RECONNECTING WITH "HEART" by Marla Richmond     

If you rely too much on machines to set your style and stride, you risk becoming immobilized in the likely event of a computer crash. Instead of depending on back-up plans, take a step back and try making alternative plans. You may find new direction in your own natural resources. You also may reconnect with yourself and others with a little less haste and a lot more “heart.”  

TECHNICAL BREAKDOWNS BRING OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW DIRECTION

The afternoon that I began writing this month’s section, my computer had evidently caught a virus. Among other symptoms, the keyboard went haywire. About every ten key strikes, it froze. Then, it would suddenly spray the page with a stream of random letters. After about two hours of running virus scans and restarting the computer, in utter frustration, I resorted to a novel idea. I grabbed a month’s worth of notes, a pad of notebook paper, a pen, and wrote it in longhand. I did it while working out on my elliptical trainer.  (more...)     

It has been my experience in the coaching profession that coaches are so motivated to win that they forget some of the main reasons sports began and exists for young people, especially teenagers and high school athletes. Historically speaking, interscholastic sports were started because of the social, mental, and physical results that could be had by participation.

The purpose of this article is the renewal of one of these objectives by asking coaches to make fitness, in particular cardiovascular fitness, one of your objectives. Although some sports such as cross country demand this, more often than not the goal of a healthy level of cardiovascular fitness gets pushed to the side in many sports. The pressure to win forces many coaches to forget that one of the reasons their sport exists is to do just this! This article will show coaches how to re-birth this objective in all phases of their coaching regardless of the sport.    (more)     

Many years ago when I was pursuing a master’s degree, a series of events happened that forever changed my life and the life of a young boy with Cerebral Palsy (CP). I’m not a novelist so bear with me while I try to organize this story in a most meaningful way.

One of my master adapted physical education (APE) classes had a volunteer/community service component as a requirement, which by the way, I would encourage all college professors to integrate community service into their classes. One of the sites that I elected to volunteer at was an elementary school where I taught three children with disabilities. Two of the children were mobile with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) and the third, intellectually normal, used a wheelchair and had severe CP.    (more...)     

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE by Elyse Morin
Alzheimer’s (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that begins to progressively affect the brain at around age 60. The chances of getting AD increase with age and if a family member has also had the disease, as three genes have been pinpointed that cause early familial AD. It is predicted that by the year 2040, about 14 million people living in the United States will have AD or some other form of dementia (1). The disease itself is caused by an extreme accumulation of amyloid protein in the brain causing abnormal clumps, or plaques, and the tangling of fiber bundles. Behaviorally, people with AD exhibit “memory loss, language deterioration, impaired ability to mentally manipulate visual information, poor judgment, confusion, restlessness, and mood swings.” The progression to full blown AD can take anywhere from five to twenty years depending upon physical and mental health.    (more...)     

PLANNED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INVOLVING INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM: BENEFITS AND GUIDELINES by Stephanie Todd
It is estimated that more children in the United States have autism than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one out of every 150 children in the United States has some form of autism. Campaigns urging parents, teachers and health professionals to, “Learn the Signs. Act Early” spawn from research indicating the overwhelming benefits of early intervention with this spectrum of disorders. Although there is no cure for autism, recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of intensive treatment programs which include educational and behavioral treatment plans, medications, and even exercise therapy. Utilizing vigorous physical activity as a means of therapy for children with autism has shown to be a successful means of improving both physical fitness and managing inappropriate behaviors like stereotypical behaviors, outbursts, and pacing, which are common to this disorder.    (more...)