SportsLetter

Mascot

Zakumi

People keep asking SportsLetter, “Where did the mascots go?”  OK, OK …

Next June South Africa will host the men’s FIFA World Cup.  While teams across the globe currently are in the midst of qualifying tournaments, we know for sure who one of the attendees will be. 

A year ago the Organizing Committee presented Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 World Cup.  According to the 2010 World Cup website our leopard friend’s name “is a composition of 'ZA', standing for South Africa, and 'kumi' translating into '10' in various languages across Africa. Inspired by his football idols, Zakumi has dyed his hair green as he felt it would be the perfect camouflage against the green of the football pitch.”

We could tell you what makes him so special, but Zakumi’s people have provided us with a video.

Youth sports concussions and the law

Recently, SportsLetter commented on an HBO Real Sports special and a joint study on high school injuries conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Center for Injury Research and Policy in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. 

Today the Children's Hospital Boston blog Thrive reported on a proposed Massachusetts state bill "aimed at minimizing concussion injuries in youth athletes that would force coaches, trainers, parent volunteers and others affiliated with school athletic programs to be trained in recognizing potentially concussed athletes. The bill would also require physician authorization in order for an athlete to return to competition post-concussion."  Thrive talked to Dr. Bill Meehan about concussions and the potential  impact of the proposed legislation on student athletes. 

SL Interview: Awista Ayub brings soccer and strength to Afghan girls

Born in Afghanistan, Awista Ayub fled to the United States with her family when she was two.  The year was 1981 -– two years after the Soviet Union's military invasion of Ayub's homeland.  Her family never returned.

Ayub was a college student at the time of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an event that caused her to reconsider her heritage as well as her connection to America.  She was driven to act, she writes, because "like so many fellow citizens in the aftermath of 9/11, I felt the need to do something."

In 2003, Ayub decided to establish the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange.  The following year, she brought eight girls to the United States from Afghanistan for a soccer leadership camp.  The eight had grown up as children of violence and turmoil: first, the civil war that engulfed Afghanistan after the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988-89; then, the oppressive reign of the Taliban following the civil war; most recently, the U.S.-backed military initiative that ousted the Taliban regime.

In the U.S., the eight girls trained for six weeks, competed in the Afghan-American Soccer Cup tournament and represented their country in the International Children's Games.  Later, Ayub returned to her homeland to visit the girls and lead soccer clinics at Ghazi Stadium, in Kabul, where the Taliban had carried out executions and torture.

In "However Tall the Mountain: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home" (Hyperion / Amazon), Ayub chronicles the story of her efforts to bring soccer to Afghan youth and to empower girls through sport.  At once poignant and instructive, the memoir is a tale of redemption and triumph that shines a unique light on Afghan culture.

In May, Ayub earned her masters in public administration from the University of Delaware, with a concentration in international sports development.  On Sept. 11, 2009, SportsLetter spoke with Ayub on the phone from her home on the East Coast.

-- David Davis

HBO's Real Sports takes a look at HS football concussions

In May SportsLetter commented on an article appearing in USA Today on the alarming number of concussions in high school football.  Tomorrow, September 15th, HBO's Real Sports will have a feature on the topic.

From the Real Sports website:

In the violent world of football, helmet-crushing hits that cause concussions are common. While these injuries often make headlines in pro football, few realize that head injuries at other levels of the game, specifically high school, are occurring at an astounding rate and can have deadly consequences. In the last two years alone, eight kids have died and dozens more have suffered catastrophic injuries after returning to the game too soon following a concussion. REAL SPORTS host Bryant Gumball takes an in-depth look at the disturbing frequency and deadly hazards of concussions in high school football.

Getting involved in youth sports

The folks over at DoTellAll have listed the Top Five Ways to Involve Yourself in Local Sports and included some useful links to sports organizations.

Our favorite is a recommendation to coach: "one of the best ways to get involved in local sports, and in the lives of your kids, is to take a coaching position on a local youth sports team. Youth sports teams are always looking for coaches, and you don't have to be Vince Lombardi to take on a team. As long as you can give the kids a few pointers and make sure they have fun, you'll have done your job and probably had a little fun yourself in the process."

Severe injuries in high school sports

And speaking of Ohio State ... this past Monday the Los Angeles Times reported that a joint study on high school injuries conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Center for Injury Research and Policy in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, both in Columbus, will appear in the September issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers collected sports-related injury data during the 2005–2007 academic years from 100 nationally representative United States high schools.  Paying special attention to severe injuries, or injuries "that resulted in the loss of more than 21 days of sports participation," they discovered that football had the highest severe injury rate, followed by wrestling, girls’ basketball, and girls’ soccer.  Altough the rate in all boys’ sports was higher than in all girls’ sports, "among directly comparable sports (soccer, basketball, and baseball/softball), girls sustained a higher severe injury rate."

You can read more about the study on The American Journal of Sports Medicine website.

Friday Night Lights are dimmed

This Saturday, September 5th, Navy's football team will play the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.  Ohio Stadium will rock with the thunderous sound of 100,000+ spectators as the Buckeyes start their season aiming for another BCS Bowl Bid and a chance to play for the National Championship.  Another football season will get underway, and the money will flow into Columbus.

According to a 2007 Wall Street Journal report, the 2006 Buckeye football team generated some $57 million dollars towards a 2007 Ohio State athletic budget of $109,382,222, what the WSJ called "the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education."  In addition, according to the report, Ohio State athletics pumps some $100 million dollars into the local economy. 

Well, that might be news to the high school students of nearby South-Western City School District.  All sports programs, clubs and activities have been shut down in the district this year in an effort to cut some $2.5 million in expenses.  And, according to an article in today's USA Today, SWCS is not alone:

High schools across the USA are reporting that the recession has led to similar financial difficulties for extracurricular programs, forcing cost-cutting that is particularly painful now, as fall sports seasons open. From Hawaii to Rhode Island, school systems are trimming compensation for coaches, eliminating transportation, adding or increasing athletic fees for students, holding fundraising drives, cutting back on night games to save electricity costs and dropping some sports and related events altogether.

Back in the Columbus area, not even the high school marching bands will take the field.  Says SWCS district spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff, "there's no football games. There's nowhere for the marching band to march."

Maybe the Buckeyes can hold a bake sale.

Pre-spring training

Now that the Little League Baseball World Series is over and the football season is about to kick off, it's time to start thinking about ... next year's baseball season.  Two free sites that recently came to our attention might help coaches prepare themselves and their players for next spring's opening day.

Former collegiate player Jake Alba and his group of players and coaches have created the Coaching Simplified website of "free web video coaching tips" for youth softball and baseball.

For those plucky players who don the tools of ignorance, Pepperdine Assistant Baseball Coach Joe Wilkins offers the Joe Wilkins Catching website "for catchers, coaches, parents and anyone involved in the life of a catcher." 

Finally, Championship Productions has a bevy of helpful DVDs and books that might interest coaches.  Alas, they are not free!