SportsLetter

Science of the Olympic Winter Games

Teachers looking for a way incorporate the Olympic Winter Games into science activities in classrooms can utilize lesson plans and videos created by the National Science Foundation and NBC Learn.  The program is called  Science of the Olympic Winter Games and is presented on Lessonopoly, a site designed to help teachers create and share lessons plans and connect with other teachers via online communities.

From the Lessonopoly website:

With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics upon us, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at the secret behind the sports: science and math! Lessonopoly has created student activities and lesson plans to support the video series, Science of the Olympic Winter Games, created by NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation. Featuring exclusive footage from NBC Sports and contributions from Olympic athletes and NSF scientists, the series will help teach your students concepts like friction and angular momentum.  Each video is complemented with lesson plans which include fun classroom activities. The lesson plans were written by teachers at Academic Business Consultants for grades 6-9 and are aligned with California State Standards.

Vancouver Athletes’ Election

Angela Ruggiero, of the USA ice hockey team, and Adam Pengilly, a British bobsledder, have been elected to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission by fellow Olympians at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. 

You can re-read Ruggiero’s 2006 SportsLetter interview here.

Coaches and Parents and Refs, oh my

Bob Cook’s blog, “Your Kid’s Not Going Pro,” which appears on “True/Slant,” is a treasure trove of examples of Adults Behaving Badly.  For the sensitive among you, we’ll tell you in advance that Cook isn’t always PG-rated.

His posts have documented incidents such as the volleyball coach in New Jersey who threw a volleyball at the ball at the head of one of his own players, (listen especially to the parent at the end of the video who says “he gets kicked out every time”); a youth basketball commissioner who suffered a concussion, had his jaw dislocated and has dental damage after being attacked by a dad immediately after a tournament game; and a wrestling referee who grabbed the throat of a high school wrestler while “advising” the wrestler not to “misbehave on my mat.”  Finally, a recent column chronicled a number of fights that have occurred at high school basketball games across the country.

Sadly, as these articles and accompanying videos demonstrate, inappropriate behavior can come from just about any adult acting in just about any capacity of youth sports.  And Bob Cook will continue to document them for us.  Job security.  Depressing, but job security.

The continuing benefits of Title IX

Two recent studies highlight the positive impact Title IX has had on the lives of girls and women, reports the New York Times.  Interestingly, both studies are by economists. 

Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, studied state-by-state data in an effort to determine a cause and effect relationship between high school sports participation and achievement later in life.  From the Times article:

Using a complex analysis, Dr. Stevenson showed that increasing girls’ sports participation had a direct effect on women’s education and employment. She found that the changes set in motion by Title IX explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women.

“It’s not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports, but that sports help people do better in life,” she said, adding, “While I only show this for girls, it’s reasonable to believe it’s true for boys as well.”

Robert Kaestner, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, found that increased participation in physical activity encouraged by the passage of Title IX resulted in a 7 percent lower risk of obesity for women once they were in their late 30s and early 40s.

Et tu, DePaul?

A little over a week after SportsLetter told you about a verbal commitment given to USC by putative football wunderkind David Sills comes the news that DePaul's interim men's basketball coach Tracy Webster has offered a scholarship to an 8th-grader from Rosemont, Illinois. 

Yes, Jahlil Okafor's distant cousin is NBA center Emeka Okafor; and yes, young Jahlili stands 6-7½, with a potential for him to grow to 7-3, according to his doctor; and yes, yes, yes, according to ESPN, "Jahlil has no trouble dominating inside, grabbing rebounds easily and throwing down dunks," but ... why has recruiting become so desperate that coaches are scouring the PG-13 set for potential superstars?

Vancouver 2010

The Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver will take place this evening, kicking off two weeks of skating, sledding and schussing.  SportsLetter knows what you're thinking right about now:  the heck with Lindsey Vonn’s ankle, where are the mascots?!

We’re here to serve; and perhaps a reader can help by answering a question that has been baffling us:  is Mukmuk an official mascot, or an Olympic mascot tourist?

Enjoy!

Like “ESPN for the high-school set”

Is how the New York Post is describing a sports network proposed by the city of New York’s Department of Education.  Says the Post:

In a bid to drum up money and interest for academic sports, the city Department of Education is putting out feelers for a company that could serve as the school system's official sports network.  The proposal would grant the rights to film, air and promote Public Schools Athletic League activities on cable or network television -- as well as online -- in exchange for marketing rights and other privileges.

Citing similar ventures in other parts of the country, sports marketing experts believe there would be a demand for such programming in New York, and money raised could be used to expand sports opportunities for students and schools.  Education officials in the city say that only 12 percent of all high school students in the city play on PSAL teams, and that 50 percent of public schools can’t offer “inter-school” sports to the their students in part due to lack of funding.

From the Really? Department

So you thought it was a joke several years ago when Hermann Wendorff of the North Carolina Fayetteville Observer wrote, tongue in cheek, about Nike signing the "unborn child of track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery . . . to a 14-year apparel and shoe contract worth $188 million?"  Well, comes the news that new USC football coach Lane Kiffin has received a verbal commitment from 13-year-old quarterback David Sills of Bear, Delaware.  Sills’ personal coach, quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, gushes, "His skill set is off the chart …I've never seen anyone at his age do what he's been able to do."  Of course, this is the same Steve Clarkson who boasted: “And when I said if there was going to be a LeBron James of football it'd be Jimmy Clausen that turned out to be a pretty good prediction.”

Moving away from the hyperbole, ESPN writer Mark Saxon observed:

As recently as a few years ago, Pete Carroll wouldn't offer scholarships to juniors. When he realized that could dent his USC empire, which had been built largely by recruiting prowess, he relented. Now, apparently, Kiffin is taking things about as far as they can logically go. But he's not alone. Redell said most elite players' recruiting is practically wrapped up during their junior years.

The Redell mentioned in Saxon’s quote is longtime coach Bill Redell -- who actually coached Jimmy Clausen at Oak Christian in Westlake Village, California -- and who put a fine point on the issue by declaring: “to be honest with you, I think the whole thing's out of whack …There's so much money involved today, so many jobs at stake, that they're identifying guys in the seventh and eighth grades.”

As Saxon said, “I want to laugh, then take a shower.”

Hi Mom!

SportsLetter last week commented on the continuing professionalization of youth sports.  On Monday The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on ESPN’s impact on high school sports television coverage.  From high schooler Lebron James in 2002 to yesterday's high school football Letter-of-Intent signing day, ESPN has been there and been live, expanding the amount of exposure high school athletes are receiving and influencing the way high school sports are broadcast both on television and the Internet.

The Kids Are Alright ... really

Brett Singer over at parentdish.com had an amusing piece today on disgraced athletes who feel the need to demonstrate penitence by wanting to "work with kids."   Says Mr. Singer:  "whenever a professional athlete screws up, one of the first things we hear is about how he wants to work with kids. But do we really want some of these people spending time with children?  This is a familiar trope for athletes who fall from grace -- working with kids. Because it's all about the children. After the pros screw up, at least."

As the article points out -- and the Michael Phelps bong drama demonstrated -- athlete misdeeds also are fodder for the handwringing sports public, which worries about the impact these incidents will have on our impressionable youth.

Concluded Mr. Singer:

This isn't about The Children. This is about The Athlete.

Is it wrong for athletes who screw up, no matter what the offense, to try and make amends by doing some good for the world? Of course not. But can't they think of something to do that doesn't involve kids?

When the A-Rod story broke, Michael Kruse of the St. Petersburg Times asked Little Leaguers about the news. One of the kids said, "If you take steroids, you'll become mean, and you'll disrespect your friends or something. I learned that from my dad."

From his dad. Not from A-Rod. Let the athletes play ball. We'll take care of the parenting.