Monthly Archive for March, 2015

Stop with the football to live a long and healthy life

Published on March 31, 2015 in Corsa and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: football.

“I just want to live a long, healthy life,” said 24-year-old Chris Borland in announcing his retirement from the NFL on Monday. The San Francisco 49ers linebacker, who had signed a nearly $3 million contract and seemed on the verge of an all-pro career, quit football because he was concerned about its effect on his brain. “I don’t want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise,” he explained.

Borland’s surprising, early exit from the league has been taken as a sign that players are getting wise to the dangers of their game. We’re told the sport itself is now at risk. “Borland’s decision-making process is what represents the fundamental danger to the NFL,” wrote Will Leitch in Sports on Earth. “The problem is that more Borlands are coming.” ….

His retirement comes less than a week after that of his teammate Patrick Willis—a 30-year-old, 7-time Pro Bowl linebacker and defensive captain who was in the middle of a $50 million contract. …. Willis had good reason to be concerned about his feet. They’re special: “I don’t know what it is about these feet, but they got y’all saying, ‘Wow,’ ” he said during a tearful press conference last week. “Lord made my feet like the feet of a deer.” Wills worries that his hooves have already lost some “Wow,” and he’s concerned about what might happen if he gives them more abuse …

That distinction between a player’s brain and body reflects a systematic bias in how we think about the NFL. We know that football players hurt themselves in lots of ways, and that they may suffer from these injuries for all the years that follow. But we assume that one source of disability matters more than any other. A damaged foot, a damaged knee, a damaged spine, a damaged shoulder: These seem like inconveniences. A damaged brain? That’s a different thing entirely—an insult to the soul, an affront to personhood, a life-destroying tragedy. The body can be broken in 200 places, but we tend to think a broken mind is sui generis. The risk of encephalopathy stands alone.

This is not a medical fact; it’s a matter of opinion. Consider that more than 40 percent of NFL retirees report arthritis before they reach the age of 60, a rate that’s more than triple that of other men. Another survey found that four-fifths suffered from “moderate to severe pain,” again more than triple the baseline rate in the general population …

If anything, Willis’ decision to retire sends a more unexpected and important message to the NFL: Even if you don’t care too much about concussions, and even if you think that men should bang their heads like rams, then you might still decide that football is too dangerous. You might still decide to quit, or you might still pull your children from their Pop Warner team. It doesn’t matter if it’s a danger to our bodies or our minds; either way, football might not be worth the risk.

(Read the full article by Daniel Engber, columnist for Slate)

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Mental coaching programs

Published on March 30, 2015 in Allenatori, Calcio, Corsa, Generale, Giovani, Mental coaching, Olimpiadi, Stress, Tennis and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments

An athlete who does not use the mind is like a Ferrari with a bad driver:

crashes into the first corner!

Cei Consulting

offers mental coaching programs

for all athletes who want to enhance their talent and get their best out

Contact us and we’ll offer you a personalized program

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Review book: Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity

Published on March 30, 2015 in Allenatori, Calcio, Corsa, Generale, Giovani, Libri, Mental coaching, Stress, Tennis and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments Tags: Caterina Pesce, Human Kinetics.

Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity

Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick, and Caterina Pesce

Human Kinetics, 2015, p.241

www.HumanKinetics.com

Enhancing Children’s Cognition with Physical Activity represents a very innovative book about the children development. Its real value consists to describe and explain specifically the strict integration between movement, cognitive processes and scholastic performances. It’s my opinion that every school teacher, youth coach and psychologist (not only sport psychologist) have to read it to understand fully the children growth processes. The authors explain that: “the central focus of the book is on methods of teaching physical activity games in ways that promote learning. Our teaching methods and games are firmly rooted in theory and research drawn from many disciplines: child development, neurobiology, psychology, and teacher education. As a result, you can be confident in offering these games to the children entrusted to you.”

The book is organized in a first part representing the theoretical section where all the aspects concerning the mental development and its relation with the movement and performances are described. Therefore in the same time the Authors coniugate research data and games to be played by the children. The second part is centered on translating research into practice to help teachers put into action the material presented in the first part of the book. The challenges involved in developing, implementing, and assessing the effectiveness of physical activity games are discussed. The third part provides games for preschool- and kindergarten-age children between 3 and 6 years of age and for elementary school–age children between 7 and 11 years of age.

In my opinion, the main topics theoretically presented regard the executive functions of the cognitive processess and the data concerning the relation between the participation to physical activity programs and the school performances. The executive functions concern “the capacity to think before acting, retain and manipulate information, reflect on the possible consequences of specific actions, and self-regulate behavior.” Anticipation, memory and self-regulation are too important and the Authors have been able to illustrate their relevance in a specific way, that I did not find so well explained in other books. Second, since this chapter the teachers will be aware of the relevance to teach not only the movement technical side ma also its cognitive components. Third form the data it seems clear that in the school with more PE minutes the children improve more their school performances.

Last but not least important characteristic of this book is the presentation and explanation of all the games proposed in the following sections and their age distinction.

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In tennis is easy be bad with us

Published on March 30, 2015 in Allenatori, Generale, Giovani, Mental coaching, Stress and Tennis. 0 Comments Tags: accettare, cambiare, errori, gioco, insegnare, pause.

Tennis teaches me every day how easy it to play very bad for the players who are at the beginning of their professional career. These are young people, boys and girls of 18-21 years, who despite having quality of play and physical fitness cannot accept mistakes, are not confident in the court and negative about themselves. In other words, they are not tennis players accustomed to face errors and difficulties as normal and every days obstacles to overvome and above all they do not enjoy, because for them it’s an experience heavy and problematic. In my experience thing there are many more young people in the face of these difficulties choke rather than trying to master. The only way to change this situation is to start teaching to manage their emotions and thoughts in the court. At this regard, an important aspect to teach consists in the pause management (during the match but in the sessions too). Tennis players have to acquire a system allowing them to recover from the physical and mental fatigue, soon after, to get in the best mood to start a new point. This approach to the game should be practiced daily. They must know that the tennis technical and athletic component have to be trained along with the mental and that there is not a point in a game where all three are not present.

Who wants to know more information can contact me by email and receive an answer in a short time.

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After the start nothing matters anymore

Published on March 28, 2015 in Corsa and Stress. 0 Comments

Collegamento permanente dell'immagine integrata

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#milionidipassi

Published on March 28, 2015 in Corsa and Generale. 0 Comments Tags: #milionidipassi, diritti, guerra, medici senza frontiere, passi, povertà, profughi, scarpe.

The escape of millions of people by war and poverty is one of the most serious humanitarian crises of the moment. #MILIONIDIPASSI Is an appeal to public opinion and governments to give back humanity to the issue of forced migration and to guarantee the right of everyone to have saves the life.

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How top runners motivate themselves

Published on March 26, 2015 in Allenatori, Corsa, Giovani and Mental coaching. 0 Comments Tags: maratona, motivazione, psicologia, top runner, webinar.

Some top marathoners seem to make greater use of awareness of the work done. Rethinking the training they’ve done and from these exeperiences come the confidence and motivation.

I think back to the work I have done previously, the fact that I worked well and then I should not be afraid to fail.
First of all, being aware that the difficult times occur every season and are always lurking. After that, I know how to do, that it’s to identify the mistakes, I assess them and I try to work hard to correct them.

For other the goal setting strategies are the basis of their experiences and skill to motivate themselves.

Definitely stands out in me the patience, precision and strong determination. If I set a goal there is nothing that can distract me from the work to achieve it. Maybe I’ve always had that ability, but then I also improved by the training and in general with experience. Among the people who have helped me to develop such features are first of all my mother but then also my coach and my husband, which in my case coincide.

For others, it seem to dominate more the emotional component in driving motivation.

I find the more emotional impulses thinking about how important and pleasant is to reach the goal. The goal achievement acts for me to greater motivator.
The positive moments give me the awareness hat I have the resources and abilities to do it, then, they represent moments to recharge myself and to point to the next goal.

To know more goes to our webinar about the marathon mental coaching

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50 years from the foundation of the International Society of Sport Psychology

Published on March 25, 2015 in Allenatori, Calcio, Corsa, Generale, Giovani, Mental coaching, Olimpiadi, Stress, Tennis and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments

Aula Magna of the Italian Olympic Committee, Rome, the 20th of April, 1965. That was the place and moment of the inception of the International Society of Sport Psychology – ISSP, by the hands of a small group of pioneers, led by the Italian psychiatrist Ferruccio Antonelli. This happened during the 1st International ISSP World Congress of Sport Psychology marking the Modern Era of our scientific field.

Attend to the Congress “A Bridge from the Past to the Future” – International Society of Sport Psychology 50th Anniversary – April 19-20, 2015, Roma, Italy

http://www.events-communication.net/b57/index.php?lang=en

Ferruccio Antonelli Tribute

History of science teaches that the onset of a new discipline is often attributable to the efforts of individual persons who dedicate significant parts of their lives to the realization of dreams and intuitions. This has been the case with Sport Psychology that was founded by Ferruccio Antonelli, who with his pioneering work created two fundamental points of reference for those who were already involved in this field. The first was the establishment of the International Society of Sports Psychology (ISSP), which for the first time connected sport psychologists world-wide with each other, thanks to his network of national and international contacts. The second concerns the world of publishing, specifically, the creation of the first scientific journal wholly dedicated to this new discipline, the International Journal of Sport Psychology (IJSP) that immediately spread throughout the world. In only five years, between 1965 and 1970, Antonelli achieved both his goals, thus realizing a dream envisioned only a few years earlier. In this presentation it will be described the ISSP foundation days during the First World Congress of Sports Psychology, held inRome in 1965, the beginning years of this new organization and the discussion between the scientists of the West and East Countries.

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