Three study materials, and research articles, were used to investigate the effects of leucine metabolic supplementation on athletic performance. Specifically, resistance training was used as a control line. The extent to which the combination of such training with metabolic supplements compared to resistance training alone had positive effects on athletic performance was assessed. The metabolic supplement used was a metabolite of the essential acid leucine, namely b-hydroxy, and b-methyl butyrate (HMB). To be more precise, HMB is naturally produced when the amino acid leucine is broken down.
Analysis of Materials
In the three readings offered, the role of HMB in building muscle mass was evaluated in terms of comparison with leucine. In general, the applied value of such studies has been to understand the nature of HMB compared to its precursor and to try to answer the question of whether the metabolite has more athletic benefits. A study by Jakubowski et al. (2019) found that the use of HMB-based metabolic supplements compared to leucine had no clear benefit for muscle hypertrophy. It is worth saying that hypertrophy is desirable for athletic performance because it allows one to build muscle mass, which is the ultimate goal of athletes. In other words, this study showed that taking HMB did not produce any positive results for increasing athletic strength or building muscle mass in athletes compared to using a leucine-based serum.
A second study evaluated the statistical validity of using HMB as an enhancing agent for improving body composition as an indicator of improved athletic performance. Teixeira et al. (2019) used a blinded randomized design to assess athletes’ body composition after taking HMB-based supplements — X-ray absorptiometry was used as an examination tool. The overall conclusion of this work was that Teixeira et al. could not find a statistically valid effect of metabolic supplementation on improving athletic performance. The authors specified that no more positive effects were found than when compared to the control group (placebo). For this reason, Teixeira et al. do not recommend the use of such supplements.
Finally, the third paper for this assignment was an older paper that evaluated the effects of a metabolic supplement on body fat and fat-free composition. Thomson et al. (2009) evaluated the extent to which HMB use could lead to a decrease in body fat percentage. The results showed that HMB had a decreasing effect on body fat composition but had no conclusive effect on fat-free composition. In other words, the use of HMB helped burn excess fat but had barely any effect on increasing muscle mass and increasing an athlete’s athletic performance. Notably, this study does not refute earlier results but instead focuses attention on the inconclusive effects of metabolic supplementation on athletes’ muscle mass growth.
Conclusion
Taken together, the three materials studied proved that the use of an HMB-based metabolic supplement, a breakdown product of the amino acid leucine, has no meaningful, proven effect on improving an athlete’s lean body mass. These results may be considered conclusive for several reasons at once. First, three independent studies came to the same conclusion. Second, the studies used an instrumental approach to the experiments, so their results can be considered reliable. Third, the design of most of them was based on blind randomization, which also increases confidence in the high reliability and validity of the findings. This evidence is sufficient to assess the low or even no effectiveness of HMB metabolic supplementation in enhancing athletic performance in comparison to the use of leucine-based serum.
References
Jakubowski, J. S., Wong, E. P., Nunes, E. A., Noguchi, K. S., Vandeweerd, J. K., Murphy, K. T.,…& Phillips, S. M. (2019). Equivalent hypertrophy and strength gains in β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate-or leucine-supplemented men. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 51(1), 65-74.
Teixeira, F. J., Matias, C. N., Monteiro, C. P., Valamatos, M. J., Reis, J. F., Batista, A.,… & Phillips, S. M. (2019). No effect of HMB or α-HICA supplementation on training-induced changes in body composition. European Journal of Sport Science, 19(6), 802-810.
Thomson, J. S., Watson, P. E., & Rowlands, D. S. (2009). Effects of nine weeks of β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyrate supplementation on strength and body composition in resistance trained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(3), 827-835.
In 1966, Roberta Gibb became the first woman to run the prestigious Boston Marathon, though race administrators did not officially recognize her participation until 1972. Since then, Gibb has remained an outspoken advocate for female runners and is considered a pioneer in the sport (Powers, 2017). Gibb joined sports in 1966 because she wanted to become an athlete; she consistently trained regardless of the challenges, proving that women could perform excellently in athletics.
Roberta joined sports at a tender age to become an athlete. Gibb became interested in the sport and started running when she was young and competed in her first race soon after. She continued to train and compete through her teenage years, and by the time she was twenty-two years, she had become one of the top runners in the world (Powers, 2017). She became interested in running because she deeply wanted to become an athlete. Growing up, she was always active and enjoyed playing sports, but running was always her favorite. After watching the Olympics in 1960, she knew she wanted to become a runner and eventually compete in the games (Powers, 2017). She started training very hard and eventually made it to the Olympic trials in 1964.
Conversely, Roberta trained for the sport by dedicating her time and energy to becoming the best runner she could attain. She ran every day, keeping track of her times and distance to see how she was improving. In addition to training alone, she joined local running clubs to compete with others and learn from their techniques. She would be fully prepared when race day came and give it her best. Roberta did not have a couch to instruct or motivate her, like in the case of Kathrine Switzer, who was always motivated by her cross-country coach (Ross, 2018). She could cover forty miles at once and did a lot of speed work to improve her times. She also ran up hills to increase her strength and endurance. In addition, she ate a healthy diet that energized her for running long distances, especially after realizing that foods such as apple pie and roast beef caused her stomach pain while running.
Similarly, given that there was no formal Boston Marathon for women at the time, Gibb trained for the event by running alongside men in marathon training sessions. In an era where most women were discouraged from participating in sports, let alone running long distances. Gibb’s fortitude and commitment to her training drew both inspiration and criticism from those around her. Lastly, she trained with passion and did this by running as a child in the Boston suburbs (Wallack, 2018). During high school moments, Roberta, together with her boyfriend, could cover seven or eight miles, and her ambition was to increase her mileage.
Far from training, Roberta’s athletic goal was to complete the Boston Marathon. She participated in the Boston Marathon to prove that women could run long distances as men. At the time, Boston Marathon was only open to men; thus, Gibb snuck onto the course and became the first woman to cross the finish line. As a result of her efforts, women were eventually allowed to compete in Boston Marathon officially (Powers, 2017). Today, Gibb is considered a pioneer for female runners everywhere. She trained diligently for months leading up to the event, despite not being an official participant in the race.
Moreover, in 1966’s backward, women were not allowed to participate in the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) Marathon because marathon officials did not believe that women were physically capable of running the 26.2-mile race. Marathon officials eventually changed their policy and began allowing women to register for and participate in the race in 1972. Some women who later participated in the marathon were Nina Kuscsik and Katherine Switzer (Powers, 2017). Her other goal was to live a fulfilling life; she was determined to be an example for other African Americans and show that anything is possible. She did not want people to focus on her skin color but on her achievements. Furthermore, she had witnessed the danger of living unfulfilling life from her mother’s group of friends. She recalled seeing women drink in the afternoons to ease the ache of an excruciatingly dull existence. Based on this past experience, her goal was not to repeat the same mistake made by her mother.
Roberta Louise Gibb faced many physical and societal challenges during her career. As a woman, she was not always taken seriously as an athlete and was often told that she could not compete with men. She overcame these challenges by training hard and proving that she could run just as fast, if not faster, than the men. Additionally, Gibb did not have a coach for the marathon and thus had to train herself, which sometimes meant running through pain and injury. For instance, she sometimes participated in a race with a bleeding foot (Wallack, 2018). Therefore, she had to train herself, which meant that she had to be extra careful not to over-train or injure herself. Today, Roberta Louise Gibb is considered one of the best runners in history, regardless of gender.
Roberta Gibb was a decorated athlete with numerous accomplishments to her name. She was best known for being the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in nineteen sixty-six, though she had run the race unofficially the year before. In 1967, she also became the first woman to complete the marathon at 3:21:40. Her extraordinary feats in running have helped pave the way for other female athletes and brought much-needed attention to women’s rights (Powers, 2017). Gibb competed in and completed ultra-marathons, triathlons, and Ironman competitions. She is an inspirational figure to both runners and non-runners alike, and her accomplishments are truly remarkable. She convinced the BAA officials that women could run over 1.5 miles, which they thought was impossible. In 1972 nine women were allowed to compete in the marathon; in 1976, 78 women joined the race, and by 2017, they reached 13698, which formed 45% of the total runners (Ross, 2018). Therefore, her mistakenly first marathon trial changed society’s incapability mentality against women.
In addition to her groundbreaking marathon run, Gibb was also recognized for her accomplishments as a member of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). She was a key figure in assisting the AAU to become more inclusive of women athletes, and she remains active with the organization today (Powers, 2017). Her work with the AAU has aided countless women athletes to find success in competition, and her legacy continues to positively impact the world of sports.
In conclusion, Roberta Louise Gibb is an athlete who deserves more recognition for her accomplishments. After running the Boston Marathon as a woman in 1966, she demonstrated that women could perform better in athletics just like men. Despite the challenges she faced, Gibb continued to run and inspire others. Her story is an important reminder that progress is not always linear and that athletes who break barriers should be celebrated.
In the world today, the changes experienced in all aspects of life from social to economic and environmental spheres are in one way or another influencing the future of athletics. The changes in the environment for instance have had a direct impact on athletic event schedules. It is evident that today the world is moving from abundant to limited resources (Narayanan and Fahey, 2001). This trend of environmental depreciation has significant impact on the lives of young people who are the future athletes.
Human survival faces a threat from the environmental imbalances. In an athlete’s day-to-day life, a number of external factors affect their performance and hence the department needs to address this area adequately. In the initial states of an upcoming athlete, the frequent and tiring trips are a bit stressing.
The training schedules also can be quite strenuous before the athlete gets used to the programs set forth. With such understanding, it is paramount to compose reasonable schedules that focus not only on performance but also on maintaining their health as well.
Athletics as a sport has three major external environmental conditions that it has to submit (Narayanan and Fahey, 2001). These are the altitude, temperature, and time change. All athletic champions begin their careers at home. This means that they are used to a particular altitude while training that enables them achieve the results that put them at the top.
Attitude determines breathing rate and consequently work capacity. Exposure to high altitudes favors air resistance, which is vital and advantageous to for activities that involve speed (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005).
This is a good practicing environment for athletes but not all places have the advantage of such landscapes. This gives some athletes some advantages while others lack the same. Exposure to low altitude on the other hand increases the breathing rate as well as the heart rate.
This affects the athletes as it causes headache, nausea among other distresses (Porter, 1985). The altitude of the city or town where the game takes place is very crucial for the performance of the athletes. In order to improve the performance of athletes, diet is of great importance (Narayanan and Fahey, 2001).
The one meal per-day threshold set by N.C.A.A must allow unlimited feeding intervals. This is with the understanding that food consumption among athletes is very low and this is a major problem for the athletes. Temperature changes from one region to the other and this can affect athletes who adapt to home temperatures (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005).
Changing and adapting to new temperatures is not easy and can easily affect the performance. Time change influences the daily climatic conditions, which have the same impact on performance as temperature.
Nonetheless, other environments also have direct impacts on athletics. Political and regulatory environments have an unlimited influence on the sporting industry just as they have direct impact on all other industries (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005). Regulatory systems can influence the sporting industry positively or even negatively depending on the rules formulated in a particular state concerning athletics. For instance, a marathon event depends heavily on governments’ cooperation for it to take place in a country (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005).
The government is there to provide security and clear major roads used by the athletes. Regulatory bodies are there to formulate laws that govern the activities that take place in a country and their main aim is to protect the locals. However, these restrictions may be unfavorable to some events and can hamper the smooth running of an athletic event (Narayanan and Fahey, 2001).
For instance, considering immigration restrictions, participants of an athletic game from other countries may lack permission to enter the host country if they do not meet the set criteria by the immigration department.
The economic environment is also a factor to consider while looking at factors that affect the sports industry (Porter, 1985). Economic challenges especially in the recent past have had a negative impact on the sport. Lack of finances to support the athletes and to organize these events is a major challenge for organizers. With decreased economic activities and declining financial power for collages and countries to host athletic events has seen the game decline in its famous publicity (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005).
Gaming events require a great deal of finances to organize. These include paying for training facilities, allowances for the athletes, money to finance the unavoidable gaming trips, reward packages and much other expenditure. For all this to happen, the athletic department needs to have substantial funds to enable it to finance its events successfully. While in training camps, athletes depend on the athletic department for sustenance in terms of food clothing and other personal support (Porter, 1985).
Without finances, the athletic department may not be in a position to provide the basics required and hence the athletes become demoralized by lack of the essential allowances they get from the department. Other than just offering practice sessions for athletes, the athletic department is responsible for keeping the athletes properly motivated for them to perform better in the game.
It is the department’s responsibility to help the athletes focus on the game, motivate them, and help them to achieve the intrinsic motivation. Clearly, there are issues of finances that surround the athletic department and that they need to address to ensure a strong and successful team. It is easy to notice that financial strength is crucial for a successful athletic department since they also need to hire good coaches to train the athletes (Porter, 1985).
Other environments include the competitive environment, which consists of the competing teams. It is important to know what the competing team is doing in order for a team to remain relevant and competitive to match the opposition (Yow, 2000).
The gaming industry like any other industry in the world is facing some developmental transformation with regard to the rising developments in technology. Increased technological advancement is directly influencing the daily handling of the athletic departments.
For instance, the sale of tickets to gain access to the stadium to watch a game is done online in nowadays. To harness the technological infras2tructure will help keep up with the growing technology. Social and cultural environments also are factors to consider while thinking about the sport industry. This may include things like gender issues and cultural discipline that are paramount for the society to accept to get involved in the events.
All of the above factors directly or indirectly influence the athletic industry and are responsible for the increase or decline in athletic activities in the department. Dealing with these issues on a daily basis helps to mitigate the challenges in the athletics department.
References
Kim, W., C. & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Narayanan, V., K. & Fahey, L. (2001). Macro environmental Analysis: Understanding the Environment outside the Industry, the Portable MBA in Strategy, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Wiley.
Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York, NY: Free Press.
Yow, D., A. (2000). Strategic Planning for Collegiate Athletics. Binghamton, NY: Haworth.
College years are associated with an increased risk of both mental and physical health complications. This is because of decreased sports participation in college when compared to high school. It is anticipated that there is a correlation between the decline of vigorous physical activity and mental and physical complications.
Even though measures call for increased participation of college students in sports activities, there are concerns that athletics’ spending in colleges is increasing faster than academic spending (Downs and Ashton pg 1).
Colleges are charged with the responsibility of imparting knowledge on the students and they are the main gatekeepers for success in any career. But financial strains are experienced frequently on these institutions. These threaten the existence of these institutions. The financial strains have forced these colleges to explore innovative ideas of raising finances for the smooth running of college activities (Simplicio pg 1).
Growing concern has been focused on the observation that there is a consistent tendency of college athletes to underperform relative to the other college students (Shulman & Bowen pg 658).
There are potential risks that college students are exposed to as a result of reduced sports participation, which may vary from increased risk of mental health problems to development of physical health issues. Studies indicate that a substantial number of students become overweight in the course of their college studies.
This condition is contributed by a number of factors which include poor dietary choices and reduced exercise activities. This raises concern because when these overweight college students leave college, there are high chances that they will become obese. This exposes them to the consequences of obesity which in most cases are negative and long term (Downs & Ashton pg 1).
The recent economic crisis has witnessed a rise in tuition fees in most colleges as well as formulation strategies to reduce spending through the reduction of staff members. This growing need for finances has forced colleges to establish alternative measures of increasing sources of funding. These measures in most cases may not be academic related but are from different areas. The most common of these alternative sources of funding are big time sports program and research grant programs.
Sports programs that are successful, in most cases those that create national championship, are crucial in that they produce millions of dollars to the institution. A great portion of the money is in most cases used in the development of the university but some portion of it is used to offer scholarships, mostly to the college athletes (Simplicio pg 3).
College athletics are important because they not only promote the physical and emotional health of the college students but also offer an alternative source of income to reduce the financial strains that threaten the smooth running of institutions. Thus, it is important that higher learning institutions should embrace college athletics. A college athletics program with a rationale of furthering the development of the student’s physical fitness is called for.
Colleges attempt to find a fine balance between the financing initiatives and academic practices. College participation in athletics has a greater impact that goes way beyond the college. The criteria used in admitting students to colleges, in most cases, depend on high academic excellence, and in some cases athletic talent is also considered. The high school fraternity which is composed of students, teachers and parents is always on the lookout for these signals from colleges.
When leading learning institutions indicate that academic prowess can be used as entry criteria, the potential applicants will place more emphasis on these activities. The rewards offered because of accomplishments in sports validate the notion that sporting activities is the road to opportunity (Shulman & Bowen pg 659).
If unchecked, pupils and students alike are likely to get the message that success is not brought about by focus on academics but rather on development of athletic prowess (Wilkinson pg 1). The consequence of unchecked intensification of athletics programs is the possibility of college athletics losing less relevance to educational experiences and in the long run contradicting the mission of the institution.
A lot of consideration should be aimed at the way admissions office focus on the athletic side of the admission process. Single minded focus on a particular sport should be placed lower on the priority list when conducting the admission process (Shulman & Bowen pg 666).
Colleges that prosper in sports in most cases recruit athletes who are gifted so that they can raise their chances of increased success in the sports arena. It is believed that success produces more success, and this success is converted into financial stability. This has gone to the extremes of finding head coaches who are paid more than the university presidents.
In the U.S. the university presidents in the public sector are paid $436,111 and their counterparts in the private sector are paid $358,746. These values diminish when compared to the $2.8 million guaranteed annual contract that Jeff Tedford who is the football coach in the University of California is paid.
In the top 120 schools alone, the average salary of a football coach is estimated at $1.36 million. To emphasize this point, it is important to note that while the average salary of a university president went up by about 2.3%, the average salary of a coach in a major school went up by about 28% in 2009 alone.
Since 2007, coaches’ salaries have increased by 46%. Focus is also drawn to the comparison of the coaches’ salary when compared with those of full professors with doctorate degrees. These differences are due to the fact that coaches when compared to the faculty and the presidents bring in relatively more money and as such substantial rewarding is justifiable (Simplicio pg 3).
Despite the fact that college sports present the potential to college athletes to develop a career, college sports also present the risk of chronic injuries that the athletes endure throughout their careers. Athletes in most college sports will in most cases participate in one particular sporting activity.
Thus, injuries that they incur in the course of the sport will be concentrated in one particular region of the body. A steady rise in the injuries has been reported by the NCAA athletic department and has been linked to single sporting activity.
In the past five years, the number of injury treatments in the Montclair state university in New Jersey has doubled annually with 4,713 in the previous year. Recent years have witnessed a shift from the habit of limiting practices to seasons of about three to four months to continuous year-round training. This has seen an increase in the athletic trainer requirements to include not only early morning and late night practices but also record keeping of athletes’ medical history and treatment.
These injuries which normally lead to complicated medical histories in many instances demand the intensive care of athletic trainers and physicians. This requires a lot of money and the colleges have to dig deep in their pockets for treatment and hire of additional staff members (Libby pg 1).
Overuse is injury which occurs from sports that require the use of a particular muscle leading to repeated injuries to a specific part of the body. Overuse and the complications that come with it require individualized attention. For example, at the University of Georgia, injured athletes have to undertake different steps in an attempt to establish the cause of injury. The steps include; a blood test to establish indications of vitamin deficiency, a bone scan, and other diagnostic tests like MRI.
It becomes part of the responsibility of the trainer to create preventive strategies to stop the re-occurrence of the injury. Having determined the source of the injury, the athletic trainers are tasked with the role of deciding the course of treatment as well as finding out how best to keep the athletes in shape without causing any further aggravation on the injury.
Athletics in college are important for both the students who are considering a career in athletics and those pursuing careers in other sectors. It is the duty of the college to find a balance of academic excellence as well as accommodate the students who are pursuing athletic related careers. The college should preferably be a non-profit generating organization, so that if the sporting activity is in any way used to generate finances it should not compromise the academic objectives of the institutions.
Works Cited
Downs, Andrew and Ashton Jennifer. “Vigorous physical activity, sports participation, and athletic identity: implications for mental and physical health in college students.” Journal of Sport Behavior 34.3 (2011): 228-249.
Libby, Sander. “An epidemic of injuries plagues college athletes.” Chronicle of Higher Education 58.8 (2011).
Shulman, James L. and Bowen, William G. “The game of life: college sports and educational values.” In Glenn Cheryl, Making sense-a real-world rhetorical reader (Third edition). Boston, MA: Bedford Books, 2010. Print.
Shulman, L. James and Bowen G. William. “How the playing field is encroaching on the admissions office.” In Glenn Cheryl, Making sense-a real-world rhetorical reader (Third edition). Boston, MA: Bedford Books, 2010. Print.
Simplicio, Joseph. “New ideas that are academically sound are good, those that bring in more money are even better.” Education 131.3 (2011): 533-537.
Academic performance of college athletes is dropping at an alarming rate. In fact, surveys from most universities that offer athletics scholarship have found that both female and male counterparts are guilty of either intentionally underperforming or ignoring basic concepts that would improve their grades.
This has raised debate among theorists as well as teachers. It is quite disappointing that students secure admissions in top colleges like Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina, among others, yet they put little effort to reflect their admission into these institutions. Some of the questions that have risen due to these happenings include considerations on whether students should be paid for their services as athletes or be given ultimatums on goals to be reached academically in order to continue with scholarship.
Moreover, questions have been raised on whether the program has been successful in achieving objectives of college or university education. Several theorists have come up with ideas of the best course to be taken with some suggesting elimination of the program in favor of intellectual and service (altruistic) education.
In essence, college athletics has failed to achieve some of its major goals, in the process, prompting a review on its course. Consequently, college athletics should be eliminated in favor of intellectual and service education. This paper will explore college athletics, its achievements and reasons why it has failed to achieve its full potentials (Glenn 656-677).
College Athletics
Sport is an integral part of college education. This is mainly because it produces some of the best athletes in the world. This starts at the lower levels of education like high schools and junior schools. These talents need nurturing in every step of the child. It is in this sense that college and universities offer scholarships to talented athletes in order to continue with development of their talents.
Colleges and universities undergo extensive selection processes to determine possible candidates for scholarship. In fact, they end up giving scholarships to best of the best. In their consideration, education and academic achievements in high schools becomes paramount. However, after admission, it is quite disappointing that a good number of students underachieve, when it comes to academics.
In fact, even students known to perform well in exams are seen to flop with time. To make matters worse, they are also more likely to cause disturbances in universities/colleges than the rest of students. This is quite astonishing given the fact that these scholarships can be revoked, yet for some reasons they are rarely threatened (Glenn 656-677).
On the other hand, lobbyists are working on plans to integrate pay for these athletes. This has also raised concerns and is believed to cause jitters in academic forums as universities stand less chance of affording these lump sum pays. In essence, the process is losing its initial taste and meaning.
Cartoons that have been designed are mainly aimed at stressing these facts. For instance, cartoon below stresses the fact that athletes are overworked without pay. This is highly hysterical given that colleges and universities are centers for development and not career centers for athletes. College athletics is therefore full of debates that will take decades, if not centuries to resolve (Branch 1).
Cartoon
The following cartoon emphasizes the need for reforms at NCAA (National Collegiate Athletes Association). It claims that rewards given to athletes through scholarships and allowances, among others, do not constitute a good fraction of what they bring to the institutions annually.
In essence, they believe that NCAA infringe on athletes’ right to payment of their performances. This has raised issues with lobbyists trying to cut out a deal for players. On the other hand, universities are finding it difficult to explain their roles in development of athletes with respect to education.
It has been found that most universities rely too much on athleticism of prospective students than their academic ability. This raises concerns on the rational of such universities. The cartoons cries foul on NCAA and universities, which receive lump sum of money in deals and endorsement from companies while they get nothing (Ruby 1).
Fig. 1. Cartoon.
Source: doninmass.com
Considering students for pay due to their deals and endorsements is a very sensitive matter. This is because there are other students in those colleges who strive to excel in academics. Rewarding students for sporting activities would discourage other students from taking the right initiatives.
Moreover, it would lead to inequality, which already exists due to preference of athletes to others. It is important to note that other disciplines have increasingly been neglected for sports. This is mainly because of the revenue sports generate in schools. To this point, another question arises on whether focus should be place on revenue generated by sports or on developing talents and academic qualifications.
Generally, universities are found to be inclined on one side. This makes it difficult to predict the future of such Universities and colleges in terms of academic viability. This is mainly attributed to their emphasis on athletics, which compromises on the universities’ mission and objectives of achieving excellence in academics for betterment of society (Glenn 656-677).
Is college athletics a rational focus for college or university?
From the discussion above, it is necessary to establish the rational focus of colleges or universities. For instance, there is reason beyond doubt that universities and colleges receive huge lump sums from sports. This can be attested to in the case study by Penn State University, which is said to have earned over 96.1 million dollars in revenue from sports. It has also been established that universities tend to favor athletes when it comes to national selection.
Another point of concern is the fact that some colleges have been found guilty of giving students illegal payments, which makes them better than the rest. Other evidences that have been raised include the fact that athletes tend to flop in academic results as they progress. This may be attributed to amount of time they actually put into books, although it is increasingly agreeable that they neglect studies. Another issue of great concern is the discipline associated with athletes.
Surveys in universities and colleges have shown that higher levels of indiscipline in athletes as compared to other students. Moreover, they gain opportunities in their choice of courses more easily than the rest of students. Going by the evidence shown, Colleges and universities are paying more attention to sports than other academic programs, which are more central to its achievement of objectives than athletics.
This is affecting progress of such universities with issues of corruption taking center stage. Clearly, a step towards this direction is misleading and irrational. In essence, athletics is not a rational focus for universities or colleges (Adler 401-417).
Why should not higher education eliminate athletic programs in favor of intellectual and service (altruistic) education?
As has been shown above, athletics generates revenues to universities or colleges. This has influenced their inclination towards sports. University selections are marred by scrambles for athletes rather than academic prospects. In fact, even though NCAA has introduced tough measures on academic achievements of such students, it remains to be seen what actions universities take to follow them.
Several pointers to negligence by athletes have been cited as the reason for underperforming, although some theorists argue that this is due to limited time they have with books. Several suggestions have been brought forward to help improve this situation.
They include possibility of extending athletes’ course by two years, introducing degree courses in various categories of sports and rewarding them for their contribution in revenues, among others. Clearly, the world sees fault in the current system. Consequently, it would be wise if education systems eliminate athletics programs in favor of intellectual and altruistic education (Infante 1).
Conclusion
College athletics has brought about a series of debates on its viability concerning college or university objectives. However, both parties concur that steps should be made to improve impact of college athletics. For instance, it has been noted that athletes perform poorly as compared to other students. Moreover, their focus is usually not in education, instead it is in their professional progress in athletics.
This has raised concern as to the future of academics in these institutions. Moreover, renewed debate on rewarding athletes is highly likely to demise importance of academics among students. Clearly, education systems should eliminate athletics programs in favor of intellectual and altruistic education. In essence, reforms are required in this sector in order to redefine its objectives (Bragley 1).
Works Cited
Adler, Patricia. “Intense Loyalty in Organizations: A Case Study of College Athletics.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 3 (1988), pp. 401-417.
As far back as in the Roman era, athletics was a popular activity that many engaged in for leisure and entertainment. It is however in the late 1930s when athletes started receiving specialized training in universities, colleges and high schools i.e. in synthetic environments that are conceptualized to enhance simulation.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide engage in athletics as a hobby and also as a primary source of income. Annual events such as the New York marathon, London marathon and the Sydney marathon have elevated the popularity of the sport to echelons not seen before.
The turn out of athletes during such events only goes to show that athletics is by no means ostracized anywhere in the world. Individuals from all continents throng these cities hoping to clinch the title and cash reward, while others engage just for the fun of it. Young adults and children alike are also actively involved in athletics through out the globe. Inter-school competitions are popular amid high school students as a form of socialization and competitive sport.
With all these individuals occupied with one form of athletics or the other, there are high chances that injuries and accidents will occur during training and in the field. Considering the probability of such occurrences and our controversial social behavior, it is very easy for an athletic camp to be sued over the accidents and injuries.
The court cases can be time consuming and expensive in terms of financial resources and reputation. It is therefore prudent for athletic institutions and schools to integrate apposite measures and precautions to make sure they provide the safest possible setting for the athletes, coaches, administrators and the spectators alike.
Therefore, risk management is the progression of analytically identifying conditions that may predispose participants to avoidable risk or harm and taking the preventive actions necessary that will help to reduce or eliminate this exposure. This could be done by either physical means like construction of barriers or theoretically by coming up with sound policies.
Athletic risk management
Due to the physical nature of athletics as a competitive sport, athletes will always be prone to injury during training and while performing in the field. However, through incorporation of risk management procedures the possibilities of accidents and injuries happening are drastically reduced. Athletic risk management is a broad spectrum of preventive measures designed to keep athletes out of harms way.
In that sense, there are various steps that are undertaken to form a water tight risk management plan for athletes. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) is the body responsible for the establishment of professional merits among trainers and the creation of a standard blueprint covering athletic risk management in the U.S. Formed in 1950, this body currently has more than 35,000 members (Ammon, 1997).
Their good performance and professionalism led them to include health care provision among their services, with more than 40 percent of athletic trainers working in clinics and hospitals. Many athletic trainers offer their services to learning institutions while others work as health care providers in all professional sports including rodeo and car racing.
Moreover, other athletic trainers collaborate with the law enforcement sector and government agencies like the U.S. Senate and at the Pentagon. Apart from the United States, athletic trainers are also employed internationally in over 20 countries; such as Canada and Japan where they have over 400 athletic training camps. The NATA has in the long run been handed over the task of taking care of athletes’ welfare, on and of the field.
Risk management plan
For any institution to properly guard its athletes from injury, proper risk management actions must be taken. In order for that to happen, a thorough analysis of the athletes’ environment must be taken into account to cater for any imminent threat (Hall, 2006). This requires time and research through historical data and current events and once most of the problems have been determined, a risk management plan is put in place (Ammon, 1997).
A risk management plan is basically an identification of the prevailing threats that may cause injury or harm to an athlete and theoretical corrective measures which will be approved after successful implementation.
The risk management plan therefore covers every sphere of an athlete that may in one way or another cause harm or injury to an athlete under the guardianship of that institution. It is therefore a wide variety of threats and preventive measures and the result is a number of important steps are needed to provide comprehensive protection to athletes.
Supervision management
All athletic trainers should be trained in warning athletes of the possible dangers in the activities in which they participate in and also the proper safety precautions they must take to minimize the prospect of injury. The trainers also need special permission to deviate from adopted training programs to others that necessitate additional safety precautions (Hall, 2006).
Trainers are therefore required to assign activities that are within the athletes’ abilities, based on their physical condition, size and ability. In high endurance activities, trainers are required to prepare the athletes gradually for physical activities and advance from the simple to difficult exercises. In addition, trainers should be reminded occasionally of the need for adequate supervision for example through seminars on tort liability, administrative meetings and reminder courses (Hall, 2006).
Emergency management
It is imperative that pertinent medical data on all athletes be available to the instructors so that speedy treatment is given during emergencies.
Data such as blood group and chronic ailments such as diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, allergies, or asthma that could be affecting an athlete should be well known by the instructor (Gray, 1995). Athletes should also be required to give the name of a physician and relatives to be contacted in emergencies and their contact details. Instructors and coaches are required to be cognizant with the procedures for summoning emergency medical care services.
A telephone should be readily available to each athletics trainer and the telephone should have the emergency numbers of the team physician, an emergency Operations Center, the Fire Department and the Police Department. Additionally, each athletic play or training area should have adequate amounts of first aid and emergency care equipment readily accessible within the vicinity. The equipment should be conspicuously marked, regularly serviced and the medication checked and replaced periodically (Hall, 2006).
Equipment management
Executive policies ought to be set in place and dispersed to all departments pertaining to periodic examination of all equipment and facilities. Consequently, each department is required to come up with a list of procedures for inspection of equipment and facilities to be inspected, procedures for inspection and the regularity at which inspections will take place.
The task for inspections should be delegated to a qualified individual who has worked with that kind of equipment. There is supposed to be records kept on all facility equipment and facility inspections for example the inspector’s name, date of inspection, condition of equipment and facilities and recommendations after the inspection (Ammon, 1997).
This way, responsible individuals will always strive to ensure all equipment and facilities are in working condition. All the defective equipment and unsafe facilities ought to be taken out of service and marked with clearly visible warning signs that they are out of order or unsafe and should not be made use of. Safety rules that are adopted regulating the use of potentially dangerous athletic equipment should be clear and easily understood by all athletes (Gray, 1995).
These safety regulations ought to be carefully explained to the athletes and the safety rules conspicuously posted near the equipment. Vehicular traffic on all training grounds and other areas which people and spectators use should be strictly regulated. Conspicuous warning signs should be put in place to enforce such regulations. Effectively, personnel access to the grounds should be limited too, for unauthorized personnel access can lead to unexpected consequences since they are not under supervision.
Administration management
These are the actions taken within the management to ensure that proper protocol is maintained during training in the field and in the occurrence of an accident. Institutions should have risk management policies approved and circulated to all athletic trainers and coaches in an institution, barring unsupervised athletic practice sessions (Hall, 2006).
There should also be adequate staff assigned to athletic activities based on the nature and size of the group and the type of activity involved in order to ensure the correct activities are taking place. Administrators in learning institutions should be involved in the supervision of athletic programs as well as academic subjects (Ammon, 1997).
Only professional and competent trainers are supposed to be employed for physical teaching and athletic programs. A standard set of qualifications requirements should be put in place, like employing only trainers that are also conversant with first aid and emergency care. The instructors and coaches are also required to take periodic reminder courses in first aid and emergency care and less qualified instructors provided with special supervision by experienced instructors or administrators until they gain the necessary experienced.
Athletic activities involving physical contact should always be scheduled on the basis of impartial contest based on size and skill to guarantee minimum occurrence of injury (Gray, 1995). Medical examinations should be done prior to participation in any contact and endurance athletic sport and the measures for accident emergencies should be established and dispersed to all instructors.
Written accident reports should be filed on all serious accidents to help put in place preventive measures. In the case of professional athletes, their institutions should provide for medical cover to ensure rapid response by hospital staff in case of an accident.
Athletic insurance
Many institutions ensure that they provide medical cover for their athletes. This is a strategic move to avoid litigation in case an athlete gets injured during practice or while performing in the field. Though the insurance covers any form of injury, most institutions have devised means to curb the overexploitation of the insurance cover by athletes (Gray, 1995). This is because athletes may sustain injuries else where, yet they go on receiving treatment with the insurance cover that is meant to be used only in injuries resulting from the field.
Other athletes will go on to pay with their insurance for injured relatives causing the institutions and insurance companies to experience huge losses. For example, insurance offered to athletes by Florida Atlantic University’s athletic department insurance is a secondary insurance policy. This means that even when a student athlete sustains injury on the field, the primary insurance which is the personal insurance will be used to settle the bill.
Bills are processed by the FAU medical system through the athlete’s primary insurance, whereas the secondary insurance is used to settle any outstanding balances. Another example is the Central College of Illinois which provides insurance cover for athletes as long as they received an injury while participating in the field or officially supervised activities, including, practice sessions, sponsored events and official team tours. The institution does however reserve the right to revoke payment.
Requisite Standards in Risk Management
Each and every vocation has a set standard of conduct and product that identifies with that profession. This standard can be determined through various angles, however the most common is from standards of practice developed and availed by specialized institutions. In a negligence lawsuit, a standard of care will be applied to measure the competence of such a standard and a trainer may be liable for injuries or damages resulting from such conduct (Ammon, 1997).
It is therefore crucial for athletic institutions to integrate pertinent standards of practice into their risk management. Bearing in mind the presence of various published standards of practice from a wide selection of organizations, it can be difficult for athletic institutions to be aware of all appropriate standards and to determine which ones should be selected and incorporated into the risk management plan.
Due to the diversity of standards, it is wise for an institution to assemble a risk management advisory committee of experts in the field which is responsible for drafting the best suitable standard. Once implemented, the staff of the institution should be delegated to take on certain responsibilities in order to conform to the given standards.
It is not satisfactory to only take account of these procedures of conduct in a manual; rather the staff must be adequately trained and well-versed with them (Gray, 1995). Abiding to standards and constantly applying them in an institutional policy can be used to determine the standards of care an institution has for its athletes. Apart from professional standards, there are various additional standards that are intrinsic in a particular situation or obligatory to decree.
Negligence will usually occur when an institution’s personnel fall short of attaining the required standard while instructing, maintaining equipment and supervising athletes. Trainers are required to adequately instruct the athletes prior to allowing them to partake in activities that could result in injury. If an athlete is not warned of the dangers of a particular activity or not instructed in self protection in contact sports, instruction may possibly be considered insufficient and therefore an institution turns out to be liable for negligence.
An institution’s personnel have the responsibility to use reasonable care to not provide equipment which is known to be dangerous if improperly used (Hall, 2006). It is the duty of a trainer to supervise those activities in which the athletes participate in and it is the athletic administration’s responsibility to make sure supervision always takes place.
Athletics boards have the responsibility of setting up regulations that endeavor to improve the safety of athletes, failure of which the administration shifts responsibility to the athletic director to represent the athletic department (Gray, 1995).
The other function present in supervision is provision of competent care, meaning personnel adequately trained to assume the duties assigned. An institution’s personnel bear the responsibility to either secure or provide reasonable medical care to injured athletes as soon as possible under the circumstances.
It is at times difficult for trainers and administrators to know exactly what is required of them in times of emergencies, though it is now easier to understand what sort of duty one can offer student athletes because in 2007 the NATA developed standards on emergency preparedness in high school athletic programs. Standards are therefore essential in risk management and with integration of good bits of published standards into an institution’s core, injury and lawsuits pertaining to negligence are likely to cease.
Prevalent risks in athletics and effective preparation
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the primary cause of death in young athletes. It becomes the responsibility of NATA to provide the knowledge and skill required to help deal with emergency situations among athletes, and reduce the risk of death during an accident.
However, through first-responder automated external defibrillator programs also known as AED programs, the public awareness regarding first aid and the use of defibrillators has improved. Athletes are therefore more likely to survive a cardiac arrest since chances are high that they will receive early defibrillation and CPR from a bystander.
The most crucial actions that can be taken to save an athlete’s life in case of a cardiac arrest and they are: immediately contacting 911when signs of a cardiac arrest are identified , early bystander CPR is important to keep the person’s lungs open, the early delivery of a shock with a defibrillator and early life support will ensure that a patient’s heart does not stop beating and if it does, resuscitation after cardiac arrest is performed (Gray, 1995).
The above steps among others need to be outlined in an emergency action plan (EAP) developed by the athletic department. All institutions and organizations that support athletic activities should have an emergency action plan.
The plan should be definite to each athletic location and should include setting up a well organized communication structure, preparation of possible first responders in CPR and AED use, obtaining the basic emergency equipment providing a proficient and synchronized response plan, and ensuring access to early defibrillation (Gray, 1995).
To ensure rapid response to a real emergency, mock emergency situations should be played out often- twice in a year- and all the people involved according to the EAP should play their part to confirm a flawless emergency rescue is executed in case of a real emergency.
The more times it is practiced the more efficient and effective the plan will be. Data should be collected during each mock event to ascertain the time taken from collapse to the moment first aid is administered (Gray, 1995). The time from collapse to CPR should take one minute or less and the time from collapse to first shock should be 3-5 minutes.
Conclusion
Athletic risk management on close scrutiny is a matter that is still potent to expansion. Various institutions still do not take full liability of the injuries sustained in athletic related accidents and so the athletes end up paying most of the medical bills.
It is evident that the standard of athletic risk management is not universal, with various institutions having different standards on how best to protect their athletes. It is in my opinion that the government should set strict measures in place to enhance the protection of athletes from consequent harm during play or practice. A bill should be introduced that covers the whole spectrum of athletic risk management in an effort to standardize it by law.
Gray, G. (1995). Risk management behaviors of high school principals in the supervision of their high school physical education and athletic programs. Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport 2005; 5(1), 52-59.
Hall, S. (2006). Effective security management of university sport venues. New York Sport Journal 2008; 349:2218-2223.
Over the last few decades, a large body of research has been dedicated to the study of administration and coaching from a sociological angle that focuses on the impact of this sport on culture or on fans’ behavior. It is not surprising to witness this interest in athletics given its importance in the sports industry, which has developed over the last few decades from a relaxing activity in the weekends into a complex industry.
This complexity is obvious in various phenomena. What concerns, athletics, its grown complexity as more than just a sport is evident in its magnified status in the media on a daily basis and the interest of sponsors in linking their name to it as part of a larger promotional and marketing strategy.
Due to this complexity, it would be interesting to specifically focus the study within the area of marketing, particularly what concerns issues of coaching and administration. The provision of a comparison provides however a broadened perspective of understanding.
The study will critically examines the reasons behind the success in administration and coaching of athletic. When it is taken into account that the game of athletics is in many ways devalued through over-commercialization, the problem of sponsorship deals, media’s excessive marketing of the game, and fans’ seemingly blind and at many times overenthusiastic support becomes instantly and sharply clear.
For instance, this fervent support is played on by corporate businesses through their advertisements and sponsorship deals. It is thereby unfortunate to observe that regardless of the importance of athletic as both a leisure and culturally significant activity, the issue has nevertheless received limited attention among scholars and researchers in the respective or close fields alike.
It is in this regard that this study aims at contributing to through the closer examination of the issue at hand and the review of administration and coaching in athletics. Thus, this study’s examination of both the potential effects of administration and coaching on athletes performance and the ways through which the support of fans is plays to influence the two.
This is beneficial to the determination of what could be done to resolve the problem and its impacts, both today and in the future. This is only logical. After determining the causes, the solutions can then be sought.
In order to better understand the factors that influence athletic administration and coaching is to study the effects of sponsorships as the aforementioned escort service deal, this study will observe both the psychological as well as professional aspects of the issue of marketing and finance in athletics today.
Psychology is being challenged to add to the research database an improved understanding of factors that influence coaches and players’ daily decisions in a positive or negative manner. Therefore, certain sections of this study will be also devoted to the comprehension of the problem from this angle.
Nature of the Study
To answer this study’s research questions, this paper will utilize a comparative case study research approach. Thereby, a short survey will be also delivered to sports fans to evaluate their perception of the way athletics has changed over the last few years, especially in terms of cultural worth.
This paper shall ascertain whether there is a relationship between the high number of sponsorships and the transformation of the administration and coaching into a spectacle and growingly devalued game in terms of a cultural value.
The paper aims above all at highlighting the factors that could motivate athletes to adopt a more aware attitude when being coached in order to avoid the negative consequences of being marketed in connection with a corporate name with a negative image. In order to test the hypotheses a number of case studies will be selected and the reasons behind their success, will be reflected on.
College sport becomes more popular with the public because of its entertaining and mass character. Furthermore, college sport is a necessary part of the American youth’s culture. That is why the problematic questions associated with the aspects of college sport attract the large audience to discussing the issues.
Today, the question of paying college athletes salaries is actively discussed within the society because the profits gained by athletes for their teams and colleges increase regularly. From this point, the issue is in the necessity to encourage the athletes’ activities and provide them with some merits. Many researchers state that it is unfairly for colleges to gain all the possible benefits from the athletes’ successful performance without paying salaries (Johnson).
Nevertheless, it is also impossible to speak about the absence of financial benefits for the athletes because there are different kinds of special scholarships provided by colleges for their student-athletes. Thus, college athletes should not be paid because they receive their wages in the form of scholarships, college sport cannot be compared with the commercialized professional sports industry, and there is no effective system to provide athletes with salaries according to their efforts and performance.
The supporters of the idea to provide college athletes with salaries develop their arguments referring to the necessity to guarantee the students’ compensation for successful performance. However, student-athletes receive their regular scholarships without any dependence on performance in this or that season.
This scholarship is rather advantageous for them because it provides financial assistance and accentuates their role for the college’s development with references to the sports successes. College athletes can generate significant annual revenues for college teams, but different colleges perform differently in competitions.
From this point, the dependence of regular salaries on the athletes and team’s performance can be discussed as a kind of discrimination (Donaldson). That is why all the student-athletes receive the fixed scholarships which can vary about definite bonuses. Thus, the system based on scholarships can be discussed as more effective and advantageous for students about their successes as sportsmen.
It is possible to speak about only additional payments and bonuses for successful athletes without changing the current system of scholarships.Furthermore, those athletes who begin to receive wages for their performance should be discussed as professional sportsmen for whom sport is a kind of job.
College athletes are amateurs who can be successful or not in their performance. The necessity to pay each college athlete can be rather risky for many colleges where the sport is not developed. Moreover, the utilization of significant financial resources in colleges in the form of athletes’ wages is the source for increasing the corruption within the educational institutions (Johnson).
Sport in college is the part of the educational program, and it cannot be discussed as part of the commercialized industry with references to the professional sport. College athletes are not professionals in spite of the fact their sport results can be rather high.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) does not support the idea of paying students for their sports successes because it is necessary to follow the standard rules of paying any wages for all the colleges and all the athletes without references to their performance (Johnson).
Colleges’ merits in relation to the athletes’ successes are different, and “it would be a burden for the majority of schools that don’t profit from athletics”, and moreover, “paying players could also introduce legal uncertainties ranging from the impact on Title IX to questions about workers compensation and unionization” (Cohen).
Thus, the new approach to the whole system of funding colleges and paying students is necessary. However, it is possible to speak about the professional career of a sportsman after graduating from college without concentrating on similar issues.
The implementation of a new system of paying college athletes should be developed with references to such important questions as the principles of distribution of resources among the athletes and the position of colleges which do not receive any profits from their college athletes.
It is significant to pay attention to the fact that only several colleges can gain real benefits from college sports competitions because of the high performance of their teams. The majority of college teams do not demonstrate extremely high results to provide their colleges with billions of profits. That is why, it is more rationally to discuss the question of paying students locally, basing on the definite bonus system.
If student-athletes are paid for their performance, they become equal in their status to professional sportsmen. From this perspective, the situation of providing students with special wages and regular salaries can influence the change in accents within the educational system.
It is important to avoid the evolution of the college sport into commerce, market, and the professional sports industry. Although the participation of athletes in college sports competitions which can provide the college with profits can be discussed as exploitation, the balance is preserved because of providing students’ scholarships for athletes.
During summer holidays, I attended endurance athletics in Hileman Road, Atlanta. This event involved different forms of sporting competitions such as athletics, swimming, weight lifting, and cycling. I went to the ten-kilometer athletics arena, which involved male athletes from different regions competing for the Hileman Sports Award. This endurance event posed stress and challenge to athletes as evidenced by my observation and their response on being interviewed.
During the event, there were visual differences in athletes who won the race and those who lost. The athlete who came first was sweating, looked confident, and showed power and ease in the race. While taking salt pills, he looked less fatigued, and the event seemed to have less challenge on his body, unlike other athletes.
On the other hand, the athletes who came last complained of fatigue, muscle cramping, headache, and pain. Also, they had minimal sweat production. The challenge of the competition was unbearable to their bodies because some ended fainting on completing the ten-kilometer race (1vigor, par. 4).
The above differences can be explained in physiological, exercise, and training perspectives. The athlete who came first (successful athlete) had the features above even after a challenging event because his body was able to withstand stress and challenges posed by this difficult event. His performance depended on optimum body function enhanced by proper hydration and blood flow. This was evidenced by sweating and his ability to complete the race with ease.
Moreover, his performance in this event was due to his body’s ability to optimize the internal environment under stress and challenge. Fluid-electrolyte balance contributed to the optimum function of muscles and muscle impulses, as he took salt pills after the race. The salt pills were taken to provide sodium to the athlete’s body.
This is because sweating (caused by heat stress) results in loss of sodium in sweat (1vigor, par. 2-5). According to Hatfield, challenging one’s physical ability is achieved by gradually imposing a challenge on muscles. The gradual imposition of challenge (ten-kilometer race) on the winner over the racing period and during training gave him the power to fit in the next level (successful completion of the race) (Hatfield, 2005).
On the other hand, athletes who came last complained of muscle cramping due to the accumulation of lactic acid, which irritated muscles and nerves. The fatigue, minimal sweat production, pain, and headache meant that their bodies were dehydrated due to stress and challenge. Furthermore, heat stress generated during the race negatively influenced their ability to engage in this event as the increase in the core temperature of the body caused dehydration (1vigor, par. 3).
In this event, I had an opportunity to interview the winner and some athletes in the middle pack (neither first nor last). The winner attributed his success to use of the set system, consistent exercising, focus during exercises, the gradual imposition of difficult exercises, challenges to the body, high altitude training, specialized dumbbell exercises (for athletes) and holistic, nutritional and hydration approaches in training.
He, however, expressed concern that in other competitions, he incorporated other athletes’ fitness and training routines in his own, and this attempt was futile (Fitness Wellness Center, par. 1-5).
The winner’s response was important because his approach and routine in training were exceptional. According to Hatfield, “what constitutes fitness for one person is not fitness for another,” an approach the winner used (Hatfield, 2005). Furthermore, consistent exercising and challenging one’s physical capabilities are very important in any kind of exercise.
This is because it helps the body to adjust to high levels of physical fitness. Hatfield also asserts that specialized dumbbell exercises for athletes for example clean pulls, muscle-snatches, dumbbell power clean, dumbbell power snatches and rock pile give them the power to move their muscles (Hatfield, 2005). No wonder the first athlete won this endurance event with laughable ease!
In this essay, nutritional, holistic, and hydration approaches used by athletes (for example, the first athlete) in exercise and training sessions are very important. All these are to ensure an all-round athlete in terms of lifestyle, physical, emotional, environmental, psycho-social, and spiritual health. This is because all-round health is required for the optimum body, nerve and muscle function, and other body functions (Fitness Wellness Center, par. 3-8).
The middle pack athletes, unlike the winner, used limited systems in training as most of them admitted that they only engaged in machine exercising, nutrition, and other normal flexibility exercises. Therefore, the challenge posed by the winner was inevitable.
The athletic event was an important opportunity as it provided me with knowledge applicable to my physical training practice. The approaches used to win were very important in training my clients, friends, and family. The importance of hydration and fluid-electrolyte balance in the body was a lesson I will apply in training my clients for optimum body function. This is to enhance a body which is fit before, during, and after training sessions (1vigor, par. 2-7).
Furthermore, consistent exercising, focus during exercises, the gradual imposition of difficult exercises or challenge to the body and specialized dumbbell exercises will add to my training sessions to provide my clients with the ability to endure challenging exercises (Hatfield, 2005).
The system of training mentioned above is an important lesson to my practice as it will contribute to all-round health in my clients, family, and friends in terms of physical, emotional, Spiritual, psychosocial and lifestyle health.
References
Fitness Wellness Center. Web.
Hatfield, F. (2005). Fitness: The complete guide to dumbbell training. International Sports and Sciences Association.
Athletic training may involve injuries on the part of the trainer or the athletes. Some of the injuries are superficial. However, others, such as the brain and spinal injury are grave and may even result in death or permanent impairment. This paper focuses on concussions and the effects they have on the lives of athletes. A concussion is a brain injury that is caused by the violent hitting of the head. It leads to vigorous shaking of the brain within the skull. The severity of a concussion can be detected by symptoms such as nausea, headache, ringing in the ears, balance, concentration, and memory problems, as well as oscillating levels of consciousness. Brain injury is catastrophic to a maturing brain. Concussions are very common among athletes. Its effects are only momentarily felt, thus leaving no visible symptoms. However, for a mild concussion, investigation and treatment should be offered immediately. When an athlete develops brain injury, he or she should rest and avoid medication, alcohol, and stress. Certified Athletic Trainers (ATCs) should be extremely sensitive to the modes in which traumatic brain injury (TBI) manifests itself. It may appear as severe cerebral concussion, moderate, or a mild TBI. The most severe concussions may impair sensitive parts of the brain, such as the brain stem.
At the time of injury, concussion management is vital. The ATC should actively participate in providing awareness among coaches, athletes, and even their parents about the symptoms that indicate a concussion and the importance of managing it immediately and effectively. Team physicians should be aware of an array of test methods that are required to determine whether a player suffers a concussion. Before the beginning of each playing season, such tests should be carried out on all athletes, even those who have displayed no symptoms. Such an evaluation will help to reduce the severity of the impacts of head hitting. After treatment, the other important assessment is whether the player is ready to return to play. Such evaluations must involve both postural-stability and neurocognitive testing. For athletes who engage in sports, which bear a high concussion risk, additional tests to the cranial nerves and cervical spine should be made to detect any possible injury. The reason why such tests are imperative is that suffering a subsequent concussion before recovering from a previous one is ruinous.
Preston Plevretes Video
The video depicts the devastating consequences of concussion in Preston Plevretes’ life. The brain injuries he suffered changed him from a popular, independent, and energetic football player to a young man who currently needs constant care because he can longer do all things he would desire to accomplish (Preston Plevretes Story). The injury caused him to have unclear speech. He developed difficulties in coordinating his limb motion. His situation confirms the serious implication of the failure to diagnose or properly treat concussions. Plevretes’ concussion had been diagnosed, but there was negligence in its management. The call for him to return to play by the students’ nurse was a costly error (Preston Plevretes Story). Therefore, his predicament can be attributed to the laxity displayed by the medical practitioners who allowed him back on the field to play before recovering from his first concussion. As an athlete, he was also ignorant of the dire results of playing when suffering from a concussion. The other failure was on the part of the athletic trainers who did not take the needed safety tests to ensure that Plevretes was fit to play. Athletic trainers play a great role in the decisions that athletes make in relation to the sport. Being more aware and attentive can significantly reduce the number of permanent brain injuries suffered by athletes. The nurses did not do tests to determine whether or not the athlete was symptom-free. Deriving from Plevretes’ story, there is a need to ensure that proper treatment is carried out on concussion patients before they engage in vigorous activities such as athletics. Management of mild concussions should be done immediately to avoid catastrophic results.
Patrick Larimore
Patrick Larimore’s decision to quit playing football resulted from the problems he was beginning to face following a series of concussions (Hoffarth par.2). During his time as a football player, he had suffered six concussions. Larimore had already started to experience harsh symptoms that were an indication of brain injuries such as irritability and general lack of emotional control. In ordinary cases, even two consecutive concussions are enough to cause death. Given the very intense and ferocious hits that Larimore had been receiving, his decision was both prudent and timely. He was justified to quit because there was a great risk of him suffering a permanent, irreversible brain injury or even death if he had another concussion (Hoffarth par.4). Athletes who find themselves in a position where they suffer repeated concussions should quit or stay away for some seasons. Taking a break from athletics is imperative for such players because the break offers them ample time to recover fully before exposing themselves to other hits.
Conclusion
Constant head hitting may seem like a common thing during practice and matches for athletes, but it can have very far-reaching effects. Many players have succumbed, developed permanent brain injury, or have retired early due to repetitive concussions. Athletic trainers and team doctors should always ensure that proper tests are carried out. Necessary safety measures should be observed in the course of the sport. Injured players should also be made to rest to allow them enough recovery time.
Works Cited
Hoffarth, Tom. UCLA’s Larimore on ESPN’s ‘E:60’: ‘Finally, it was clear I couldn’t go on smashing my head into things. Nothing good was going to come out of that for me, 2012. Web.
