Kung Fu Panda: A Great Movie With Surprising Sports Lessons

Submitted by Gwenn OKeeffe on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 21:38. | comments

Kung Fu Panda is one of the best family movies I’ve seen in a long while. It had something for everyone, even us grownups! Don’t let the PG rating scare you – nothing inappropriate for small kids at all, although I suppose this depends on how you define "appropriate". Let's just say, nothing made me think "small kids should'nt be here.

The 4 Necessary Tips for preparing for Summer Sports Camps

Submitted by SOA coach on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 17:56. | comments

Sports

Summer camps can be a lot of fun and a chance for many children to take part in activities they have never done before. To keep it a safe and fun activity here are a few tips to keep in mind that help insure a great time.

1. Proper Shoes for the activity
2. Hydrate yourself
3. Eat regularly so you have enough energy for the activity.
4. Get plenty of sleep the night before.

Proper shoes for the activity.

Brooke de Lench

Steroid Testing Program Ends a Long Debate

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 22:35. | comments

I read with interest a recent ( June 3, 2008) article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Steroid testing ends to mixed reviews- "Florida's decision last summer to implement a steroid testing program for high school athletes made national headlines.
But now that most state-sanctioned sporting events have ended, so has the one-year pilot program.
The result?

Of approximately 600 athletes, only one tested positive, said FHSAA spokeswoman Cristina Alvarez."

Why do kids need swim lessons? Ask 6 year-old Hayden.

Submitted by Gwenn OKeeffe on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 10:49. | comments

No sooner did I post about a very scary and rare type of drowning, than a more typical type almost occurred.

Rare Form of Drowning Has Teachable Moments for All Our Kids' Safety

Submitted by Gwenn OKeeffe on Thu, 06/05/2008 - 21:47. | comments

The sad headline of the dry drowing of a 10 year old South Carolina boy this week has many parents concerned. With the warm weather here in many parts of our country and summer approaching fast, swimming will be part of many of our kids' lives very, very soon. Before you panic, let me give you some facts and tell you a few things you can do to keep your kids safe.

Disinfecting Wipes and MRSA: What Your Athlete Needs To Know For The Locker Room

Submitted by Gwenn OKeeffe on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 15:46. | comments

We live in a society almost pathologically fearful of bacterial. Disinfecting products like sanitary wipes and hand sanitizers with antibacterial properties are hugely popular. Yet, there has always been a concern among health professionals that these products are creating more of a problem than they solve. Two new studies confirm this suspicion and go a step further to demonstrate that the products people hope are keeping us free of scary bacteria such as MRSA may actually be contributing to its spread.

Two studies released this week reinforce two important take home messages:

We live in a society almost pathologically fearful of bacterial. Disinfecting products like sanitary wipes and hand sanitizers with antibacterial properties are hugely popular. Yet, there has always been a concern among health professionals that these products are creating more of a problem than they solve. Two studies confirm this suspicion and go a step further to demonstrate that the products people hope are keeping us free of scary bacteria such as MRSA may actually be contributing to its spread.

Lessons From The Big Show: Our Kids Need A DL...Just Like The Pros!

Submitted by Gwenn OKeeffe on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 02:44. | comments

At the expense of sounding like a broken record, let me just
say this: if the pros put their guys on the DL for extended periods of time,
why don’t we do this with our kids?

Arthur Kimmel

Great College Recruiting Article on MomsTeam Website

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 02:37. | comments

In keeping with the general purpose of this blog, I wanted to direct attention to a piece I found here on the MomsTeam website by Lucy Ferris titled "College Recruiting for the Elite Athlete." This article has special meaning to many of my blog posts because of where it places much of its emphasis. It is not just an article on college recruiting of elite level athletes (even though there is a wealth of information on that topic) but details a very important aspect of sports participation I fully endorse. In her article Ms. Ferris discusses how important emphasizing the “process” and “journey” over the “outcome” is and how it needs to remain a priority for parents and young athletes involved in sports.

Arthur Kimmel

Part 2: Preventing Youth Sport Injuries

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 05:18. | comments

Here again are the four areas of conditioning/training for injury prevention that I feel are often neglected by many youth sports programs.

Functional Sports-Specific Training

Arthur Kimmel

Part 1: Preventing Youth Sport Injuries

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 04:42. | comments

In my article The Rise in Youth Sports Injuries, I discussed how prevalent youth sports injuries have become and listed several articles as reference. In this post, I would like to offer some basic principles of injury prevention by directing you toward articles that detail important pieces of this information. Additionally, in Part 2, I will take this a step further by encouraging conditioning/training in four other areas that are often neglected. The time spent will be well worth the effort.