Daily Archives: October 22, 2012

INJURIES… AND LIFE

When you see someone on crutches, you usually say “oh what happened?” and “that sounds so horrible” or “I feel so bad for you!”. Have you ever considered the fact that if you are a  runner or involved in a sport with a lot of running,  you could be that person? Many teenage athletes are often getting hurt because their bodies are still growing. For a runner, knee and leg injuries are a big issue.  Runner’s knee and shin splints are just a couple. Achilles Tendinitis (Achilles tendon attaches the calf muscles Gastrocnemius and Soleus to the heel. This can become inflamed through overuse) and ankle sprains are a couple of the most common foot and ankle injuries. Injuries often happen because everything is so repetitive. All you’re doing is putting your foot down. With every step you take you could be injuring yourself more and more. That’s why it’s important to stretch correctly, do a warm up, have good running shoes, have good core strength, and eat well. Especially as a growing teenager.

I never thought that I would ever be the one hurt. Now I’m out for the season and I know how horrible it feels. However, I didn’t hurt my leg or foot. I have what’s called the “Apophysitis of the Pelvis/Hip”. It would have never happened if I wasn’t growing and the bone/muscle plate wasn’t weak in the spot where the muscle attached. This just goes to show we all need to be careful. I think that this made a little bit of an impact on my life because now I’m seeing it from the other side. I guess you never know what it really feels like until it’s you.

~Abigail Del Vecchio

Livestrong Falls Hard

On October 17th, Lance Armstrong lost many of his sponsors including Nike, Anhueser- Busch, Giro, Trek and his job as head chairman at Livestrong, all due to his use of drugs during his Tour de France victories. Armstrong, who gave up his job to try to get the media off his back has already been banned from cycling and will soon be stripped of his Tour victories. Armstrong who is a cancer survivor had perhaps produced one of the most well-known charitable fundraisers with the LIVESTRONG bracelets, 80 million were sold throughout the world. A statement released by Nike stated “Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner.” Nike made themselves very clear about anti-doping, and will clearly never be affiliated with Armstrong indefinitely.

Did Nike make the right move in releasing the great cyclist Lance Armstrong? OF COURSE, having a doper with a line in your company is exactly what you do not want. Did Armstrong make the wrong move to take performance enhancing drugs? OF COURSE, if he had not he would still be a beloved American cyclist, and be raking in the money through his sponsors. In my opinion, Lance Armstrong was one of the greatest athletes of the last 15 years. Unfortunately, drugs had to bring the whole thing crumbling down. Hopefully Armstrong regrets his mistakes, and will be able to come back into the public eye eventually. It is a shame that such a prestigious athlete has to be stripped of all of his impressive victories, just because he used performance enhancing drugs.

~Kevin Erickson