News, views and special stuff from All-Star Sports Academy!
1. Contest Period – The contest will begin on December 30, 2008. Official end-of-referrals date will be January 30, 2009. Enrollments completed by February 7th will count toward contest totals. Winners will be announced on or about February 22, 2009
2. Prizes – Winner in each category will receive a 4 night, 5 day Wyndham hotel vacation package to Florida. Package includes 2 nights in Destin, Daytona Beach or Fort Lauderdale, followed by 2 nights in Orlando. Winner is responsible for airfare, rental cars and all other associated costs. Also included is a one hour Sports Massage Therapy Gift Certificate from In-Touch Massage Center in Toms River, 4 movie passes, Nutritional Consultations, All-Star Sports Academy swag, free pizza and more! Prize list will grow, so check back often!
3. "Send Me to Florida Referral Contest" is open only to those enrolled in All-Star Sports Academy training programs, and parents of those enrolled. Contestants must fill out their agreement sheets before participating in the contest. Trainees enrolling during the contest period are also eligible to participate and win.
4. Contestants can take up to five (5) "1st and 10" cards at a time. All other conditions of the "1st and 10" Club will be in effect during the contest, including the 10% "thank you" bonus for all referrers.
5. How to qualify: Any contestant who refers at least three (3) new referrals to All-Star Sports Academy during the contest period will be qualified to win the contest. Simply be sure each referral is registered in the "Send Me to Florida Referral Contest" journal by an All-Star employee. That's it!
6. Referred persons will be granted one (1) trial week, credited to the person whose name is on the card which is returned to All-Star Sports Academy. After the trial period is complete, the referred person will have until February 7th, 2009 to complete enrollment, whether online or via physical enrollment and payment.
7. Referrals will be credited to the individual whose name is on the card presented by the referred person. All-Star Sports Academy reserves the right to split referrals or otherwise resolve disputes over duplicate cards or referrals. In the event of a tie in new enrollments, the contestant with the higher number of total referrals will be the winner.
8. Contest will be based on individual referrals only. Family members' referrals will not be combined to increase score.
9. One prize will be awarded in each of two (2) categories: Youth Athlete League and Adult or Parent League. Youth Athlete League is for those enrolled in FitKidz!, Small Group Training or Team Training. Adult or Parent League is for parents of those in the Youth Athletic League or those enrolled in Power Fitness Camp for Women.
So...do YOU want to be the one saying "I'm going to Disney World?" If you're already a member of our community, just ask how! We'll get you set up to go!
Until December 15th!
Save a very merry $200 on a three month enrollment
in Small Group Training!*
Enroll your 13-18 year old athlete in the most effective and results-oriented Sports Fitness Program available, and your first month enrollment will be an unbelievable $99!
Your 2nd and 3rd months will be only $149 a month! That's a $200 savings over the usual 3 month enrollment!*
So how are we going to help in the fight against childhood obesity and all the diseases, dangers and risks to our kids that comes with it?Number of kids on medication jumps alarminglyMost of the illnesses related to obesityBy Liz Szabo
USA TODAYThe number of children who take medication for chronic diseases has jumped dramatically, another troubling sign that many of the youngest Americans are struggling with obesity, doctors say.
The number of children who take pills for type 2 diabetes - the kind that's closely linked to obesity - more than doubled from 2002 to 2005, to a rate of six out of 10,000 children. That suggests that at least 23,000 privately insured children in the USA are now taking diabetes medications, according to authors of the new study in today's Pediatrics.
Doctors also saw big increases in prescriptions for high cholesterol, asthma and attention deficit and hyperactivity. There was smaller growth for drugs for depression and high blood pressure.
"We've got a lot of sick children," says author Emily Cox, senior director of research with Express Scripts, which administers drug benefit programs for private insurance plans. "What we've been seeing in adults, we're also now seeing in kids."
Type 2 diabetes was once known as adult-onset. But Cox says her records show kids as young as 5 being treated with prescription diabetes drugs.
Cox based her study on prescription records of nearly 4 million children a year, ages 5 to 19, covered by Express Scripts. She says her findings may not apply to the 40% of children who are uninsured or covered by government health plans.
Unless these children make major changes - such as eating healthier and exercising more - they could be facing a lifetime of illness, Cox says.
"These are not antibiotics that they take for seven to 10 days," Cox says. "These are drugs that many are taking for the rest of their lives."
Cox couldn't explain one surprising finding: Most of the increase in drugs for diabetes, attention deficit/hyperactivity and depression was seen in girls. The gender gap was most striking in diabetes: While the number of boys taking medication grew by 39%, the number of girls using them climbed by 147%, Cox found.
&
"I used to free play everyday of my life. Ride my bike to the park...Play baseball... Climb trees... Jump rope...Race my friends.
This was a normal 'day-in-the-life' for folks my age and older when we were kids.
And the effects were perfect.
Everything I just mentioned amounts to multi-lateral development.
Another way of saying that is amassing physical intelligence...
It's through this kind of free play experience that kids develop quality coordination, mobility & systemic strength.
But you know what, Phil, kids don't free play anymore.
They don't enjoy good quality PE classes anymore either.
And because of that, obesity is skyrocketing and injury rates in youth sports are going through the roof.
Without the intervention of high quality long-term development systems, where exactly are kids today going to receive the type of physical stimulus they need?"
Basketball season in our area is right around the corner. It starts right around Thanksgiving, and will run through March. As Sports Fitness Specialists, our task is to assist players in their quest to prepare for this grueling run.
The season is demanding; several games a week, long practices and little rest time. The beginning of the season can include 4 hour practices.
Needless to say, we're getting lots of requests for "Pre-Season" training, so we thought we'd share some of our training ideas with you.
Players must understand that in-season training will help maintain strength, speed, power and agility levels, but only if the player is properly prepared.
A basketball court is only about 30 yards long. Most of the highest-demand activity takes place within 8 feet of the basket. This is also where some brutal physical contact can occur.
So why would coaches “prepare” their players with high levels of slower, longer distance running?
Good question! The answer is probably one of the deadliest phrases in athletic conditioning: “That’s how we’ve always done it!” OUCH!
Think about the best teams in high school, college and even pro basketball. What’s the one weapon that’s deadlier than any other? SPEED! Especially multi-directional speed!
Combined with agility, full-body power and injury resistance, speed can help a player become a weapon of opponent destruction!
During the last 4 weeks before the season, it’s a good idea to structure a 4-5 day per week training program, splitting time between strength/power training, speed/agility training and flexibility/movement mechanics.
Typical strength/power training sessions will include functional and dynamic warm-up, flexibility training, movement mechanics training and joint stability/mobility work, and circuit training variations that incorporate full-body strength workouts.
Circuit training helps acclimate the players to a high volume of work and is specific to the requirements of pre-season practice. Variations may include timed work/rest stations, gross-rep programs completed in minimal time and volume loading variations to create anaerobic and aerobic intensity.
Core training is incorporated into strength training days, with an emphasis on lumbar stability during rotational movements, as well as frontal plane movement and load deceleration. This mimics what happens in traffic when bodies collide, and when players need to explode out of a crowd for a shot or rebound.
Generally, athletes would perform speed & agility workouts, either supervised or self-managed (that depends on the temperament of the athlete), on the other 2 days of the week.
These workouts include speed & agility exercises that last only 5-10 seconds at a time. Each exercise is performed at maximal effort with 10-20 seconds of rest. The goal of the speed and agility workout in the final weeks of pre-season is not for cardiovascular conditioning, rather, to work on the efficiency of movements that will translate to the basketball court.
Conditioning, or aerobic/anaerobic endurance development during sport-specific activities, is crucial during the pre-season phase of any sport. Basketball is no different.
It’s appropriate to use shuttle and interval drills to develop sprint endurance during this phase. This should not, however, be confused with speed and agility work. Shuttle and interval drills develop endurance; speed and agility work reinforces good functional movement patterns during high speed, highly dynamic sports movement.
Shuttle distances of 150 and 300 yards seem to work well. Work time for 150 yards should be 24-30 seconds, with 300 yards taking 57-63 seconds. A work to rest ratio of 3:1 is suitable.
Interval running can be done in 100-110 yard, 200-220 yard or 300-330 yard bursts.
Use a work to rest ratio of 1:2 or 1:2.5 for the 300-330 yard work, and 1:3 to 1:3.5 for the shorter ranges. Shorter distances will allow for more intensity in sprinting, and it’s important for the neuromuscular system to recover at least nominally before repeating.
A well conceived, well managed pre-season preparation program will maximize the last 4-6 weeks before the season begins. This will let the player, and the team, start the season with full energy and force.
From there, a combination of good team leadership, smart coaching, hard play and a good in-season training program will carry the team to its’ goals.
