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The Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Young Athletes
Disordered eating is defined as potentially harmful and disruptive eating behaviours. This can include behaviors such as abnormal dieting, increased attention to food intake, and weight watching. Disordered eating can sometimes, not always, develop into Eating Disorders (ED) (Mancine et al., 2020). This is a subgroup of diagnosable psychiatric disorders that centre around clinically concerning…
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The Digitization of Sports Paraphernalia
2021 has been the year of cryptocurrency. Millions have taken the plunge into the unknown, purchasing digital assets as if, suddenly, the mystery and uncertainty surrounding the blockchain has gone up in smoke. Digital assets have taken center stage and investors, athletes, and sports fans are taking notice. The popular demand for sports memorabilia, in…
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Mental Health & Sports
“Cycling gave me something to live for, no doubt about it.” – Justin Lang Australia is a country that loves its sports, but unfortunately for most people, once they’re out of school they begin to lessen their active involvement. We all know the physical benefits of sport but the benefits to mental health are equally…
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Hey, You’ve Got Politics in My Sports
I love both chocolate and peanut butter. Put the two together, and you have magic. This simple but genius idea behind Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has made Halloween and Easter better holidays. It also created one of the most effective marketing campaigns ever. A guy walking down the street eating a Hershey’s bar runs into…
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“Sport has the Power to Change the World”
Nelson Mandela is famously quoted as saying “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand.” This is one of my favorite quotes and is one that…
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Are We Burning Kids Out?
Youth sports are a staple of American culture, often viewed as the surest track to developing talented athletes. It makes sense — more practice time and more gameplay lead to better skill and fitness. For parents hoping to see their kids earn a college scholarship or start a pro career, maximizing the amount of time…
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Be the Best Coach You Can Be
Being a coach is not easy. A coach must look out for the safety and well being of the athletes, team, assistant coaches, and support staff. A coach has to provide a safe environment, not only from physical dangers or injuries, but mental and emotional safety as well. In many organizations, the coach must also…
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Radical Sportsmanship & the U.S. Olympic Trials
Among the most, if not the most, intense and competitive athletic events in the world are the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The reasons are simple enough, every nation has a limitation on Olympic slots, either through qualification or by invitation. The U.S. is a big nation with a large number of athletes offering up a…
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Can Sport Salvage Our Troubled Youth?
The teenaged years are so difficult, there is much to learn to become an independent adult and if there is no one there to help them to understand that mistakes do happen, and to help them learn to cope with the rollercoaster of emotions, that journey becomes overwhelming and fraught. It is generally believed that…
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The Legend of the Lightning Bolt
Taking place in April 2021 is Athletics Australia’s Australian Track and Field Championships. The event will be held in Sydney and is the largest annual athletics event in Australia and the Oceania region, traditionally attracting more than 3,500 athletes from across Australia and the Pacific. When I think of athletics, I can’t help but remember…
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In Search of Contextual Fit
It can be said of most human beings, including sports coaches, that they never fully achieve a complete fit with any role they have chosen in their life. It is always under construction – a process of becoming. Although some of the greatest amongst us come very close, being completely at home in a role…
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The Power of Positive Thinking
Have you ever been to a yoga class? If not, you should try it sometime. You learn a lot about yourself, mostly about how inflexible you are. It is a place without judgment. At least they say it is. You hear a lot about this journey you are on, about how you will eventually get…
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Sowing the Field of Dreams
This week in the United States we welcome back our national pastime, the sport of baseball. I know, there are some people who may argue that American football should be the national pastime, however, I’m sorry to tell those folks this, but baseball has that locked down. To quote a line from James Earl Jones’…
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Little Major Leagues: The Big Business That is Youth Sports
The other day I spoke with my 15 (and 9 months as she likes to frame it for obvious reasons) year old sister about her most recent soccer tournament. She tells me it was close to Richmond, VA, two hours from our hometown in Silver Spring, MD. I was surprised. It was the closest tournament…
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Are Too Many Diversity Boxes Just Being Ticked With No Thought To Inclusion?
There is much talk in business communities in the need to change their practices to attract more employees from diverse backgrounds as well as women – particularly within traditional male dominated industries. More women than ever before, from all economic and ethic backgrounds, are visibly breaking down barriers that once would have held them back…
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8 Tips on Creating a More Positive Lifestyle
1. Do the things that make you happy. When I say to do the things that make you happy I do not mean pick up 4 bottles of wine on your way home from work and finish them all. Although wine may make you happy, go deeper than that. Find the little things that make you…
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Zuzu’s Petals
“You died on a Saturday morning” No matter how many times I watch Forrest Gump, that line always gets to me. Why did Jenny have to die? She had worked so hard to overcome her demons and redeem herself. She, Forrest, and Forrest should have lived happily ever after in Greenbow. I guess I am…
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Dehumanizing Athletes: “I Have Feelings Too”
The nature of sports tends to obscure athletes’ human qualities. We often view them as a source of entertainment, as a distraction from the concerns of the real world. When they step out of their roles as performers, it’s taboo. Athletes using their voices to advocate a cause — a freedom we grant to any…
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The Right Time to Make Positive Change
Both NCAA basketball tournaments have been very exciting and have proven that there are always Cinderella stories and games that come down to the final buzzer or whistle. There are heroes, villains, officials, and heartbreak around every corner. There is also at least one feel-good Disney story from each of the tournaments. Fortunes were also…
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Hope For A Great Sea Change?
Nobel winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney authored these lines in his translation of Sophocles’ drama, The Cure at Troy: “History says, Don’t hopeOn the side of the grave,’But then, once in a lifetimeThe longed for tidal waveOf justice can rise upAnd hope and history rhyme. So hope for a great sea- change” On Wednesday, the…
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The Black and White of Ethics
Sport has had a long a varied history with ethics and ethical behaviour from the systematic abuse of gymnasts to the systematic doping in the peloton. Recently there seems to have been a split into two forms of ethical behaviour: not getting caught vs not doing it at all – we would all agree that…
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Torture on the Track: The Human-Animal Sporting Partnership
Notwithstanding the skills and athleticism of the jockeys, the horses are athletes in the horseracing equation too. The jockey and the horse are teammates in the sport, a combination of muscle, mind, skill, and instinct from both parties. The horseracing industry certainly has its problems, these animals are collateral damage in a multibillion-dollar industry that…
