Sports gear, athletic equipments

Sports Minister MS Gill has asked the national federations to quickly settle contracts with coaches and ensure timely availability of sports and support equipment for the benefit of athletes undergoing training for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The directions were given after a review meeting of the progress of the ‘Scheme for Preparation of Teams for Commonwealth Games’ and and identification of steps required to further improve the working of this Scheme.

On the basis of feedback received during the meeting, which was attended by office bearers of different federations, officers of Sports Authority of India and Indian Olympic Association, several steps were identified to make the Scheme work more efficiently.

“The Sports Minister has given direction for ensuring that sports and support equipment and consumables are made available in time, contracts with coaches are settled expeditiously, progress of the Scheme be monitored closely and kits to sports persons coming to camps be given without any delay,” a release from the Ministry said on Wednesday.

“It was also decided to make available training facilities at non-SAI venues in certain locations like Chennai for Swimming, Hyderabad for Badminton, Pune for Tennis and Shooting etc,” it said.

Under the Scheme, which would cost the Government Rs 678 crores, the selection process for identifying about 1300 elite players, in 17 disciplines, 250 coaches (both Indian and foreign), and about 80 supporting personnel (physiotherapists, psychologist, masseurs etc) has been completed.

These elite players will be fully funded by Government, for intensive training of 305 days, in a year, both within, and outside the country. They will also be provided state of art, equipments, training and greater exposure in domestic and international tournaments.

The players will be assessed at regular intervals, through pre-decided monitorable parameters, till their final selection for Commonwealth Games.

The coaching camps for the selected players have commenced at the various centers of Sports Authority of India.

Source : http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Sports-Minister-wants-timely-help-for-CWG-athletes/402461/

Canada is losing one of its top track and field coaches to London’s Olympic efforts.

Kevin Tyler, coach to 400-metre runner Tyler Christopher and 400 hurdler Adam Kunkel, has been hired by UK Athletics as its strategic director of coaching and development.

“I’m looking forward to doing what I do on a world stage,” Tyler told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from his home in Edmonton.

The 45-year-old Tyler will work under new head coach Charles Van Commenee, who was Holland’s chef de mission at the Beijing Olympics but was hired in September by UK Athletics CEO Niels De Vos as part of Britain’s track and field overhaul.

Great Britain won one gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 400-metre runner Christine Ohuruogu, and finished with four medals overall – just shy of the team’s goal of five. UK Athletics would like to increase that number when London hosts the 2012 Olympics.

“I think absolutely hosting a home Olympics, everyone’s (medal) targets are going to be higher,” Tyler said. “Hopefully I can go over and in a small way contribute to that.”

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Whitby, Ont., captured Canada’s only medal on the track in Beijing, a bronze in the 100-metre hurdles, in Canada’s first podium performance in 12 years.

The news of Tyler’s departure comes less than a week after Canadian Peter Eriksson was hired as the head coach of Britain’s Paralympic team. Eriksson coached Canadian wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc, who captured five gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics, and he was honoured as Athletics Canada’s coach of the year for 2008.

Tyler leaves behind one of Canada’s strongest sprint groups in Edmonton that includes Christopher, the bronze medallist at the 2005 world championships, and Kunkel, the 2007 Pan American Games champion in the 400 hurdles.

Tyler plans to accompany his sprinters to a training camp in Arizona on Dec. 30, before heading to Birmingham, where he’ll begin his UK Athletics job Feb. 1. Longtime colleague Derek Evely will take over coaching the Edmonton group.

Tyler, a former sprinter and member of the Canadian Olympic bobsled team at the 1988 Calgary Games, was also the head of the Canadian Athletic Coaching Centre at the University of Alberta.

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j8d_iQpsZoMgm5YGowY8jXq04GAw

Georgia State University has cut athletics director Mary McElroy and will start a national search in January for a replacement.

“While Mary McElroy has worked in support of the Georgia State University athletics mission, I believe it is in the best interest of the university and the athletics program to seek out new leadership,” said GSU President Carl Patton, in a news release.

An interim director of athletics will be announced on a future date, the university said.

GSU is in the process of starting a football program and hired two giants — Bill Curry and Dan Reeves — to spearhead the effort.
Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/12/15/daily79.html

Jackson Community College went nearly 25 years without sports teams. Now, they’re not only back, they’re in full force.

In the two years since JCC reinstated athletics, the college has jumped to the top of the list for the number of sports teams at Michigan community colleges.

JCC is one of four Michigan community colleges to offer nine sanctioned sports. The majority of Michigan’s 18 community colleges with sanctioned sports offer five to seven sports.

This year, JCC’s nine sanctioned teams are softball, baseball and volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball, cross country and soccer. All are sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Association. JCC also has a club hockey team.

“This campus is alive,” Athletic Director Steve Bloomfield told JCC’s Board of Trustees this week.

Some now say the athletic program, which was disbanded in 1982 and restored in 2006, has met expectations by helping the college boost enrollment, reconnect with the community and keep local students close to home.

About 83 percent of the school’s 171 athletes are from within 50 miles of Jackson.

But the restoration of an athletics department has not been easy, Bloomfield said.

Although student-athletes are more likely to stay enrolled at JCC than the overall student body, their grade-point averages typically drop from fall to winter at a higher rate.

Scheduling conflicts tend to come up more often during the second semester because rainy spring weather results in frequently changing baseball and softball game and practice schedules, Bloomfield said.

After reviewing those figures, the department began requiring student-athletes to meet with Bloomfield to schedule their classes. JCC also promoted more communication about scheduling between student-athletes and their instructors.

Also, all freshman athletes and those with grade-point averages of 2.25 or lower have to log study hours and turn in progress reports.

Athletes are now required to attend an orientation session that covers the negatives of drug and alcohol use, the importance of being a role model and the use of social networking Web sites.

That addition was made in the aftermath of a March 27 sex-themed party at Alpine Lake Apartments off Fourth Street that brought some baseball players suspensions and criminal charges, Bloomfield said.

The party had been promoted on the social networking site Facebook.com.

“The individuals made horrible decisions but they’re not horrible people,” Bloomfield said.

“It was a wake-up call for a lot of people about how important their role is in our community.”

Tyler Wehner, a sophomore outfielder on JCC’s baseball team, said he was not at that party but it affected all student-athletes.

“It’s something that was just a learning experience,” Wehner said. “It’s one of those things where everyone thought it was all in good fun and didn’t realize the consequences.”

“We’re not a big group,” he said, “But we’re a group that a lot of people look at.”

Wehner, a 2007 Blissfield High School graduate, has a scholarship and says he probably would have gone elsewhere if JCC did not have baseball.

He will play for Grand Valley State University next school year and is among six JCC athletes who have already committed to play at a four-year school next school year.

The athletic department has a 2009 budget of $437,000. Funds come from a $2.50-per-credit-hour student fee and team fundraising, Bloomfield said.

“(Sports) has proven to be, in my judgment, one of the best ways to connect with this community,” JCC Board Chairman Dennis DaPra said. “And all within cost. I’m very pleased about that.”

source : http://www.mlive.com/citpat/news/index.ssf/2008/12/jcc_is_tops_in_state_in_athlet.html

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) – At the University of Illinois, being an athlete gets you access to a $6 million facility with oversized leather chairs and Oriental rugs.

But it’s not a fancy country club – it’s a tutoring center.

The Irwin Academic Services Center helps only about 550 of the school’s 37,000 students. And places like this in schools across the country leave critics fuming.

“These athletic tutoring palaces perpetuate resentment and stereotyping on campus,” said Allen Sack, a University of New Haven professor and former football player for the University of Notre Dame. He believes sports can detrimentally affect university life.

“A student who is not an athlete will say, ‘I’m working nights to get through school –  why don’t I get free tutoring?’” Sack said.

In addition to the University of Illinois, at least four other schools have multimillion-dollar tutoring centers just for their athletes. Most are funded by athletic departments.

Proponents say the centers prepare athletes for life after sports, but other students want the same help available for everyone. The University of Michigan student newspaper is pushing to have their school’s $12 million athletic tutoring facility open to all students.

But learning specialists like Debby Roberts, who works at the Illinois center, said athletes need more help focusing on education.

“It’s a daily battle,” Roberts said. “They all want to think they’re going to turn pro.”

Sam Carson, a fifth-year senior and linebacker at Illinois, said the program helps by requiring him to put in time to meet the demands of his actuarial science major.

“In high school, parents or teachers keep an eye on you,” Carson said. “Here, I might have been tempted to stay in my room and watch television if I didn’t have to put in those study hours.”

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3pALeXxnHmhelaqISomZgP1yeCQD94OB2GO4