Life of an Athlete for Athletes Presentation

  • Life of an Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools Life of an Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools is intended to promote your success in sports and in life.
  • Life of an Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools is intended to promote athletic excellence and promote leadership among our athletes. It is adapted, with permission, from the Life of an Athlete New Hampshire/John Underwood. Life of an Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools is a partnership between Chippewa Valley and Dakota High Schools’ Athletic Departments and the Coalition for Youth & Families. The Chippewa Valley Coalition for Youth and Families joins School, Family, and Community in preventing and reducing youth substance use and preventing youth suicide. Funds for the development of Life of An Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools were provided by federal Drug Free Communities grant funds awarded to the Coalition.
  • John Underwood LIfe of an Athlete John Underwood, who developed the Life of an Athlete program, is an Olympic trainer and coach. He holds three International Olympic Solidarity diplomas for coaching and has been a crusader for drug-free sport at all levels.  John Underwood’s research-based program, “Life of an Athlete”, has gained international attention and has been implemented in hundreds of schools across the country and abroad. John is an internationally recognized human performance expert, specializing in recovery, peaking training, and lifestyle impact on mental and physical performance.  He has worked with high school and professional athletes, including the National Federation of High School Athletics, NCAA, NHL, NFL and the NBA. He has worked many years with the USOC, Sport Canada and the International Olympic Committee. John Underwood is Human Performance Consultant for U.S. Navy SEALS. John studied Human Performance at the Sport Institute of Finland/Vierumaki and at Lake Placid.
  • Why are your life style choices important? If you don’t make healthy decisions, your athletic performance will suffer. Your choices make the difference between:WINNING & LOSING BEING CHAMPIONS & COMPETITORS The choices you make as an athlete about how much sleep you get, what you eat, and if you use caffeine, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs has an impact on your athletic performance, as well as your performance in school. It can mean the difference between winning and losing. A large part of performance depends on how athletes treat their bodies.
  • Good Health Includes 3 things: Diet, Exercise, and Sleep. Rest and recuperation allows the body to re-energize for next the next day. Its vital to get a good night sleep to perform at an athlete’s best. The REM cycle is the dream state and it is like re-booting your brain. To complete this properly you want 6-7 REM cycles, which happen over 8-10 hours. In your room: Blue light (from a TV, Phone, Computer) tells the pineal gland to start revving up. (Think bright blue skies in the morning.) To sleep well, turn off anything with blue lights. Good Health Includes 3 things: Diet, Exercise, and Sleep. Rest and recuperation allows the body to re-energize for next the next day. Its vital to get a good night sleep to perform at an athlete’s best. The REM cycle is the dream state and it is like re-booting your brain. To complete this properly you want 6-7 REM cycles, which happen over 8-10 hours. In your room: Blue light (from a TV, Phone, Computer) tells the pineal gland to start revving up. (Think bright blue skies in the morning.) To sleep well, turn off anything with blue lights.
  • Graph showing liklihood of injury over 21 months and hours of sleep. 6 hours - 70%, 7 hours - 60%, 8 hours 35%, 9 hours 15% This slide shows that the more sleep you get, the less likely you are to have an athletic injury.
    Making an extra effort to get to bed at a reasonable time can make all the difference in performance. Staying on top of school work and athletics helps promote a better sleep schedule.
  • Effects of Energy Drinks and Overstimulation Our Central Nervous System (CNS) can be at a maximal intensity level for only 2-3 hours. Overstimulation causes the CNS to break down and eventually you get chronically tired. Overstimulation doesn’t increase physical performance. It limits the ability to maintain a high level of mental & physical performance. Drinking Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Mountain Dew Amp, NOS, Tilt, etc. can create overstimulation. Even if an athlete is making the right lifestyle decisions, he/she can only perform at his/her physical peak for 2-3 hours. After that, muscles become fatigued and need rest. Athletes often use energy drinks. Energy drinks can cause over stimulation and, over time, you have more difficulty getting to where you want and need to be. The sugar and caffeine rush only lasts 15-20 minutes and after that the mind and body crashes.
  • How to fuel your body: 1. Keep your blood sugar UP. 2. Your body runs on GLUCOSE Whole Grain Pasta Fruits Vegetables 3.Your body DOES NOT run on SWEETS. Cake Candy Cookies The Life of an Athlete Power Back diet provides the proper nutrition for an athlete. An electronic version can be found on our Chippewa Valley Life of an Athlete website. The best way to keep the blood sugar up is to eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Cookies and cakes are digested as sugar and leave an athlete feeling depleted. You need to plan ahead with snacks so you feel full longer.
  • Phase 1: Before Competition or Training: EAT: A carbohydrate-rich meal or snack 2-4 hours before exercise: ½ Turkey Sandwich, Small Salad String Cheese, Crackers and an Apple Cereal, Banana and Peanut Butter DRINK: A small amount of fast-digesting protein (4-6 oz.) Having a carbohydrate-rich snack is important to keeping the body’s “engine” going. Without it, athletes can feel sluggish and slow with nothing to burn.
  • Phase 2: During Competition or Training:DRINK: Hydrate with 10+ oz. of a sports drink & water mixed together EAT: Healthy snacks to maintain blood sugar levels Staying hydrated is another essential part of “keeping the engine going”. A good way to get the electrolytes and decrease the sugar is to pour out half a sports drink and add half water. Eating healthy snacks throughout the day keeps the blood sugars level. Think about the snacks that will hold up well in a gym bag.
  • Reading Labels: Nutrition labels can be deceiving. 1. Pay attention to the serving size. 2. Limit the amount of total fat, sugar, and sodium. 3. Get enough of important nutrients, such as protein, fiber and vitamins. 4. Ingredients can have hidden names for sugar and most end in “cose”, for example… Sucralose Glucose Sucrose Cane fructose Nutrition labels can be deceiving. Pay attention to the serving size. The number of servings in a food package is essential to consider. Get enough of the suggested nutrients, protein, fiber and vitamins.
  • Soda and sugary beverages have no nutritional value and are loaded with sugar. These beverages are known to have many negative effects on your body, including promoting heart diseases, diabetes, and weight gain. Soda weakens teeth enamel, which, over time, leads to bacterial plaque that causes cavities. Even diet soda contains artificial sweeteners which can increase your cravings for sweets and junk foods. Soda is loaded with sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS is known to have many negative effects on the body, including elevated blood cholesterol and phosphorus levels, increased risk of heart diseases and diabetes, weight gain, morbid obesity, etc. Each time soda is sipped, sugar bonds with bacteria in your mouth, giving rise to acid. This acid weakens enamel in teeth, which, over time, leads to bacterial plaque that causes cavities.
  • SUGAR: Natural Sugar Fructose natural sugar found in: fruits and honey Glucose natural “simple” sugar in starches, such as: potatoes and pasta High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) HFCS is made from corn starch that is processed to glucose that turns into fructose Links have been made with HFCS to obesity and heart disease Artificial Sweeteners Artificial sweeteners are synthetic sugar substitutes Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Those that are not natural are called artificial sweeteners. It is important to pay attention to the types of sugars in the foods you eat. Natural sugars in moderation are fine, but significant amounts of artificial sweeteners negatively affect your performance. Remember to check the Life of an Athlete Power Back Diet, which provides the proper nutrition for an athlete. An electronic version can be found on our Chippewa Valley Life of an Athlete website.
  • Phase 3: Immediately after Competition or Training: Step 1 (Directly After): DRINK 4-6 oz of Gatorade/Powerade & Water Mix Step 2 (10-30 Minutes After): DRINK 12-16 oz of Whey Protein or 20-30 oz of Low-Fat Chocolate Milk EAT 75g of Carbohydrates (2 Handfuls of raisins or 2-3 fig bars) Step 3 (1 Hour After): EAT a full meal with approximately: ½ fruits or vegetables, ¼ protein, and ¼ carbs. This slide provides important information about what you can do after competing or training.
    70% of recovery happens in the first hour after competing or training, making it critically important that proper nutrition happens right away. Liquid protein (such as low fat chocolate milk, whey protein, or yogurt) is the quickest way to nourish your body recover and give your muscles what is needed to recover the next day.
  • Alcohol, Marijuana, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Interferes with your physical and mental ability. Strength/Speed is reduced. Training-Recovery-Adaptation is effected. Lung Capacity is decreased. Reaction time is slowed. Neuromuscular connection is impacted. Performance time is decreased. Ability to think clearly is reduced. Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and other Drugs have negative consequences for any athletic performance and can lead to addiction.
  • Alcohol, Marijuana, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use and Your Brain Your brain is a “work in progress” and don’t stop developing until your mid-20s. You can become addicted to any substance (alcohol, marijuana, or tobacco, etc.) MUCH more quickly than adults because your brain is still developing. (Contrary to what many people believe, we have learned from research that marijuana IS an addictive drug. https://teens.drugabuse.gov/).
    Use of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs can cause irreversible damage to your developing brain.
  • Brain Activity of a Teen Alcohol User. Healthy Teenager brain is larger and has more activity that alcohol user. These are brain scans of a healthy teenager and that of a teen that uses alcohol regularly. The areas missing in the scan on the right aren’t holes. They show areas of decreased blood flow and, therefore, decreased brain activity. This means the brain signals need to find another path within the brain to respond. The teen on the right is far less likely to perform well athletically and in school.
  • Impact of Alcohol: High School Athletes lose between 15% to 30% from their overall performance when they drink alcohol. ONE NIGHT of binge drinking ELMINATES the impact of 2 WEEKS of training and play. Athletes who drink regularly are 2 times more likely to be injured as non-drinkers 54% injury rate for drinkers. 24% injury rate for non-drinks. High School Athletes lose between 15% to 30% from their overall performance when they drink alcohol. ONE NIGHT of binge drinking ELMINATES the impact of 2 WEEKS of training and play. Athletes who drink regularly are 2 times more likely to be injured as non-drinkers. 54% injury rate for drinkers. 24% injury rate for non-drinks.
  • Brain Activity of a Teen Marijuana User. Shows Healthy Teenager brain and a brain scan of majijuana user These are scans of a healthy teenager’s brain and that of a marijuana user. There is much less activity in the brain of the marijuana user. This means that the ability to think, react, store memory, and learn is negatively affected. Use of marijuana can significantly affect performance in sports and in school many days after use.
  • Marijuana Contains 4x the amount of tar found in Tobacco smoke Contains 50-70% more cancer-producing chemicals than tobacco. Response time to visual stimulus: Well Rested: .186 Msec. response time, Without Sleep .246 Msec response time and Marijuana user .300-.450 Msec Response time. Marijuana contains 4x the amount of tar found in Tobacco smoke and 50-70% more carcinogens (chemicals that cause cancer). Considerable research shows that marijuana use affects response time, attention, memory, and is addictive, especially for teens. (ncadd.org 2015) There is much misinformation about marijuana. Many people think marijuana is a safe drug because it’s a plant. All plants are not safe. Remember – tobacco is a plant. Marijuana is particularly unsafe for teens and young adults, whose brains are developing. It’s important that you make healthy choices.
  • Marijuana use negatively affects timing, movement, reflexes, ability to track, coordination, concentration, memory, and judgement all of which harms athletic performance. NIDA, 2014 Marijuana has no performance-enhancing potential. Direct athletes to Marijuana: Facts for Teens January 2014 NIDA - https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/marijuana. (NIDA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is a United States federal-government research institute whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction.“)
  • Marijuana: Effects on Brain Activity: Shows non-user requiring much less brain activity to do a simple hand movement than a Marijuana user. You can conduct this exercise with your team to show the negative effects of marijuana use on performance. Show this slide and state: Touch your middle finger and thumb together quickly and repeatedly. Look at the brain scan on the left to see how much brain activity it takes someone NOT ON MARIJUANA to perform that task (yellow area). Now look at the brain scan on the right to see how much MORE brain activity it takes to perform the same task for someone who is a marijuana user. (Red/yellow/orange areas show brain inactivity of a marijuana use.) This shows how much harder the brain has to work to perform a simple task under the influence of marijuana. Think about the effects of marijuana on more complex tasks e.g. performing a sport, studying, taking a test, or driving a car.
  • Marijuana - shows a sign on field "If you want a Chance on the field, stay off of the Grass".
  • Brain Activity results of using other drugs. Shows brains of cocaine, heroin and meth User. Use of these substances dramatically affects brain chemistry and has negative affects on all areas of development.
  • Abuse of Prescription Pain Killers (Opioids): Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin, etc. Use only as prescribed by a medical professional Stop as soon as possible Signs of Addiction to Opioid Pain Killers Physical and Emotional Changes: Clammy skin, tiny pupils, skin rashes, nausea and vomiting, difficulty breathing, sleepiness, confusion, low energy levels, seizures, low blood pressure, coma Depression, aggravation, violence, other personality changes Prescription Drug Abuse Can Lead to Heroin Use/Addiction. Athletes may be at higher risk of developing an addiction to pain medication, e.g. Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin, etc. because of sports injuries for which opioid painkilling medication may be prescribed. We need to be very aware of the dangerous potential for pain medication prescribed for an injury to end in addiction. Athletes taking prescriptions for treating pain should stop use as soon as soon as possible. Abuse of Prescription Painkillers can lead to Heroin use/addiction.
  • ATHLETIC CODE OF CONDUCT We Support Good Sportsmanship and Educational Athletics Our Athletes are EXPECTED to be RESPECTFUL and RESPONSIBLE! Cheer positively for your own team No taunting and No disruptive behavior Accept officials’ decisions Join our SPORTMANSHIP TEAM: Teach Good Sportsmanship; Encourage Good Sportsmanship; Advocate for Good Sportsmanship; Model Good Sportsmanship By participating on a school team, you are voluntarily agreeing to accept and follow the rules, requirements, standards, and regulations in the Athletic Code of Conduct, as well as any rules, requirements, standards, and regulations of your team. Being on a team is a privilege, not a right. It is very important for you to know what is expected of you as an athlete.
  • Athletic Code of Conduct ADDICTIVE AND ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES AND OTHER MISCONDUCT Addictive substances – the use, possession, distribution or sale of addictive and illegal substances by student athletes is prohibited. Other Misconduct: Any conduct that dishonors the athlete, the team and the school will not be tolerated. For any acts of unacceptable conduct such as , but not limited to, theft, extortion, vandalism, assault, sexual misconduct, gross disrespect, hazing, or inappropriate use of the internet, electronic devices or communication systems. An important part of the Chippewa Valley Schools Athletic Code of Conduct is that which addresses the use, possession, and/or distribution of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs, as well as the abuse of prescription medications and/or sharing of medications prescribed to someone else.
  • Consequences of Use of Addictive and Illegal Substances: First Offense – Lose 25% of competitions, plus taking the online Life of an Athlete course. Certification of completion is required.* Second Offense – Lose 50% of competitions, plus professional consultation selected by the school district and paid for by the athlete. Verification from the professional agency is required following completion of the consultation. Third Offense – Suspension from all competitions for the remainder of middle school or high school career. *An athlete’s first tobacco violation – Lose 10% of competitions. For any further tobacco violation, the above consequences will apply. Read through the Consequences.
  • You MUST take the Life of an Athlete Survey BEFORE You Can Play on a Team for Your School The survey must be taken the FIRST TIME you play a sport during a school year. You don’t need to take the survey again if you play other sports during the school year. Access the Life of an Athlete Survey via a computer at http://www.chippewavalleyschools.org/LOASurvey You must take the Life of an Athlete Survey Before You Can Play on a Team for Your School. The Survey must be taken the first time you play a sport during the school year. You don’t need to take the survey again if you play other sports during the school year. You cannot access the survey via your phone.
  • Visit: Chippewa Valley Schools Life of an Athlete Website http://www.cvsloa.org/ Leadership Guide Power Back Diet Sleep and Recovery Code of Conduct And More! Questions? Talk With Your Coach or Athletic Director Visit our Life of an Athlete website to get additional information that is important to your success in athletics and in life.
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