Thanks for the Memories

 

I was reminded recently by a former athlete how special youth sports teams can be.  He told me about some of those positive experiences and how they impacted the rest of his life.

It opened up the floodgates of memories for me.  Through the years, I coached a little bit of everything. Baseball, softball, soccer, football, basketball. If my kids were involved, I was helping in some way.

The first real soccer game I ever saw, I coached. I didn’t know much about it, but I learned. I only coached one year of t-ball baseball, with the late great Tommy Wilson, but I stayed on in the administrative side for little league baseball for several more years.

I coached softball until my daughter moved on. To this day, I stay in touch with many of those players, and always send birthday greetings to my favorite second-base player, Abbie Mitchell Rector.

I was stopped in a funeral receiving line by one of those not too long ago.  She remembers those days fondly. I hope they all do (although I think Summer Maciel Webb’s mom still holds it against me for the time I put some kind of goop in Summer’s hair).

Football was fun for me. I hope it was for the players on the team. I helped Ricky Maples with the Cubs and Bears until my son got too big for the Parks & Rec league. His first year, he played quarterback, but soon figured out that his future in football had his hand in the dirt (ask a football player).

Coach Maples and Nick even had a system of hand signals to call the plays from the sidelines. Formation, play, and snapcount…all transmitted through hand signals. Pretty cool for a 9 year old.

But basketball was where I spent most of my coaching years. In about 1990, I restarted the dormant Blount Stars program, originally created by coaching legends Charlie Finley and Tom Ware.

I coached both a boys team and a girls team.  I supplied the uniforms, recruited the coaches, and handled most of the logistics.  What I got in return was a lifetime of memories and relationships. 

But do I remember the games and all that?  Not so much.

What I remember are the road trips.  Going to downtown Memphis with the Bright family, looking at the sights that had changed so much since the 70’s when I lived there.

Loading up to head for an AAU basketball tournament somewhere.  Bill Hammon had this big red Suburban and I had my family van so we would load up the boys team and head somewhere for a tournament. Everyone had to ride in one of the two team vehicles.  Everyone roomed together, ate together, and hung out together.

We got stuck in Middlesboro, Kentucky one time by a snow storm. They cancelled the games but wouldn’t let us in the gym so we just hung out in the hotel until we could get home.

My assistant coaches for much of this time were Big Larry (Jones) and Little Larry (Sankey), the latter of which wasn’t really little at all.  We had a thing called “Prime Time Pine,” for those that didn’t follow the rules.

Yeah, we won some games along the way but that’s not what I remember. I remember the kids making friends, being kids, and playing together. I’d like to think that they became better adults because of those experiences.  I don’t think anybody became better adults because of the games we won or lost.

But maybe that’s just me.

Are you willing to pay the price?

 

Are you?  Are you willing to get up at 5 AM in order to get to the gym and get a workout in before anyone you know is even up?

When your friends are all going out, but you need to catch up on some things so that you can concentrate on taking care of the things that will help you succeed, will you go out or will you finish the needed tasks?

Are you willing to put in the effort?  When the going gets tough, are you going to push harder? Are you going to work harder than you ever have? Are you willing to follow a nutritional path that is better for you? Will you pass on that cheeseburger and fries, even though all those around you are not?

Are you willing to be coachable?  Will you listen?  Will you trust? Are you willing to go to bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep? Are you willing to tolerate the pain and suffering?  When it hurts, will you say “one more?”

Are you willing to let the team come first?  Will you ignore all those around you that are telling you that you are the best ever, and simply go out and prove that you’re the best you?

I had the distinct pleasure recently of attending the retirement reception for Dawn Marsh.  Dr. Ken Bell and I decided to surprise her at the reception at Duluth High School in Duluth, Georgia.

If you have been around here for long, you should remember Dawn.  If not, you surely recognize the Marsh name, part of the winning legacy at Alcoa High School.

Dawn was one of the best ever.  In high school, she led her basketball team to the state tournament.  As a Lady Vol, she led the 1987 team to Pat Summit’s first national championship.

She still holds several Lady Vol records, including most assists in a game (18), most assists in a season (243), and most assists in a career (755). In other words, she made everyone around her better. 

She just concluded a storied career at Duluth High School, where she was a teacher and a coach.  Along the way, she coached basketball, golf, and softball, winning a state championship in softball in 1999, finishing with a perfect 23-0 record.  She continues being a highly respected NCAA basketball official.

Dawn was the epitome of doing what it takes to win.  When she was in high school, her Uncle David Marsh (another legendary Marsh and high school state champion at Alcoa) was the boys’ basketball coach so she could get into the gym anytime she wanted to.

She spent her summers playing pickup games all across Maryville and Alcoa, becoming a playground legend along the way.  There is no doubt that she could have excelled in any sport available to her, but basketball seemed to be her destiny.

She could dribble, she could shoot, she could pass (obviously). Much to the dismay of Pat Flynn, her high school coach, and Pat Summitt, her behind-the-back, no-look passes were still a sight to behold.  Watching her play was downright fun. Despite that, she was every coach’s dream. She worked hard, never took a night off, never let anything get in the way of excelling on the basketball court.

So…if you want to be good, if you really do want to do what it takes to be successful, be like Dawn.

The Joy of Sport

 

I saw a high school basketball game last week.  That might not seem particularly odd, unless you consider that I haven’t seen a high school basketball game in probably 5 years. Now that’s odd. At least for me.

I’ve seen a lot of basketball games.  A LOT of basketball games.  Legendary coach Galen Johnson and I used to sit together at games and the conversation often turned to which of us had seen more basketball games. 

I’m pretty sure he won that contest but it doesn’t change the fact that both of us had seen a ton of games.  For most of those, I was working.  My role as an athletic trainer and sports physical therapist put me on the sidelines of many, many games.

My own kids played until mid-way through high school, when they quit to focus on what ultimately were their best sports.

I coached travel basketball for several years, coaching both girls and boys teams.  And I played a lot of basketball, finally hanging up my sneakers at age 59.

This game that I attended was William Blount versus Heritage, and the gym was packed.  I was mostly there to see a couple of girls that I got to know through their rehab. One is still sidelined by knee problems but the other is joyously healthy after going through ACL reconstruction and months of physical therapy.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I saw people that I hadn’t seen in years.  I got to watch the work of coaches that I admire. And I saw hustle and a level of play that I don’t remember seeing often back when I was attending 3-5 games a week.

I sat between two friends and enjoyed every minute of it. I listened when fans disagreed with the referees (don’t they always?) and found that I could observe the game with great objectivity, certainly more than back when I had a kid on that court.

So, here’s my takeaway—basketball is an amazing game…a game that is a joy to play and a joy to watch.  I often wish I had stayed with it.  Football was my sport, but I might have been better at basketball if I stuck to it. I know that I was able to play basketball a lot longer than any other sport I’ve done.

Injuries do occur—that is undeniable, but isn’t it still true that “nothing ventured, nothing gained?” I still believe in the value of sports. 

I believe that the lessons that we learn from sports participation prepare us better for life. It is just those very lessons, learned on the fields of friendly competition, that teach us how to work with others, to get the best out of ourselves, and how teamwork really functions.

I believe that moving our body, purposefully while pushing our physical limits, helps us to lead healthier, happier lives. 

I enjoyed that game. I enjoyed the kiddos that I came to see and others that I maybe didn’t. I enjoyed picking out which players had parents that I took care of when those parents were on that same court (there were many).

I enjoyed the spirit and the effort and the game. I think I’ll be going back.

TMJ--simple/not so simple

 

Part of this one is simple.  That means that part of it isn’t.

I had an athlete with an odd injury last spring. A soccer player caught and elbow on the jaw which dislocated his temporomandibular joint (TMJ).  He came to the sidelines with his mouth open, telling me that he couldn’t close his mouth. He was in a lot of pain at both TMJ’s. 

I’ve done a lot of work with TMJ problems in my career.   For years, Drs. Witt, WIdloski, Gillespie, and I did a weekly TMJ clinic, where we saw the most difficult of the TMJ patients, mostly those with problems their dentist had been unable to resolve.

The TMJ is a very complex joint, unlike any other in the body. It might seem a simple hinge joint, but it does much more than that.  As the mouth opens, the jaw hinges but also slides forward down the slope of the maxilla—part of the skull.  Sitting on top of the mandible (jaw bone) is a disc that in a healthy joint, glides down that slope with the mandible.

Most of the time, it works smoothly and effectively.  When it doesn’t, you know it.

A lot of things can cause TMJ problems.  As a Physical Therapist, I see posture as a big contributor.  Dentists see a lot of contribution to problems from the way the teeth fit together.  Oral surgeons generally approach it from inside the joint itself. HEENT physicians are often in a position to see all the systems together

Foremost among other contributing factors is grinding your teeth, especially at night.  This is known as bruxism.  This can be a stress reaction, an occlusion (how your teeth fit together) problem, or other physical and emotional factors.

As for treatment—that is best done by a team approach, employing the efforts of the dentist, oral surgeon, physical therapist, and HEENT physician.  No one component seems more important than the others.  Often, it is a lot of little factors that together create big problems.

The solution then becomes removing as many of those little factors as possible.  Sometimes, the initial step is a simple football-type mouthpiece.  Other times, it means the construction of a custom splint that fits over the teeth.

At the very least, serious dental problems need to be solved.  The way the teeth fit together is huge.  As I said, posture can be a huge contributing factor.  Chronic allergies can contribute, as they often result in mouth breathing. Chewing on hard or chewy things are a problem.

Headaches are common.  There is a high correlation with neck problems.  Pain in the teeth may be the TMJ or may be organic problems there.

As for my soccer player, we were able to reduce that dislocation and then gradually return him to full competition without further problems. 

PT...more than a "few stretches"

 

“Can you just show me a few stretches to fix this problem?”  I’ve heard that a million times.

It’s usually preceded by a self-diagnosis, or, at least, a web-assisted diagnosis.  “My shoulder hurts, can you show me some stretches to take care of it?”  Or, “I hurt my back, what stretches can I do to take care of that?”

I’m not sure where anybody learned that a “few stretches” was the solution to their problems or (and even worse) that teaching stretches was all I do.

Don’t assume that I’m against giving free advice.  I do it all the time. Anybody that knows me knows that I am quite approachable with questions about health issues. 

My attitude has always been that if you have enough confidence in my abilities to trust me with health questions, then you are worthy of my time and full attention.  Even after doing this work for almost 48 years, I’m still honored when someone asks my opinion. 

My wife will tell you that it happens all the time.  It usually starts with someone saying “I know you don’t want to be bothered with stuff like this, but….” No, I really don’t mind being bothered. 

But don’t tell me what’s wrong and then tell me what to do about it. “My knee hurts, are there some stretches I can do to fix that?”  I just respectfully ask that you don’t reduce my professions to that.

Before you get out of sorts, let me offer you some specifics about what you can do. Free. Without asking. And not really just a few stretches.

If your shoulder hurts, it’s probably related to posture. You might say “but my posture is good—I always stand up straight.” That may be the case, but the problem is the world we live in.

Everything we do is in front of us. We sit at a computer for our work or we assemble equipment in a factory or we have hobbies or habits that are in front of us. The result is that we function throughout our day with our shoulders rolled forward.  Maybe not too much but enough.

That’s behind most of the shoulder problems I see in the clinic.  That and too much bench press. Overdevelopment of the front part of the shoulder yields the same result.

The solution is often quite simple—strengthen the upper back, particularly the muscles between your shoulder blades.  Focus strength training on pulling back.  Strengthen those muscles and you will go a long way toward solving the postural component of your problems.

Kneecap (patellar) problems are common, particularly among young teenage girls.  The treatment for that for too long has been attempts at strengthening the quadriceps muscles (those muscles on the front of the thigh). Trouble is, that wasn’t very effective.

What we know now is that the solution is more a matter of how the foot hits the ground and how strong the hips are.  Fix those problems and you will greatly influence the knee.

Neck problems?  Fix the way you sit.  Back problems?  Strengthen your core.  That’s not the whole solution, but it’s a start. For more, see your physical therapist for a thorough evaluation and a prescribed program of exercises and activities that fit the problem.  It’s never as simple as a few stretches.

Long life begins at childhood (duh...)

 

I’ve written often about chasing a long life, usually focusing on things that you need to do late in life in order to be healthy through your golden years. Unfortunately, it seems I’ve ignored the most important time—the developmental years.  Birth to 18.  That’s when you can impact health the most. 

Let’s look at what that means. And what you, as a parent, can do.

The single most important thing you can do is to be a good role model.  I remember an old saying “do as I say do, don’t do as I do.”  Huh-uh. Doesn’t really work.

Your children will model your behaviors.  If you eat right, they will too.  If you lead an active lifestyle, they will too.  Let’s face it—inactive kids become inactive adults.  And lifestyle choices, especially in the young, determine our health.  For the rest of our lives.

Your kids need regular exercise.  An hour a day or more.  That’s part of the reason youth sports can be so important. My rule was always that I don’t care what you play but you have to play something. 

That wasn’t a problem around my house.  My kids wanted to play everything. Sports were everything from softball to basketball to gymnastics and lots in between. They both finally settled on football and volleyball and had great careers. Family activities included hiking, swimming, skiing, paddling. You name it, we did it.

We once took a whitewater canoe course at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. I think the kids were 11 and 13, paddling solo whitewater canoes. We sometimes did crazy stuff like that. And backcountry backpacking trips.

The bottom line is that if you want your child to be more active, be more active yourself.  And, better than that, be active with them.  Go for a run. Play a sport. Shoot hoops together. Anything.

Getting adequate sleep is huge, but especially for the youngest among us.  Quality of sleep and regular sleeping hours are crucial to proper development.

Eating right is crucial.  Fruit.  Vegetables.  No sodas.  Avoid sugary drinks.  Sweet tea?  I think not.  Whole grain foods.  Lean meats.  Dress it up.  Don’t add sodium but there are lots of ways to make food tastier.  Never eat in front of the TV.  Ever. 

Again, you can’t put a burger and fries on your plate and tofu and broccoli on your kid’s plate. It just won’t work. Obese children become obese adults and then comes all the health problems that shorten your life and lessen the quality of your life—heart disease, diabetes, cancer.

But accept your child at any weight. Build their self-esteem while teaching them the value of the big three—proper nutrition, regular exercise, sufficient sleep. If the lessons are learned, they will be OK.

It wasn’t a problem when my kids were growing up, but screen time is definitely a problem these days.  I often see neck problems among teenagers from looking down at their phone all day.  The research is clear—too much screen time is bad for you and bad for your child. Period.

Smoking? That one’s easy. No one wants their child to smoke but 2^nd hand smoke is almost as dangerous.  And if you smoke, there’s a good chance your kid will too. Someday.

Health literacy is important.  Talk to your kids about why it is important to do all these things.  Talk about healthy living. Share meals together. Talk the talk but walk the walk. Your kids deserve that much.

Iron Sharpens Iron

 

I am part of a group called The ICCUS Society.  ICCUS is a group of sports physical therapists that come from around the world to meet every summer and argue for two days. Really.

It’s an iron sharpens iron thing. More on that in a bit.

All physical therapists graduate from physical therapy school with a doctoral degree, and all are considered generalists until they pursue advanced competencies. That can be in pediatrics, neurology, lymphedema, wound care, pelvic health, and others. Most of these are under the umbrella of the American Board of Physical Therapist Specialties.

There are a several avenues that a physical therapist can take to become a specialist.  For me, I became an Athletic Trainer and then a Sports Clinical Specialist (SCS). To become certified as a Sports Clinical Specialist, you must have post-graduate coursework in things like Emergency Care, years of experience working with athletes, and pass a rigorous examination.

For clarity, Athletic Trainers are a separate profession, today requiring a Masters Degree in Athletic Training.  Athletic Trainers are most often found on the sidelines of games and sporting events, but can be found in a variety of settings including clinics, schools, and industries.

There are other avenues to become a Sports Physical Therapist, most notably by completing a Sports Residency or Sports Fellowship, programs that require 1-2 years in a combined academic/athletic setting.

Back to ICCUS—there are 56 members, from around the globe.  Those members include international speakers, authors, and many that serve professional athletes and teams at the highest level. And when I say that we close the doors and argue for two days, it really is true. It can be daunting.

That’s where the iron sharpens iron comes in. Every three years, each member has to provide a presentation that is then critiqued by the whole group. To say that this group can be brutal is an understatement.  Either you know what you’re talking about or you get embarrassed in a hurry. Not everyone is up for it.

Iron sharpens iron.

That’s why you want to play the best competition. Sure, everyone likes to win, but champions want to get better.  So, you play the best.

That’s why you want coaches that will push you.  That’s how you find out how good you can be.

That’s why we keep the score in games. That’s why we crown champions. That’s why we keep won/loss records.

If you want to be the best version of yourself, regardless of the arena, you seek out the best of the best and challenge yourself to compete in that arena. 

That’s how you get to be the best.