If you are looking for information linking nutrition and exercise/athletic training, take a look at "100 Questions & Answers About Sports Nutrition and Exercise" by Lilah al-Masri and Simon Bartlett.


Overview: 100 Questions and Answers About Sports Nutrition and Exercise provides easily accessible answers to questions that athletes, athletic trainers and coaches may have about sports nutrition. Equipped with case studies, quick tips, and testimonials, this practical guide covers topics such as: vitamins and minerals, fluids, medications and supplements, weight management, warm ups and cool downs, flexibility, and more.

Key Features:
Provides scientifically based, usable, and concrete concepts
Q&As were inspired by the most frequent concerns the authors have encountered from athletes throughout the years.
Major points are reinforced with actual case studies that allow the athlete to put the recommendation into real world scenarios. Provides readers with easy to follow strategies that can easily be implemented into their routine


Table of Contents:
Part 1 General Sports Nutrition
Part 2 General Exercise Concepts
Part 3 Pre, During, and Post-Exercise Nutrition
Part 4 Vitamins and Minerals
Part 5 Fluids
Part 6 Weight Management
Part 7 Extreme Environments
Part 8 Nutritional and Exercise Considerations for Special Populations
Part 9 Medications and Supplements
Part 10 More Information
References
Glossary


You can order the book online at www.questssc.com.

Read the following article and pick out the tragic and huge mistakes this coach made.


1. Denied water breaks to players in very humid summer weather. What was he thinking?
2. Used physical conditioning as punishment. That only gets the players to dislike physical conditioning, a staple of being an athlete.


Copyright 2010 The Courier-Journal
All Rights Reserved
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky)


April 24, 2010 Saturday


SECTION: NEWS

HEADLINE: PRP football players allege retaliation

BYLINE: By, Antoinette Konz akonz@courier-journal.com


Jefferson County school officials are investigating allegations of retaliation against some Pleasure Ridge Park High School football players who gave statements to police after the death of their teammate, Max Gilpin.

Superintendent Sheldon Berman said yesterday that he has asked Joe Burks, assistant superintendent of high schools, to look into the allegations.

Berman said he has not received any complaints but was asked about the matter during a deposition last week in a lawsuit filed by Max's parents, Michele Crockett and Jeff Gilpin.

"As soon as I got back (to the office), I instructed my staff to investigate," he said.

Berman also said he will meet next week with officials from the office of Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel to discuss issues related to the criminal case against former PRP head football coach Jason Stinson.

Steve Tedder, a spokesman for the office, said yesterday that Stengel was aware of the allegations of retaliation and confirmed that a meeting with Berman was requested.

"We have heard similar reports (from parents) that kids are being retaliated against, and we take those reports very seriously," Tedder said.

He declined to say whether the request for the meeting was prompted by the reports of retaliation. It was unclear yesterday who was involved in the alleged retaliation or what it entailed.

Max, a 15-year-old lineman, collapsed during a football practice last Aug. 20 -- when the heat index reached 94 degrees -- and died three days later at Kosair Children's Hospital of complications from heat stroke. His body temperature had reached 107 degrees.

Stinson, who was in his first year as PRP's head football coach, was charged Jan. 22 with reckless homicide in Max's death. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in August.

In documents filed in Jefferson Circuit Court, prosecutors said Stinson repeatedly denied players water, despite receiving extensive training in the dangers of heat-related illnesses, and forced them to run extra wind sprints as punishment for not practicing hard enough.

All of the PRP football players were interviewed by Louisville Metro Police, and those interviews were made public last month as part of the criminal case against Stinson. Many of those students are expected to be called as witnesses during the trial.

Several players and several assistant coaches told police that Stinson ordered team members to run more "gassers" than usual as a means of disciplining them. Other players said they were denied water.

The suit filed by Max's parents names as defendants Stinson and five other PRP coaches, principal David Johnson and athletic director Craig Webb. It accuses them of negligence.

Berman said he was giving a deposition in the case last week when Todd Thompson, the attorney representing Crockett, asked him if he was aware that students were being retaliated against.

Berman's deposition has not yet been filed in court, but he said yesterday that it was the first time he heard of such a complaint.

Thompson could not be reached for comment yesterday.

If there is retaliation against students, Berman said it would be "completely inappropriate."

"It should not even be a topic for discussion," he said. "No student should be harassed in any way for what they told the police."

The Courier-Journal has received several calls from PRP parents who said their children were being retaliated against because of the statements they gave police. They asked not to be named.

Several other parents who have contacted the newspaper said they are concerned that fundraising is being done during school hours to raise money for Stinson's defense and that their children are being encouraged to wear T-shirts supporting Stinson.

Lauren Roberts, spokeswoman for the district, said yesterday that neither PRP nor the district has received any complaints from parents about fundraising.

Johnson "has advised me that there are no fundraising activities occurring on school property or during school hours," Roberts said in an e-mail.

She said that earlier in the school year "there was a youth recreation league that sold T-shirts after school in support of the coach, but Mr. Johnson stopped that."

Reporter Antoinette Konz can be reached at (502) 582-4232.

Good article about the stress of being a HS coach and the resulting serious health issues that erupt if stress is not dealt with.


A cry out to coaches to take care of themselves. We need you to run a marathon not a sprint. We need good coaches to stay in coaching not to burn out.




Copyright 2010 Newstex LLC
All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Copyright 2010 Fred Robledo Talks Prep Sports
Fred Robledo Talks Prep Sports


April 21, 2010 Wednesday 12:31 PM EST


HEADLINE: The unhealthy cost of coaching? Tom Conner's story is one that we should all keep in mind

BYLINE: Fred Robledo

Apr. 21, 2010 (San Gabriel Valley Tribune delivered by Newstex) --

Tom Conner is in good shape and exercises regularly, so how did the the 35-year-old Bloomington High Football coach suffer a heart attack? He discusses it with staff reporter T.J. Berka, a story all of us could learn from.


"I don't know how much stress from coaching impacted my heart attack, but it didn't help. When you are trying to build a program, it's natural to take on everything you possibly can yourself. We didn't have a booster club when I started, so we were working to build that up and fundraise. Ultimately it's your name out there, win or lose, so you want to make sure everything is exactly how you want it. That can cause stress and really take up a lot of your time." -- Bloomington Bruins coach Tom Conner.

Below: Bloomington coaching staff ...


By T.J. Berka, Staff Writer
As a physically fit, 35-year-old football coach that exercises regularly with his teenage players, Tom Conner isn't exactly a person you would expect to be a heart-attack risk. But on March 25, as he was playing basketball after school, the Bloomington High School football coach felt sharp chest pains. Those chest pains turned into a series of heart attacks, with Conner being transported to Kaiser Permanente Hospital and having to be revived on two separate occasions. Conner is now resting comfortably at home and hopes to be back at BHS before spring practice, but is still startled by his life-threatening experience.

"It's a scary thing and it's not something I really thought could happen," Conner said. "I work out, I'm in good shape, I enjoy what I do. I can't believe that it happened."

Conner's exercise routine is likely what saved his life and is why he is recovering at a pace faster than his doctors had predicted. But as he rests at his Fontana home with his wife Racheal and two sons, Brandon (age 6) and Sean (age 4), Conner realizes that the stress from his job, and how to deal with it, is something that he has to work on to prevent a repeat incident.

"Now that I look back, there were some signs (of a heart attack)," Conner said. "I had high cholesterol and wasn't eating right and had just started transitioning more to a Mediterranean diet. There was a lot of stress in my life not related to coaching - my mother was sick and we have had to go through the eviction process for a property we own in Victorville because the tenants weren't paying rent. It all contributed.

"I don't know how much stress from coaching impacted my heart attack, but it didn't help. When you are trying to build a program, it's natural to take on everything you possibly can yourself. We didn't have a booster club when I started, so we were working to build that up and fundraise. Ultimately it's your name out there, win or lose, so you want to make sure everything is exactly how you want it. That can cause stress and really take up a lot of your time."

With every passing year, being a head coach at the high school level becomes more and more of a full-time, year-round job. Looked upon at one time as a way to mold the lives of young men and women in a fun environment, high school coaching has become a high-stress, high-impact job and more and more, it becomes a task that even less can handle.

"As an older coach, I read the paper every day and hear the same things when a coach retires - either it's due to health concerns or because they want to spend more time with their family," Colton athletic director and former football coach Harold Strauss said. "There used to be a lot of lifers in coaching - Dick Bruich, Don Markham, Chuck Pettersen, myself. I think Jim Walker is the only one left. The rest are young guys and the job has become much tougher now than when we started."

When Strauss started his coaching career in the 1970s, it was for the most part an August to December pastime. But with grade checks, fundraising, the emphasis on scholarships and most importantly, the emphasis on winning, it has mushroomed well past that.

"There's so much more of an emphasis on winning right now than there used to be, more than teaching and developing the kids for life at times," Strauss said. "There's a lot of pressure in this job that I don't think should be there and it takes its toll. There are so many things that occupy your time as a coach and most coaches are Type A personalities, so it tends to pile up on you."

The pressures of the job, and the long hours and quick, unhealthy meals, got to Strauss in February 2007, as he suffered a heart attack of his own. But even with that experience, the heart attack suffered by his close friend Conner was an eye-opener.

"You look at a guy like Tom Conner and it really makes you think. You have a young, 35-year-old guy who works out everyday and plays basketball with his kids suffering a near-life-ending heart attack. That's not supposed to happen," Strauss said.

"With an older, overweight guy like me you can say it's because I didn't eat right or exercise enough, but when a guy like Tom has issues, there's more to it."

It's not just football coaches that have felt physical effects that comes from stress. Former Summit girls basketball coach Alexis Barile, who gave birth to twins 10 weeks prematurely in January, can relate.

Barile, who is married to Summit football coach Tony Barile, continued to serve as coach of the SkyHawks - who she helped build from scratch into a four-time league champion and two-time CIF finalist - up until going into labor. And she feels that the pressures of being a high school coach might have sped up that process.

"I really don't know for sure but it wouldn't surprise me," Barile said.

"There's a lot that goes into coaching basketball - from making sure the kids are making grades to uniforms to finding tournaments to developing the lower levels - and while I tried to delegate as much as possible, it's not a natural instinct for a coach. You want to be involved in everything."

And that's exactly why Barile is stepping aside for the foreseeable future.

While her husband pledged to help out as much as possible to allow her to coach, Barile knew that it wasn't something she could do.

"Tony said that he would be the mom during basketball season and I could be the mom during football season, but it's just too much of a burden to do that and spend the time with your kids that you want to," Barile said.

"Football is basically a year-round thing now and basketball is becoming that way. It's too much of a grind with two newborn children."

Strauss participates on the coaching-conference circuit during the offseason, with most coaches picking his brain about the double-wing offense. But Strauss would prefer to talk about something else.

"I look to talk about time management because that's really the biggest issue (young coaches will) come across," he said. "It isn't just coaching - it's doing grade checks and fundraising and doing everything in your power to get kids into college.

"Dealing with parents is also a big part of it - probably the biggest part - and if you don't surround yourself with good people and delegate every once in a while, this job will kill you. It's a great job, but it's extremely demanding and becoming even more so."