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  1. Athlete Weekly Rundown: John Wall tackles the high expectations, Cam Newton is humbled by his past mistakes & depression is more common among elite athletes than general population

    by Al-Hassan Sheriff 09-11-2011 11:53 PM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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    Athlete Development

    • There’s so much hype, expectations and money thrown at today’s elite athletes—especially for a No. 1 overall selection. While there are countless stories of folks shrinking under such enormous pressure, Washington Wizards star guard John Wall is taking the road less traveled by embracing the lofty expectations placed upon him. [John Wall Wants To Prove He's A Franchise Star]
    • Many times, the saying “Birds of a feather flock together” could apply to almost anything but sports and/or education. Yet, the Associated Press recently reports a trend occurring with student athletes at BCS institutions “clustering” or choosing the same majors. With networking and building connections a major part of sports and career advancement, today’s athlete should take note of this development. [At BCS Schools, Players Tend To Pursue Same Major]
    • Imagine being the most recognizable and arguably best athlete in your sport, one of the youngest team captains and already a world champion. If you were injured and needed extra time to heal, would you take it, or would try to play through it while knowingly putting yourself at a greater long-term health risk? Well, these are some of the factors Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby must weigh in deciding to return from a concussion that kept him out most of the 2010-11 NHL season. [Crosby Says His Concussion Symptoms Continue]

     

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  2. Becoming a Team Leader

    by Cory Dobbs, Ed.D. 09-08-2011 01:55 AM Amateurism | Athlete Career Development | Coaching | Leadership

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    As a student-athlete it’s your choice to become a team leader. Because you are a student, leadership is an educational decision. If you truly desire a leadership role, you’ll need to make a commitment to preparing for the many challenges that will emerge daily. Learning to lead is a physical, intellectual, emotional, and social endeavor that leads to growth and development in leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities. When you choose to become a team leader you will have chosen to achieve your highest aspirations and potential. Those athletes that accept the challenge and learn to become leaders will be rewarded in a variety of ways throughout their life. 
     
    Becoming a team leader does not mean paying lip service to the role and responsibilities of team leadership. Rather, leadership will require you to exhibit courage, display character, and make a commitment to contributing to your team in this “extra” role.
     
    Think back over your experiences as a student-athlete. Ask which individuals truly delivered leadership that significantly impacted the team. In some cases you may have had exceptional team leaders, individuals you thought had a calling to lead. In others, you may have felt the team would have been better off without their leadership. 
     
    Most student-athletes choose not to become team leaders. They are unwilling to venture outside their comfort zone. These are the ones that say “I lead by example” and leave it at that. However, it will take a bold act of courage for you to engage with your teammates as a peer leader. The essence of team leadership is the act of making a difference. Choose to lead courageously and make a difference.

     

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  3. Can the Players' Associations do more?

    by Joe Jackman 09-07-2011 02:20 AM Crisis Management | Human Relations | Labor | Sports Psychology

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    Another NHL Enforcer Found Dead.   
    Fifteen-year NHL defenseman and pugilist Wade Belak, who spent his career with the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and recently retired as a Nashville Predator, was found dead on August 31 at the age of 35. Reports indicate that it was a suicide.
     
    3 NHL Players Dead This 2011 Off-Season
    Belak joins other deceased NHL enforcers Rick Rypien (depression) and Derek Boogaard (pill addiction). Belak, who retired in March, didn't show any signs of similar afflictions. In fact, he seemed to be transitioning well from the life of a professional athlete. He had secured a media role with the Predators and was to appear on Battle of the Blades, a Canadian television reality-show partnering former professional hockey players and figure skaters in competition.
     
    “The NHLPA Does Nothing To Prepare You”
    Former NHL enforcer and current ESPN broadcaster Matthew Barnaby commented on Twitter, “Nhlpa should do better job of preparing to enter league- and departing it! FACT.“ These deaths are raising questions about the NHL and NHLPA programs aimed at reaching out to active and former players.
     
    "With what's transpired in the last few months, with the guys that we've lost, it makes us open up our eyes and look at programs and know that once guys are done playing hockey we just don't kick them to the curb," said former NHL player Nick Kypreos in a sportsnet.ca column. “We've got to come closer to the current players and the people who run the league and say: 'Once you're in this fraternity, you're in it for life.'"
     
    Former NHL enforcer Tyson Nash also Tweeted, "Ur entire life is dedicated to hockey and then one day it's all over and ur kicked to the curb! And the NHLPA does nothing to prepare u."

     

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  4. Athlete Weekly Rundown: Another NHL player commits suicide, Oscar De La Hoya hits rock bottom & journeyman Alex Owumi's harrowing escape from war-torn Libya

    by Al-Hassan Sheriff 09-03-2011 06:10 PM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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    Athlete Development

    • Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones of former NHL player Wade Belak, who died on Wednesday. His death, the third from professional hockey since May, has many wondering if the NHL should remove fighting from the sport, just as the NFL has repealed much of the gratuitous violence in its sport to protect their players. [Deaths of NHL Players Raises A Deadly Riddle]
    • One of my favorite quotes is “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” The following reinforces why that statement holds value. For unsigned NFL players, also known as “street” free agents among GMs and coaches, it’s become increasingly important to be prepared, as the lockout and increased injuries have caused many teams to look their way. [Giants Pluck Cornerback From His Living Room]
    • A famous cliché that is losing traction is that “an athlete knows their body better than anyone else." While many of today’s athletes are physical specimens, there are many illnesses and conditions that are not widely known. Tennis star Venus Williams discusses one such condition: Sjogren’s syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease that she has battled for years. [Venus Williams Describes Fight With Fatigue]
    • The New York Times recently released a video highlighting Men’s Tennis star (and my favorite player) Rafael Nadal’s amazing forehand, arguably his most dominating weapon on the courts. From one southpaw to another, enjoy. [Speed and Spin: Nadal's Lethal Forehand]

     

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  5. Ken Harvey: A Hero Some More

    by Dr. Timothy Thompson 09-01-2011 11:57 PM Athlete Interviews

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    Ken Harvey’s fascinating rags-to-riches journey through football and life is a shining example of the importance of getting the full story before drawing conclusions and acting on them. 

    The former All-Pro linebacker retired from the NFL in 1999 and was selected in 2002 as one of the 70 all-time greatest Washington Redskins. Harvey currently runs his own sports marketing business, is an accomplished children’s book author who has just completed his first novel (entitled Xavier: A Hero No More), and currently serves as the Washington Redskins’ Director of Responsibility.
     
    But life wasn’t always so charmed for Harvey. If he hadn’t taken a hard look in the mirror during his teen years, the main theme of his life story almost certainly would have been a tale of “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.” 
     
    Nowadays, whenever he gets a chance to inspire business clients, current NFL players, or groups of youngsters, Harvey is quick to share the fact that he dropped out of high school at a time in his life when he hadn’t yet discovered anything to be passionate about. 
     
    It’s perfect that Harvey’s so willing to share his unpleasant memories along with the pleasant ones, because the lessons he’s learned from seeking the full story about himself and others make him a poster boy for changing our lives against all odds. Along the way, he learned that no positive change can occur in our lives unless we stop running from our personal truths. 
     
    “You know, looking at myself in the mirror is still affecting my life,” Harvey told Access Athletes. “I was just telling my business partner the other day that the hardest thing is to look at yourself in the mirror. A lot of times we’re so busy that we run past the mirror without seeing ourselves. It’s hard to look directly at yourself and say ‘This is what I need.’”
     
    Harvey added: “And sometimes we don’t even know. Sometimes it has to be pointed out by somebody else. But when you’re alone and everything else seems to go bad around you, if you can stop and look and say ‘okay, what am I doing, what have I been doing all my life, and why isn’t what I’m doing working?’, then you can start to say ‘well maybe I need to tweak this, and maybe I need to tweak that.’” 
     
    Building the courage to face our inner demons and negative feelings is the key for us to learn from Harvey’s example and finally take full control of our lives. It’s also any athlete’s greatest challenge. But he insists that we can succeed in changing our lives simply by using a sensible, systematic approach. 
     
    One of the hardest things Harvey says is to identify what you need to work on, or the root of your problem.
     
    “Sometimes we think ‘I don’t have any money’ and that the root of this lack of money is because I can’t get a good job. But the root may be what’s inside of you. Somebody may have told you, ‘Well you need to clean up your resume. It’s okay but it’s not as good as it could be.’ But you say, ‘I don’t need to clean up my resume because it’s about the type of people you know.’ So the root in that example may be pride.
     
    “This can become a real problem when you get so prideful that you can’t listen when somebody’s giving you advice, but you think it’s because there are no jobs out there. You’re claiming that as the root, but the change that may have to come is that you’ve got to work on your pride. You may not think those two things go together, but they may go together.”
     
    After identifying what needs to be changed, Harvey says you must stretch yourself. But he cautions that it isn’t always as simple as it seems because people develop habits along the way that make change more difficult.
     
    “It’s hard to break those habits. But that’s where you’ve got to have people around you that can point out things and help you make adjustments.” 
     

     

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  6. Athlete Weekly Rundown: Larry Johnson's last opportunity, Matt Leinart's advice to Andrew Luck & high school football phenom Dorial Green-Beckham overcomes adversity

    by Al-Hassan Sheriff 08-31-2011 12:54 AM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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    Athlete Development

    • As many athletes—professional and amateur alike—are constantly searching for new ways to train, they must be careful not to injure themselves in the process. 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Justin Gatlin arrived at the World Championships with frostbite on his feet as a result of his personal training methods. [Justin Gatlin Dealing with Frostbite]
    • Former Chiefs and Penn State running back Larry Johnson, who signed with the Miami Dolphins, must now prove he can both contribute and stay out of trouble. The following quote sums it up: “It's kind of hard to convince anybody with my colorful background that, yeah, I've changed. But you change with every situation you go through. You know that you can't get many more shots. You do the best you can with your opportunity and ride on out to the sunset." [Larry Johnson Signs with Dolphins]
     
    Business 
    • For those of you aspiring to be the face of a franchise, please take into consideration factors other than your physical tools and knowledge of your sport. For example, your physical appearance may also be a factor. Ask No. 1 overall pick Cam Newton. [Cam Newton Told To Be Tattoo-Free]

     

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  7. Serena Williams’ Comeback: How tennis is like an interview

    by Eileen Wisnewski 08-28-2011 09:55 PM Life After Sports | Athlete Career Development

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    After overcoming so much, Serena Williams is back in the game. Serena’s struggle and dedication to return has impressed many, and her recent win at Stanford was thrilling to watch. When I look at relating career development strategies with athletics, I thought it would be fun to discuss some of the similarities that I have always seen between tennis and interviewing.
     
    Here’s a few:
    1. One player serves the ball and the other player returns the shot, volleying until a point is scored. 
     
    2. Sometimes the shots come fast and furious and out of reach, and others may seem easy and close – but players can still miss them. 
     
    3. The bottom line, as in any sport, in order to be triumphant, players must practice. 
     
    1. The Handshake:
    Just like tennis, interviews begin and end with a handshake. How is yours? It is important to have a firm, and ideally dry handshake. Both men and women should be aware of this – I have shaken a few men’s hands in my life that were weaker than my nine year old niece’s (actually, she is pretty tough so this might not be the appropriate comparison). It is very awkward to shake someone’s hand only to find a rag doll. At the other end of the spectrum, you don’t want to crush the other person’s hand just to demonstrate how much you’ve been working out. One tip is to try to quickly sense the strength level of the other person and gauge your response to that. The best handshakes are when the shakers’ strength matches up – just like tennis.
     
    2. Serve & Game:
    The recruiter “serves” with each interview question. A successful candidate will get the ball and send it back without too much struggle. However, interviews should not be a one-sided serve-hit process. Recruiters hope candidates will have a conversation, and not simply answer each question. The perfect interview should be more like a “base line” game – don’t rush the net when you answer the questions. Take time to think through your answer before you speak – set up your shot. In the semi-finals, Sharapova was quoted after her loss, “It certainly wasn't my night. She was serving and hitting so well and I was extremely late in my reactions. I felt sluggish. It was a bad day but it's also a reminder that I need to step up.” Candidates who are not ready will struggle to keep up with the interviewer, and likely lose the match.

     

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  8. Labral Repair Versus Tommy John Surgery

    by BJ Maack 08-23-2011 01:31 AM Injury & Rehabilitation

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    The purpose of this piece is not to focus so much on anything fantasy-related, although if anything I hit on here helps you with line-up decisions, well then that's just gravy. But what I really hope to do here is to highlight these two surgical procedures for our baseball players who read the site and give you a little more background as to what they are specifically and do a little compare/contrast. All of this from an athletic trainer's perspective (and fantasy player as well) to hopefully give you more insight when you hear one of these terms or a teammate suffers one of these injuries in the near future. Because it WILL happen eventually. Fair warning: there will be some medical jargon tossed around, but hopefully not too much that it gets boring. 

    So here we go......

    First, the labrum. There is actually a labrum associated with the hip joint. Both the hip and the shoulder are ball-and-socket joints, with the end of one bone forming a "ball" that fits into another bone's "socket." The labrum is a piece of cartilage that serves to deepen the socket. The hip is a much deeper socket than the shoulder, which allows for more range of motion (i.e. it allows the shoulder to throw a ball overhead). For the rest of this article, the term labrum and labral repair will refer to the shoulder labrum.
     
    The shoulder wasn't made to throw a ball in an overhead motion with the force and frequency that a baseball pitcher's position requires. It can do it, and do it very well, but the odds of something breaking down over time or of something "abnormal" developing are very high. When this happens, sometimes a surgical procedure is required to repair or "clean-up" the damage.  
     
    A typical injury to the labrum is a SLAP lesion. SLAP: "Superior Labral tear, Anterior-to-Posterior" refers to the direction of the cartilage tear. Symptoms for a pitcher include loss of velocity, a dull ache, location issues, and trouble sleeping. Often there is no "I felt it on one pitch" complaint; it's more of a build-up over time.
     
       
     
    The picture above shows the tear before and then after the surgery to repair it. Once it's torn, it's torn—there is no "letting it heal on its own" thing here. It must be repaired, either arthroscopically or through an open procedure. Does it work? Yes and no. 

     

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  9. Athlete Weekly Rundown: Aaron Rodgers & his zone experience, Rick Rypien's tragic death & Jerricho Cotchery moves on

    by Matthew Allinson 08-21-2011 11:57 PM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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    Athlete Development

    • Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can reach the top. Aaron Rodgers' Super Bowl run is case in point. This article has excellent insight about an athlete having the allusive zone experience. After suffering his second concussion of the season and being forced to take some time off, Rodgers had this to say about last season: "So when I got an opportunity to get back to my preparation, get back to my football team, I just wanted to make the most of that and be a better leader, be more prepared, be a better practice player, so all that kicked in and I went on a run and the rest is history.” [Week off helped Rodgers see the light]
    • Free agent wideout Terrell Owens recently told ESPN.com that he is healing ahead of schedule while preparing for the start of this NFL season. Owens, who once played in Super Bowl XXXIX seven weeks after breaking his fibula, must be fully healthy for any teams to have an interest in signing him. While teams seem weary of signing the 15-year vet, Owens is confident in his abilities and focused on proving all the doubters wrong: "This is another challenge for me. Another opportunity to show people that age is nothing but a number. You can do anything you put your mind and body to. I don't allow naysayers to deter me from my goal." [T.O. 'way ahead of schedule' in surgery rehab]
    • Since NFL lockout rules prohibited contact between players and team personnel, many rookies and veteran players could not learn their new offensive and defensive assignments, especially on teams that had significant coaching changes. Yet, Browns starting QB Colt McCoy thought outside the box by spending the offseason learning about the West Coast offense from future Hall of Famer Brett Favre. It's always smart to find mentors who have tons of experience and success to guide you through your athletic development. [Brett Favre tutored Colt McCoy]

     

     

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  10. Athlete Weekly Rundown: ESPN's new Total Quarterback Rating (TQR), Real Madrid signs 7-year-old & deer antler supplements contain HGH

    by Al-Hassan Sheriff 08-13-2011 07:48 PM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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    Athlete Development

    • Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald recently allowed Yahoo! Sports the chance to see a glimpse of his unusual, but highly effective training techniques. The All-Pro wideout incorporates track and field, plyometrics and other training styles into his routine. While they are intense, the numbers don’t lie: according to NFL.com, Fitzgerald has totaled more than 600 receptions and 8,000 yards to go with 65 TDs since 2004. Oh, and he’s only missed four games and fumbled a whopping five times during that same span. [Larry Fitzgerald: Elite Athlete of the Week]
    • If all QBs aren’t created equal, then why should they continue to be graded as if they are? This week, ESPN launched a new QB rating system. Led by former NFL QB and Super Bowl XXXV champ Trent Dilfer, ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (TQR) measures the overall effectiveness of a team’s signal-caller. My opinion: this new rating will be a major upgrade from the current QB Rating. TQR accounts for other factors besides yards, touchdowns and interceptions: decision-making, how many sacks a QB takes, 3rd & 4th down conversions and more. If ESPN’s TQR becomes a hit on Monday Night Football, expect it to trickle down to other NFL broadcast providers (Fox, CBS) and perhaps the NCAA. [Total Quarterback Rating Shifts the Way We See the Position]
    • On the ESPN program, Outside The Lines, the subject of high school 7-on-7 football leagues was discussed. These summer leagues, similar to summer clubs track and field or AAU basketball, are becoming more prevalent. The collegiate governing body and high school coaches are concerned that these leagues may become opportunities for major NCAA violations. While the benefit for a high school athlete would be more chances for development and exposure, the cost for the NCAA, as well as high coaches, appears too steep, as agents, scouts and other individuals affiliated with college football programs may use these teams as illegal pipelines.  [7-on-7 High School Football Draws Scrutiny of NCAA, High School Coaches Over Fears of Third Party Influence]
    • Washington Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg had such a great start to his career last season: his starts were so good for an underperforming Washington squad that they were named “Strasmas." Yet, unfortunately the pitching holiday season, and Strasburg’s, were cut short when the rookie suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. Now, the human strikeout film himself started his 1st rehab start in 11 months. The former No. 1 overall pick appeared sharp, striking out four and allowing one run in 1 and 2/3 innings of work for the Class A Hagerstown Suns. While he has yet to return to the majors, a lot of credit is due to the Nationals for being patient and making sure their ace of the future is fully healed before returning. [Stephen Strasburg Looks Sharp In Return]
    • With the NFL becoming the 1st of the “Big Four” American sports to have random testing for HGH, a popular new drug may make the testing more difficult to track. Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), a chemical found in deer antlers, has been used for healing by ancient Asian cultures. While the chemical is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and all major sports, it’s one form of HGH that is currently untraceable by the tests administered by MLB, and those soon to be implemented by the NFL. While the HGH testing included in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement was a step in the right direction, IGF-1 may have pushed its impact back a couple of steps. [Deer Antler Supplements Might be a Major Challenge for Pro Sports' Drug Policies]

     

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