United States Sports Academy
America's Sports University^®

One does not have to dig out a tremendous amount of research to realize injuries among young athletes are on the rise. The headings of articles in Sports Magazines and Sports Medicine Journals say it all. Sport Safety and First Aid have become concepts that can’t be taken lightly. With legal liability issues being of major concern – Sport Safety and First Aid have become primary concepts that need to be addressed by all who are responsible for the coaching and training of young athletes today.

If you like to run, no matter how far, fast or often; or if you have simply thought about running, this is the book for you. It literally will keep you moving and if you have not started on the running path yet, the stories shared in the book are sure to inspire you. Every person who runs got started for a different reason, whether to get in shape, compete in a race for a cause, or spend time with a loved one who runs or to lose some unwanted pounds, the stories are different, but the end result is the same, running.

Introduction

On August 14, 2009, the Forest City Owls hoisted the franchise’s first Petitt Cup Trophy after a Coastal Plain League Championship Series sweep over the Peninsula Pilots. The Owls finished the season with an astonishing 51-9 record and, according to PerfectGame CrossChecker, the team finished the season ranked as the best collegiate summer baseball team in America. While the team was shattering Coastal Plain League (CPL) records on the field in 2009, the fans were breaking records in the stands the year prior. The Owls shattered the CPL record for season attendance in 2008 as they drew almost 64,000 to the ballpark. Without a doubt, the Owls and their diehard fan base in Forest City, North Carolina had plenty to celebrate as the team had accomplished some remarkable feats over the past two seasons.

Introduction

In The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman (2005) takes a look at how globalization is leveling the playing field in commerce. Friedman suggests that this new global frontier shifts companies from a top-down vertical platform to a horizontal relationship where geography, time and historical separations are no longer relevant. Concurrently, this horizontal paradigm is finding its way into the business organizational structure. The civil rights movement set the stage for the first shift away from the traditional business as ususal. The 1980s and 1990s saw further business changes through economic globalization and the widespread introduction to the internet. To adapt to this new economy and unprecedented access to information, organizations began to decentralize authority and empower employees just to keep up.

Before being jailed for illegally fighting dogs, Michael Vick was the spokesperson for several major companies. Many of the companies, whose products Vick endorsed, severed ties with him once he was convicted. Nike was one of those companies. However, in a surprise move, Nike recently re-signed Vick. This re-signing of Michael Vick, will all but guaranteed that the public and media alike will criticize Nike for another controversial and questionable decision. Why did Nike re-sign Vick to endorse their products? A cursory look at Nike’s business strategy will reveal why they chose to re-sign Michael Vick.

The most recent Heart and Stroke Foundation report warns that “a perfect storm of risk factors and demographic changes are converging to create an unprecedented burden on Canada's fragmented system of cardiovascular care.”1 Indeed, statistics show a significant and troubling rise in the number of Canadians affected by cardiovascular complications such as high blood pressure and diabetes. In an effort to combat these higher incidences of cardiovascular crisis, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is urging both the Canadian and provincial governments to begin funding and implementing coordinated national heart health strategies, which have been developed by cardiovascular researchers.

Over the last fifty years, there has been substantial evidence to support the importance of frequent participation in physical activity for the maintenance of good health and protection from chronic disease. Physical activity guidelines have been produced by expert panels worldwide, however without a clear picture of what constitutes physical activity these appear a little confusing for some to interpret.

Introduction

Coaches play a very important role in sport. In general, coaches teach and lead their players to complete tasks that govern their performance. There is plenty of research concerning coaches’ leadership strategies, traits and behaviors. The players or athletes that a coach teaches or leads have a wide variety of different personalities and characteristics. Each of these players’ needs are also different base on their varying levels of satisfaction for different aspects of their job, such as pay, working conditions, coaching supervision, or co-workers (Hughes, 2007). So the coach not must lead their players to conquer every different kind of situation they encounter, but also need to understand each of their players and communicate with them.

Introduction

Leadership and Psychological Skills

Within the same time period, the science of sport and exercise psychology has grown ex-ponentially. Questions about human behavior fueled the development of applied sport psycholo-gy. Psychology is the study of the mind and human behavior. Exercise/sport psychology is en-compassed in exercise and sport science. Exercise and sport science is multidisciplinary. It in-cludes a variety of different sciences: physical, social, and etc. Ultimately, exercise and sports psychology is simply the study of people’s behavior in the context of sport. This study may in-clude examining specific biomechanical patterns to identifying cultural values that impact beha-vior choice. Sport and exercise psychology incorporates theories and approaches of psychology into the context of sport and exercise science (Gill, 2000).