Abusive University of Iowa Football Workout Has No Place In College Athletics
Thursday, April 14. 2011
Abusive University of Iowa Football Workout Has No Place In College Athletics
The Iowa incident is just the latest reminder that university administrators need to have better oversight regarding the actions of their athletic departments.
Reaction to the Iowa story has been strong.
“The weightlifting exercise blamed for hospitalizing 13 University of Iowa football players was used inappropriately, officials for a national strength and conditioning association said Monday.
Jay Hoffman, president of the board for the National Strength and Conditioning Association, also said the Hawkeyes’ football strength and conditioning staff misinterpreted the findings of a study that they claimed supported their use of the workout to increase strength during the first days of offseason conditioning.
‘This workout is not a common workout and has no scientific basis to be used to train college athletes,’ Hoffman said in a statement.”
In addition, the National Strength and Conditioning Association statement said, “Rhabdomyolysis is not an expected or an acceptable outcome of any training program. It is not part of the inherent risk associated with athletic competition, and is a sign that the training program was inappropriate for those athletes at that time of the year.”
For the full story, read “Iowa football staff misused exercise that led to rhabdo, experts say” from the Des Moines Register.
Commentary by Ken Reed, League of Fans
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Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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