Huge Athletic Feats

This e-newsletter topic will be an ongoing series. New entries will be included as other events occur:

Posted in HAHPN - March #1 2013 on 3/9/2013
There is normal. Then, there is plain...what!...And...whoa!

To run like a freight train, carrying a load like this 350lbs. high school running back is mind boggling. I hope this video gives insight to athletes who think they cannot move because they are a certain size.

There are rivalries that go back and forth. Then, there are rivalries that have unexpected and exceptional finishes for the glory of athletics! New Rochelle Buzzer Beater

The Chicago Blackhawks are the NHL's most successful team in this shortened season. To go undefeated in 24 games at any level and in any sport is remarkable even if ties are permitted. Face it...no losses! To lose the first game on the 25th try is nothing to fret about.

HAHPN - March #2 2013 on 3/15/2013
As a huge athletic feat, the movement and dismantling of the Big East is hidden. But, creating an entirely different conference creates other opportunities yet ends annual rivalry games.

Overcoming cancer and playing at a high level. In the quietly covered level and sport of college ice hockey. You only need to hop to Canisius College to see this story.

Who says boxing is a lost art? Bernard Hopkins gets his work done! Age is really just a number.

Save the generic stuff for the...generics. This focus and skill is fantastic! Tomas Jurco

Rise up! Never mind playing defense. You, Brandon Knight, just got posterized and T-shirted:



For HAHPN #3 - March 2013
It is more than just an athletic feat but also a social, educational, and personal feat that involves sports and fitness in New York for at risk teens. Very positive.

May be it is the time of year. May be it is simply the sport, but basketball gets a lot of attention for athletic feats (check out these female high school ballers) Why? Well, it could be do the way the game is structured. Heaving a ball 40 feet for a buzzer-beater is easier to launch when a player is uncontested or jumps in a way to hide the ball from the defender. How many times have you aimed toward your exercise goal with a "defender" in the way"? Did you nail it with some sound mental imagery (for the sports psych buffs)?

And now for the marathoners: Marathon season is coming up with some races already completed around the nation. Washington, DC had its Rock 'N Roll USA Marathon. Then, there is the Gusher Marathon out of Beaumont, TX where Iram Leon, a father who is terminally ill with a brain tumor, won the event while pushing his daughter in a stroller. Won the event. The human body is awesome. It does wondrous things, so never say never!

We also have Julie Weiss who ran 52 marathons in as many weeks...52 in 52. Schedule or participate in more walks, runs, or bicycling events this year!

I hope that after roughly seven years of writing mass emails, e-newsletters, and blogging that someone now understands the importance of human performance arsenal.

HAHPN - March #4 2013 - posted in HAHPN 3/25/2013
Armed and Ready as you may know him on the Travel Channel. Kevin Michael Connolly gets around because he moves in a different manner. He probably moves faster than most people.

Sergio Garcia of the PGA Tour makes golf look really athletic in this tree shot. Making adjustments is a serious thing in life and in athletics.

Again, basketball makes this athletic list because it is that time of year. Aaron Craft makes it look easy from downtown/behind the arc. Elation! What do you do when your game is on the line?

HAHPN - April #3 2013 - posted in HAHPN 4//2013
Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!...What are the lyrics to that song again? Oh yea, "don't start no stuff won't be no stuff!" In a standoff to see who has the best agility, the goose wins!

I love jump roping. It is fun. It targets many muscles. It's a safe cardio workout. It's also a safe plyometric and coordination workout. She makes it look very easy.

Speed. Whoever thought mountain biking would be so incredibly fast!

Definitely, this feat is the most amazing of all of them so far. Cutting your career short to save someone's life. Check this one out
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Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                   TEEM Performance Training                   www.teempt.com

Fighting for Your Cause

This e-newsletter entry will be a running series as more news comes and is picked:

From 3/9/2013 - HAHPN - March #1 2013:
Fight for your cause...A Bulgarian Wrestling Coach who is fighting for his sport as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sets to clip it from the Olympic Games. What would you do if someone or if an agenda was set to work against the very thing you love to do? On a total opposite note, the weather plays as a thwarting figure. When it snows, it is more difficult to run and bike outdoors. It is possible, but it is difficult.

Fight period...A incident involving high school football players in 2011. Adversity strikes. But, how do you forgive yourself in order to push forward? As the Boston Marathon approaches, there will be so many stories of triumph and survival from many runners. At some point the runners had to simply set things aside and say, "I can run this marathon!"

Fight for everything...Sometimes, you have to go all out even if it means making amends. I am not endorsing a movie, but the movie, Warrior, is really good. Of course, it involves sports, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Training, exercising, and pushing through hard sessions brings out...fights. What are you fighting for? Are you fighting for yourself? Are you fighting to make sure your family gets involved with physically pushing themselves?

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                          TEEM Performance Training                www.teempt.com

Widen Your Playing Field

The National Football League is considering widening its playing field. Check it out here. What does that mean? Who cares?

Well, there are important circumstances. Routes will be run differently. Wide receivers, defensive backs, and linebackers would have more area to cover, which means they will have to sprint longer distances. Agility will have to work for 17.5 extra feet to either side of the field.

Sometimes, you have to widen your playing field in order to produce better results. Now, the NFL gets results. But, the regular "Joe/Jane Schmo" may need more options when trying to fit into that spring/summer bikini or old one piece. Or, squeeze into some Levi's - do they still make them? Or lastly, finish a race or fitness challenge. For athletes, widening the playing field most likely takes on a literally perspective - the field or court on which they play is widened.

Simple as that.

For general fitness individuals, widening your playing field more closely means to widen your resources. With the spring season arriving, outdoor activities will increase. Or, At least they should increase. You know those pants or that suit you used to wear and would like to look good in again? Well, it is still time right now to get your body moving and in shape. March holds Easter this year, but it is also a month where individuals slack off their exercise regimens. All of those so-called New Year's resolutions to go to the gym dwindle. Either people give up, quit, do not care, or run into some kind of rut without knowing how to escape it.

Do not let 2013 be a narrow year for you. Widen its resourceful parts and not your hindparts.

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                         TEEM Performance Training                      www.teempt.com

Christmas Abbott

You saw the story of Latipha Cross. Now, what about the fortitude of Christmas Abbott.

I do not want to compare the two of them. In fact, I will not. But, they have some pretty cool names. Hey, you can even interchange them. "Christmas Cross". "Latipha Christmas".

OK, back to feats.

I like it when anyone overcomes the expected odds. The times when an individual rises above the status quo. It is the short male who can dunk a basketball. The female who is strong as an ox and has a clean regimen. The teenager who plays with the pros. And, of course, the elderly person who is physiologically stout and sound.

The biggest thing that all of these individuals have is attitude (see Stellartude). Their attitude is awesome. It allows all of them to excel when others may think otherwise. It allows...get this...it allows them to have a job or career or even a family. Just read the first paragraph of Christmas' story (no pun intended). C'mon, "half her weight". Would you love to have a job where you must often lift something half your weight? We trainers, coaches, and strength and conditioning specialists barely do that. When we help someone, trust me...it is not with maximum assistance. Working out with half our weight is another story. But, the average person who trains with a health professional is not lifting weights half their weight.

In an entirely male dominated part of a male dominated sport...Christmas is gettin'er done!

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                       TEEM Performance Training                            www.teempt.com

Latipha Cross

There are stories that end up in the category of "stories". Then, there are stories that end up in the category of "you really must hear this story". Talk about overcoming adversity at a very young age, Latipha Cross has a must hear story. I will end this message here. Her story

Derek Arledge, CSCS                            TEEM Performance Training                   www.teempt.com

Black History Month Athletic Movement

Is there a hashtag yet? #BHM?

Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Robinson, Willie O'Ree, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, and a host of other black athletes have witnessed adversity and rose to the top of their respected sports or made a lasting impact. All of them are pioneers:

Jesse Owens - Overcame the odds at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936.

Wilma Rudolph - The first fastest black woman before the likes of Flo-Jo, Marian Jones, and Carmelita Jeter.

Jackie Robinson - A man who can be simply recognized by the number 42. The first black athlete to sustain a career in the major leagues.

Willie O'Ree - The first black (Canadian) ice hockey player to grace the ice of the NHL (National Hockey League). Mike Grier was the first U.S. born black hockey player.

Charles Follis - the first black professional football player.

Jim Brown - He may be better known as a dominant running back for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL (National Football League). However, he sometimes gets nabbed as the best lacrosse player.

Earl Lloyd, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Hank DeZonie, and Chuck Cooper - the first African-American NBA (National Basketball Association) players.

Bill Russell - You only need to watch old clips of him as a Boston Celtic. He dominated the league and can arguably be one or the most dominant player in the history of basketball. He even served as the first black coach in the NBA.

Other firsts and trailblazers include the following:
Wendell Scott - auto racing
Arthur Wharton - professional soccer
Fritz Pollard - NFL coach
John "Buck" O'Neil - MLB owner
Robert Johnson - NBA owner
Shani Davis - speed skating

So, what is your dream?

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                      TEEM Performance Training                    www.teempt.com

Unsung Sporting Events - Do We Appreciate?

Lacrosse. NASCAR. NCAA Winter Championships in swimming and diving, wrestling, gymnastics, and ice hockey.

Football has ended. Professional ice hockey and basketball are in-season. Baseball arrives in April. College basketball gets its show in March. But, these sports have their say in popularity. The sports listed in the beginning do not garner as much attention unless you are already a fan of them.

We are approaching the time of year when smaller sports begin to thrive. This message is a plea to try and enjoy them. You might be amazed at what you learn and see. Lacrosse is one of the fastest sports played with one of the shortest in-seasons. NASCAR is a sport, and therefore, is the fastest sport (J'ai Lai is pretty fast too). The NCAA Championships, though highly entertaining, are rarely televised unless you have special cable channels. But, man are they different from the normal ho-hum that individuals watch.

Every year or every season, sports fans act as if they cannot try to watch another sport.  I do find it difficult to watch golf and would rather watch a bunch of cars and their sponsors race around a track. But, we are not going to miss out on everything if we simply attempt to watch another sport for which we do not normally care.

So, here is some encouragement: try to watch a sport that you wish you knew more about. Do not watch it for the things you may dislike about it. Instead, watch it for the things you do not understand. For example, many individuals do not understand why auto racing is entertaining. Therefore, watch it for the strategies that are involved - watch one team member path the way for another team member. Also, many individuals are not college sports fans. Well, watch the college game for the rivalries, school spirit, and the youth of the athletes.

You will be entertained.

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                              TEEM Performance Training