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Circle No. 1

CONTENTS Coaching ManagementTrack & Field EditionPremiere Issue 2004

Vol. XII, No. 1

COACHING MANAGEMENT 1

COVER STORY

No One Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Regardless of their abilities, all athletes can be involved in the team’s overallmission. Coaches share strategies for making sure every athlete feels part ofthe team.

SPORTS SAFETY

The Risk Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22Follow these practical steps to keep your athletes out of harm’s way—and yourprogram out of legal hot water.

SPORTS MEDICINE

One Out of Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28The latest study shows that out of every four female athletes, one is sufferingfrom amenorrhea. And the ramifications for their health are truly frightening.

Advertising Sales AssociatesDiedra Harkenrider, (607) 257-6970, ext. 24Sheryl Shaffer, (607) 257-6970, ext. 21

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Mailing lists for Coaching Management Track & Field areprovided by the Clell Wade Coaches Directory.

The Coaching Management Track & Field edition is pub-lished in January and September by MAG, Inc. and is dis-tributed free to college and high school coaches in theUnited States and Canada. Copyright © 2004 by MAG, Inc.All rights reserved. Text may not be reproduced in anymanner, in whole or in part, without the permission of thepublisher. Unsolicited materials will not be returned unlessaccompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Coaching Management is printed by Banta PublicationsGroup, Kansas City, MO. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to: Coaching Management, P.O. Box 4806, Ithaca,N.Y. 14852.

Printed in the U.S.A.

p. 2 p. 28

Publisher Mark Goldberg

Circulation Director Mark Shea

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Art AssistantDina Stander

Business ManagerPennie Small

Editor-in-Chief Eleanor Frankel

Associate Editor Guillermo Metz

Assistant Editors RJ AndersonKenny BerkowitzDavid HillDennis ReadLaura Smith

Editorial Assistant Greg Scholand

Production Manager Kristin Ayers

Asst. Production ManagerKristi Kempf

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IT ManagerMark Nye

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Special Projects Dave Wohlhueter

Administrative AssistantsSharon Barbell Daniela ReisAmy Walton

Welcome to the premiere edition of CoachingManagement Track & Field, a sister publicationto Athletic Management and Training & Condi-tioning. CM Track & Field will publish twice ayear. Look for the next issue this September.

L O C K E R R O O MBulletin Board. . . . . . . . . . . . 2Talking with athletes about supplementuse… Are Division I program cuts atrend?… Pole vault safety depends oncoaching education… USTCA courts highschool coaches … Coaching an athletewith a disability… Chi Alpha Sigmahonors athletes’ academic excellence.

Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Three-time Patriot League Coach of theYear Matt Centrowitz talks about thechallenges of creating a new program,the importance of hard work, and thebenefits of constant change.

COVER PHOTO: HUNTER MARTIN/UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Advertiser Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Track & Field Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Catalog Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Strength & Conditioning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

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p. 22

Coaches are Keyin SupplementDecisionsYoung track and field athleteswho count Olympians amongtheir heroes received a disap-pointing message this fall,when elite runners in the U.S.and abroad tested positive fortetrahydrogestrinone (THG), anew designer steroid engi-neered to escape detectionby traditional tests. When thetop runners in the world areturning to drugs to achievetheir goals, convincing highschool athletes that workinghard and eating right is stillthe best way to get resultscan be a challenge, but coachescan play an important role inshaping youngsters’ attitudes.

“The first thing coaches needto do is educate themselveson what athletes are likely touse and the dangers involvedwith various supplements,”says Iowa High School AthleticAssociation Wellness Coordi-nator Alan Beste.

One million American youthsbetween the ages of 12 and17 use nutritional supple-ments, according to a 2001study by the Blue Cross andBlue Shield’s Healthy Compe-tition Foundation. Toppingthe list of substances that havecaused concern is ephedra, anherbal stimulant containingthe alkaloids ephedrine andpseudoephedrine.

Marketed as a weight loss aidand performance enhancer,ephedra is sold under enticingproduct names like “RippedFuel” and “Stackers,” andadded to other nutritional sup-plement mixes. The use ofephedra has been associatedwith irregular heart beat, highblood pressure, seizures, heartattack, and stroke, and linkedto 54 deaths since the mid-1990s. Ephedra is banned bythe NCAA, NFL, and IOC, butit is nonetheless legal in moststates, sold by supermarkets

While most coaches and ath-letes are aware of the risksthese supplements pose, evensubstances that appear to besafe can pose hidden dangers.Legal and readily availablenutritional supplements can bedangerous if mislabeled or notused correctly.

L O C K E R R O O Mbulletin board

2 COACHING MANAGEMENT

“Mislabeling runs rampant,”Beste says. “Products can con-tain ingredients that aren’tlisted on the label. Then there’sthe question of whether kidsare taking the amount thelabel says. My gut feeling isthat they’re not—I think almostall of them take a lot more.

“But the biggest concern isphilosophical,” he continues.“When high school athletes get

and gas stations and on theInternet to adults and minorsalike.

Androstenedione, a steroidprecursor, is another supple-ment banned by the NCAAbut unregulated in high schoolathletics. “There is a very highlevel of concern over andro-stenedione,” says Beste. “Itcan have the same negativeeffects as being on a steroid.”

the message, ‘You can’t achieveoptimal performance naturally;you have to take something,’it’s a short path to ephedraand andro, and the only placeto go from there is steroids.”

According to Beste, the solu-tion is open communication

about the issue betweencoaches, athletes, and parents.“It all starts with what you say,and silence is not an option,”Beste says. “If you don’t talkto your athletes about thedangers of supplements, theyassume that taking supple-ments is okay with you.”

“Educating athletes about thedangers is the first step, andit starts with frequent discuss-ions,” agrees Mark Burandt,Activities Director at Fond duLac (Wis.) High School. “It’snot enough to not encouragethe use of supplements—coaches need to actively dis-courage it. Our coachesdiscuss supplements at leastonce a week with their teams,because you can’t just say theright thing and expect a lightbulb to go on. It’s a long-termbuilding process.”

The approach coaches takewith their athletes is just asimportant as content of themessage. “Coaches have tocommunicate that they aretalking about supplementsbecause they care about theirathletes,” Burandt says. “Untilyou get that message across,they’ll perceive anything yousay as just one more adultpreaching to them.”

Beste agrees. “Your messageneeds to be, ‘This is very dan-gerous, and I’m concernedabout this issue because I careabout you,’” he says. “Saying,‘If I find out that anyone isusing ephedra, they’ll be offthe team’ is the way to ensurethat no one will tell you any-thing. Whether or not youleave the door open from thestart will determine how com-municative your players willbe with you about the issueall year.”

The messages needn’t comein formal presentations, either.“Take advantage of teachablemoments,” Beste advises.“Pay attention to currentevents, and when you see anewspaper story about the

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Regina Jacobs is one of four U.S. track and field athletes whohave tested positive for the designer steroid THG. Coaches canhelp young athletes make good choices about supplements bycommunicating with them and their parents about the issue.

results of an athlete usingsupplements, take it to prac-tice and discuss it with yourplayers. Print copies andpost them in the lockerroom or pass them around.Your words have a lot moreimpact when players can linkthem to something real.”

Educating parents is equallyimportant. “Parents see thesesupplements at the supermar-ket and think, ‘If these weren’tsafe, how could stores sellthem?’” Beste says. “Coachesneed to provide parents withthe same information they’regiving players. Try talking toparents after games. Get themtogether and discuss how thegame went, and then spend afew minutes telling them whereyou stand on supplement use.”

Other ideas:

■ Start an e-mail list for parentsand use it to communicateabout supplement use. Inviteparents to give you their e-mailaddresses, and tell them you’lluse the address to contactthem periodically about issuesof concern.

■ Ask players to sign a pactthat states they will not usesupplements during theirteam’s season.

■ Host a sports nutrition nightfor parents and athletes. Involveyour school’s athletic trainer,school nurse, or physician. Pro-vide information on supple-ments and their risks, and allowplenty of time for discussion.

■ Help your athletes form a“chemical-free society” at theschool so athletes attemptingto avoid supplements, drugs,and alcohol don’t feel likethey’re alone. This society canprovide peer support andopportunities to socialize withothers with the same goals.

Getting Proactivein Wake of DIProgram CutsDuring the past year, at leastfive NCAA Division I schoolsannounced they were drop-ping all or part of their men’strack and field and crosscountry programs—FresnoState University, University ofToledo, Marshall University,Ball State University, andWest Virginia University. Thecuts sent a tremor throughthe track and field communityand have many coaches ask-ing if the moves represent agrowing trend.

Despite the high-profile cuts,gauging the state of collegiatetrack and field is a murkyundertaking. Some peoplepoint to the fact that, overall,track and field is one of thefastest-growing sports acrossall three NCAA divisions. Oth-ers claim that statistic merelyreflects the steady growth inthe number of NCAA institu-tions over the past decade.

The United States TrackCoaches Association (USTCA)has formed a task force tolook into the issue. Memberswill attempt to better under-stand the current status ofthe sport and develop recom-mendations for shoring uptrack and field programs oncampuses. They planned topresent their findings and ideasat the Association’s annualmeeting in December (afterthis issue had gone to press).

“We’re concerned that trackis one of the programs thattends to get cut,” says DaveMilliman, Deputy ExecutiveDirector of the USTCA. “Thetask force is our way of saying,‘Sometimes, we sit in ouroffices and go to our practicesand work with our athletes,but we don’t see the forestfor the trees. Well, here’s theforest. Let’s everybody paymore attention to it.’”

While it may be difficult toaccurately determine the truehealth of collegiate track andfield, Milliman and others saymuch more can be done toensure its survival. “The firststep is to make track morevisible,” Milliman says. “Trackcoaches need to be moreactively involved in their com-munities and not be invisibleon campus. The noisy wheelgets the grease.”

attitudes that can be gainedthrough non-revenue sportslike track and field?’

“Individual schools need togo and sell the sport to theircommunity,” he continues.“Especially at the high schoollevel and below, coaches haveto sell the fitness benefits ofthe sport. There is concernacross the country about thefitness level of our kids—

NCAA Division I men’s track and field and cross countryshrank by at least five programs leading up to the 2003championships, sending coaches looking for ways to shore uptheir teams. A USTCA task force is examining the issue.

Bob Fraley, Fresno State’sDirector of Track and Field,agrees that the best way tosave the sport is to makesome noise, and that includesreminding administratorsabout the values of the sport.“Track is a participatory sport,”says Fraley, “and it’s up tocoaches to ask administratorsthe tough question: ‘Is theathletics program there tomake money, or is it there toteach principles, values, and

every day, you can pick up anewspaper and read anotherarticle about childhood obesity.Track and field has the poten-tial to make a great impact onkids’ health, because kids canparticipate no matter whattheir fitness level—there issomething for everyone. Thoseof us within the sport shouldbe going into middle schoolsand high schools, taking thatmessage to principals, adminis-trators, and athletic directors.”

For more information, visitwww.drugfreesport.com/choices/coaches/index.html or www.healthycompetition.org.

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Another way coaches can helpis by working to ensure thattheir programs get some spacein local newspapers and othermedia. “Administrators lookat track and field and say, ‘Wedon’t think it’s very viable inour community because there’sno newspaper coverage, andwe never see it talked abouton TV,’” Fraley says. “Thatgives athletic directors andcollege presidents the feelingthat this sport is not importantto people.

“The solution is publicizing thesport,” he says. “Make sureit’s covered in the local papers,the national papers, and onTV. Make sure people aretalking about it.”

Fraley is taking a two-prongedapproach to selling the sport,promoting both its participatorybenefits and its entertainment



CoachingEducation LatestFocus of PoleVault Safety As track and field officials con-tinue to address equipmentstandards in an effort to helpmake the pole vault safer,many are also turning theirattention to another approach:coaching education and certifi-cation. Advocates say thatchanging equipment standards,while beneficial and needed,aren’t the full solution—prop-erly trained coaches are cru-cial to keeping athletes safer.

The Pole Vault Safety Certifi-cation Board (created by JanJohnson, Founder and Opera-tor of the SkyJumpers polevault training camps) has takena lead role in educating and

value. “At Fresno State, we’redoing everything we can toget track back,” he says. “We’regoing out into the community,showing that it’s not just acollege track program, it’s aneducational program. Ourathletes and coaches do clinicsand track meets for kids atthe local schools.”

And he’s putting a lot of effortinto attracting fans into thebleachers. “You have to makeit fun for the fans,” Fraley says.“For example, we play musicat all of our track meets now.We use it to clue the fans intowhat’s going on in the meet,by drawing attention to theaction on the field.

“For example,” he continues,“in the shot put, when you getto the sixth round, there’s justthe top two athletes left. Atthat point, our official stops the

contest, waves a bright orangeflag, and puts the two topcompetitors front and center.Then, just before their tosses,the DJ plays 20 seconds ofmusic for each athlete and weask everybody in the stands toclap. That puts a spotlight onwhere the action is and helpsfans to know what’s going on.”

That effort also gives the ath-letes a boost, according toFraley. “Not only does it getthe fans excited about eachevent, but all that attention isgreat for the athletes,” hesays. “Guys who previouslyhad a best toss of 55 feet,with all of this spectator noiseand music, are throwing 57!”

Updates of the task force’swork will be posted on theUSTCA’s Web site atwww.ustrackcoaches.org.

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Circle No. 2

as the pole vault community,needed to take a comprehen-sive approach,” he says. “Hel-mets alone aren’t the answer.Bigger pits alone aren’t theanswer. Poles alone aren’t theanswer. Even teaching aloneis not the answer, although Ibelieve that’s the greatestvariable. It’s all these thingstogether.”

Since a series of pole vaultingdeaths two years ago, effortshave focused on improvingfacilities and equipment.High school and college ruleswere changed to expand thearea covered by the landingpits, prompting some peopleto fear that schools mightdrop the event altogetherrather than make the costlymodifications. However, Lon-ergan believes the changeswere well accepted.


South High School in ParkRidge, Ill., agrees that coachingeducation is an importantpiece of the puzzle. “I think we,

certifying pole vault coaches.The PVSCB offers a Web-basedcourse on pole vaulting thatincludes sections on NFHSrules, safety, the physics ofpole vaulting, and basic polevaulting progressions. Afterpassing tests on each of thesections, coaches are certifiedfor two years and receive acertification card and a copyof the NFHS rulebook. Thereis a $19.95 fee charged totake the course and the tests.

“We think that any highschool teacher could take thiscourse and become a compe-tent pole vault instructor,”says Johnson, who is alsoPole Vault Safety Chair forUSA Track and Field. “We’vecertified over 1,000 coachessince January 2002, and wewant every school that offerspole vault to have someonewho has passed this test.”

Jim Lonergan, Founder of theIllinois Pole Vault CoachesAssociation and Assistant Trackand Field Coach at Maine

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Circle No. 3


“We didn’t see any unsafe pitslast year and every place wewent was in compliance,” hesays. “We got new pits be-cause our old ones, which didnot comply with the new rules,were 12 years old and wouldhave had to be replaced soonanyway. But I was expecting abigger battle [to get the expen-diture approved]. I simply pre-sented it as a matter of, ‘Ifwe’re going to have pole vault,this is what we have to do.’

“The expense can be signifi-cant,” adds Lonergan, whosays his school spent about$12,000 on new pits. “But ifyou take care of them, newpits come to about $1,000 ayear. And some schools were

able to go out and buy anupgrade for only $1,000.”

“Even though the changeswere made on short notice,most coaches knew they werecoming because we had beentalking about them for twoyears,” Johnson says. “But theystill presented some problemsbecause they came down atthe same time as a budgetcrunch hit many schools.”

Where money has been aproblem, some schools havefound unique solutions. AtBloom High School in Chica-go Heights, Ill., budget prob-lems threatened to shutdown one of the state’s mostsuccessful pole vaulting pro-

grams before its alumni cameto the rescue. “A group ofBloom vaulters got togetherand raised enough money tobuy a new pit setup,” saysJohnson, a former Bloomvaulter now living in California.“Then they decided to start apole vaulting club [for non-students]. This way peoplehave a place to vault, and theschool has pits that complywith the new rules.”

A high school rule change for2004 addresses the placementof the standards that hold thecross bar. The standards mustnow be placed between 15.5inches (40 centimeters) and31.5 inches (80 centimeters)from the back of the plant

box. According to Lonergan,this change should reducethe chances of vaulters miss-ing the pits since it will makethem jump further out toclear the bar. He says mostgood high school vaultersalready have the standardsset between 22 and 30 inchesfrom the box.

With these changes in place,most of the work on equip-ment now focuses on estab-lishing standards for helmetsand pole ratings. Althoughfour states (Minnesota, NorthDakota, South Dakota, andWisconsin) require high schoolvaulters to wear helmets, nohelmet has been designedspecifically for pole vaulting.

For more information go to: ■ www.pvscb.com ■ www.skyjumpers.com■ www.polevault.com ■ www.polevaulteducation.org

To read a 2002 article about helmets and larger landing pitsfrom Athletic Management, go to www.athleticsearch.comand type “pole vault” in the search window.

Circle No. 4



The American Society forTesting and Materials (whichestablishes standards for manyitems and materials, includingsporting equipment) has rec-ommended that vaulters useapproved skateboarding andlacrosse helmets (without themask and visor) while it devel-ops standards for a pole vault-specific helmet. A committeeto establish the helmet stan-dards has met several times,most recently in November, andmay finish its work as early asnext summer.

At the same time, a separateASTM committee is workingto establish standards for set-ting pole weight ratings. Cur-rent high school rules requirevaulters to use a pole ratedfor their weight, but differentmanufacturers are followingdifferent procedures to estab-lish that weight rating. Once a

firm standard for rating polesis set, vaulters will see consis-tency in ratings from pole topole. In addition, poles mayalso be rated for differentweights based on grip posi-tion, which would allowschools to buy fewer poles.

USTCA OpensHigh SchoolBranch High school track and fieldcoaches have a new oppor-tunity to make their voicesheard at the national level,thanks to the formation ofthe National High SchoolTrack Coaches Association.Formed as part of the USTrack Coaches Association,the NHSTCA is slowly gain-ing momentum.

According to USTCA Execu-

tive Director Jimmy Carnes,about 1,000 coaches havejoined the NHSTCA so far. Theorganization is working onseveral goals, including nam-ing a representative fromeach state, presenting coachof the year awards for eachstate, and creating a commu-nication network to connectcoaches across the country.

This is not the first attempt toform a national organizationfor high school coaches. Sev-eral years ago, a similar effortby a group of coaches inde-pendent of the USTCA failedto get off the ground. Howev-er, Carnes believes high schoolcoaches are still seeking anational forum and that thistime there’s a better chance ofmeeting their needs.

“At our convention last year, agroup of high school coaches

raised the issue that they don’thave a voice at the nationallevel,” says Carnes. “Wedecided the time was right totry a national high schoolorganization again. We havelong offered high schooltrack coaches membership,but we decided to go theextra step and designate asegment of our organizationas the National High SchoolTrack and Field CoachesAssociation.”

The USTCA’s first move wasto designate a seat on itsboard of directors specificallyfor high school representation,alongside members fromNCAA Divisions I, II, and III,the NAIA, and communitycolleges. But the biggest chal-lenge has been contactinghigh school track coaches tolet them know about the newassociation.

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Circle No. 5



“There are some 19,000schools, and it’s hard to reachall those coaches,” says Carnes.“We started with the 800 highschool coaches already onthe USTCA’s membership list,and adopted them as the firstmembers of the high schoolassociation. From there, we’redoing everything we can tolet people know about theopportunity. We’re contactingas many people around thecountry as we can and saying,‘Do you know five other peoplewe can write to?’”

One reason the USTCA maysucceed where others havefailed is that technologicaladvances have made it easierto reach high school coaches.“The only way we can reallyafford to do this is by using theInternet,” Carnes says. “We’resending out some mailings,but that gets very expensive.”

A school’s membership costs$25 and includes the entirecross country and track andfield staff. Membership bene-fits include a subscription tothe association’s quarterlymagazine and an instructionalvideo on CD-ROM. “We tooksome of the top coaches inAmerica and videotaped themshowing different trainingtechniques,” Carnes says.“Then we took frames fromthose sessions and put togethera package for teaching variousskills, such as hurdles, sprints,and so on. We put it togetheras a package of five CD-ROMs, each focusing on dif-ferent track and field events. Itwas costly to do, but nowthat it’s finished it doesn’t costus very much to make more

CDs. So we can afford to giveit to the high school coachesas an incentive.”

The long-term direction of theorganization will be left up tothose who join. “When we getthe members, we’ll let themdecide how they want to doit,” Carnes says. “But the hopeis that we’ll continue to growuntil we have a communicationsystem for all the high schoolcoaches in the country.”

Cross CountryCourageAnthony Sumner is a crosscountry runner for CorunnaHigh School in Michigan. Hiscoach, Gordon Aldrich, saysthe sophomore is like everyother athlete on the teamwhen it comes to having driveand competitive fire. Theonly difference is that, due tocerebral palsy, Sumner navi-gates cross-country coursesusing a four-wheeled walker.The disease, which is theresult of damage to the brainbefore, during, or shortlyafter birth, is marked by mus-cular incoordination andspeech disturbances.

According to Aldrich, coach-ing an athlete with a disabilityis as much about knowingwhen not to help as knowingwhat help to give. “Anthonywants to feel like a part ofthe team and do things onhis own,” says Aldrich. “Whathe doesn’t want is to betreated differently or givenspecial attention. He doesn’twant any help getting on andoff the bus, and he doesn’twant any help getting up ifhe falls on the course.”

While Aldrich admits that it isoften difficult to refrain fromhelping Sumner when he falls,allowing him to pick himselfup is probably the best coach-ing he can give. “Besides,”says Aldrich, “he’s so indepen-dent he would get mad if weever tried.”

Sumner started the 2003 sea-son with a goal of completinga 5K race. He worked towardthat goal first by completinga half-mile portion of a race,then bumping it up to a mile,then a mile and a half, thentwo miles. “Eventual-ly,” says Aldrich,“Anthony completedthe 3.1 miles. So farhe’s done that threetimes.” Aldrich addsthat during theseason Sumner hasbrought his timedown from over anhour to 56 minutes.

Aldrich estimates thatSumner runs approxi-mately 14 miles inbetween meets whiletaking part in theteam’s practices.Aldrich keeps Sumn-er’s workouts as simi-lar as possible to therest of the teams’,with a few modifica-tions. He dials backthe distances, and if aracecourse presentsmajor hills or danger-ous terrain, he’ll pickand choose the partsof the course Sumnerwill run.

“One of the thingsI’ve learned is that, as muchas possible, you want an ath-lete with a disability tobecome totally immersed inthe program—encouragethem to do all the eventsthey can possibly can,” saysAldrich. “You have to letthem grow physically, emo-tionally, and competitively.And just like with any athlete,sometimes you have to letthem go where it hurts, with-out letting them get injured,of course.” Aldrich says hechallenges Sumner duringpractice by asking if he thinkshe can do a little extra suchas one more half-mile oranother lap on the track.

Even as he’s pushing, Aldrichkeeps a careful eye out for

when Sumner has reached hislimit by having open, frequentdiscussions. “We talk all thetime, and if something ishurting, Anthony tells me,”Aldrich says. “Then we backoff his training or have him

take a day off.” Aldrich alsokeeps in constant contact withSumner’s friends on the team.He knows there are timeswhen an athlete may be tooproud to tell a coach whenhe’s injured, so he tries to keepas many channels of commu-nication open as he can.

Aldrich, who has had otherathletes with disabilities passthrough his program, saysthat while competing andbeing part of a team is greattherapy for athletes like Sum-ner, his presence also has apowerful influence on theteam has a whole. “Some ofthe kids see the strugglesAnthony encounters and say,‘Holy cow, if he can do this, Ican do tremendous things.’”

At Corunna (Mich.) High School, crosscountry runner Anthony Sumner competeswith courage, while also teaching histeammates about perseverance.

To learn more about theNHSTCA, go to www.ustrackcoaches.org/Web/NHSTCA/homepage.htm.Once there, you can applyfor membership by click-ing on “MembershipApplication.”

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New SocietyHonors AcademicExcellenceAt a time when reports ofacademic fraud and cheatingscandals threaten to stain thereputation of the nation’s col-legiate athletic programs, anup-and-coming organizationis working to return honor tothe term student-athlete. ChiAlpha Sigma, the NationalCollege Athlete Honor Society,recognizes student-athleteswhose classroom achievementsmirror their success on thefield or the court.

Modeled after other collegehonor societies, Chi AlphaSigma is open to juniors andseniors who have maintaineda cumulative grade pointaverage of at least 3.4 on a4.0 scale, while earning one

or more varsity letters. How-ever, for a student-athlete tojoin, his or her school musthave a chapter on its campus.Over 60 institutions in 25states have taken the steps toinclude qualifying student-ath-letes in the organization, andthe push is on to add more.

To start a charter in Chi AlphaSigma, each institution pays$100 the first year and a $50yearly renewal fee, regardlessof the number of honorees.The school’s payment coversany cost to the student-ath-lete—something relativelyunique for college honor soci-eties, which routinely chargehonorees $50-$100 per yearto be included in their society.

A member of the athleticdepartment, usually an assis-tant athletic director, academicadvisor, or coach, acts as a

chapter advisor and is em-powered to enforce Chi AlphaSigma’s constitution andmotto of “excellence in ath-letics.” The chapter advisoralso plans and facilitates anannual end-of-the-year meet-

ing where honorees areinducted into the society andreceive a certificate from thenational headquarters.

Nick Mourouzis, Head FootballCoach and Professor of Kine-siology at DePauw University,

began the organization in1996. “I felt we needed torenew the emphasis on the‘student’ part of the term‘student-athlete,’” he says.“There are 66 honor societiesin the country representing

economics, mathematics,theater, and so on, but therewas nothing for athletics.The National College AthleteHonor Society honors student-athletes the way Phi BetaKappa recognizes its schol-ars.”

“There are 66 honor societies in the country… but there was nothing for athletics.The National College Athlete Honor Societyhonors student-athletes the way Phi BetaKappa recognizes its scholars.”

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Mourouzis notes that whileAcademic All-America pro-grams are in place to honorstudent-athletes, that recogni-tion is allotted to only a hand-ful of students per sport. Heestimates that Chi AlphaSigma has between 1,800 and2,000 student-athletes in itslocal chapters.

Mourouzis, who is retiring thisyear after his 22nd season atthe helm of the DePauw foot-ball program, has worked tire-lessly to increase awarenessof the fledgling honor society.He has brought on board sev-eral large NCAA Division Iuniversities as well as numer-ous Division II, III, and NAIAinstitutions, and has plans formany more to follow.

Eventually, Mourouzis wouldlike to see Chi Alpha Sigmaobtain a corporate sponsor,

which would provide fundingfor an executive director anda national office. In the mean-time, he is working towardgetting the society certifiedby the Association of CollegeHonor Societies and continu-ing to sell the idea to coachesand administrators nation-wide.

“With the concern about ath-letes graduating, this certainlyadds to the credibility of theathlete as a scholar,” says Dr.Dorothy Mitstifer, ExecutiveDirector of the Association ofCollege Honor Societies.

“I support it. Anything athlet-ics can do to make itself lookbetter would be wise.”


Student-athletes from the University of Rhode Island are amongthe 2,000 individuals from more than 60 schools who have beeninducted into the honor society Chi Alpha Sigma. The growingorganization recognizes athletes’ academic achievements.

For more information, goto www.ncahs.org.

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Circle No. 7 Circle No. 8

CM: How did you restart the trackprogram at American? Centrowitz: By the late ’90s, I’d beenworking part-time for six years as crosscountry coach at American University,and my full-time job was working withthe Reebok Enclave. We didn’t have anyscholarships at American, and it was basi-cally a glorified intramural program.There was no recruiting or anything likethat.

A group of us presented an outline for atrack program to Dr. Lee McElroy, whowas the athletic director at the time, andhe thought it could be a very inexpensiveway to add diversity to the athleticdepartment. He was a UCLA football andtrack athlete, and saw the potential valueof track at American.

At first, we had to ask people to use theirimaginations: “Over here is going to be alocker room, and over here are going tobe some runners, and here there’s goingto be …” But people bought into it any-way, the most prominent being SamiaAkbar and Sean O’Brien [both of whom

were NCAA Outdoor Track All-Americanswhile in the program, and now serve asassistant coaches]. They were the besttwo athletes I could have gotten, andboth of them are now going to gradschool at American, so I feel very proudof their accomplishments.

How do you approach recruiting foryour program?I think recruiting can confuse kids morethan help them, and that was certainly myexperience when I was the number onehigh school miler in the country. It wasvery misleading and unprofessional—especially some of the promises thatwere made. So I make sure recruits getas accurate a picture as possible of whatAmerican is like.

Right now, my daughter [Broadneck (Md.)High School senior and middle-distancerunner Lauren Centrowitz] is being recruitedpretty heavily—but all her campus visitsseem to be on the weekends. I don’t havemy prospective student-athletes visit onthe weekends, because there’s nothinggoing on that revolves around school-

work. I think you can mislead a kid intothinking that’s what college is going tobe like. And like any journey that youstart on the wrong foot, it’s going to behard to finish.

What do you tell recruits about yourapproach? We actually talk about their goals, becauseI look at my job as helping them reachtheir goals. My job is to assess theirstrengths and help them eliminate theirweaknesses. If they want to stay at homewith the same kids they went to highschool with, then this is not the place forthem. But if they want to be challengedin class and learn something different asathletes, then it might work out.

Every kid who comes here has to dothings he or she never did in high school.

A

Senior distance runner Matt Seymour com-petes at the 2003 NCAA Regional Champi-onships at George Mason University.

Q&


Matt Centrowitz American University

In an era dominated by athletic budget shortfalls and program cuts, Ameri-can University has seen its track program reborn. Shut down for more thana decade, the program was restored in 1999 under the direction of HeadCoach Matt Centrowitz. Already serving as the school’s part-time cross

country coach, Centrowitz spearheaded a proposal thatgarnered the support of American’s administration, andmen’s and women’s track were added to the school’sofferings (field events are still not offered).

A member of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic teamsand four-time 5,000-meter national champion, Centro-witz began his coaching career as an assistant trackcoach at St. John’s (N.Y.) University. In the mid-1990s,he became middle-distance/distance coach for theReebok Enclave, and part-time cross country coachat American.

Since heading up the American programs, he has been named Patriot LeagueCoach of the Year three times, and has led his teams to strong finishes inthe National Distance Medley Relay Championships and the Penn Relays.Centrowitz’s athletes have captured nine Patriot League individual titles, 17all-league honors, two all-region honors, and one all-East award. At thesame time, his student-athletes have performed well academically, with 20members of the cross country team and 23 members of the track teammaking the Patriot League’s academic honor roll.

In this interview, Centrowitz talks about the difficulties of creating a new pro-gram, the importance of hard work, and the benefits of constant change.

If they want to be good runners, they’vegot to work outside of their comfort zone.They have to go out and run in the snow,the wind, and do whatever it takes. Theyhave to go out in splits they’re not com-fortable with, and whether they’re fasteror slower than their usual system, it’sgoing to be different.

Change is difficult for everybody, but ifthey don’t have a willingness to change,they’re not going to make it. Most of thestudent-athletes I work with were notnational-level runners in high school. So ifthey’re not willing to change, how canthey possibly expect to succeed in college?

How do you get them to change?That’s where coaching comes in. Every-one is a little different, so I don’t have aset system. Whether it means trainingmore or less, we’re going to do somethingdifferent. Whatever people respond to,that’s what we’re going to do. Somepeople might respond really well to hillwork and some might respond to longruns. It’s about getting results.

I purposely set up my program to be dif-

ferent and to keep evolving. If it’s thesame every year, then I’m going to getbored and stale and so are the student-athletes.

How do you describe your relationshipwith your athletes?If student-athletes understand that you’rethere to help them, if they can see andfeel that, then they’ll work with you. Ialways try to be very clear and methodical,but being from New York, I have a ten-dency to talk fast, not complete sentences,and even get a little hot-headed. Some-times those things can work against me.But New Yorkers are also very direct,open and honest, and I’m willing to takecriticism as well as give it. If one or twokids aren’t running well, we take a lookat those one or two kids. But if the teamis not performing the way it should, thenwe take a look at the team, including me,and what we need to do differently. If Iwant to share in the successes, I have tobe willing to share the blame.

What do you think of the new formatfor Division I Regionals?I think it’s great. The emphasis is back on

competition, and that’s really the bottomline for our sport, man against man andwoman against woman. It’s a foot race,not a time trial.

How has the new format for Regionalschanged the way you coach?My emphasis has always been on compe-tition, not on racing the stopwatch. Youget to the starting line, and when thegun goes off, you’ve got to beat ‘X’number of people. And if you do, thenyou climb the ladder to the next level,where you’ve got to beat a better cropof people. That’s what running is allabout. You have to be able to compete,and that’s not the same as running atime trial.

How many scholarships do you give out?While most of the schools we competeagainst have 30, we have six, so I keepmy program very flexible. We have fresh-men who get a full ride and freshmenwho are only given book money. If AU istheir first-choice school, I’m going to tryvery hard to get them here. There’s acorrelation between their success andtheir funding—there has to be, because I


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don’t know of any job where you getpaid before you do anything.

What do you tell your student-athletesabout your experience in the Olympics? We don’t really talk about that. We’refocused on reality, where we are today. Idon’t think of myself as Matt the Olympian,

I see myself as a reflection of all the pro-grams I’ve been involved with and all thegreat coaches I’ve learned from.

What’s the most valuable lesson yourcoaches taught you? That hard work solves 98 percent of theproblems out there. If you can’t pay yourbills, you get another job. If you fail a

test, you work a little harder. There arealways going to be setbacks, but you canwork through them. That’s what I saw mycoaches do.

It’s hard work, but if you love doing whatyou do, it’s really not that hard. If you’rea true runner, you have no choice. You

have an obligation to work that talent,and if you’re not true to yourself that way,you won’t be a runner.

What do you do with the student-ath-letes on your team who aren’tdistance runners? I have assistant coaches to help me inthose events, and as long as they don’t

look and sound like me, it works. Becausethe last thing we need to have here istwo of me running around. There’s morethan one way to do anything, so we allmake suggestions. It’s not importantwhether our student-athletes take thosesuggestions from me or from someoneelse, as long as they’re moving forward.

What do you think of the resultsyou’ve gotten so far? I’m pleased for the athletes, and I’m look-ing ahead to see what I can do better. Ifeel proud that we’ve added track to theprogram, and that the university hasbacked us. We’re headed in the rightdirection, and we’re moving forward at agood pace.

Every year we get a little better, and Iplan on being here for the next 15 to 20years. By then, I’ll have less hair, andhopefully fewer pounds, but I definitelywant to be standing around here with astopwatch. I’m in no rush to becomenumber one, because I’ve already beenon top as an athlete, and I know what it’slike. So when I get there again, I want tomake sure I’ll stay up there for a long time.

Q A&

There’s more than one way to do anything, so we allmake suggestions. It’s not important whether ourstudent-athletes take those suggestions from me orsomeone else, as long as they’re moving forward.

Circle No. 11

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he inherent contradiction of track and field: It is a sport of

purely individual performances, andyet it has teams. Most of the time, thisis fine. The chance to stand, solitary,on the podium without sharing theglory can be a great motivator. Thedrawback, however, comes when ath-letes falter and don’t place. Or whenathletes look at their times and realizethey aren’t stars, that they aren’t goingto qualify for the next level of meetdespite all their hard work.

This is when the coaching of individualson a team gets tough. Being part of the team,one of the primal joys and benefits of sportsparticipation, loses some meaning. It’s onething to take pride in crucial but anonymousoffensive-line play, good glove work and solidbase running, knowing you’ve contributedyour unsung but vital part to the groupeffort. It’s another when your personal-besttime, distance, or height is nowhere neargood enough to earn team points.

“I’ve been in this 20 years, and I’ve beenwhere the focus is completely on individuals,which worked great, but it felt like there werelots of cheerleaders,” says Curtis Frye, HeadCoach at the University of South Carolina. “Itcreated the haves on the track and the have-nots pulling for them—the kids who werenot making the athletic contributions.They’re really excited to see their friend set anational record, but deep down insidethey’re just like fans at a football game. Theycame, but it’s like they never even played.”

Forging a team out of disparate individualsis a challenge in any sport, but it is perhapsgreatest in track and field. And yet Frye andcountless others do it, for the betterment oftheir organizations and, most of all, their ath-letes. How?

Individuality CelebratedOne of the most common approaches to

dealing with the inherent contradiction is tonot fight the individual-as-supreme idea and

unapologetically focus on the performancesand development of individual athletes. Insome respects, the ability to embrace individ-ual successes gives track and field a tremen-dous advantage over purely team sports.Gwen Harris, Head Coach at the Universityof Pennsylvania, says that a national teamchampionship isn’t realistic for many collegeprograms, particularly those that cannotafford a lot of scholarships, but an individualchampionship is. “If you can’t have a team atthe highest level, you have individuals at thehighest level,” Harris says. “And if you look atmost schools, unless they have a lot ofmoney, that’s what they’re doing.”

The trick, however, is to approach indi-vidual striving and glory as something donetogether, pushing one another and sharingin each other’s achievements. This strategyacknowledges the individual orientation ofthe sport but makes all the work a groupeffort. Not every trout will make it to thespawning grounds, but they’ll swim upstreamtogether just the same.

“This is the way we explain it to our ath-letes,” says Pat Henry, Head Coach atLouisiana State University. “‘You might notbe able to contribute to the team for a yearor two years or maybe even three years, butthat doesn’t keep you from continuing toimprove yourself.’

“We’re going to travel with people whocan compete at a certain level,” continuesHenry, “and they know what that level of com-petition is. If they’re able to get there, thenthey’re going to start traveling and the oppor-tunity to become better becomes greater.”

Part of the job with this approach is tohelp all the athletes see their improvement.“It’s all in goal-setting,” says Scott Dalton,Head Coach at Middletown (Ohio) HighSchool. Carefully designing goals for theirindividual improvement, and then workingto meet the goals, is what keeps athletes who


David Hill is an Assistant Editor at CoachingManagement.

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COVER STORY

Regardless of their abilities, all athletescan be involved in your program’s overallmission. Coaches share strategies formaking sure every athlete feels part ofthe team. t BehindBY DAVID HILL

COACHIING MANAGEMENT 15

aren’t the team’s stars motivated andinterested, he says.

“We set long-term goals and short-term goals,” Dalton says. “If we have ameet and we have a certain time to hit,or a certain place to finish, that’s thegoal for that meet, a short-term goal.The long-term goal might be an indi-vidual’s time through a season. It’s allabout each person improving and hit-ting his or her own best, or just givingthat effort to get as close as possible tothe time that’s predetermined in theirtraining program.”

Another key strategy is to find levelsof competition appropriate for all abili-ties. “We don’t go to quad meets or trimeets,” Dalton says. “We really only goto the bigger meets, and everybodyruns. We make sure there are openraces, j.v. races, and freshman races,along with the varsity races. So no oneever sits.”

One way to ensure such competitiveopportunities exist is to host them your-self. “We put on a lot of home meets,”Henry says, “and that gives the opportu-nity to compete to a lot of people whoaren’t good enough to travel yet.”

Many teams have intrasquad meets.But Henry’s coaching staff also has atactic to combine both progress moni-toring and ability-appropriate competi-tion. “We have a team competition inthe fall where everybody competes infive events,” he says. “They are not nec-essarily track events but they’re allstrength development events that mea-sure certain attributes we feel areimportant to becoming a good athlete.

“We’ll compete in a standing longjump and a standing triple jump,”Henry continues, “and we’ll compete inan over-the-back throw with the shotput, a between-the-legs throw with ashot put, and a run for 30 meters out ofthe blocks. We all compete in and teston those events during the year, so theycan see an improvement in themselvesand can see what the program is doingfor them.”

Another way to motivate athletes andmake them feel part of the team is topublicly recognize goals met, significantimprovements, and outstanding perfor-mances—regardless of the athlete’slevel or role on the team. “We have ateam meeting every Wednesday wherewe highlight the best performances ofthat week,” says Frye. “The first thing we

do is have everybody who’s had a per-sonal best for the week stand up. Andthen we have everybody who is leadingthe nation stand up. We try to have abar for everyone to reach, from person-al best to NCAA national qualifying, to

leading the world at that time of theyear. We try to recognize performanceand try to keep everybody else aware, sothey feel as though they have somethingto do with the performances andimprovement of other people.”

COVER STORY

“We don’t have the same school-against-school rivalry in track and field,” says PatHenry, Head Coach at LSU. “Most sportsare purple beats green, LSU beats Tulane.That’s the goal. In our sport, the perfor-mance is the most important thing. It’s theactual time or distance that determinessuccess. It’s not always who you beat. It’show fast you run or how far you jump.That may be what our general publicdoesn’t understand. We don’t do a goodjob of educating people as to what is agreat performance in our sport.”

Henry doesn’t dismiss the appeal of dualscored meets. In high school, he says,there typically is a lot of interest in aschool beating another in the team score,and to a degree, that sometimes contin-ues at the collegiate level. But even whenthe excitement bubbles up, it’s not alwaysthe central team goal. “If we beat Floridain relays, most people think that’s great forthe relay team,” he says. “But for a trackand field coach, if we run slow but beatthem, that wasn’t a success.”

But wouldn’t more emphasis on scoredteam-vs.-team competition at least spur moreteam unity among squads? Not necessarily,some coaches say. It can even backfire.

Curtis Frye, Head Coach at the Universityof South Carolina, says focusing on theteam score could lead to packing eventswith the same, most-talented athletes fromeach discipline. “We could have a team thatdidn’t involve interaction between all theteam members,” Frye says. “The athleteswould only interact with other athletes fromtheir own events. So having scored meetsdoesn’t guarantee that you’ve got the cama-raderie and the friendship-building that I

think young people need while they’re incollege.”

For a few years, the Southeastern Confer-ence mandated that member universitieshold four-way scored meets with otherconference schools, but they didn’t alwayswork well, Henry says. “They weren’t com-petitive, because you’d have a steeple-chaser running and there were maybe threeguys running the steeple. And there maybe nine people running the 5,000 andthere may be only three high jumpers. Thatmakes it tough to have a competitiveenvironment that everybody can get veryexcited about.”

The desire to win a head-to-head compe-tition motivates athletes, but that neitherrequires dual meets nor is guaranteed bythem, says Henry. “Let’s say I’m going todual a certain team,” he says. “They’dbetter have people in every event area,and if they don’t, it’s me running againstme. So you’ve got to really pick the insti-tutions that you’re going to have dualmeets with. When you start looking acrossthe board and are trying to have distancerunners, sprinters, jumpers, throwers, itbecomes difficult. And when you’re tryingto be very good at a high level, whetheryour goal is to win an SEC title or be suc-cessful at the NCAA level, you’ve got tohave great competition for your athletes.

“Competition is what makes people bet-ter,” continues Henry. “Right now, I don’tthink small meets provide an environmentto get better. I think the focus insteadshould be on big competitions, becausethe numbers provide an environment forsomebody to be successful in every disci-pline and every event area.”


D U E L I N G D U A L M E E T S ?Every spring, college baseball becomes the top sport in Louisiana, if only for aday. The showdown between Tulane University and Louisiana State Universityis so big that it is sometimes staged in the vast Louisiana Superdome.

Could the same thing happen to track and field? Could the Green Wave andTigers pack a stadium to see a showdown between the state’s largestDivision I universities? And if so, could similar intense head-to-head contestsfire up interest in collegiate track and field, if only for a day?

Probably not.

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Circle No. 12

All For One GoalThe broad approach taken by many

successful track and field coaches is tofocus on goals common to all the pro-gram’s athletes. Individual striving isput in the context of collective goals.The job for the coach is to set the goalsand expectations, then remind athletesof them so often that they become sec-ond-nature.

The first step toward setting collec-tive goals is deciding what you want foryour team, according to Ron Mann,Head Coach at Northern Arizona Uni-versity. “It’s important that you have aset of guiding principles, that you have amission statement and a vision of whereyou’re trying to take that program,” hesays. “My coaching staff and our athletesknow very clearly what our mission state-ment is. We plan to be a conferencecontender, a regional power, and anational representative. Everythingthat we do focuses on that end.”

Putting the mission in such con-crete and clear terms shows eachathlete that his or her performancetarget, whatever it may be, is part ofthe overall aspiration. There is ateam goal for each level. “Theyknow that their meeting the goal ofqualifying for the conference is justas important as that of the personwho is qualifying for the nationals,because that person who is qualify-ing for the conference meet isreaching one of the goals we have,”Mann says. “And one goal is nomore important than another.They’re different. But they’re nomore important.”

Mann’s word is “teamsmanship,” aterm for finding and highlighting inter-dependencies among disparate ath-letes. In track and field, perhaps themost obvious tool for highlighting inter-dependencies is relay events. Each legcan become a role for an athlete to filland build his or her sense of responsi-bility and mutual benefit.

A relay, Harris has found, presents anopportunity to emphasize that sometimesteam success is the immediate priority. “Ilove good relay teams,” says Harris. “I’vehad an athlete to whom I said, ‘Okay, youneed to get your time down, but you knowthat your priority is to be on this relayteam,’ and ‘You can run this curve reallywell, so I need to be sure that you’re heredoing that.’”

Relays truly require a team concept,says Frye. “We go to a lot of relay meetsin the early part of the season, trying tocreate that sense of dependency,because you can’t run a relay with fourrunners. You have to have six people,and they have to know their roles, andall of them have to feel like they arecapable of stepping in and being thenumber one at any time. And they’vegot to run in different positions. Some-times you’ve got a person who’s theleadoff leg but if an injury happens, he’sgot the experience so he can move toanother leg.

“Athletes will also work harder on arelay because they don’t want to letother people down,” Frye continues.“Relays get people who think they arehotshots understanding that, ‘We as a

group are no better than the weakestperson, and I’ve got to encourage thatperson because that person is the bestperson we have for the four. I can’tdestroy that person’s morale, becausethen who will I turn to?’ And then theywill resolve: ‘This is the best person wehave and this is who we’ve got to sup-port. We’ve got to encourage them.”

Watching team point standings inyour respective conference or leagueprovides another team goal to focus on.High school coaches can do this withthe help of Internet-based rankings ser-vices. Even if athletes haven’t yet con-tributed team points through a meetfinish, they can soak up the all-for-one,one-for-all mentality.

“We bring attention each week to

where our rankings are going and whatwe’ve got to do in each event to moveourselves up the ladder, so everybodyon the team knows their part,” says Frye.“It’s a computer formula—no matterhow good the best athlete you have, thesecond-best athlete you have gets halfthe value. So you’ve got to have two ath-letes that do well. We have athletes insome areas who are not All-Americans,so that gives the person who can scorein the dual-meet rankings the opportu-nity to contribute to the team.”

While a national title or top nationalpower ranking might not be a realisticgoal for all programs, don’t overlookthe team aspirations that are withinreach. When Harris took over the Pennteam for the 2002-03 season aftercoaching 17 years at James Madison Uni-

versity, she quickly detected a motivat-ing factor she can’t take credit for but isstrong nonetheless. “The Ivy Leaguechampionship is huge,” she says. “Kidscome up to me and say, ‘Coach Harris,I want that ring.’”

Sweat-Free Team BuildingBuilding a truly well-rounded team,

however, doesn’t stop at the outer edgeof the track and pits. Much of the workcan and should be done elsewhere.

“We come together before each raceand talk,” Dalton says. “And then I leaveand everybody talks together beforeeach cross country meet so the kids cantalk about what’s going on.”

Farther away from the track, Dalton’steam helps run the Special Olympics in


COVER STORY

The University of South Carolina trackand field program runs the gamutfrom athletes with Olympic and worldchampionship experience to non-scholarship athletes who don’t travel

to away meets. Still, there’s a chance for near-ly everyone to be a champion.

“We have what we call state collegiatemeets,” says Head Coach Curtis Frye.“They’re for all colleges in the state. Lastyear I think we had 10 or 13.

“The way it works is, only two membersfrom any school can score in a competition,”Frye continues. “And that keeps all the big

schools from loading up and having alleight of the scores in, let’s say, the 100meters. I can have only two scores. Andthen the College of Charleston and CoastalCarolina and all of those smaller schoolshave a chance in some events, and thereare some events that they’re very strong inthat I’m not very strong in, but my two peo-ple get a chance to score in that event.”

Because of the two-people-from-a-team rule,a school can’t rely on a few top athletes toearn team points. Everyone on a team, eventhose who’d have little chance at a conferenceor national meet, can have a chance to con-tribute an event victory or high finish.

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Circle No. 13

the spring, even though it’s during theirtrack and field season. “It makes someof them realize how lucky they are to beable to run a 4:06 mile or whatever theydo,” he says. “We go to running campsduring the summer. We do a candlesale in the community as a fund-raiser.The whole team does this, the 21st manand the number one.”

Lee Webb, Head Coach at LoganHigh School in Culver City, Calif., putsup posters in the locker rooms, and

calls the local paper to get eventannouncements and results publicized.The team also puts on a summer campand sponsors a fall Pumpkin Fun Run.They all build excitement about theprogram. “That’s the thing about trackand field: Everybody participates,”Webb says. “You don’t take the top 15who come out and focus on them. Youplay up improving your personal resultsas well as the chance to be on the teamand wear the uniform.”

Another tactic is to find leadershiproles for all team members. “We talkabout how many athletes can contributeto being the best academic team oncampus,” says Frye, “and compare theteam GPA to last year’s team GPA. Weemphasize things like how many pointswere scored by our freshman group,what was the GPA of the freshmangroup, and how many students scored a4.0, a 2.0. and even 1.5 or below. Wedon’t call out names but we emphasizethat we have some students who are notholding up their part.”

The off-track competition extends tocommunity service, Frye says. “We try tomake sure we do more community ser-vice than other teams on campus, or wetry to get more canned food for Thanks-giving. We put girls versus guys, sprint-ers versus distance people. And we havenights out bowling. We divide intogroups. We try to make the experienceas good as possible, but competitive anddependent.”

Holding office is another way to con-tribute. Frye’s coaching staff appointsmembers to the student-athlete advisorycouncil, typically mixing juniors withseniors and athletes from differentevents. Captains are elected by athletes,but coaches require them to campaign,he says, on platforms such as holdingmore coach-free team meetings orimproving study halls. “This is a way ofrewarding years of experience andinvolvement in the team,” he says.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to the ath-letes. If the coaching staff has laid thegroundwork, they’ll come through, andthe joy of teamsmanship will transcendthe events, times, and distances. Mannrelates what happened at the 2002 BigSky Conference indoor meet. Ida Nils-son, who had already won the 5,000-meter run and mile and was set for theNCAAs, wanted to help pace teammateSusie Rutherford, who was close to qual-ifying in the 3,000-meter run.

“Susie had a qualifying mark, butwe all knew that it wasn’t fast enoughto get into the national meet, so Idaentered and took her through,” Mannsays. “Susie hung on as long as shecould and couldn’t hold on any longerand she didn’t end up qualifying, butwhat a wonderful tribute that was toboth of them. And they’re still friendsto this day. Isn’t that what life is allabout?” ■


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Circle No. 14

ne of the critical errors youngcoaches make is that theyattempt to raise several train-ing stimuli at the same time.

Doing so usually results in a hurt athleteor one who fails to improve throughoutthe season. For instance, inexperi-enced coaches will ask their young dis-tance runners to attempt new weeklymileage PR’s while also trying to main-tain their schedule of two to three tracksessions a week. These athletes usual-ly crash and burn, particularly if they arenew to running.

I fully understand this situation becauseI experienced it firsthand when I startedmy coaching career. Like many athletes,I tried my hand at guiding athletes backin 1993 because I felt I’d be a good,solid coach. I had guided myself to acouple of Olympic Trials appearancesand had helped some friends race wellusing the same basic training I hadused to gain success. I thus rational-ized that the only prerequisite to turningany local talent into an All-Americanwas to give the kids the same workoutsI did and the rest would fall into place.

With this confidence, I tried tackling thelocal community college team as part ofmy Masters curriculum. I started out mycoaching career doing what I assumedto be the correct method. I took out mypast training logs from my old communi-ty college days and gave these sameworkouts to the team. We had successusing these workouts in 1981, so Iassumed we would have similar suc-cess in 1993 using the same stuff. Iwas wrong.

The workouts I assigned were demand-ing and the kids jumped in with aban-don, attacking everything I gave themdaily. We ran a ton of miles and we ranthem hard. This worked well for aboutthree weeks, and then it became appar-ent something was wrong. Nearlyeveryone became injured and moralewas low. Almost the entire team was inthe pool trying to get in shape. Onelucky sole was able to continue runningthe actual workouts only one month intothe program. This was not a good win-

ning percentage, and I realized some-thing very quickly. I hadn’t a clue what Iwas doing. I essentially killed the entireteam’s season.

The above example points out some-thing it took me years to understand:For a program to truly succeed, the

workload assigned to each athlete hasto be appropriate for that particular ath-lete at that point of the season. Everytime I have an athlete develop injuries,race below their capabilities or falterbadly as the season progresses it isbecause I have failed to adequatelyestimate the workload that is appropri-ate for that particular athlete. In otherwords, like many inexperienced coach-es, I had failed to use the principle of"progression" properly or put anotherway, I assigned too much work at toofast a pace and too soon for that ath-lete. The result was a broken kid.

Please do your best to avoid makingthis mistake. Stress of any sort needsto be incorporated slowly enough sothat the body can adapt without break-ing. Increased mileage and increasedintensity are two different stresses thatneed to be adapted to individually.Increasing both at the same time shouldbe avoided. Start with one, and thenraise the other. For instance, try raisingthe mileage by spending the summerand early fall months adapting to newmileage goals before pushing the limits

on the effort of the regularly scheduledworkouts. Yes do some faster work dur-ing this time, but keep it very manage-able and within the capabilities of eachrunner. Once they’ve adapted to thenew mileage goals, then it will be timeto increase the volume of intensity runeach week while maintaining these

weekly miles. Until then, adapt to theeasy mileage first and be patient beforehammering the scheduled workouts.

As the athlete matures it becomes lessstressful to jump back into more intensetraining weeks. It’s just one of theadded benefits of long term training thatonce you have successfully attained afitness level, resuming that same levelof training is easier and less stressfulthan it was to initially attain that level inthe first place. Therefore, a more expe-rienced athlete can get back up to ahigher weekly volume of mileage soon-er, they can also get back on the harderworkouts sooner than an athlete withless training background. The bottomline though is do not assume (as I did)that a young runner can jump into thelevel of training of a more experiencedrunner and survive. Most will not.

Joe Rubio is head coach of the AggieRunning Club located in San Luis Obipso,California. For questions or comments,please contact Joe Rubio directly [email protected]

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Coaches must know and appreciatetheir risk management duties. Theimplementation of solid safety rules willnot guarantee your athletes freedomfrom injury, but it will lower thechances of both common and serious,catastrophic injuries. Lowering thechance of injury lowers the chance ofexpensive, time-consuming, program-shattering lawsuits.

The following are your legal responsi-bilities as a coach. They are based on aconsensus of opinions by those in athlet-ics, an ongoing review of court cases, andmy years of experience as an athletic risk

manager. They are also what a goodcoach does—offer a worthwhile athleticexperience that manages the risks ofparticipation.

However, when in doubt about yourduties, seek the advice of your school’slegal counsel. Do it before an accident.

The Right Attitude The key to lowering the risk of injury

is to make safety important by making it aregular topic of conversation. Explain toyour athletes the danger of attemptingthrows or jumps they haven’t been ade-quately trained in. Correct safety prob-lems immediately. Say, “No, we won’tpractice,” if a situation is hazardous.

In addition, talk to your athletesabout their responsibility for their ownsafety and the safety of others. Explain toyour throwers what could happen if theyleave their shot or discus where someone

could trip over them. Show your javelinthrowers how to scan the area beforestarting their practice throws.

When athletes hear you preach safety,they will be less apt to attempt riskybehavior. When parents see you takesafety seriously, they will trust you andyour judgement, even after an injuryhappens. When you put a priority onsafety in your planning, you will be ableto spot hazards more easily.

Knowledgeable CoachesUnlike most sports, track and field is

a combination of several events, each ofwhich carries its own level of risk.Therefore, the most significant part ofany risk management plan is the hiringof certified and qualified coaches whoare intimately familiar with the risks ofeach event they coach.

Running a track and field event when

Follow these practical steps to keep your athletes out o

This article is about themost boring subject thereis in sports: safety. It’sboring, that is, until anathlete gets hurt.

THERISK


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form from athletes and parents is anestablished duty, and informing peopleabout the potential risks of participatingin any activity actually reduces injuries.

It may seem obvious that an athletecan get hurt in track and field, butinformed-consent forms help spell outjust what the potential risks are. Theform should include pertinent words inlarge print, such as “Warning,” “Atten-tion,” and “Please Read.” The headingon the form should also be in largeprint. The form should cover all phases,sites, and timeframes. Your legal coun-sel should review the informed-consentform. After it has been signed, give acopy to each student-athlete’s parents,and keep the original.

It is important that the recipientunderstands the seriousness of the con-sent form. Have a parent-informationmeeting to discuss the risks and benefitsof participation. Ask parents and ath-letes if they have any questions and ifthey understand what they are signing.They should know that signing the formis voluntary, and that by doing so, theyare agreeing to accept the risks thatcome with participation.

Even after the form has been signed,warnings and reminders should be issued.They should be frequent and given withinthe context of normal instruction.

Super SupervisionLack of supervision is the most-cited

complaint against coaches. The coaches’presence during an activity is the firstline of defense against potential prob-lems. Permitting athletes to remain onthe track or field for extra practice with-out supervision is not an option.

Being there, however, is only the firststep. Supervision means controlling thesituation through your knowledge andplanning. First, you must be completelyfamiliar with the activity you are supervis-ing. You must plan appropriate activities

letic director at least once a year aboutsafety-related issues.

In addition to event rules, competentcoaches know the basic rules of healthsafety. You are not expected to know allthat an athletic trainer knows, but do staycurrent on the major guidelines. Forexample, it would be considered a breachof your duty as a coach if you preventedyour team from taking water breaks dur-ing practice. If you recommend anytype of nutritional supplements to yourathletes, be sure there are absolutely norisks involved with taking them. Knowabout proper warmup and cooldown.

Warn of RisksSome coaches feel that if you inform

student-athletes of potential injuries,they will stop participating. This hasproven to be untrue. In fact, warningand obtaining an informed-consent

you do not have a coach who is thor-oughly familiar with the risks involvedcreates a major risk. If you don’t have aqualified coach for a high-risk event,don’t do the event, or send your athletesto specific event centers or to a schoolwith a qualified high-risk-event coach.

Track and field requires at least two,and preferably three, coaches. This iscritical because of the numerous and var-ied events and because of the large areathat needs to be supervised. Coaches arerequired to know the rules of their spe-cific sport and fulfill the requirements ofnational and state associations. Read therulebook every season. Attend state andlocal meetings. Never ignore any regula-tion that pertains to a safety issue. Thereis no excuse for not staying current withall rules and regulations. Just as impor-tant, follow your athletic departmentrules and regulations. Talk with your ath-

Richard P. Borkowski, EdD, CMAA, is a sportsafety consultant based in Narberth, Pa.,who served as the Director of Physical Edu-cation and Athletics at the Episcopal Academyin Merion, Pa., for 33 years. His most recentbook is titled Coaching for Safety, A RiskManagement Handbook for Coaches, pub-lished by ESD112 in Vancouver, Wash.

of harm’s way—and your program out of legal hot water. FACTOR

SPORTS SAFETY

BY DR. RICHARD P. BORKOWSKI

for the group you are working with, takingthe time to foresee potential problems.

You must do your best to keep yourteam members in view and continuallyscan the area. A track coach must getinto the habit of circulating throughoutthe entire area where athletes are prac-ticing or competing. The ability to scana large area for potential danger spots iscritical in track and field because of thewide separation of events. Avoid distrac-tions. Supervising the pole vault is notthe time to talk with others.

Don’t forget that it’s also your job tosupervise students who are helping outwith events. In Pennsylvania, a trackcoach instructed two non-javelin throwersto mark throws. It was their first javelinexperience. Both markers got distractedfrom their task and spent more timewatching the running events. The coach,tired of reminding them to pay attention,permitted the thrower to toss the javelinwithout telling the markers. The javelinhit one of the markers, close to his eye.The coach admitted it was his own faultfor not providing adequate supervision.

Appropriate EquipmentYou must offer your track and field

athletes appropriate and well-fittingequipment. The days of passing downthe old hurdles, cross bars, and landingpits to the middle school team are over.Equipment lasts for only a certain lengthof time. Replace it before it is no longerfunctional and becomes dangerous. Donot use outdated equipment or paddingthat no longer meets current guidelines.

Avoid modifying equipment or usingit for any activity other than its intendedpurpose. For example, a coach inventeda rubber harness system. The harness wasthen attached to a bleacher set or someother stationary object by rubber straps.The idea was to give the harnessed run-ner an isometric workout. Unfortunately,when a stronger runner stopped movingforward, the expanded rubber strapssnapped him back with such force thathe was knocked off his feet.

Lastly, remember to store or secureall equipment after practice. In particu-lar, throwing implements must be con-trolled.

Check FacilitiesIt is the coach’s duty to inspect the site

he or she is going to use. If there is a prob-lem, correct it. If it cannot be correctedimmediately, adjust the activity and reportthe problem. Stay current with facility rec-ommendations made by local, state, andnational governing bodies.

Make sure that there are sufficient“buffer zones” outside the boundarylines of throwing events. Whenever pos-sible, avoid having paved surfacesaround the landing areas for jumps. Ifthey must be used, always cover themwith protective matting.

Assign someone to check the area ofactivity on a daily basis. Look for holesand debris, and check the bleachers.Carefully examine running surfacesand runways on a regular basis, lookingfor areas that have become cracked oruneven, and stay in communicationwith the maintenance department.

Progressive PlanningA key part of risk management—and

one which is the subject of some recent

SPORTS SAFETY


Circle No. 15

SPORTS SAFETY


well-publicized court cases—is thecoach’s role in instructing his or herathletes in a progressive, safe manner.You have a responsibility to develop asequence of progressive practice ses-sions and offer competition preparationand strategies that result in a worthwhileand safe experience for students.

This begins with your strength andconditioning program. Progression is thekey to proper conditioning, and rest is akey component. Trying to do too muchtoo soon, and cutting back on the condi-tioning and stretching phase to get inmore skill practice are two errors coachesoften make that increase the risk of injury.

Before they participate, your trackand field athletes’ fitness levels must beevaluated. Your conditioning programshould reflect the physical demands ofthe sport. Remember that water andnutritional information are part of phys-ical conditioning.

Follow your association’s condition-ing guidelines, and always check withyour team physician and athletic trainerbefore implementing a new idea. Exten-sive information concerning properphysical conditioning—both what’sappropriate and what is not—is avail-able. Taking advantage of it is oneimportant way to make the sport saferfor your athletes.

Good InstructionAlongside proper progression must

be appropriate instruction. You not onlyhave a duty to instruct your athletes torun, jump, and throw well, but you mustteach the proper techniques to lowerthe chance of injury.

The repetition of fundamental skillsis one of the major, and often neglect-ed, techniques used to lower risk. Havethe skill demonstrated and let the ath-letes practice it in various ways beforeattempting it in a competitive setting.Never, ever place an athlete into a situa-tion he or she is not prepared for.

Ask yourself if you are running anactivity in an acceptable manner. Is theway you teach your athletes to pass thebaton the best and safest way to do it?

Safer MeetsWith multiple events taking place at

once, and both spectators and competi-tors to consider, track and field meetscan present significant risks and requirecareful planning. One common safety

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Circle No. 16

hazard comes from holding throwingevents inside the track while runningand jumping events are taking place onthe track. This practice can be success-

ful, but to be safe, it requires flawlessorganization and tight control by offi-

cials. If at all possible, it’s better to keepthe throwing events—especially thejavelin, discus, and hammer—out of thetrack infield.

If there is no other field available forthe throwing events during a meet, con-sider scheduling them before or after therunning events or holding them onanother day. Another creative solutionthat has worked well for some schools isto hold a tri- or quad-meet that is exclu-sively for throwers: Three or four schoolssend their throwers to one school, andthose are the only events that take place.The runners and jumpers can compete atthe same time at one of the other threeor four schools.

You are also responsible for the safe-ty of the fans who attend the meet. Per-mitting spectators on the track andaround throwing events creates a need-less hazard. Under ideal conditions, allmeets would be held inside a stadiumwhere spectators have access only to thegrandstand, and only participants inuniform and coaches with I.D. tagswould be permitted onto the field.

However, if your track doesn’t have aseparate grandstand, ensure spectatorsafety by roping off the competitionarea and using marshal ushers to keepspectators on the other side. A policeofficer patrolling the area is also a goodreminder for fans to remain in the des-ignated area. Make frequent announce-ments over the public address system,informing spectators that only coaches,officials, and participants are allowedonto the track.

After the InjuryRegardless of the excellence of a risk

management program, injuries will stilloccur. A coach is expected to have basicknowledge as to what he or she shouldand should not do when an athlete isinjured.

Most importantly, you must knowhow to implement your emergency plan.Do you know what to do at an away meetwhen there is a serious injury? Whom doyou call? Do you have a cell phone? Actu-ally practice your emergency game planbefore an emergency happens.


SPORTS SAFETY

Every track & field coach needs to:

■ Recognize that risks exist.■ Identify those risks.■ Evaluate the risks.■ Have a plan to reduce the risks.■ Closely supervise the program.■ Remind participants of their role in

controlling risks.■ Always remain vigilant. Risk manage-

ment is a continual process.■ Review and revise the program when

necessary.■ Ask for assistance from supervisors.■ Care about the welfare of all athletes.

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SPORTS SAFETY

Coaches should have training inbasic first aid and CPR. Obtain an AEDand make sure someone present knowshow to use it. Maintain a first aid kit thatincludes individual emergency medicalforms. Obtain a higher level of medicalcare as quickly as possible after an injuryhappens.

Protect the injured athlete from fur-ther harm, and offer comfort and reas-surance. Do not attempt to providemedical assistance beyond your ability.Remember the golden rule of injuryassessment and first aid care: Alwaysassume and treat for the worst possibleinjury.

Report and document the incident assoon as possible. Accident reportsshould be factual and to the point. Donot editorialize. Avoid post-injury discus-sions with anyone but your supervisor ormedical personnel. An athlete shouldnot resume practicing or competingafter an injury or illness without a com-pleted “return-to-play” form.

Along with being knowledgeable infirst aid care, the single most important

thing you can do after an athlete suffersan injury is to show both the athlete andhis or her parents that you care. Althoughit sounds simple, parents are less apt totake a coach to court if he or she seems tohave been genuinely concerned aboutthe welfare of the student-athlete.

Maintain RecordsAs often as possible, put things in writ-

ing and keep records. This includeschecklists, practice plans, training plans,medical examination forms, the athletichandbook, informed-consent forms, andreturn-to-play agreements. Following awritten plan lowers the chance of forget-ting an issue and demonstrates your pro-fessionalism. It will save you a great deal oftime in the future. Check with your ath-letic administrator as to the number ofyears you should retain all these records.My sources suggest four to seven years.

One more note here: The recordsyou keep on file must reflect what you

actually did in a situation. If your writ-ten rules state athletes cannot practicewithout passing a physical and then youpermit a student to participate who has-n’t, you may be found negligent.

On A Daily BasisWhether it’s a practice, strength

workout, or meet, as you walk into everysituation, ask yourself, have I done allthat is reasonable to lower the chance ofinjury to my athletes? Have I checkedfor hazards? Have I reviewed the safetyof the drills? Have I taught my athleteshow to be safe?

The best defense against injuries andlawsuits is to understand, appreciate, andmeet your legal duties as a coach. Youmay have noticed that they are the sameas the basic duties of any good coach.

It’s a matter of staying vigilant andcaring about the student-athletes onyour team. Let’s keep risk managementboring. ■

For more articles on risk management by Dr. Borkowski, please visit our Web site atwww.AthleticSearch.com and type “Borkowski” into the search window.


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ost of us envision student-athletes as the picture ofhealth—lithe, muscular,and hardy. But imagineintercollegiate track meetswhere 80-year-old womenwith osteoporosis line upto throw the javelin or take

each other on in the 100 meter hurdles.It sounds inconceivable, but some of

the athletes on your team who appearyoung and strong on the outside mayactually be as frail on the inside as theseimagined elderly women. The reason issecondary amenorrhea, a conditionwhereby women do not get their men-strual periods.

A recent study by Dr. Michelle Cam-eron, orthopedic surgeon and spokes-person for the American Academy ofOrthopedic Surgeons, found the preva-lence of amenorrhea in collegiate femalevarsity athletes to be 28 percent, com-pared to two to five percent in the gen-

eral population. Older studies estimatethat at least 10 to 20 percent of all femaleathletes have the condition. While thesefigures have not been broken down bysport, track and field athletes are amongthe sufferers.

But why does the incidence appearto be growing? What are the long-termramifications of skipping one’s period?And how do you implement preventionstrategies?

Defining DysfunctionWhen a woman’s reproductive sys-

tem is functioning normally, her brain’shypothalamus releases a hormonecalled gonadotropin-releasing hor-mone (GnRH) at regular intervals.GnRH acts on the pituitary gland, caus-ing the cyclic rise and fall of lutenizinghormone (LH) and follicle-stimulatinghormone (FSH). These messengers tellher body to produce mature eggs, ovu-late, and make estrogen. A disruption of

normal menstruation occurs when thehypothalamus stops releasing theGnRH that sets the cycle in motion.

Technically, any missed periods con-stitute amenorrhea. Some medical stud-ies define amenorrhea as missing ayear’s worth of periods after menarche(first period) has taken place. Otherphysicians feel three months or morewithout a cycle is cause for concern. Butmore and more professionals are point-ing to menstrual dysfunction of anykind as a substantial warning.

“If a female misses a period, there’san indication that there’s somethinggoing on that should be cause foralarm,” says Dr. Bill Evans, Director ofthe Nutrition, Metabolism, and ExerciseLaboratory at the University of Arkansasfor Medical Sciences. “Evidence showsthat if a woman is irregular, she poten-tially has other health problems.”

Until recently, scientists believedthat amenorrhea was a result of low

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SPORTS MEDICINE

body fat. But research over the last 15years indicates that this is not the case.Rather, amenorrhea appears to bemulti-causal. Among the factors thatbring on amenorrhea are congenitalabnormalities of the reproductive tract,metabolic or endocrine disorders(including malnutrition), stress, tumorsor cysts, or combinations of the above.

In athletes, however, the vast majorityof cases of amenorrhea stem from animbalance between activity level andnutritional intake. For example, a femalestudent-athlete who menstruates duringher off-season may lose her periods oncepreseason training begins because sheincreases her activity level without corre-spondingly increasing her nutritionalintake. Her body can’t sustain all func-tions without adequate calories andnutrition, and reproductive mechanismsare among the first to shut down.

The DangersAmong the most widely known health

risks associated with amenorrhea is theearly onset of osteoporosis—the crippling

disease of low bone mass and bone fragili-ty. Because amenorrhea, like menopause,affects the body’s estrogen levels, bonedevelopment is compromised.

A 1997 article in The Physician andSportsmedicine states that decreasedestrogen levels in young women canleach away as much as two to six percentof total bone mass per year. And theresults of a University of Arkansas studyreleased in July 2002 show that two per-cent of college-age women already haveosteoporosis and a further 15 percenthave sustained significant losses in bonedensity and may be on their way todeveloping the disease.

Why is estrogen so important tobone mass? Contrary to popular belief,estrogen doesn’t actually build bones.Rather, it ensures that one’s bonesabsorb calcium, which they need to staystrong. Also, estrogen conserves the cal-cium in bones by encouraging otherbody systems to make more efficient useof the calcium available in one’s diet.

Estrogen also helps maintain a bal-ance between the rate of bone destruc-tion and bone reformation. Generally,children and teens grow new bonefaster than they destroy old, which iswhy their bones grow in thickness andlength. Amenorrheic athletes, however,lack the estrogen to stave off bone-destroying cells.

“You build bone and fill your bonebank until you’re about 25,” says JillThein-Nissenbaum, Faculty Associate atthe University of Wisconsin, who studiesamenorrhea. “After that, you start tolose bone. But amenorrheic athletes failto fill their bone bank optimally, sothey’re really setting themselves up forsignificant problems later in life.”

“Girls think they need bone forheight, and once they reach their height,what does it matter?” adds Heidi Skolnik,President of Nutrition Conditioning,Inc., in Fort Lee, N.J., who works withathletes at Princeton University. “But it’snot just the length of bone that matters,it’s the density of your bone. And you laydown all the density you will ever have in

your lifetime in your teenage years. If afemale athlete misses that window, shecan’t make it back.”

The toll amenorrhea can take on ayoung athlete’s bones can also be feltimmediately. Especially for runners, lowbone density often leads to stress frac-tures. “We did a survey years ago withwomen runners,” says Evans. “And itturned out that the women who wereamenorrheic had a much higher inci-dence of stress fractures than the womenwho were regularly menstruating. So it’snot just an issue of, ‘I’ll develop osteo-porosis when I’m 70 years old.’”

Other effects of early bone loss canpop up only a few years after an ath-lete’s competing days end. “I know apatient who [was amenorrheic, andwhen she got older and] wanted to havea baby, she couldn’t because her boneswere too weak to support a pregnancy,”says Nancy Clark, Director of SportsNutrition Services at Sports MedicineAssociates in Brookline, Mass.

And amenorrhea may have a moredirect impact on a woman’s fertility.Some healthcare professionals, likeThein-Nissenbaum and Skolnik, believelong-term amenorrhea may preventregular, reliable ovulation even aftermenstruation has returned.

“Women who continue to have boutsof amenorrhea are eventually going todiscontinue ovulating periodically, andthat’s going to make it much more dif-ficult for them to get pregnant,” saysThein-Nissenbaum.

Others believe once an athlete isback on track and menstruation is rein-stated, fertility resumes as normal. Butno one really knows for sure, since doc-tors have only been examining the con-dition for a short time.

“Unfortunately, this condition hasonly been defined in the last 10 or 15years, and the women who were the firstdiagnosed are just now starting to havechildren,” says Thein-Nissenbaum.

Another potentially serious healthimplication of amenorrhea that is onlynow being looked into is heart disease.Although not widely researched yet, theincreased risk in post-menopausal womenfor cardiovascular disease led the Med-ical College of Wisconsin’s Cardiovascu-lar Research Center to undertake a studyof amenorrheic female runners in 2000.It was presented to the American Col-lege of Sports Medicine last year.

The Center studied two groups ofwomen, all of whom ran at least 25 milesper week, were at least 18 years old, andwere not on oral birth control. Onegroup, of 11 women, had normal periods.The other group consisted of 10 women,all of whom had missed their periods formore than six months. Because a loss ofblood vessel dilation is believed to be thefirst precursor to the development ofheart disease, each participant’s bloodvessels were examined using ultrasoundto measure their ability to dilate underdifferent conditions. The women withamenorrhea had the vasculature of 50-year-old post-menopausal women.

Battle CryWith so much more to be learned

about the effects of the condition, manyphysicians would like to see amenorrheataken more seriously by the athletic pop-

The latest study shows that out of every four female athletes,one is suffering from amenorrhea. And the ramifications fortheir health are truly frightening.

BY SHELLY WILSON

Shelly Wilson is a former Assistant Editor atCoaching Management.

SPORTS MEDICINE


ulation. “There’s a lack of appreciationfor the magnitude of the problem and alack of understanding about what causesit,” says Evans. “Athletes aren’t as con-cerned as they should be.”

As with many things in sports medi-cine, an ounce of prevention is worth apound of cure, and the keys to prevent-ing amenorrhea are communicationand education. The first step is to edu-cate your athletes about amenorrhea.

An annual workshop led by coachesor athletic trainers can dispel the mythsathletes may have learned from formercoaches and even uninformed familydoctors. Particularly powerful are presen-tations from, or stories of, formerly amen-orrheic athletes. Postings on bulletinboards or handouts can also work well.

Coaches must also work to countermenstruation’s image as a burden andpromote it as an asset necessary foroverall health. “On some teams, amen-orrhea is looked upon as evidence thatthey’re doing an appropriate amount oftraining,” says Thein-Nissenbaum. “Ifyou still have your period, the percep-tion is that you’re not training hardenough. But using amenorrhea as a barto measure effective training is com-pletely inappropriate.”

According to Skolnik, at the highschool level, parents are another groupthat should be addressed. “Send out a let-ter at the beginning of the year inform-ing parents about amenorrhea andletting them know that it’s something youlook for, what you do if you find it, whyit’s important, and that it’s something forthem to pay attention to,” she says.

And because amenorrhea can resultfrom exercise that outpaces nutritionalintake, or from rapid weight loss, Thein-Nissenbaum reminds coaches to proceedcautiously when weight loss is requiredfor optimum athletic performance. “Oneor two pounds per week is ideal,” she says.“You don’t want to lose more than twopounds a week, or the athlete is probablygoing to get dehydrated and lose musclemass. And athletes shouldn’t try to loseweight in the peak of the season, becauseit’s too much stress on the body.”

Early DetectionSince amenorrhea is vastly under

reported by sufferers, medical profes-sionals would like to see educationalefforts coupled with earlier detection ofthe condition in order to minimize

health risks. Inquiries into athletes’menstrual cycles can begin duringpreparticipation exams. In fact, theAmerican College of Sports Medicine isin the process of rewriting the questionson its preparticipation form related tomenstruation. Until the new form isissued, consider using these questions:

■ When did you first get your period? ■ Are you regular? ■ If you’re not very regular, how reg-

ular are you? ■ How long is your typical cycle? ■ Do you often skip your period? ■ How many times a year do you miss

a period? “Amenorrhea should be on the list

just like everything else,” says Skolnik.“‘Do you sneeze, do you cough, do youhave weak ankles, and do you get yourperiod?’”

Also, don’t accept vague answers. Areply of “normal” to the question “What’s

your menstrual cycle like?” can mean verydifferent things to different athletes. Itmight be normal in some athletes’ mindsto miss their periods for the six months ofpreseason and in-season training.

If during the preparticipation examan athlete states she uses oral birth con-trol, a contraceptive patch, or Lunelle(a monthly birth control shot), athletictrainers or coaches should ask follow-upquestions. “I often ask patients, ‘If youweren’t on the pill, would you have reg-ular menstrual periods?’” says Clark.“And often they say, ‘No, that’s why Iwent on the pill.’”

Also note that a student-athlete usinga form of chemical contraception isn’timmune to developing amenorrhea,despite the estrogen they contain. “Thedose of estrogen a woman gets from thepill is very small compared to her loss ofestrogen as a result of amenorrhea,”says Evans.

Today, the most favored treatmentfor exercise-related secondaryamenorrhea comes not in the formof estrogen supplementation, but

through changes to an athlete’s dietunder the guidance of a licensed nutri-tionist. And while coaches should neverattempt to treat amenorrhea themselves,there are nutritional recommendationsthey can make that may help prevent theonset of amenorrhea in the first place.

“Amenorrhea frequently stems from over-exercise and under-eating,” explains HeidiSkolnik, President of Nutrition Condition-ing, Inc., in Fort Lee, N.J. “It’s an energydeficit thing. A female athlete may thinkshe is eating healthfully but may be 500calories shy of what she needs. She maynot be anorexic or even losing weight, butshe’s not giving her body what it needs tosustain itself at an optimum healthy level.So athletes need to make sure that whenthey step up their training that they alsostep up their food intake. Their calories inneed to be equivalent to their calories out.”

One dietary way to prevent amenorrheais to insist on the inclusion of fat in yourplayers’ diets. “Athletes confuse eatingfat with getting fat,” explains Nancy Clark,Director of Nutrition Services at SportsMedicine Associates, in Brookline, Mass.“But that’s not true. Fat is a part of thebody’s nervous system, it’s a componentof hormones, and it’s important in allow-

ing certain vitamins to get absorbed. Atleast 20 percent of an athlete’s caloriesshould come from fat.

“Nuts,peanutbutter,salmon,and oliveoil are all healthy fat options,” continuesClark. “Female student-athletes shouldtry to include a little fat at each meal.That could mean using two-percent milkon cereal or substituting a light saladdressing for a fat-free one.”

Another important nutritional defense isadequate protein. “Insufficient proteinhas been linked with amenorrhea inconjunction with low calorie intake,”explains Clark. “Amenorrheic athletestend to eat less protein than their regu-larly menstruating counterparts. Andwhen calories are low, the body’sprotein needs actually increase.”

Calcium and Vitamin D are also importantbecause of the positive role they play inthe prevention of osteoporosis and theminimization of bone-density damageshould a female athlete suffer amenorrhea.“I would look for some dairy with eachmeal, so they have at least three dairyitems a day—like milk on cereal, yogurt atlunch, milk with dinner, or low-fat cheeseon a sandwich,” Clark says.

NUTRITIONALSTRATEGIES

SPORTS MEDICINE


Coaches or athletic trainers shouldalso question female athletes periodical-ly throughout the year about anychanges they’ve experienced in theircycles. “If an athlete is returning afterthe summer and is answering prepartic-ipation exam questions, she may be ableto say she has her period,” says Skolnik.“But by October, she may not.”

Questions on amenorrhea shouldalso automatically arise whenever afemale athlete suffers an injury. “Whenyou do not get your period, you have anincreased risk for stress fractures,” saysSkolnik, “so I’d absolutely investigatemenstrual history anytime an athletehas a stress fracture.”

“Prolonged delayed healing is anotherthing to look for if they suspect an athletehas amenorrhea,” adds Thein-Nissen-baum. “These are the athletes who getthe stress fractures that take double the

time to heal. They have chronic strainsand sprains from their muscles not beingprovided adequate nutrition.”

Refer When NeededThe causes of amenorrhea can vary

widely, so athletic trainers and coacheswho know of or suspect student-athleteswith amenorrhea should always refer the

patient to a physician or gynecologistwho’s sensitive to the needs of student-athletes. Sometimes amenorrhea can’tbe corrected by simply cutting backtraining or increasing nutritional con-sumption, and coaches who try to cure iton their own delay proper diagnosis andput the student-athlete at risk.

“There are lots of reasons why youdon’t get your period,” explains Skol-nik. “I had one athlete who looked likeit was caused by the female athlete triad,but she really had polycystic ovarian

syndrome. And it took a good work-upfrom a doctor to figure that out.”

The best thing you can do, say experts,is to make sure your student-athletes areaware of the condition, understand thehealth problems associated with losingone’s period, and learn to come to youwhenever their cycles seem irregular. “Awoman should understand that losing

her period is not natural,” says Evans.“It’s not something that should bedesired or emulated. It comes with anumber of health consequences andshould be dealt with as soon as possible ifshe wants to continue with her athleticcareer. Because by the time they stopmenstruating, even intermittently, itmeans there’s a problem already.” ■

A version of this article has appeared in other edi-tions of Coaching Management, as well as itssister publication, Training & Conditioning.

“When you don’t get your period, you have an increased risk forstress fractures. So I’d absolutely investigate menstrual historyanytime an athlete has a stress fracture.”


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Catalog ShowcaseDAKTRONICS, INC.

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M-F Athletic has introduced the newPolanik Steel Throwing Weights for

indoor and out-door use into its‘04 catalog. Thissmall diameterpowder coatedsteel ball isattached to a tri-angular 3/8”

thick handle with chain link free rotat-ing ball bearing swivel. Available in awide range of sizes: 12 lb.-56 lb. Shownwith the Orbiter and M-F model indoorthrowing weights, all part of a full selec-tion of hammers and throwing weightsin the M-F catalog. Contact the companyfor a free catalog.


OPTP(800) 642-7010, www.optp.com

OPTP offers the Balance Beams, thenewest product in balance training byAeroMat™. Each piece is a trapezoidshape and can be connected to form a

72” longbeam. Thebeams can beplaced wideside down formore stabilityor narrow side

down for an increased challenge. Thebeams are made of soft high-densityfoam. They are coated in vinyl, whichmakes them easy to clean.


The new and improved REP Band™,from OPTP, has a new formula that

matches the stretchand resistance oflatex with the safetyand cleanliness ofnon-latex products.REP Band™ containsno latex, no messypowder and will notbreak down in sun-light or pool water.

They are vibrantly color-coded in fiveresistance levels to challenge a variety ofabilities. REP Band™ is the only sourceof latex-free tubing available.


POWER SYSTEMS, INC.(800) 321-6975, www.power-systems.com

The Power Hurdle from Power Systemswill enhance your plyometric and jump

training pro-grams. Thehurdle isadjustablefrom 12 inch-es to 42 inch-es to accom-modate any

training level. Rigid high impact plasticcross board will not splinter and ismarked for each height adjustment.Unique design allows the hurdle to col-lapse when hit, for safety.


Improve your starts, acceleration andstride length with one great product.

The PowerStride Ladderfrom PowerSystems willhelp youimprovethese three

key components of your track program.The ladder’s three pre-set markings willallow you to change patterns as skill lev-els increase. The special locking clips onthe eight high impact plastic slats enableyou to quickly and easily adjust each


Strength & Conditioning

slat. Slats also have foam rubber backingwhich allows the ladder to be usedindoors. The package includes a ladder,stacking pin and carry bag.


SMARTVEST (888) 797-8378, smartvest.net

The weight-adjustable SmartVest, fromTraining Zone Concepts in Flint, Mich.,brings guaranteed fit along with specific

models & sizing forwomen and men.Comfort-compressionand natural feel offeran exciting path toneuromuscular speeddevelopment. TheSmartVest’s patentedfunctional design pro-motes speed andpower through brain

and body compatibility. This mind/move-ment training augments form as well astechnique, while keeping the athleterelaxed, alert, and responsive. Visitsmartvest.net to see the new companionSmartShorts. School and team pricingavailable.


SPRINGCO(800) 333-7781,www.athleticsplus.com

The OPTUM SPS, from Springco, is aninnovative product that emphasizessmooth, constant resistance to provide

for even accelera-tion intraining. Theoptional rotationalbelt aids the ath-lete in developingquickness in later-al movementsessential in allelite athletics. The

compact, light design enables theOPTUM SPS to be conveniently attachedto a fixed object and can be used todevelop both quick, explosive bursts ofspeed as well as long, sustained sprints.


Springco also offers the JAMMER RACKmade by Nebulafitness—the onlytriple articulatedJammerdevice availabletoday. Madewith elevengauge steel tub-ing and high-grade sealed

bearings at all joints, the design ensuresdurability. Free form Iso movement sim-ulates a dumbbell exercise via free-float-ing actuator arm systems controlled byheavy rubber bumper stops. There issimply no better device to train theexplosive action required in today’ssports—professional or collegiate.


X VEST(800) 697-5658, www.THExVest.com

“I have found the X Vest to be an excel-lent tool for providing overloads in bothplyometric and strength training, condi-

tioning, and rehabilita-tion programs. The fitand adaptability areexcellent. The X Vestallows for freedom ofmovement and doesn’tinterfere with any ofthe agility, boundingor running programsthat I write for a widevariety of athletes,

both collegiate and professional. The XVest has proven itself in my programs!Thank you for all your efforts and helpin improving my capability as a strength& conditioning specialist.”—Donald A.Chu, PhD, PT, ATC, CSCS and author ofJumping into Plyometrics.


X Vest has a new weight configurationand it’s heavy—84 pounds of heavy. Thenew X Vest known as the Fire Fighter

model was developedfor firefighters and theirrigorous training. It hasthe same basic design asthe original X Vest butinternally it has a newweight configurationallowing for 84pounds. Because of itsability to adjust weightlike the original X Vest,

numerous individuals from bodybuildersto the military are buying them.



RGN Track SuppliesFrom STEELEX track spikes to foam pits to“LASER MEASURING” for the field eventsRGN Track Supplies helps officials, coaches,and athletes in the sport of track and field.

The 4’ x 8’ all-purpose transporter includesautomotive type steering, aluminum frame,

heavy duty plywood load surface plus pneumatic tires$895. The 5’ x 10’ size lists at $1195.

For officials - Digital scale in a custom designed carry-ing box $575, Discus/SP laser cut stainless steelgauges in a custom designed carrying box $415 or anindividual gauge for only $40.

Rubber track repair kit - 18.5 lbs. of rubber plus onegallon of urethane with directions. Black $250 or Red,Blue, Green rubber $275.

Discus spinner device with video$60. Pacer foam landing pits avail-able. Ask for a price.

LASER measuring for the throwsand jumps. An individual DistoClassic laser $495, A portable lasersystem $2695 and the LASAM™system (patent applied for) $5995.

All this plus more fromRGN Track Supplies

7905 County Road 19 SERochester, MN 55904

(507) 289-8473Fax (507) 289-0062

[email protected]

STEELEX®

Track Spikes$8.95/100

LASAM™

*101*

1-800-277-1920WORLD-WIDE LEADING MANUFACTURER OF RACE NUMBERS

www.ecprint.com

• Brochures• Ski Numbers• Cycle Numbers• Finish Line Aids• Course Marking Aids

All YourMarketingNeeds forYour Event


ADVERT ISERS D IRECTORYCIRCLE COMPANY PAGE NO. NO.


30 . . . . Beynon (polyurethane tracks) . . . . . . . . 32

31 . . . . Beynon (Wallace Wade Stadium). . . . . . 32

68 . . . . BodyGlide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

32 . . . . Conica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

41 . . . . Daktronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

33 . . . . EC Print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

69 . . . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

70 . . . . Hurst Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

65 . . . . JET Sportswear (Snug/loose-fit sportswear) 37

64 . . . . JET Sportswear (Stealth/Polar Stealth) . 37

45 . . . . Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

42 . . . . Kytec Athletic (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . 33

47 . . . . Kytec Athletic (Plyo Hurdles) . . . . . . . 34

46 . . . . Kytec Athletic (Power Fitness Chute) . . 34

49 . . . . Lane Gainer (Gorilla Agility Hurdles) . . . 34

48 . . . . Lane Gainer (quick adapter harness) . . . 34

34 . . . . Lynx System Developers . . . . . . . . 32

43 . . . . M-F Athletic (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . 33

50 . . . . M-F Athletic (Polanik Throwing Weights) 34

35 . . . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

60 . . . . McDavid (Body Shirts) . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

61 . . . . McDavid (Microfiber Shirts). . . . . . . . . 40

62 . . . . Nike (Pro Compression) . . . . . . . . . . . 40

63 . . . . Nike (Pro Vent) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

67 . . . . Omni-Lite (Pyramid spikes) . . . . . . . . . 37

66 . . . . Omni-Lite (track spikes) . . . . . . . . . . . 37

37 . . . . On Track (High School Hurdles) . . . . . . 32

36 . . . . On Track (Jump/Pole Vault Standards) . . 32

51 . . . . OPTP (Balance Beams) . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

52 . . . . OPTP (REP Band) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

44 . . . . Power Systems (catalog) . . . . . . . . . 33

53 . . . . Power Systems (Power Hurdle) . . . . . 34

54 . . . . Power Systems (Power Stride Ladder) . 34

71 . . . . PowerLung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

38 . . . . Promats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

39 . . . . RGN Track Supplies. . . . . . . . . . . . 33

55 . . . . SmartVest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

40 . . . . Sportsline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

57 . . . . Springco (JAMMER RACK) . . . . . . . . . 35

56 . . . . Springco (OPTUM SPS) . . . . . . . . . . . 35

58 . . . . Xvest (Don Chu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

59 . . . . Xvest (Fire Fighter model) . . . . . . . . . . 35

For Quicker Response, Request InformationFrom Advertisers On-Line at

MomentumMedia.com.

13 . . . . AAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

6 . . . . Beynon Sports Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . 9

7 . . . . BodyGlide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

9 . . . . Bullet Belt (Lane Gainer) . . . . . . . . . . 12

14 . . . . Conica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

23 . . . . EC Print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

20 . . . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

8 . . . . Hurst Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

25 . . . . JET Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC

17 . . . . Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

16 . . . . Kytec Athletic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

10 . . . . Lynx System Developers . . . . . . . . 13

26 . . . . M-F Athletic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC

21 . . . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

15 . . . . Omni-Lite Industries . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3 . . . . On Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5 . . . . OPTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

11 . . . . PowerLung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

4 . . . . Promats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

22 . . . . RGN Track Supplies. . . . . . . . . . . . 33

18 . . . . SmartVest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

19 . . . . Sportsline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

1 . . . . Springco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

12 . . . . Venue Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2 . . . . Xvest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

PRODUCTS D IRECTORYCIRCLE COMPANY PAGE NO. NO.

PRODUCTS D IRECTORYCIRCLE COMPANY PAGE NO. NO.

PRODUCTS D IRECTORY

More Products

Team EquipmentJET SPORTSWEAR

(866) 538-9327,www.jetsportswear.com

Stealth (all-season) and Polar Stealth(cool-/cold-weather) performance sports-wear from JET Sportswear, Inc., can help

athletesreach theirnext levelof per-formance.Thesecompres-

sion garments are made with exclusive,lightweight AM/P2 polypropylene fabricswith Moisture Migration Technology andAnti-Microbial protection manufacturedinto the material. It lasts the life of thegarment, and won’t wash out like other"wickwear." Available in men, womenand children sizes.


Snug- or loose-fitting performancesportswear from JET Sportswear, Inc. areideal for all-season/indoor wear. The

polyesterfabric hasan excep-tional feeland effec-tivelymigrates

moisture away from the skin for excel-lent athlete comfort. Available in longsleeve, short sleeve and sleeveless shirts,boxer brief short, loose workout shirtand loose workout short in S-XXXL sizes.


OMNI-LITE(800) 577-6664, www.omni-lite.com

Omni-Lite’s patented Christmas Tree styletrack spikes provide extra grip for fast

starts. Theselightweightspikes com-press thetrack allow-ing maxi-mum per-formance.

The Christmas Tree spikes are recom-mended for sprint events and are avail-able with extended threads for use withsprint crowns. Available in three lengths:1/8", 3/16", 1/4" and seven colors: Black,Silver, Fast Blue, Olympic Green, Violet,Fast Red, and Olympic Gold.


Omni-Lite’s ceramic spikes are 1/3 theweight of steel. The spikes are designedto compress the track allowing maximum

performance.The Pyramidspikes are rec-ommendedfor mid tolong distanceevents.Available in

five lengths: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2"and seven colors: Black, Silver, Fast Blue,Olympic Green, Violet, Fast Red, andOlympic Gold.


BODYGLIDE(888) 263-9454, www.bodyglide.com

BODYGLIDE® uniquely protects the sur-face of the skin against friction, whichcauses chafing, blisters and rash. It's for

all aspects of track andfield. It's comfortable,long-lasting, and mostof all, it is reliably effec-tive. The difference isthe formula which wasdeveloped for sportsendurance. Rather thanpetroleum, mineral oilor lanolin, the ingredi-ents are plant derived

triglycerides making BODYGLIDE easy toapply, non-messy, and water and sweatresistant.


EFUNDRAISING.COM(866) 224-8452,www.efundraising.com

Try World’s Finest Chocolate $2 StraightPacks for your next fundraising cam-paign! Your supporters will love thecreamy taste of these huge candy bars,and with up to 50% profit, your groupwill love the huge profits! Choose from

MilkChocolatewith AlmondBars, W.F. CrispBars,ContinentalAlmonds, orFund Raisin’s!Less work,

more profits: who could ask for more? Circle No. 69 on Reader Inquiry Card

HURST ENTERPRISE(812) 853-0901, www.hurstenterprise.com

The Eclipse II E-Z UP Shelter™ is thechoice of college and high school sportsprograms. It is superior to other versionsfound in retail stores. The white powder-

coated steelframe isstronger andlighter than theearliermodels. Thetop staysattached to the

frame and can be set up in seconds. Achoice of 22 fabric colors and graphics aswell as accessory items are available. This

product is used for X-Country; Track &Field; Soccer; and by trainers at all out-side events. Use to protect timing equip-ment; for a registration area and as ateam staging area. Now available is the10’ x 10’ Eclipse II Aluminum frame,which weighs in at 48 lbs. In 2004, weexpect to see this model made availablein the 10’ x 15’ and 10’ x 20’.


POWERLUNG(812) 853-0901, www.powerlung.com

PowerLung trains and strengthens all 12muscles in breathing, allowing you tofeel less winded and better equippedfor your next big game. Football is oneof the very few sports that truly tests

skill and fit-ness relatedcomponents.Your body ispushed to

the extreme and you still demand more.PowerLung will provide you with exactlyjust that, more. Your body is providedenergy through oxygen, which allowsyou to go fast and farther than youropponents.




leticBid.com www.A

www.AthleticBid.co

TOOLS To Help An increasingnumber of athletic trainers,

strength coaches and sports

medicine professionals are using

the Internet to identify and research

companies and products. If you’re

one of the many using the web to

reduce time spent on the phone with

suppliers, read on. We’ve enhanced

our AthleticBid.com Web site to assist

you with your research.

Following is a quicksummary of the Internet

reference information you can

now find on AthleticBid.com.

Looking forcompaniesand productsvia theInternet?

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SPORTTAPES

Aspor

SPORTTAPES

SPORTTAPES

A

o

SPORTTAPES

An increasing num-number of coaches, athlet-

ic directors and trainers are

using the Internet to identify and

research companies and products.

If you’re one of the many using the

web to reduce time spent on the

phone with suppliers, read on.

We’ve enhanced our

AthleticBid.com Web site to assist

you with your research.

Following is a quicksummary of the Internet

reference information you can

now find on AthleticBid.com.

SPORTTAPES

SPORTTAPESSPORTTAPES

AthleticBid.com www

On-line Buyer’s Guide,AthleticBid.com Training & Conditioning’s on-lineBuyer’s Guide is found on our Website, AthleticBid.com. AthleticBid.com is a free service to help buyersat schools and athletic organiza-tions research and contact compa-nies in the most efficient fashion.Using the Buyer’s Guide, you cansearch by product category or spe-cific supplier. Additionally, manyof the manufacturers’ listings inthe Buyer’s Guide include innova-tive features to make your supplierand product research even fasterand easier. Using the on-lineBuyer’s Guide you are able to:• View the complete product line

of companies. Seeing all of theproducts a company offers is veryhelpful when considering a com-pany as a potential supplier.

• View catalog pages or spec sheetsfrom many of the top

companies. Click on the “ViewCompany Brochures” button forthese companies, and you willfind PDF files titled by product orcategory. You can view thesepages on-line or print them outfor easy reference.

• Read a profile or description ofselect companies by clicking onthe “About the Company” button.

• Request to be contacted by a com-pany representative. If you’re notsure who the salesperson is foryour school, you can request thata representative contact youpromptly.

• Request catalog and sales litera-ture from companies. Simplyclick on a button and fill in youraddress and an e-mail with yourrequest is sent directly to the sup-plier.

Additionally, you can take advan-tage of other services on

AthleticBid.com:• Place requests tomany suppliers withone bid request. Usethe “Place an RFP”service to request

and receivei n f o r m a -tion fromnumeroussuppliers byprov idingyour prod-

uct specs only once and lettingAthleticBid.com do the rest.

• Locate your nearest dealer formany leading manufacturers andsuppliers. Type in your city &state or zip code and find thecontact information for thedealer/representative in yourregion.

• Purchase inventory close-outs,discontinued items and productson sale from national suppliersthrough the “Marketplace” sec-tion of AthleticBid.com. Theproducts featured in this sectionare being sold at significant sav-ings. This is your opportunity tobuy products of need at marked-down prices and save your ath-letic department money.

• Read about products throughthe “Product Connection” areaof the site. Products for yourteam or organization are high-lighted through both descrip-tions and photos. You canrequest sales literature on prod-ucts you’re interested in with justa click.

• Ask experts about products andtheir use through the ProductKnowledgebase. Post your ques-tions and get direct answers fromthe manufacturers and supplierswho carry the products of inter-est. You’ll receive e-mails fromthe companies that offer adviceregarding your questions.

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Jersey Field ProductsPark City, NJ 08832Phone: (800) 275-8000; (973) 222-3300 | Fax: (973) 222-3333Contact Name: John JamesEmail address: [email protected] Description: Your “One-Stop Source” for America’s Leading Sport Surfaces andSupplies! Special mixes for infields, pitcher’s mounds, home plate areas and warning tracks. Usedby over 100 pro teams and 5000 colleges, with 200 products from more than 20 distribution centersand bulk plants across the country. Call 1-800-275-8000 for more information.View Product Line

INTERNETYou Research ProductsOn The INTERNET

SPORTTAPES

Coaching Management’s on-line

Performance Apparel

McDAVID SPORTS/MEDICAL PRODUCTS

(800) 237-8254www.mcdavidinc.com

Product Name: McDavid Body Shirts(hDc Performance Apparel)

Features:Long sleeve, shortsleeve, sleeveless(mock/crew)Fabric content:85% nylon, 15%spandexStyles Offered:Nylon/spandexconstruction with

hDc Technology offers premium com-pression support Single-layer or multi-layer construction?Single-layerPerspiration Wicking Qualities:hDc is a permanent compound thatabsorbs moisture and disperses it intothe fabric evaporating moisture quickly. Chemical Treatments Used:Ultra hDc, hDc


Product Name: Microfiber Shirts (hDcPerformance Apparel)

Features:Long sleeve, shortsleeve, sleeveless(mock/crew). Fabric content:100% micro poly-esterStyles Offered:Microfiberloosewear is anultra light micro

polyester that provides maximum com-fort.Single-layer or multi-layer construction?Single-layerPerspiration Wicking Qualities:hDc is a permanent compound thatabsorbs moisture and disperses it intothe fabric evaporating moisture quickly. Chemical Treatments Used:Ultra hDc, hDc


NIKEwww.niketown.com

Product Name: Nike Pro CompressionFeatures:Nike Pro is featuredin sleeveless, longsleeve, mock, andtees, as well as shortsand tights. Nike ProCompression providescool, lightweight sup-port for your work-out. Made withstretch Dri-FIT tech-nology designed to

keep you dry and comfortable whileenhancing athletic performance. Fabric Content:62% polyester, 22% nylon, 16% spandexStyles Offered:Nike Pro featured in a sleeveless, longsleeve, mock, tee, short, and tight.Single-layer or multi-layer construction?Single-layerPerspiration Wicking Qualities:Made with stretch Dri-FIT technologydesigned to keep you dry and comfort-able while enhancing athletic perform-ance.

Chemical Treatments Used:In addition to fiber construction there isa wicking chemical finish.


Product Name: Nike Pro VentFeatures:Nike Pro Vent isfeatured in asleeveless, longsleeve, and shortsleeve top. NikePro Vent providescool, lightweightsupport for yourworkout.Strategically

placed vents are laminated to Dri-FITfabric to improve air flow and keep youdry and comfortable while enhancingathletic performance.Fabric Content:Body: 82% polyester, 18% spandexMesh: 86% polyester, 10% spandex, 4%otherStyles Offered:Nike Pro Vent is featured in a sleeveless,long sleeve, and short sleeve top.Perspiration Wicking Qualities:Made with stretch Dri-FIT technologydesigned to keep you dry and comfort-able while enhancing athletic perform-ance.Chemical Treatments Used:In addition to fiber construction there isa wicking chemical finish.


By Dale Strauf, Athletic Equipment Manager, CornellUniversity, and President of the Athletic EquipmentManagers Association

You don’t want to purchase any type of undergarment untilyou have had an opportunity to field-test it. In conductingthe field-test, evaluate the garment in the following areas:

� Does it perform the way it is supposed to on the athlete?� Does it hold its shape during use?� Does the fabric appear to be durable?� Are the seams finished off and reinforced so that they’ll

hold over time?� Is the waistband stitched enough so that it won’t be

abrasive to the athlete� Does it hold its color when you wash it?

You should field-test the garment by letting one of yourmore active players—someone who’s really going to give it alot of punishment—wear it during workouts. It’s best toconduct the testing right after the season’s offer during con-ditioning workouts. Have the athlete wear it for a minimumof two weeks to properly test it.

You shouldn’t have any problems getting companies to pro-vide you with product to field-test. The companies that arereally confident in their product will have no problem givingyou a sample to test. Let the company know that you willreturn the sample back to them at their request.

If the undergarment holds up to its claims during the field-testings, and the price and features meet your needs, thenyou know you are purchasing the right undergarment foryour athletes.

What athletes are wearing underneath their uniforms.

EXCLUSIVE and REVOLUTIONARY • Moisture Migration Technology™

and Anti-Microbial fabrics migrate

perspiration away from athlete’s

skin; resists mildew growth

and gym locker smell.

• Helps athletes stay cooler and drier

in competition and more comfortable

between events.

• Moisture Migration and Anti-Microbial

properties are engineered into

the Stealth and Polar Stealth

styles—not soaked in or sprayed

on like other “wickwear”.

■ Stealth for all-season wear. 1000 long sleeve shirt • 1001

short sleeve shirt • 1002 sleevelessshirt • 1003 compression short

• 1006 compression pant

■ Polar Stealth for cool/cold weather.2000 crew long sleeve shirt • 2001 mock

turtle long sleeve shirt • 2002 compressionpant

■ Spitfire for female athletes.4000 all sports bra • 4001 compression short

• 4004 Stealth running pant • 4005 Polar Stealthmock long sleeve shirt • 4006 Polar Stealth running pant

STYLES FOR MALE

& FEMALE ATHLETES!

P.O. Box 130 • 1117 Whitewater Ave. • Fort Atkinson, WI 53538Inquiries call 866.JETWEAR • 920.568.8775 • fax 920.568.8951 • www.jetsportswear.com • e-mail [email protected]

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES! WEAR JETWear.

Take athletes to their next level of PERFORMANCESPORTSWEAR

NEW!

Pamela Ryan241 S. Cleveland Ave. Ste. A2St. Paul, MN 55105651.698.0933651.698.4020 faxwww.designer-sports.com

Contact

Stealth

Polar Stealth

COLORS AVAILABLE:

OUTFIT YOUR TEAM TO HELP

THEM REACH THEIR NEXT

LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE.

Made in the USA

Circle No. 25

76 pages, indexed and neatly categorized by the T&F event, this latest edition showsoff the best quality items in full color photos, timely tips and advice. Add to this the knowledge offered by ourexperienced “phone service team”

and “road salesmen team” and you are on your way to fast service and satisfaction.Request our FREE '04 Bumper sticker.

M-F ATHLETIC COMPANY P.O. Box 8090 Cranston, RI 02920-0090 Toll-Free 800-556-7464 Fax: 800-682-6950

MarkStrawderman Eric Falk

Bill Falk

Our ‘04 Catalog Is Special!

Circle No. 26

coaching management 12.1

Documents

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