Resources for Athletes – Part 2

by Michelle Hill | August 17th, 2010 | View Comments

In a previous article I wrote about two valuable resources that professional athletes can use to manage and improve their lives.

In part 2, I’ll focus on Fan Inc., a new resource that helps former NCAA injured athletes receive the medical attention they deserve and I’ll also dive further into Sportsdrive to see how their high tech development tool helps athletes reach their highest potential possible.

FAN, Inc. Foundation for Athletes in Need - We see the glory of athletes when they’re ‘in the zone’ and hitting their game like a Trojan. We see the sweet victories and think to ourselves: “what an exciting life.” What we often don’t see is the chronic physical pain many athletes endure for years after they’re finished playing.

Steve Strinko, former Wolverine NCAA middle linebacker (1974 MVP) at the University of Michigan, founded FAN, Inc. in response to experiencing his own post-career medical issues. Steve also saw a serious gap in services for former student athletes who have been injured while participating in a NCAA sanctioned sport.

FAN’s mission statement succinctly states, “To provide financial assistance to qualified former student athletes who are experiencing hardships related to an injury incurred while participating in an NCAA sanctioned activity.” FAN, Inc.’s goal is to assist under- and uninsured individuals in obtaining relevant, professional medical services.

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Beckham, Thanks For The Memories

by Ash Read | August 11th, 2010 | View Comments

I’ll warn you now this isn’t one of my typical articles, if you’d like to read about how sports can utilise social media, I’m sorry to disappoint you (this time), but I feel sometimes we need to take a step back from social media and remember exactly why it is we love sport so much. This is simply an article to say thank you to a sporting icon and a true England legend.

Growing up in England, football was my first love and David Beckham was my first sporting idol. Last night it seems Fabio Capello called time on Beckham’s extraordinary England career when he said “I thank [David] very much for helping me at the World Cup but probably he is a little bit old.”

Even though Beckham has always come back stronger whenever he’s faced adversity or been dropped in the past, even as his biggest fan, I would admit that it’s hard to see him coming back this time.

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Alex Rodriguez and the Asterisk

by Sam Taggart | August 5th, 2010 | View Comments

Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in Major League Baseball history to hit 600 home runs, only the 7th ever to hit that milestone… Finally (A-Rod had gone 46 at-bats after his 599th home run before breaking the 600 mark). At 35 years and 8 days old, Rodriguez beat Babe Ruth to number 600 by just over a year and a half. And to reach a milestone that only seven players have ever reached over the course of more than a century is absolutely amazing. However, the big home run wasn’t nearly the event it could or should have been, because of A-Rod’s 2009 admission that he took performance enhancing drugs.

While the home run got an unspeakable amount of press (this article included), nearly every article from an unbiased source (e.g. NOT yankees.com) had to mention the steroids. There’s just no way around it; yesterday, Alex hit his 600th* home run, not his 600th home run.

The Steroids Era has forever changed the game of baseball. In the last eight years, four players have joined the 600 home run club. Of those four (Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez), three have taken or have been seriously accused of taking steroids (Bonds, Sosa, Rodriguez). Before 2002, only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays had hit 600, in over 100 years of professional baseball.

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How Mental Imagery Helps Athletes Succeed

by Michelle Hill | July 28th, 2010 | View Comments

What is Mental Imagery?

Classically, mental imagery has been defined as:

The ability to form mental images of things or events

By repeatedly calling up images in your mind and rewiring the circuits of your mind toward a realization of those images. The remarkable feature of imagery work is that it can be accompanied by physiological changes.

Experience that resembles perceptual experience, but which occurs in the absence of the appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception.

Involves focusing your mind to visualize yourself in a certain situation and doing well in that situation.

A cognitive psychological skill in which the athlete uses all the senses to create a mental experience of an athletic performance

There’s nothing mystical about mental imagery. Simply put, it’s a visualization exercise that helps not only athletes but anyone who desires increased success and performance. There’s multiple ways to practice it and it can be done in short spurts or for a long duration.

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The Power of Focusing

by Michelle Hill | July 19th, 2010 | View Comments

Without focus, football players miss passes, field goals, and audibles at the line of scrimmage. Without focus they can also miss correct formations, called penalties, and kick-off returns.

With the power of focus, players make Hail Mary receptions and speed through the line with force and fury. Blitz’s work. Nickel and dime packages make defensive strategies look like child’s play.

No doubt, focus makes and breaks games. It creates great players. Legendary coaches are made by laser focusing on how to best utilize the team’s talent.

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LeBron’s Exulted Brand Takes Detour

by Gail Sideman | July 8th, 2010 | View Comments

I swore to myself before the start of the NBA free-agency period that I wouldn’t write about LeBron James. Sports media are putting in enough hours of coverage about his team status, for all of us.

I realized, however, that I work in and write about sports publicity and PR, and since James announced he would share his intentions of what team he’ll join for the next few years in an hour-long broadcast on ESPN, his story became a good PR/bad PR story.

The fact is that his brand took flight the day he was proclaimed “King James.” With no NBA championship rings on his finger, that name has taken a hit in recent days. If my Twitter followers are any indication, his brand is a punch line right now. (I have to thank the tweeps for keeping me laughing with one-liners that highlights this and their own fake announcements.)

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Steroids and Football

by Michelle Hill | June 21st, 2010 | View Comments

In years past, the crucifixion of Barry Bonds in the baseball world brought steroid use to the public eye in a powerful way. Is it my imagination or does it seem more of an accepted practice in the world of football? Even the true confessions of Lyle Alzado (1980’s) and Bill Romanowski (2005) didn’t really make a dent in the media frenzy that ensued with Barry.

Perhaps the fans don’t want to see sluggish football players trot lazily across the field. Fans are more and more demanding of a fast-paced, challenging match-up with athletes at the top of their game. But is it really all about what the fans want or simply that steroid use is more accepted in football than in other sport?

Pro football, in the past several years, has seen a dramatic rise in steroid use among its athletes. Athletes know their career could be short; complicated contract agreements, free agency, and/or injuries (NFL = Not For Long), create the need to be the most powerful and explosive athletes they can be.

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The Off-Season Businesses of Pro Football Players

by Michelle Hill | June 9th, 2010 | View Comments

Just because a pro player has on-field success does not mean he’ll have automatic off-field business success. He often struggles with identity crisis issues when his name and face doesn’t bring immediate recognition. The NFLPA works hard to provide players and retired players with the tools and resources to be successful during post-football life.

The NFLPA offers financial education, a Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program, and many life/relationship coaching programs. It’s like anything else in life; the more a player educates himself in the options available and utilizes the tools at his disposal, the more he’ll get out of those resources.

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The NFLPA Helps Players Retain Benefits

by Michelle Hill | May 21st, 2010 | View Comments

Nolan Harrison III played 10 years for the LA/Oakland Raiders, Steelers and the Redskins. He’s now a Vice President with First Midwest Bank’s Trust and Investment Management and a hard-working advocate for the (NFLPA) National Football League Players Association. The NFLPA was originally established by the players for the players in 1956 to help gain the much needed benefits for their post-football lives.

The NFLPA Players Assistance Trust Fund is in place to assist players faced with catastrophic financial and health-related issues. Former players may apply for grants at the maximum $20,000 amount for financial/medical needs and $10,000 educational grants (undergraduate needs only). Since its inception, the fund has paid out $7.1 million dollars as of 2009.

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Wonderlic Test vs. a Player’s True Potential

by Michelle Hill | May 13th, 2010 | View Comments

At every scouting combine, the Wonderlic Test is given to would-be NFL players. Is this test really just a basic intelligence test and does a players potential depend on the results?

50= highest possible score, superior intelligence

21= average intelligence

14= equivalent to unskilled worker

Below 14= moron

Let’s take a few quarterback examples from NFL history.

Dan Marino scored a 16. According to the Wonderlik Test, Dan should have been happy as a blue collar worker, making a low wage. Instead he was a 9-time Pro Bowler, 3-time First-Team All-Pro, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005. Not bad for only getting a few questions right.

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