in the literature, are baffled by this, as she confirmed. She did get some interesting hope from a doctor who suggested Botox injected directly into her vocal cords. I looked into this, and apparently it is used for treating spasmodic dysphonia rather than VCD. However, on principle it looks promising, and it is not used for VCD only because VCD is not considered as severe. That's not the case when it comes to competitive swimmers. If I get an update, I will share. Until then, I sure hope this young lady finds a successful way to manage her symptoms, if not a cure!

let's play football and...

2008-11-17T22:34:00.002-05:00

ESPN: Jake Plummer

The former Denvor Bronco's quarterback is passionate about another sport...can you guess it?

This article touches on a lot of sport psychology concepts (e.g. retirement, life-long sport participation, specialization, etc.). Most interesting is this athlete's goal to encourage participating in a variety of sports. There is controversy over when to start children in sports, and where the line is for dedication, and when it is too early to specialize, but most generally agree that by adolescence attention should be on just one or two (if they are related) sports in order to excel, and then the arguement goes to how much a teen athlete should specialize within the sport. For example, some high school swim coaches specialize their swimmers in certain distances or sprints and in certain strokes, while others encourage competing in a variety of events. But most swim coaches see other sports as competing with excellence in the water because an athlete only has so much time, focus, and energy, and at some point, sacrifices have to be made in one or the other. Jake Plummer doesn't agree.

"Jake says his larger goal is to popularize youth handball nationwidewhile encouraging teen athletes not to focus too intensely on a single sport. 'My ultimate goal is to get coaches to stop specializing their athletes, telling them they can't play other sports because it'll hurt their football,' Plummer says. 'I played all three sports and handball whenever I could. That's why I made it in the NFL -- that rounded me out as an athlete'."

Perhaps this is more feasible in sports that have a definite on and off season, so the sports can be played in each other's off seasons. This is not possible in swimming, which has 2-3 seasons over the year, and no off season adequately long enough to foster another sport.

I admit it; I am addicted to chocolate.

2008-11-17T22:19:00.006-05:00

A Brisk Walk Could Help Chocoholics Stop Snacking
ScienceDaily (2008-11-16) -- A walk of just fifteen minutes can reduce chocolate cravings. The benefits of exercise in helping people manage dependencies on nicotine and other drugs have previously been recognized. Now, for the first time, newly-published research shows that the same may be true for food cravings. ... read full article

Think of this...If you exercise, you lose weight by using those calories, and you also lose weight because you do not crave those sugary, weight-gaining foods. But if you stop exercising, you start putting on the pounds, and you help them pack on by craving chocolate and other sugary delights. All the more reason to get yourself active! Tip #5: Next time you crave chocolate, go take a walk instead...now is that advice anyone would actually take?

not just white boys anymore

2008-11-17T22:02:00.004-05:00

NYTimes: The Unlikely Scrum

This story is about a group of black high school students competing in the traditionally white sport, rugby.

If you don't want to read through the whole article, check out the video on page 2. It covers the material in the article.

This reminds me of Remember the Titans and Pride, both movies about blacks breaking down racial barriers in football and swimming, respectively. Sports, as competitive as they are, have a way of bringing people together. Just look at the Olympics.

Also of note in the article is how playing a sport turns these students lives around - not because they have hopes of turning professional, but because they have a purpose to strive toward, a way to direct their energy in a healthy way, a reason to stay out of trouble. They are exposed to a world outside their dangerous hometown, where dead bodies do not even emotionally move them. They are harnessing a hope for the future. They are learning skills for life. All this through a sport!

I especially like how the coach leads, but also relates to them where they are, with their youthful slang and their pre-game rapping roll call. This is a story just waiting for a movie script.

DWTS features sports psychology

2008-10-29T12:04:00.002-04:00

Are you all watching Dancing with the Stars? Last night's results show briefly featured sports psychology at the end. These stars are having to quickly learn how to handle the emotional, mental, and physical demands of learning one or two dances in a week and then performing in front of a huge local and national audience. It always looks like so much fun, and I am sure it is, but it is not easy. For the feature, they interviewed a sport psychologist, Misty May-Treanor's volleyball coach, and a military commander (I'll have to watch again to get the details on these people). They each covered focus, emotion-control, positive self-talk, and pressure. As you watch the stars, see what you can learn in each of these areas.

As I have been watching the season, I have seen a lot of principles played out. Of course, some of them are dramatized, as is Hannah Montana star, Cody Linley, who has been highlighted for his difficulty focusing in practices. Maurice Greene is notable for his ability to focus. Susan Lucci shows great sportsmanship, always gracious in interviews. Lance Bass has a cocky attitude about him, but shows some vulnerability when he admits his self-doubts. On the floor he usually seems to pull off the confidence he was able to show when he was part of N'Sync. If you compare the dances on Monday to the one chosen to perform again on Tuesday, the second time through is usually better. I believe this is due to less pressure so that the stars can relax and enjoy themselves a little more. Still, under the heat of being judged, many of them are able to get into the fun of the dance and, therefore, lighten the pressure on themselves. I think Toni Braxton struggled with this the most, and Warren Sapp does it the best.

Sometimes I wish I were a star so I could experience all of this rather than watch and write about it, but it is still exciting from my couch.

Brazilian soccer coach fines players above ideal weight

2008-10-28T14:50:00.005-04:00

What do you think about fining athletes for being overweight?

This sounds like a ridiculous question to me, but the coach of a Brazilian soccer team actually put the policy in place for his team.

"RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Vasco da Gama's fifth coach of the year Renato Portaluppi has announced a crackdown on overweight players, who will be fined if they do not shed excess kilos by the end of the week.

"A footballer only learns in two ways: when he loses his place in the team or when he is fined," said Renato, who cultivated a playboy image during his own playing career which was plagued by disciplinary problems.

"Players eat a lot of junk," he said.

"Everyone needs to be down to their ideal weight by Friday," said Renato, adding that players who remained overweight would be fined 300 reais ($164) per excess kilo.

The daily newspaper O Globo said six players were overweight."

There are many bad habits - mental and physical - that adversely affect performance. Should weight be targeted?

marathon psyching teams

2008-10-28T12:38:00.006-04:00

Psyching teams are a regular part of the New York City Marathon and Toronto Marathon. A team of 40-50 sports psychologists disseminate among the crowd of marathon runners at the starting line, offering last minute encouragement and advice. It might be just the crucial last bit the runner needed to complete the 26.2 mile run successfully. After the start, some of the psyching team will bike alongside the runners. All of the team members will be at the finish.

At the Toronto marathon, the psyching team members give runners they help at the start bits of orange plastic to symbolize the finish line. At the finish, the team members seek out these runners to follow-up.

This is not a new thing. The Toronto marathon psyching team has been active since 1999. The New York City marathon team has been in existance longer. I think since 1986. I would like to be a part of the psyching team someday, maybe even next year.

Read the latest article in Runner's World about the psyching team and some marathon running mental tips.

Read practical information about the psyching team at the Toronto Marathon.

Good luck to those competing in the New York City Marathon! The days are counting down.

If you are participating in either of these marathons, seek out the psyching team. They are there for you. If you are participating in a different marathon that doesn't offer a psyching team, consider suggesting it to the race director. It seems to me that anyone willing to suffer a 26.2 mile run could use some psychological help!

Does cheering help?

2008-10-25T00:19:00.003-04:00

During a VO2 max test (an all-out exercise to find out how much exercise you can do before your cardiovascular level drops as measured by oxygen consumption), a non-athlete pushes himself much farther if yelled encouragement. An athlete does just as well whether or not people cheer.

Why?

Exercise physiology yields no conclusive answers. Perhaps psychological research could discover the reason. But until then, we can only conjecture.

Some hypotheses:

athlete's are more used to pushing themselves to their limits, so encouragement matters less
athlete's are more instrinsically motivated
athlete's care about their performance outcome more
non-athlete's need more help with suppressing thoughts of quitting

Do you have any other ideas?

Because others cheering for me has made a difference in my performance, I went to thinking about the validity of these results. Assuming they are accurate, I wonder if perhaps cheering does not neccessarily make a difference because:

this is a test where the participants are prepared to work to their limits and only when confronted with pain, which athlete's are more practiced at handling, are the differences made. Athlete's are not always prepared to perform to their limits in competition.
cheering might not make a difference for athletes in a test for your cardiovascular limits, but it may still help an athlete perform better - faster, stronger, more focused...
Social facilitation theory says that others simply watching makes people perform better. Perhaps knowing people were watching or would judge the outcome was enough of a reason to propel the athlete without cheering. Perhaps in competition, cheering reminds an athlete, now one of many instead of singular doing a test, that he is being watched.

Does cheering help you perform better? I think we athletes like to be cheered on, but does it really help?

I can think of a specific races where I am sure the person cheering was just the impetus I needed to excel. Can you?

How would you explain the VO2 max test results?

Let's Play!

2008-10-08T23:42:00.002-04:00

NY Times: Taking Play Seriously

Good article. Reflection to come.

relax to perform your best

2008-10-02T22:39:00.004-04:00

in the zone, relaxation while exercising, flow state...

If you are an athlete, you know when you get there, but achieving it can seem random. There are many tips for how to get there more consistently, and some good ones are mentioned in this article: NY Times - Before hustling to finish, relaxed is a good way to start.

As a swimmer with Vocal Cord Dysfunction (abnormal partial closing off of the vocal cords on inhalation), I learned early through personal experimentation to pay attention to muscle tension. Keeping my neck relaxed was paramount to my health before I realized how much it could improve my performance.

How do you relax muscles? Most people will advise breathing in and out slowly. This works great to control nerves or simply relax before competition. But in swimming, and most types of exercise, you cannot take slow, deep breaths while at work.

There has to be an understanding of what muscles are in use and what muscles can be completely relaxed. Practicing muscle control and relaxation while lying down can help transfer the skill to the sport. Adding visualization (imagery) to this helps in transfer. Although breathing cannot be slow and deep, it can be controlled and easy.

In swimming, the entire body is used, but the neck and shoulders can be completely relaxed at all times. The head shouldn't move at all - or only slightly - apart from the torso rotation (in freestyle) and shoulders lifting it (in butterfly and breaststroke), so the neck can stay in a neutral, comfortable (relaxed!) position. The shoulders, particularly the trapezius, need to be loose to allow full rotation of the arms. Sculling while focusing in on relaxing the trapezius can help you gain a feel for it.

Notice in the article the reference to "staying tall." The coach is talking about good posture here. Good posture means the shoulders are rolled back, the head in line, and the chest lifted, which creates a taller stature.

Staying tall, breathing correctly, and relaxing the appropriate muscles can go a long way in improving your performance.

tip #4: Relax. Learning to relax while exercising will help you achieve the enviable flow state to perform your best and make it look easy. Now think about other areas of your life. Is it easier to concentrate on an exam while anxious or relaxed? Is it easier to confront someone when you are all worked up or relaxed? Is it easier to enjoy the day and go to sleep at night when you are on edge or relaxed? Relax. Try taking a few deep breaths several times a day...because you can do that when you are not in the midst of exercising!

proper posture

2008-09-24T23:00:00.005-04:00

My last post touched on the importance of posture in dance. It reminded me of the importance of posture in swimming. Which reminded me of the importance of posture in life.

There may exist debate on whether or not we as a human species ever walked hunched over, but there is no debate today regarding the proper way to stand erect. With the advent of computers and desk-bound careers, many of us spend the bulk of our days with our spines curved out and our heads forward. Dad was always onto me to keep my shoulders back. Later on my swim coach, knowing all the benefits of posture and how it can help in swimming, specifically taught the team on the correct way to stand.

If it is not essential for excellence in your sport, why bother?

improved health (elaboration coming in a future post)

the appearance of confidence (sure, it might just look that way, but it's a start)
beauty (yes, you look much better with good posture!)

Steps to improved posture:

lift your shoulders to your ears and then roll them back and down
lower your shoulders from the base of the shoulder blades
lift your chest
roll your pelvis forward and tuck your tailbone in
stretch your spine tall
look in the mirror to see how much better you look

Uncomfortable yet? No doubt, but with practice it will be natural and beautiful. (For those swimmers out there, these steps work for streamlining too, just lift your arms to squeeze the back of your head, one hand over the other, squeeze your legs together, and point your toes.)

Tip #3: Good posture! Keep your spine in line for health and appearances. Looking confident and attractive can help you get respect in the business world and invitations to dinner in the social world. And it's so simple! You probably usually work much harder for this.

learning from the dancers, Derek and Brooke

2008-09-24T22:25:00.005-04:00

There was an excellent example of the use of imagery on Dancing with the Stars last night. Derek (the professional dancer) was having trouble getting his partner, Brooke (the gorgeous model star and mother of 4 kids), to stand up tall with her shoulders down and her chest slightly swayed away from him. It's the proper posture for the dance, but she naturally, like many of us, rolls her shoulders forward and lets her spine curve outward. Derek had her carry one of her babies in a front mount sling (what are those called? I'm not a mom yet, so not up on the lingo) in order to get a feel for the correct posture. Brooke has lots of experience carrying her children this way, and she immediately achieved the right position. Then - and here is the imagery part - she says she imagines carrying her baby while dancing in order to get it right without actually carrying him.

An important component to this example is that she used an aide that was applicable to her (it made sense) and she paid close attention to how her body felt doing it right. This made it easier to translate that to her imagining.

If you are attempting imagery for the first time, start with simple aides as Brooke did. Many coaches use props in sports for drills. These props can be imagined after they are removed. You may also imagine aides that could never really exist. One of my favorites as a swimmer is to imagine a fishing line from the top of my head to the wall and it reeling me in faster and faster. This makes sense to me. I bet it doesn't make sense to a lot of you. No, I am not a fishergal, but it's immediately and naturally applicable nonetheless. What works for you?

If you are attempting imagery for the first time in your sport, spend some time finding out how it feels to play first. Use all your senses. What does the environment look like? What does it smell like? taste like? What do you hear? What does your foot in the shoes or on the blocks, your hand on the racket, your head in the helmet feel like? What does the contraction and extension of your arm feel like? This last question taps into the kinesthetic sense, a tough one to describe, but it's the general physical feeling, torque, twist, movement of your body through the actions you are imagining. Once you are more aware of all this while you are active, you will be able to more easily incorporate this into your imagery.

Brooke was able to actually use an aide and do the skill right with it before using imagery. This is the easiest way proceed as a beginner. But you may imagine an aide you cannot actually use, such as fishing line from your head (that'd hurt if it were real!). And you may imagine doing skills right you have never done right before. Getting it right in your head can help you more quickly do it right physically.

Kudos to Derek as a creative teacher and to Brooke for excellent use of imagery!

Public Speaking

2008-09-17T11:52:00.008-04:00

Mark Zeigler, my undergrad FSU professor for public speaking, advised us not to give the audience power. I discovered what he meant last night as I prepared to speak to the entire freshmen class of athletes at FSU. In my head, I had imagined the freshmen athletes as having more power than they do. It was not too long ago that I, too, was a freshman athlete at this same division one sport powerhouse, and I admit that thinking about that made me feel important (and all the support and perks certainly helped fuel that viewpoint). But as I looked out on the crowd I realized that these were 19 and 20 year olds; they looked so young, so apppropriately "fresh." And I was not nervous anymore.

I spoke with John Lata, the Athletic Coordinator, and he said he is shy, so he puts on a tie to "scare people away" (actually, it's required wearing, and this effect is just a bonus) and then just puts himself out there. His job requires a lot of public speaking. He said it gets to the point that you look out into a crowd of 200 and think "these are just a bunch of kids; listen." Of course we have respect for each and every one of the athletes, and if you talk to John Lata individually, this is immediately evident. Thinking this way is simply a matter of recognizing we have something important to impart and they are not as powerful as we are apt to make them.

This lesson is important, I think, even if the crowd is learned individuals older than I am. I have worked with older adults in a counseling capacity. I ought to be able to speak to a group as well. It's all about remembering that I have something important, and they may be able to benefit from it.

Tip #2: Do not give others more power than they have. Maybe it's a crowd of people in a public speaking situation. Maybe it's your opponent on the field or in the pool. Maybe it's the bully in the classroom. Whoever it is, remember they are people with the same human foils as you have.

(However, even all the reframing in the world won't quite rid of all the nerves! It's about coping with nerves. And that's something that can be learned from sports.)

Off the starting blocks...

2008-09-16T14:41:00.006-04:00

Today I am making my first post. It's kind of exciting!

This evening I will present the benefits of imagery to the entire freshman class of athletes (and that includes cheerleaders...I've heard they enjoy the workshop most!) Sometimes I wonder why I sign up for these things, but staying in your comfort zone never yields improvement, so I will use imagery myself to calm those nerves before speaking. No, I'm not refering to imagining them all naked; I will imagine myself being calm and doing well. More on imagery later.

So tip #1: Get out of your comfort zone. Whether this means pushing past "practice pace" and attempting to hold a faster repeat or it means trying something new with your pre-performance routine or it means raising your hand to contribute to discussion in class, just do it. If you always prepare the same way, you will always perform the same way. In sports and in life, we need to push ourselves, make ourselves just a little bit uncomfortable, to improve.