Archive for Great Resources
Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day
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February 3, 2010 is the 24th annual celebration of women and girls in sports – a day where thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletic directors, recreation directors, association members, sponsors, students, and parents across the country will show their support of the day and of this year’s theme, “Stay Strong, Play On,” according to the National Association of Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS).
” Despite the stunning advances made in the 38 years since Title IX was enacted, high school girls still receive 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities than do boys, and evidence suggests that the money spent on girls’ sports programs lags significantly behind the money spent on boys’ programs.”
Take time today to celebrate your sport, help increase awareness in your community and get active! Stop by the Women Talk Sports site for complete coverage of National Girls and Women in Sports Day and find out how it is being celebrated by individuals and organizations across the country. You can also enjoy the slideshow compiled by Women Talk Sports from their contributors:
Getting Ready for the Big Game
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The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts are set to clash in Super Bowl XLIV on February 7th. For many the Super Bowl means parties and commercials – and a little bit of football, too.
If you are hosting a Big Game party, you should go check out my latest article for Snackpicks.com for some great tips on planning your gathering, ways to keep the party moving, activities for the kids and post-game cleanup.
Some of the tips include:
- At the beginning of the game, have each guest pick a player. Every time a player’s name is mentioned, they get a point. Create a board or system for keeping track. At the end of game, the person whose player’s name was mentioned most, wins.
- Cover a card table (or similar) with butcher paper. Put out a bucket (or helmet) full of crayons/art supplies and let the kids be creative. Download and printout a variety of printable football coloring pages and activities for kids (and fidgety grownups).
- Hand out fun awards for the most spirited guest, winners of your pick a player or commercial games, and the team of kids with the best cheer.
Read the entire article and get even more great tips and recipes for your big game party at Snackpicks.com.
Adding Variety to Your Conditioning with Kettlebells
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Resistance bands, medicine balls, and balance balls are all tools most of us are familiar with for changing up your conditioning program. Now you can add one more to the mix – Kettlebells. Kettlebells are best described as a weighted ball with a handle. They are unique in the sense that kettlebells engage multiple muscles at a time.
Mary Lee Tracy, coach of numerous National Team members and Olympic gymnasts Amanda Border, Jaycie Phelps and Morgan White, uses Kettlebells in the conditioning of her gymnasts. At the most recent USA Gymnastics Congress she demonstrated a variety of Kettlebell exercises and drills. In this GymSmarts Gymnastics Minute video, Mary Lee shows how her gymnasts use Kettlebell training to improve their standing salto techniques.
How do you get started with Kettlebells and using them to add variety to your own or your athletes’ training? Kettleworx offers a series of video workouts that will give you a good foundation to work with. Start with the 5 lb. Kettlebell – especially for your youth athletes – and build from there. The KettleWorx Essentials video series includes 3 20-minute workout DVDs – the Core, Cardio and Resistance workouts, plus the 10 Min. Fast Abs workouts and 10. Min. Fast Fat Burn Workouts. Each of the 20 minute videos contain 6 different workouts (meant to be used over 6 weeks) and the 10 min. fast burn workouts have 3 different workouts per DVD. The Fast Abs workout is my favorite (although I really like all of them).
The KettleWorx workouts are a great way to keep your athletes’ workouts varied, interesting and more fun.
