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IFAF Under-19 World Championship
The International Federation of American Football Under-19 World Championship returns to the United States this summer as eight national teams will compete at Burger Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Teams from American Samoa, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Panama, Sweden and the United States kick off the tournament with a slate of four games June 30 and conclude July 7 with the bronze and gold medal contests. Second-round games are scheduled for July 3-4 with fifth- and seventh-place games on July 6.
The United States won the inaugural IFAF Under-19 World Championship in 2009 and opens defense of its title at 8 p.m. CT on June 30 against an opponent to be determined once seeds are awarded by IFAF. National team seeds will be determined and announced during world championship technical meetings Saturday, April 28, in Austin. The tournament’s schedule will be finalized and announced in May.
U.S. Under-19 National Team athletes, selected by USA Football, arrive in Austin on June 22 for training camp. National teams will practice at Burger Stadium, Nelson Field Complex and House Park. All players and coaches will be housed on the University of Texas campus.
U.S. head coach Steve Specht, of Cincinnati St. Xavier High School is a two-time Ohio Division I Coach of the Year who has led the school to a pair of state titles (2005, 2007). Specht was the defensive coordinator on the 2009 U.S. Under-19 National Team and was head coach at the third annual International Bowl held Feb. 1 in Austin,… [ read more ]
Strength and Conditioning Coach Carlo Alvarez Hits Amazon Best Seller List With New Youth Fitness Book
Strength and Conditioning Coach Carlo Alvarez Hits Amazon Best Seller List With New Youth Fitness Book
Carlo Alvarez, performance enhancement training expert, recently hit #1 in two separate Amazon.com best-seller lists with the new book “The Definitive Guide to Youth Athletic Strength, Conditioning and Performance.”
Cincinnati, OH – April 11, 2012 – Carlo Alvarez, Founder of Ethos Athletics, recently joined with a select group of the world’s leading health and fitness entrepreneurs to co-write the fitness book titled, The Definitive Guide to Youth Athletic Strength, Conditioning and Performance. The book was released by CelebrityPress™ – a leading fitness and health book publisher.
Strength and Conditioning Coach Carlo Alvarez Signs Publishing Deal With CelebrityPress To Release New Youth Fitness Book
Posted by admin on Feb 28th, 2012
Carlo Alvarez, performance enhancement training expert, has recently signed a publishing deal with CelebrityPress, a leading fitness and health book publishing company, along with several leading health and fitness experts to release the book, The Definitive Guide to Youth Athletic Strength, Conditioning and Performance.
Cincinnati, OH – February 28, 2012 – Carlo Alvarez, Founder of Ethos Athletics, has joined with a select group of the world’s leading health and fitness entrepreneurs to co-write the forthcoming fitness book titled, The Definitive Guide to Youth Athletic Strength, Conditioning and Performance. Nick Nanton, Esq. along with business partner, JW Dicks, Esq., recently signed a publishing deal with each of these authors to contribute their expertise to the book, which will be released under their CelebrityPress™ imprint.
Jamie Oliver Calls For Global Action To Tackle Obesity
This article titled “Jamie Oliver calls for global action to tackle obesity” was written by Robin McKie, for The Observer on Saturday 3rd September 2011 23.07 UTC
Levels of obesity across the globe are reaching epidemic proportions, according to medical experts. Now the crisis is to be the focus of a major debate at a UN medical conference in New York.
A coalition of nutrition and health experts – ranging from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to former government chief scientist Sir David King – are urging western nations to play a key role in halting the dramatic rise in numbers of obese people across the planet.
“There seems to be a trend with developing countries wanting to follow in the footsteps of the western world, and copy their patterns of fast food and consumerism,” Oliver told the One Young World conference in Switzerland on Friday. The phenomenon was a particular problem in India, South America and the Middle East, he said. Oliver added: “Pre-packed convenience food is seen as a symbol of being ‘modern’ in developing countries, but the problems it causes are long-term, and costly.” “Diet-related diseases are two of the top five causes of premature death for people under 60 years old. They look set to create an absolute catastrophe over the next 30 to 40 years if nothing changes.”
Oliver’s aim is to encourage heads of state and the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, to “sit up and take notice” at a summit on non-communicable disease in New York… [ read more ]
Children’s Brain Development Linked to Physical Fitness
A neuroimaging investigation of the association between aerobic fitness, hippocampal volume and memory performance in preadolescent children.
Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Kim JS, Voss MW, Vanpatter M, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Konkel A, Hillman CH,Cohen NJ, Kramer AF.
Department of Psychology & Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Abstract
Because children are becoming overweight, unhealthy and unfit, understanding the neurocognitive benefits of an active lifestyle in childhood has important public health and educational implications. Animal research has indicated that aerobic exercise is related to increased cell proliferation and survival in the hippocampus as well as enhanced hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Recent evidence extends this relationship to elderly humans by suggesting that high aerobic fitness levels in older adults are associated with increased hippocampal volume and superior memory performance. The present study aimed to further extend the link between fitness, hippocampal volume, and memory to a sample of preadolescent children. To this end, magnetic resonance imaging was employed to investigate whether higher- and lower-fit 9- and 10-year-old children showed differences in hippocampal volume and if the differences were related to performance on an item and relational memory task. Relational but not item memory is primarily supported by the hippocampus. Consistent with predictions, higher-fit children showed greater bilateral hippocampal volumes and superior relational memory task performance compared to lower-fit children. Hippocampal volume was also positively associated with performance on the relational but not the item memory task. Furthermore, bilateral hippocampal volume was found to mediate the relationship between fitness level (VO(2) max) and relational memory. No relationship between aerobic… [ read more ]
The Relationship Between Visual Skills and Volleyball Performance of NCAA Division I Volleyball Players
Spaniol, F., Temple, D., Ocker, L., Bonnette, R., Melrose, D, Monteiro, I.
Sport Science Research Laboratory Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual skills and volleyball performance of NCAA Division I volleyball players. Participants consisted of thirteen female NCAA Division I volleyball players (height 179.36 ± 7.73cm, age 18-25 years) who were evaluated for visual skills and performance during the 2008-2009 season. Visual skills were assessed using Vizual Edge Performance Trainer® (VEPT), a commercial software program designed to evaluate and train visual skills. Subjects were assessed for eye alignment, depth perception, convergence, divergence, visual recognition, and visual tracking. A composite score (final VEPT score) was also calculated for each subject. Volleyball performance was determined by end of season statistics, which included kills, kills per set, attack errors, hitting percentage, assists, assists per set, serve aces, serve aces per set, serve errors, reception errors, digs, digs per set, blocks solo, blocks assisted, total blocks, blocks per set, blocking errors, and ball-handling errors. Data analysis was performed by utilizing a correlation matrix to calculate correlation coefficients between the vision and performance variables. Statistical analysis indicated significant (p < 0.05) relationships between convergence percentage and attack percentage (r = 0.55), divergence station score and assists per set (r = 0.53), visual recognition percent correct and hitting percentage (r = 0.71), eye alignment and blocks per set (r = -0.56), visualrecognition response time and attack percentage (r = -0.74), and visual recognition percent… [ read more ]
Nike BOOM 2.0
Check out the new Nike BOOM 2.0 App. They’ve changed the design, added the SPARQ Rating and allow you to get geared up. I was involved in some of the recording with some the NFL Attaboys and I have to tell you those guys get into it. The app is well worth the time to set up. This app will continue to evolve as Nike puts more time into developing content and integrating some of the performance assets they can utilize.
Rugby and Vision Study
Study published in 2009.Exercise, performance and sports-vision testing under more realistic testing conditions
Fowler, K.F.,
Du Toit, P.J.
Abstract
Poster presented at the University of Pretoria Health Sciences Faculty Day, August 2009, Pretoria, South Africa. Poster also presented at the Biological Science Congress; North West University; October 2009. Sport is becoming increasingly competitive and this places enormous pressure on sportsmen to perform at their absolute best. For athletes to achieve their greatest potentials, aspects of sport such as reaction time and hand-eye co-ordination needs to be at their peaks. Sports vision aims to enhance performance through a variety of procedures and training techniques. Materials & Methods: Rugby players aged 18 to 26 were subjected to a sports vision battery consisting of three different hand-eye co-ordination tests. Results: An improvement in performance was observed by players exposed to the exercises. In the ‘number of catches’ test there was a meaningful improvement of 12%. A 22% improvement was observed in the number of successful catches (simultaneous ball- throwing) and an 8% and 3% improvement in the number of successful throws through a ring (accurate passing) to the left and right sides respectively.Discussion & Conclusion: It is very important to measure hand-eye co-ordination alongside the standard measuring of cardiopulmonary and metabolic status to determine the athletic abilities of sporting individuals. Visual abilities can affect both motor skill and performance. This study proves that correct training programs and hand-eye co-ordination tests can vastly improve sporting performance. Athletes are advised to complete at least 15 minutes of sport-specific visual… [ read more ]
Cake Health
Here is a great new system that provides “a better way to manage our plans and make informed decisions on coverage.” Cake Health is an online system that helps users understand and manage their health care. Cake Health provides a central place to track all your healthcare plans online. It updates your plan status so you know what’s covered, automatically categorizes your claims, tracks your out-of-pocket expenses and alerts you to possible overcharges.