6 Reasons Kids Quit Sports

Writing a post about how kids shouldn't specialize in a particular sport when they're too young may seem a bit disingenuous for me. After all, as a college coach, I directly benefit from our culture's obsession with organized youth sports. In my opinion, most kids in youth sports aren't playing because they have a deep and lasting love of their particular sport, but because their friends play and their parents make them go. Sport should be fun for even the most highly skilled young athletes.

Beyond fun, parents and coaches should encourage youth athletes to play all sorts of sports so that their bodies can rest. Young kids can play volleyball in the fall, soccer in the winter, and run track in the spring. They're still working out and being healthy, but not overtaxing the same muscle groups by playing the same sport year-round. You can read more about this by reading Dr. Geier's blog post, How Young Is Too Young?.

So what makes kids decide to quit playing?

They've lost interest. After a year of playing, maybe your eight-year-old realizes that soccer isn't as great as she thought it would be...that's probably okay.

They're not having fun. Even for my college athletes, I think fun is important. We play games, not works, sport should be fun.

They're tired of playing. Think about the youth sport carousel: practice a couple of times a week after school, get up early on Saturdays and Sundays to play in tournaments...it can be a grind. I always wonder how the parents balance it all, maybe it would be a similarly good question to wonder how the kids manage it.

There's too much emphasis on winning. While I believe in the value of teaching winning and losing with grace, if the coach or parent is just focused on winning (at all costs), I'm sure it can be taxing on the kid. I certainly don't think everyone should get a trophy at the end of the day, but we've got to teach the children that there are winners beyond what the scoreboard shows.

They want to participate in other activities. Hopefully we want to create well-rounded children who play basketball and lacrosse...but who are also artists and singers and members of the orchestra. Participation in sports shouldn't exclude our children from loving other things.

They feel too much pressure. It's probably the coach in me saying this, but pressure from the moment (needing to hit a free throw shot to win the game) is a great life lesson. Pressure from their mom and dad in the car on the way home as they dissect every moment of the game is probably not the best.

Of course, there may come a time for middle or high school aged kids to focus on a particular sport, but there's no need to rush it. Ultimately, we all want kids to love sports. We believe that sports are great for many reasons, let's make sure we don't steal the love of the game away from our kids.

Dawn Redd is the Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College. Come visit Coach Dawn's community of coaching nerds and team leaders over at her blog, http://www.coachdawnwrites.com/, where she teaches how to become an excellent coach, motivate individuals, and build successful teams.

Her book, Coach Dawn's Guide To Motivating Female Athletes, is available for purchase on her website.

Follow Coach Dawn on Twitter: @CoachDawnWrites

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Five Reasons To Avoid Cheap Foam Coolers

High Quality Foam Coolers Actually Save You Money, Prevent Frustration, and Help The Environment

The coming of spring often signals the onset of beach-seeking Spring Break crowds and the obligatory trash leavings on beaches and shorelines all along Southern United States (and California) coastlines. Unfortunately, foam coolers tend to be the most noticeable of all the litter because of individual size volume and an already existing negative reputation. This article explains the five main reasons why avoiding the purchase of cheap, flimsy, throw-away foam coolers and buying high-quality, long-lasting ones instead is an effective approach to help reduce the amount of trash carelessly cast into the environment when people are out to have a good time.

Perception of Cheapness

When people buy cheap things - especially if they're making an impulse purchase - they hold a very small (if any at all) perception of value in regard to those items, and as a result invest no personal sense of caring for the product. When people buy quality, they have a higher expectation of the product and their own treatment of that item, tending to hold onto such for longer periods of time and with greater care. A quality foam cooler is usually perceived and treated differently than a cheap one. High quality products cost more and thus receive more respect.

Poor Quality

Cheap foam coolers are not so much intentionally flawed as they are "rushed" through the manufacturing process with the least amount of raw material for the purpose of maximizing profits. The thickness and density of the foam and the time invested to fuse it together are vital factors determining whether the product is weak, leaky, and fragile. Increased quality means more time on the line to properly fuse a denser amount of material to boost strength, leak resistance, and reliability. It also means manufacturer quality control testing to ensure that the public doesn't get stuck with inferior goods.

Lower Customer Satisfaction

That already existing perception of cheapness combined with overwhelming evidence perpetuated by years-long sales of lousy products at cheap prices has resulted in a negative bias that has to be overcome if minds are going to be changed. Too many people expect foam coolers to fail, and are shocked if on some rare occasion they come across those that don't. The types of coolers used to ship seafood and pharmaceutical goods tend to different than those too often found on department store shelves. Food and drug companies cannot afford to use coolers that break and fail, and so rely only on the best to get the job done. When the public gets hold of this kind, they are pleasantly surprised to discover that there are foam coolers on the market that can last for years and are not made to be thrown away.

Increased "Littering" Risk

The lack of concern that results from a perception of cheapness means that such items are highly likely to end up being thrown away after use because so many people simply couldn't care less. When young people see their peers tossing broken, badly made foam coolers into the environment, the attitude is frequently one of, "Oh well, it's all just cheap throwaway." Such social apathy is eliminated when the perception is reversed, oriented toward quality.

Poor Education On The Recycling Option

Sellers of low-grade foam coolers seldom (if ever) take proactive measures to let the buying public know that said items can be recycled. The pervasive attitude is keyed more to increasing profits by moving thousands of units, which somewhat neglects the greater public good. The public good is served by getting the word out about the need and practicality of EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) foam recycling. This could mean sacrificing some "buy me" marketing for "recycle or reuse me" public service branding, but in the end we all benefit.

There are now more than 200 resources nationwide available for curbside, drop-off, or mail-in recycling of EPS foam products, with that number continually increasing every year. As of 2010, more than 71 million pounds of EPS foam products are annually recycled with more than 50% of that being used to make products, thus contributing to economic growth and jobs creation.

These five reasons to avoid buying cheap foam coolers build a strong case for buying the higher quality ones instead. By investing just a little bit extra, customers can enjoy knowing that they've bought a more reliable item that lasts a long time and is both reusable and recyclable. If enough people demand this of retailers all over the nation, then we will inevitably elevate product quality standards while simultaneously decreasing the amount of EPS foam cooler trash cast onto our beaches and into the environment.

My name is Riley Marquette and I'm a content provider for http://www.loboy.com/ and The Bear Facts (Lifestyle) Blog. I'm an admitted, unabashed, stark raving fan of LoBoy Foam Coolers and Insul-Pak Insulated Foam Shippers and other related Magna Manufacturing, Inc. products. It's not about the cooler - it's about the FUN YOU HAVE WITH THE COOLER!

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7 Reasons Why You Have To Love Sports

You have to like sports, even if you're not a fan. If that doesn't make sense to you, allow me to explain.

Sports contain many of the essential traits of life which make a person successful and happy. Whether or not you are a fan of any particular sport, you need to appreciate what they are and what's going on within them. Let me be clear, you don't have to enjoy watching a quarterback drop back and throw a football down the field for a touchdown. However, if you want to be the best person you can be, you do need to examine what it took to make that throw possible.

Too often people look at sports as just the physical actions which make the sport go back and forth on television. The true lessons that can be taken from athletes and applied to the rest of life are much less the physical things and much more the mental things.

So what makes a good athlete and how does that pertain to you? Let's begin to look at few of the attributes that are important for more than just jocks.

Dedication

I'll start with one that encompasses many others, dedication. Successful athletes are not born that way, they realize they have a passion for their craft and dedicate themselves to being the best they can be. There is no substitute for hard work, if you're sitting somewhere waiting for somebody to give you what you want in life, you 'll be waiting a long time. In the sports world this is even more true. As a player on the field, an athlete knows that there are always countless people working tirelessly to earn a spot themselves. Without dedication an athlete will never be the best they can be. They will never ascend to, or remain at, the level of success they desire or are capable of achieving. Neither will a writer, a business person, or any other person looking to be something more than they are today.

Persistence

I said that dedication encompassed many others, and persistence can certainly be included in the dedication banner. However it's unique enough to deserve it's own explanation. A successful athlete spends countless hours honing their abilities and perfecting their approach. A baseball player may swing at, and miss, dozens of pitches throughout a season. However, he knows that with each miss he can learn something and apply it to his next hundred swings in hopes of missing less going forward. Athletes take the saying "If at first you don't succeed, try again" to an entirely new level. It is the mantra of an athlete, failure breads determination, forces education, ushers in fresh perspective, and requires steadfast persistence. A person who behaves this way in the real world with regards to their professional career will truly be a success waiting to happen.

Respect

Sports are demanding, they're hard. The skills necessary to perform well in most sports are difficult to learn and hard to consistently get right. Athletes learn early on a great respect for the game they're playing and for their opponents. Coaches demand respect, officials within the game demand respect, and the sport that can beat the athlete all by itself almost any time it wants certainly commands respect. There just is no way an athlete can get to the top without admiring and respecting those who came before them and those who are working just as hard along side them. Every person in life needs to have a healthy respect for the arena within which they're performing. It inspires, it motivates, it's admirable to peers, and it gains respect back from those peers. Gaining respect and trust and sharing those things mutually with those we're surrounded by, gives our lives a more robust meaning and makes our chances of success much greater.

Attitude

Life is all about attitude, sports are all about attitude times ten. If an athlete sets their mind to working hard and being the best, they're nearly impossible to stop. On the other hand, if the same athlete allows a failure or a frustration to create negativity or pessimism, there is almost nothing that can be done to motivate that player. Athletes must take control of their emotions and their attitudes, regardless of outside conditions, and create a desire and will from within themselves. Outside influences bombard each and every person in life, some are good and some are downright negative. Each person though has control over their own attitude, always and no matter what. If you think today will be a good day, it probably will be.

Confidence

Perhaps the most important cog in the wheel of success in sports is confidence. A player in any sport must believe that they can achieve the goal or accomplishment they desire. Coaches will spend entire seasons of effort chasing after this single characteristic in a player and in a team. A confident player is elevated by success and is instructed by defeat. They believe they are the best, they believe they will succeed, and they dedicate themselves to doing so. Having faith in yourself is the number one prerequisite for succeeding in your endeavors. Without confidence challenges are seen as game changers, as insurmountable obstacles. With confidence they are seen as ladders to the top rather than hurdles.

Teamwork

Almost all athletes learn early on that the people around them, be they teammates or just coaches, are just as valuable to their rise than they themselves are. It's one of the best lessons, in my opinion, that is learned during the course of youth sports and one that is carried on for as long as an athlete participates. The idea that you can't do it on your own, that no matter how strong and confident you are, there are going to have to be allies and partners to support and elevate you. In real life this can be family, friends, colleagues, or anybody who can contribute to your success and aid your development. This is also where some players and some professionals will cultivate their leadership skills. For any team or group of people to operate well together, their must be cohesion and chemistry. There must be those who lead and those who don't, taking the strengths of every member to create a group that's greater than the sum of its' parts.

Knowledge

Going back to the quarterback we used early on as an example, most people have no idea how much time went in to studying before he made that throw. Some play books in the National Football League are almost a thousand pages long, and the quarterback has to know every word inside and out. Combine that with having to know every defensive strategy that another team may attempt to deploy and the dozens of variations from game to game depending on specific players and coaches and field conditions, and a clearer picture starts to form of the enormous amount of information a top level athlete must know. Pitchers in baseball spend hours every day reading reports about their opponents strengths and weaknesses, and their opponents do the same about them.

Knowledge is an extremely important pillar in successful athletes, and in any professional in any walk of life.

There are other things also. Athletes take great care to remain as healthy as possible, eating the best foods that they can and working out with religious dedication. They 'play hard' and put it all on the line when they're in the field or on the court. Athletes form extremely strong bonds with those they play with and learn to rely on each other for support. They are motivated, they have a lot of energy, they know how to share credit, and on and on. There are many things athletes do everyday that everyday people can learn a great deal from.

Whether or not you appreciate the actual games, it's impossible to ignore the immense amount of hard work and true dedication it takes to succeed at a high level in sports. Almost everybody has a passion or an endeavor in their life which they would like to succeed at. If you want one piece of advice from me on how you can make that success a reality, it would be to look to the wide world of sports. You don't have to be a fan to like them.

Jake Bryan is a lead author in the Baseball Brains Training System. He wrote several chapters in the manual, and is the lead author of the blog.

Baseball Brains provides a ton of free content which is instructional, entertaining, and available in many places. The best two places to go are linked below. Thanks for reading!

The Blog: http://www.baseballbrains.net/blog.html
Baseball Brains Homepage: http://www.baseballbrains.net/

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Reasons to Have a Sports Massage

Most people think that sports massages are only for athletes. The fact is that anyone can actually have a massage. Sports massage can help many people who suffer from a range of different ailments. To better understand if you should have one you should know what happens during the massage as well as why you should have one.

Why you should have a sports massage

Sports massage is actually a version of Swedish massage. Within the realm of massage are four other kinds which are pre-event massage, post-event massage, restorative and rehabilitative. Restorative and rehabilitative massage can be used by people who are not athletes. So why should you have this kind of massage?

• If you have a problem with a joint. This is particularly helpful if you are suffering from pain or stiffness in joints like the knee or elbow. Not only will a massage help loosen the joints but the therapist will be able to give you tips on how to prevent the injury from coming back.

• If you have pain or tension in your muscles. Muscles tension can be caused by a number of things and they will not all be sports related. Incorrect posture or bad sitting habits can cause tension and pain in your muscles.

• If you are an athlete then a sports massage can help keep you supple. Massage before a race or event will give you the same benefits as stretching. Of course the best effects will be felt with consistent massage before and after events.

What can be learnt in massage courses?

If you want to help people then doing massage courses may be the best option for you. By doing one of these courses you will learn a number of techniques that can help alleviate pain and increase the abilities of an athlete. So what exactly will you learn on one of these courses?

• Anatomy is probably the first thing taught in any course. You need to know how the parts of the body connect in order to help people. You will learn about the skeletal structure as well as the muscles.

• Clinical issues will be covered as well. This will include safe treatment, the regulations on this kind of massage and professionalism and ethics.

• Techniques used for the massage. Two of the techniques that you will learn about will be basic stokes and palpation.

• Diagnosis and assessment is another part of the course. You have to know how to tell what the problem is with someone if you want to help them.

• Post care advice is something else you will need to learn. By knowing this you will be able to help people function as they once did after your work is done.

People go for sports massages for a range of reasons. Some are athletes who need to stay supple while others need help with an ailment that is not sports related. The therapist will be able to identify if massage is the best way for you to go.

This article was submitted by Simona Rusnakova, SEO Marketing consultant of 3r.ie, on behalf of National Training Centre - providing Massage Courses, Pilates Courses and Personal Trainer Certification.

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Reasons I Recommend Gibbon Slacklines

I just started slacklining and bought one of the Gibbon slacklines and I have been loving it. Slacklining is a great sport for kids and adults and it is really easy to get in to. It's a great challenge, gives you a good workout and is a lot of fun. I highly recommend giving it a try.

I'd like to share a few reasons why I decided to go with the Gibbon slackline. If you're looking at buying a slackline I can highly recommend Gibbon. I've had mine now for several months and am very happy with my purchase.

Here's why I chose one of the Gibbon Slacklines:

I looked around the web some before buying a slackline to see what my options were and to try to find the best value for my money. Most of them are made very similar, so it didn't take me long to see that price was really the main factor for me in this purchase.

I should tell you that it is possible to set up your own slackline, but you do have to buy webbing and some other equipment to be able to do it. It's also a little tricky to get it tight enough. If you buy a slackline kit, you have everything you need and it is easy to get the required tension with the included ratchet system. The kits take about 2 minutes to set up and aren't really that expensive, so in my opinion they are well worth it.

The Gibbon slackline that I ended up buying was definitely very easy to set up and was significantly cheaper than some of the other options out there. Other companies that make them include Mammut and Trango.

Gibbon slacklines have a great reputation and are probably by far the most popular slackline manufacturer. Backpacker Magazine gave their slackline an Editor's Choice award in 2009. Their company also showed up in the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show when their sponsored athlete, Andy Lewis, was featured on stage with Madonna, doing tricks on one of the Gibbon slacklines.

Due to their notoriety and the price, it was pretty easy for me to decide on buying one of their slacklines. I've had the line now for several months and am very satisfied. It's easy to set up, seems like it will last a long time, and I can't think of any reason to buy one of the more expensive brands.

After wanting a slackline for quite a while, I'm very happy with the one I ended up buying. Gibbon lived up to what I expected and I recommend you give one of their slacklines a try.

Ray Peters is a writer who specializes in outdoor activities and sports products. You can check out his latest website where he reviews Gibbon Slacklines and a range of other slacklines.

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