An alternative view of 2012

Given the career choice I'm now pursuing I often, because of where I live in East London, get asked whether I'll get to work with Team GB athletes in time for 2012. My usual response is that its unlikely - most of the sports psych positions will be filled already no doubt - but working with younger athletes in my club, who knows for certain?

The view around peers when I've spoken about the Olympics, tends to be optimistic. That it will be great for the area, house prices, a flagging London economy, a neglected part of the East End, a legacy for the future, and a feelgood event that the Worlds eyes will be upon. However, you do get dissenting voices. What about the cost? Likely to be more than current estimates, and likely to be funded by more taxes - but lets not get into that debate for now... the area where the Olympics is and has been contentious is a more philosophical one. For the record, I like the ideal of individuals pitting themselves in competition, to excel at what they can do physically, and as an inspiration for people (think Usain Bolts amazing performance and time in Beijing), and kids in particular. Part of the reason for pursuing this change of career that I thought about this morning, was the upbringing I had, where football, motor racing, tennis and other sports were encouraged, debated at the dinner table, attended and participated in by my family.

However, the philosophy and sociology of sport is something that I've become more interested in over the last few years. It can be positive, but also negative. Blood doping in cycling taints the Tour de France more than anything. Its so exciting to watch, but yeah, loses its lustre when leader after leader is thrown out after being caught. People rightly ask, "Is it the rider or the enhancers that lead to that winning performance?" The same too with the Olympics. The chase for victory leading to many instances of drug cheats and corrupting the 'ideal'. And similarly, a pet bugbear of mine, but one that is so prominent you have to remind yourself these days of - the commercialisation of sport. I could write a whole section on the blog about this but I read today about a sports writer who died this week and who asked those difficult questions about sport, gave his opinion (bilous at times) and didn't just tow the party line. The Guardian printed this as an obituary on their site and as an example of his pieces the article below on the loss of the Olympic ideal and what is wrong with the games. I don't apologise for his language or the courage of his convictions. Corporate Steven Wells wasn't. Forthright he was. Let his belief and conviction be his testament and example to us all, whatever your views. RIP.

On why we should boycott the Olympics Steven Wells - 22 July 2008.

"The history of the modern Olympic movement is one long, sad litany of imperialism, racism, exploitation and oppression. But that's not why I think we should boycott the Olympics. And I do think we should boycott them. Not just the Beijing games. All of them. Forever. Why? Because of the total disconnect between what the Olympics are supposed to be about (grace, beauty, athleticism, sportsmanship, solidarity, brotherhood and the human spirit) and the sordid reality — as superbly illustrated by what the preparations for the 2012 London games are doing to the Manor Garden allotments.

"Ask yourself this question: are the drug-riddled, debased and corrupt Olympics worth the demolition of a single 80-year-old community institution that genuinely and continually promotes health, mental wellbeing, exercise, neighbourliness and fresh vegetables? And (while we're at it) was it worth ripping up the much-loved and heavily used five-a-side football pitches in East London's Spitalfields market just so the City of London could have yet another identikit shopping/office development? (If you answered yes to either question, stop reading and trot off and fellate a stockbroker, you dominant ideology humping Tory bastard).

"Don't get me wrong. I dislike cockney gardeners just as much as the next professional Northern bigot ... but when I see our socialist heritage of collective gardening trampled underfoot by the size-900 Adidas bovver sneakers of soulless corporate sport, I'm there on the front line, jabbing at the scaly, baby-eating, corn-syrup spewing monstrosity with a dung-smeared pitchfork, glotally whining in my best Thames Estuary accented sub-English: Bugger off back to whichever focus-group driven hell spawned you, Nikezilla. Ils ne passeront pas, me old cock sparrer, ils ne passeront bleedin' pas.

"What are these Olympics anyway? Every square inch of its corporate jism-soaked soul is fully owned by one crap-peddling multinational monster or another. And all the major events are dominated by freakish, faceless, unreal, disconnected, socially-crippled identikit meta-humans, most (if not all) of them as keenly engaged in an ever-escalating techno-war with the drug testers as they are in actually running, jumping or throwing stuff.

"Why should I cheer these freaks on? Because they supposedly represent the patch of dirt I was born on? Is it not absurd that an event so wedded to the increasingly redundant 18th-century notion of the nation state should be owned lock, stock and logo-plastered barrel by nationless corporations, all of whom automatically shift production to anywhere the grateful peasants will work for a dollar a day (and all the rice and rat meat they can eat) at the drop of a spread sheet?

"The fact is that we have irrevocably lost the Olympics to the dumb, piggish maelstrom of corruption, blind self-interest, amorality, blandness, hypocrisy and lowest-common-denominator aesthetics that is corporate capitalism. And no amount of hand wringing or faux-nostalgic bleating about Corinthian values is ever going to bring it back.

"... When the corporations start to sniff around the edges of these events (as they already do, the bastards) we should kvetch like billy-o. No, not because it'll do any good, but because not to do so means to accept cultural brain-death, to become sports Tories, to march in corporate sponsored official replica shirt-wearing lockstep into a new serfdom where our only functions are to slave and consume.

"I give you the NFL, the NBA, the Premier League and every other professional league on the planet, all of them to a greater or lesser degree on the slippery slope to soulless shut-up-and-consume McSports status"

"KECEDERAAN BUKAN SEKADAR KESAKITAN"

“Sejurus selepas mendapat kecederaan ini, perkara pertama yang terlintas dalam fikiran ialah tentang kedudukan saya dalam pasukan ini kelak. Adakah saya akan diketepikan selepas ini?”



Petikan ayat ini merupakan hasil dari temuduga secara tidak formal yang dijalankan ke atas seorang atlet yang pernah menjalani pembedahan di bahagian lututnya dan kini sedang mengikuti sesi rehabilitasi di unit fisioterapi. Apakah maksud sebenar di sebalik kenyataan itu?



Secara umumnya perkara utama yang paling sinonim dengan kecederaan ialah kesakitan. Tetapi secara khususnya, kesakitan hanyalah sebahagian daripada respon terhadap kecederaan. Oleh itu, artikel ini akan membincangkan tentang respon terhadap kecederaan dari aspek psikologi seterusnya dapat sedikit sebanyak merungkai maksud sebenar kenyataan di atas.



Dari segi psikologi, respon terhadap kecederaan akan menjadi pelbagai berdasarkan beberapa elemen-elemen tertentu. Sebahagian daripada elemen yang dimaksudkan itu adalah faktor umur, jantina (gender), faktor tingkahlaku individu, personaliti serta emosi.



Pada kebiasaannya, atlet yang masih dalam peringkat awal penglibatannya dalam sukan akan lebih merasakan impak negatif terhadap kecederaan yang dialami berbanding atlet senior. Hal ini kerana, atlet-atlet muda ini merasakan seolah-olah karier mereka sudah berada di ambang kehancuran manakala atlet senior mungkin akan lebih tenang menghadapi situasi ini kerana pengalaman lepas banyak melatih golongan senior ini untuk lebih bersedia menghadapi kecederaan. Selain itu, mereka juga mungkin sudah pun bersedia untuk bersara. Justeru, perhatian yang sewajarnya perlu diberikan kepada golongan junior.



Selain itu, menurut kajian yang telah dijalankan, faktor jantina (gender) juga mempengaruhi respon terhadap kecederaan. Hasil kajian itu menyatakan bahawa lelaki akan merasa lebih tertekan apabila mengalami kecederaan berbanding wanita terutamanya apabila mereka menghadapi para penyokong, ahli pasukan yang lain dan juga jurulatih. Maka, sokongan dari semua pihak amat diperlukan.



Dari segi tingkah laku pula, atlet yang bersikap negatif terhadap kecederaan mereka biasanya akan lebih terdedah kepada kecederaan berulang (repetitive injuries) terutamanya apabila mereka menafikan kecederaan itu dan tidak mahu menjalani proses rehabilitasi dengan betul. Cara yang terbaik untuk mengatasi masalah ini ialah dengan memberi informasi yang menyeluruh tentang kecederaaan mereka sehingga mereka benar-benar faham tentang situasi yang sedang dialami.



Bercakap tentang personaliti pula, terdapat 2 personaliti yang berbeza dalam menghadapi kecederaan iaitu *extrovert dan *introvert. Bagi seorang yang extrovert, mereka biasanya kurang bersabar dan mempunyai toleransi terhadap kesakitan yang tinggi, maka kemungkinan untuk golongan ini menafikan kesakitan dan kembali beraksi (lebih-lebih lagi ke pertandingan terdekat) adalah amat besar. Manakala bagi golongan introvert, mereka adalah sebaliknya dan mungkin tidak akan kembali beraksi dalam masa yang terdekat. Oleh itu adalah amat penting untuk mengenalpasti personaliti seseorang atlet itu untuk menangani mereka ketika cedera.



Dan sebagai garis panduan, berikut merupakan tanda-tanda amaran yang menunjukkan atlet tertentu sedang mengalami sindrom ketidakmampuan untuk mengadaptasi dengan kecederaan secara positif;

• Takut untuk kembali beraksi yang melampau kerana dibimbangi akan cedera lagi.
• Mengasingkan diri – berasa ketinggalan dan tidak berdaya.
• Menafikan tahap kecederaan dan respon terhadap proses penyembuhan (‘denial’)
• Tidak sabar dan tidak berasa senang.
• Mood yang tidak stabil.
• Rasa bersalah yang melampau kerana telah mengecewakan pasukan.
• Obses dengan persoalan untuk kembali beraksi.
  
  

Kesimpulannya, kecederaan adalah perkara yang biasa dalam sukan. Oleh itu, para atlet perlulah bersikap positif dalam menghadapi situasi ini. Pihak lain terutamanya jurulatih dan orang yang terdekat pula haruslah memainkan peranan penting dalam memberikan sokongan moral terhadap atlet-atlet yang tercedera.

*extrovert : golongan yang bersikap terbuka, senang bercampur gaul , dan bersikap peramah.

*introvert : golongan yang lebih selesa bersendiri, kurang selesa dengan interaksi sosial dan lebih pendiam.

Oleh: Norazah Binti Mohd Azawi, Pelajar praktikal dari USM, Pusat Psikologi Sukan, ISN

The research process for a Sports Psych (trainee)

So I've escaped to the sun and am diligently reading and writing to move the thesis on. It's a long process, but hugely enjoyable and lovely to do it poolside rather than in a small room in Stoke Newington. As per my last post I am going to be updating this blog so that it explains to the unitiated just what the hell Sport Psychology and mental skills training entail. To demystify, debunk and reach out to the wider World.

Last week I attended the 3rd International Qualitative Conference at my University and was inspired by other researchers presentations, findings, and encouragement. I'm determined to write a great bit of research and present it at a similar event in the future. The thing it left me thinking, other than that I am doing the right course of study and career, is that we have to make the work we do relevant to 'the man in the street' (or at least in the running club, football team, gym, office or factory). This doesn't mean dumbing down, but to transfer where the relevance of what is found in the field to everyday life.

I'll be telling you what Sport Psychology is; why its relevant to you; what I do, am aiming to do, and my theoretical orientation, amongst other useful starting points.

In the meantime, I'm using this medium to track my progress with my work, for as a novice researcher, I have to keep a reflexive journal to ensure I'm doing justice to the research being generating. Thats why I kept the 100 day log of training for the marathon. It tells me how I felt, what was going on, what factors were affecting my thinking and work. This needs to continue whilst I complete my work on 'the mental skills of marathon runners' that I captured at this years London Marathon. Got a lot to get through between now and tomorrow. I'll post up more on this in the next few days.

What I'm up to for June

These days you can use the web in so many ways to announce what you're doing, where you're going and when you're free. Moving to a more freelance lifestyle, though its all a bit 'look at me', you have to in order to get work, pitch for work and keep on top of things.

This week is crunch for me as I'm trying to get thesis work done and finish a web job whilst working on the marketing for my sport psychology practice before going on holiday. Obviously i have this blog and i'm on email and twitter (username stuholliday). Facebook I tend to keep for staying in touch with far away friends and for all of my music promotion work (electric elephant as you ask: www.electricelephant.co.uk).

so, if all goes according to plan, by the end of June I'll be:

1) up to the results section of my thesis
2) be able to build any web sites anyone requires
3) have a website, flyers and business cards for the sports psychology and physical training consultancy
4) pimp myself out on spare days for web usability, office admin, project managerial work; mystery shopping; & dog walking (i'm joking about the dog walking)

From the 13th to the 23rd of June I'm in spain. If you're out there then I'm barcelona for the weekend of the 20th & 21st.

This process has been useful. I'm going to put a calendar on my website to show my availability! cool.

Till next time...
s
x

Watch Your Head!

Watch Your Head!
By Dr. Randy Borum

(Article First appears in Black Belt Magazine, June, 2009)

Sport-related concussions once again have hit the headlines. It is estimated that at least 300,000 of them occur every year. Martial artists who do full-contact sparring are certainly at some risk for these injuries. But are concussions really such a big deal?

Medically, a concussion is considered to be a mild traumatic brain injury. It is caused either by some type of blunt trauma – such as a punch or kick- or by forces accelerating or decelerating the brain within the skull. Typically, there is no discernible damage to the structure of the brain, but concussions do temporarily disrupt brain functions. As a result, concussions are diagnosed and graded based on their symptoms rather than by neuroimaging. Basically, the severity of concussive injury depends on the nature, duration and extent of disrupted brain functions, not on the shape, size or color of what shows up on a brain scan.

Just because there are no signs of physical damage, doesn't mean that no harm was done or that the injury isn't serious. Medical researchers don't know for sure what happens to the brain during a concussion and what causes the brain functions to be impaired, but it seems to be linked to damage that occurs at a cellular level. When the concussion is caused by abrupt rotational forces, risk increases for damaging areas of axons within the brain. This is known as “diffuse axonal injury.” Axons are the pathways that allow neurons to communicate with each other. Disrupt the pathways, and you disrupt the function.

The cumulative effect of repeated concussions is a subject of ongoing medical inquiry. For many years, the medical literature has reported cases of “pugilistic dementia”, sometimes called “punch drunk syndrome” due to its effect impairing speech, coordination, and cognitive functions. These cases have mostly been reported among professional boxers after about 15 years of competing. The more contemporary term used to describe the phenomenon is “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” (CTE).

CTE has recently been in the news because of claims that it is linked to deaths of several retired professional athletes, primarily football players. Researchers at Boston University's School of Medicine have established the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy to better understand the problem by examining the brains of affected individuals after their death. Studying the brains directly after death, neurologists can see damage that does not appear on traditional scans. The youngest case they have studied is that of 18-year-old high school football player who had suffered multiple concussions.

In these brains studies, researchers have found deep structural abnormalities called neurofibrillary tangles caused by the build-up of “tau”, an abnormal and toxic protein. Interestingly, neurofibrillary tangles have also been implicated in Alzheimer's dementia. Signs of CTE may start with memory problems or disturbances in mood or behavior, such as depression, mood swings or erratic/impulsive actions. Incidentally, in a survey I conducted of more than 400 combat sport athletes, those who had a history of multiple concussions were much more likely to be seriously depressed than those with no concussive history.

Researchers believe that problems associated with CTE get worse over time. As the protein accumulates, the effects get progressively worse, eventually killing brain cells; in some case, ultimately leading to a full-blown dementia. Once the build up occurs, the cell damage may progress and the brain functions may continue to deteriorate even years after the repeated concussions have stopped.

Of course, most people who get concussions – even more than one – do not seem to develop this severe and progressively worsening condition. There seems to be no reliable way right now, though, to distinguish in advance those who will from those who won't. The risk of concussions is not unique to martial arts and combative sports – in fact there are a larger number that occur from football-related injuries. But those who train or compete in full-contact martial arts should be aware that sustaining repeated concussions – at least in some cases - can have serious consequences. Any single impact may seem like an insignificant “ding”, but the cumulative effects, particularly over years, can be quite troubling.

If you train or compete in full-contact sports, there are a few things you can do to educate yourself and mitigate your risk. First, learn to recognize the signs of concussive injury. Sometimes people think if there's no loss of consciousness or memory, there's no problem. That's not necessarily true. While loss of consciousness and amnesia (memory loss) are often related to the severity of the injury, neither is a necessary condition to diagnose concussion, and neither is a good isolated marker of its effects. Experts suggest that symptoms – and possibly cognitive and postural testing - be assessed and monitored at the time of the event and afterwards. Common signs at the time include confusion, feeling “foggy”, clumsy or uncoordinated movement, dizziness, balance problems, headache, nausea, and vision problems. If you are with someone who may have had a concussive injury, you can ask a couple of simple questions. Check whether they know where they are and what day it is, whether they remember the hit and what preceded it, whether they can remember new words you give to them and repeat a series of two or three numbers backwards. These questions don't provide a diagnosis. That's not what you're trying to accomplish. But failing these basic tasks could suggest the person has sustained some injury – however minor – and at least should sit out the day and perhaps consult his or her healthcare professional.

Second, after sustaining a concussion, give your brain plenty of time to recover. It is tempting for some fighters to try to tough it out and go immediately back to trading blows, but getting a second concussion while the brain is still recovering from the first can seriously compound the severity and damage. Studies have shown that, on average, it takes approximately seven days for athletes to fully recover from symptoms of a concussion. At a minimum, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association recommends that athletes who experience a head injury resulting in loss of consciousness or amnesia should refrain from participating on the day of the injury, and that management should be more conservative for athletes who have a history of prior concussions.

You can find additional information about sport-related concussions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/) or the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (sportsmedicine.upmc.com/ConcussionProgram.htm).