We never forget to congratulate our kids for securing fair grades in their
exams. We understand that a good academic track record is one of the most vital
aspects that build ground for the better future of the kids. However, studies
alone are not enough to make them a complete human being. The emancipation of
mind is one of the key factors that differentiate a child from that of an adult.
The mental emancipation can be achieved by several means viz., participation in
extra curricular activities, interaction with peers and more.
A good number of parents encourage their child to participate in games like
football and rugby to cultivate the spirit of sportsmanship in their child.
However, introvert kids, and shy girls are reluctant to take part in such
activities which are a little away from their daily schedule. It is up to the
parents to encourage their kids to ward off the inhibitions and get engrossed in
these games.
The primary trick to hold their attention is to allure them with attractive
jersey and sport caps. Kids are generally attracted to fancy products and would
certainly love to be a part of the game. This would at least arouse an interest
for football.
In order to hold their attention to football, you need to segregate them
into teams and assign them to each of the teams. When their team is able to
perform well, you need to cheer first which would be followed by your kids.
Never forget to congratulate your kids on success of their team and offer them
small rewards so that they are really motivated to perform better. Small rewards
as a token of appreciation for their efforts work like an added incentive.
Football is not a game alone; it is a reflection of combined effort of many
individuals who form themselves in a team. It is the spirit of the team which is
the sole essence of the game. Perhaps there is no better game made which
cultivates the sense of team spirit in your adults as football.
Football is way too violent and should be abolished as a sport. Even some NFL
players admit that they would not let their own sons play football. Then there
are others, fierce advocates who think football is a wonderful game with
tremendous benefits to its participants and think all of the media hype about
injuries are just overrated scare tactics and headline grabbers.
But the majority of us are probably somewhere in the middle and aren’t quite
sure what to think. So why don’t we spend a little time sifting through all the
facts and emotions and see if we can make some logical decisions about the
subject. I have an interesting perspective in that I am a sports medicine
physician who is a true fan of the game, has played the game, has sustained
injuries and has a son of my own.
Dementia, CTE, chronic headaches, depression, the list goes on and on. It’s
not just long-term orthopedic problems anymore. It’s not just the chronic knee
pain or back pain. These athletes suffer from cognitive, psychological,
psychiatric, social, emotional and daily functional problems that even lead some
to take their own lives. From this perspective it is easy to ask oneself the
simple question: Is it worth it?
Especially when I have a 4-year-old son who is so innocent and has his whole
life ahead of him. I ask myself: Is this what I want for him? On the other hand,
football is a beautiful game. It is the No. 1 sport in America for a reason. Not
only is there the physical strength, speed, technique and skill that it develops
in its athletes, but it also provides a structure to develop other skills.
Learning about hard work, strategy, teamwork, social and trust building skills,
these are all life lessons that provide our youngsters with tools to not only
tackle their opponent, but to tackle life.
From a spectator perspective it is also a fascinating game to watch. The
strategy of the play calling and the intricacy of the formations, the feat of
skill of an amazing catch, the excitement of an interception and of course the
energizing violence of a hard fumble-causing tackle. Finally, for the athletes
themselves there is also the social status of being a football player on the
high school or collegiate level. And for some there is the lure of playing
professional football with all of the fame and fortune and opportunity that it
provides. For many it is the last hope and a way out of an otherwise troublesome
life. So how do we balance these two perspectives?
Well, as with any decision in life we must weigh the risks and rewards. So
let’s take a logical look at the risks. There is tremendous risk in football.
Every year football players in this country die from head trauma or sudden
cardiac death or heat illness. Also injuries leading to paralysis and permanent
disability are not as rare as we would hope. But what are the true relative
risks? It is a fact that head trauma is more common in bicycling than it is in
football. Football is then closely followed by playground accidents. Concussions
may have a higher incidence in girls soccer than in football. What about the
risk of death?
Perhaps the greatest is education and awareness. Proper pre-participation
screening, heat illness prevention, proper equipment, proper tackling technique,
concussion baseline testing and injury monitoring, and there are many others. We
also reduce risk by reducing exposure. Limiting the number of hits by limiting
full contact practices will reduce injury rates. Rule changes such as on
kickoffs will change play dynamics and reduce injury exposure as well.
Penalizing dangerous technique such as hits to the head and hits on defenseless
receivers and fining flagrant acts of dangerous unsportsmanlike conduct will
also reduce risk.
Changing the culture of the game will also go a long way toward limiting
violence and increasing injury reporting and monitoring. Should the violence
completely disappear? Should the game be more about pure skill and less about
physicality? It probably shouldn’t. After all, what does a non-violent,
non-physical football game look like: It’s called the Pro Bowl. And nobody
watches it. So I don’t think the game needs to be radically changed and the
violence completely eliminated, but clearly there does need to be change.
Luckily that change has finally arrived.
Football has gone through periods of significant change in the past. From
being saved from extinction by Teddy Roosevelt in 1905, to the development of
the forward pass, to the fearlessness of the hard-helmeted athlete, there have
certainly been many periods of change. I think we have now arrived upon another
one. An age of enlightenment so to speak. An awareness of the importance of
injury prevention and a culture change of what it means to be an injured
athlete. I do not think that the game of football that has been played over the
last decade will be the same as that played by my 4-year-old when it is his
turn.
Liverpool have renewed attempts to discuss their vacant managerial post
with Swansea's Brendan Rodgers.
Continue reading the main story“We would like to confirm that there has
been no contact from Liverpool and nothing has changed since our previous
statement on the issue”Swansea City statement on MondayOwner John W Henry
arrived on Merseyside on Tuesday to personally oversee the recruitment
process.
Having spoken to Wigan manager Roberto Martinez, Liverpool have gone back
to Rodgers to discuss the position.
Rodgers 39, met Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins on Tuesday morning but the
Welsh club insist the manager's future was not discussed.
Martinez has yet to hear back from Liverpool, but Henry is understood to
have been impressed with him when the pair met in Miami last week and was keen
to speak to him a second time.
Though persistent rumours that Rodgers would be meeting Liverpool last
night proved unfounded, Swansea are today bracing themselves for the call from
Merseyside. City chairman Huw Jenkins emerged from morning discussions with the
Northern Irishman – which had been scheduled long before the Liverpool position
became available – to insist that there had still been no contact from Anfield.
But Rodgers' return to the UK from a visit to New York has coincided with a
sudden sense of pessimism in south Wales that he could be persuaded to stay –
and Liverpool may now be prepared to make their move. An announcement may be
forthcoming on Friday.
But Rodgers has never made any secret of the fact that he wants to work for
a club who have the potential to win silverware and though the presence of his
family in South Wales is important, the Liverpool opportunity may prove too good
to resist.
The outcome of Liverpool's pursuit of a new manager may now depend on how
Martinez and Rodgers feel about the prospect of working under Louis van Gaal,
who is favourite to become the club's sporting director. Van Gaal has always had
an imperious streak and said 11 years ago that he had been top of Manchester
United's list to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson.
"I knew I was first on the list to succeed [Ferguson] last year," he said.
"I don't have any contact with them now... but I can imagine that a club like
Manchester United are still interested in Louis van Gaal."
With Wigan's Martinez weighing up the structure that Liverpool's owner,
Fenway Sports Group, has put before him, Rodgers has told friends that although
he is happy in Wales he is intrigued by the chance to manage one of football's
biggest clubs. He is pondering whether such an opening will come around
again.
Swansea are on the verge of completing a club-record £6.8 million (AED
39.1m) transfer for on-loan Hoffenheim midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and are
interested in a loan deal for Tottenham's out-of-favour Giovani dos Santos -
whom Rodgers watched on Sunday as a guest of the Football Association of Wales
for the friendly against Mexico in New Jersey.
However, despite suggestions elsewhere that Rodgers had already been
offered the Liverpool job, the club refused to comment officially on their
manager's position.
Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has fallen foul of the Football
Association on more than one occasion.
On Wednesday he was issued with a 12-match ban after being found guilty of
two counts of violent conduct during Rangers' 3-2 defeat by Manchester City on
the final day of the Premier League season. Here, BBC Sport reflects on some of
the moments that have made headlines during the 29-year-old's career.
Barton, 29, was sent off in QPR's defeat at Manchester City on the final
day of the season and had accepted a charge over his clash with Sergio Aguero in
the wake of his red card.
He was also found guilty over a separate clash with Vincent Kompany.
The midfielder has been fined £75,000 by the Football Association.
Barton was initially sent off for an off-the-ball clash with City striker
Carlos Tevez and will serve a four-match ban for that offence, as it was his
second sending-off of the season.
The incidents involving Aguero and Kompany came after Barton had been
dismissed, meaning they fell outside the jurisdiction of the referee, and have
resulted in a further eight-match suspension.
The real wreckage, however, is not in the length of ban or the period of
time in which Barton will not be allowed to play. It is now about the period
when he will be allowed to play. A second hearing, this time convoked by his
employers, Queen's Park Rangers, will begin now the outcome of the FA's is
known. This does not promise to be any more pleasant or easy going than that
which took place yesterday, given that there would not necessarily have been
many tears shed at Loftus Road for the length of ban.
The harsh reality for a club such as QPR, and there is no disrespect meant
here, is that they cannot carry a player who will not be able to play for them
until the nights are closing in. It could be a winter of discontent that the
former Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder faces, as he turns 30.
He may not even be among the Premier League squad of 25 at the season's
start, for a club who cannot afford to be a player short for the start of their
second campaign in the top flight in the last 16 years.
In April he was involved in a half-time row with his club captain, Shaun
Derry, in the dressing room at West Bromwich Albion. That had not helped his
standing with some team-mates before the Etihad incident.
An FA statement read: "An independent Regulatory Commission has today
(Wednesday) dealt with two charges of violent conduct against Joey Barton,
arising from the game against Manchester City, resulting in an eight-match
suspension and 75,000-pound fine for the Queens Park Rangers midfielder.
"This eight-match suspension is to run consecutively to the four-game
suspension Barton was already given for his dismissal in the fixture, making a
total of 12 matches."
The chairman of the Independent Regulatory Commission said: "There are
rules of conduct that should be adhered to, and such behaviour tarnishes the
image of football in this country, particularly as this match was the pinnacle
of the domestic season and watched by millions around the globe."
The decision came after Dalglish flew to Boston to meet with Liverpool's US
owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner.
Kenny Dalglish led Liverpool to League Cup success and the FA Cup final in his
second spell at Anfield. But his side finished eighth in the Premier League, 37
points behind champions Manchester City and below local rivals Everton.
The poor league finish came after Dalglish spent millions on new players
last summer. Dalglish won 35 of his 74 games in all competitions since taking over in
January 2011. In that time Liverpool have drawn 17 and lost 22 matches.
Liverpool have struggled for form at home this season winning just six of
their 19 league games. Dalglish was also criticised for defending Luis Suarez after the Liverpool
striker was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice
Evra.
Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and Wigan's Roberto Martinez are the two
early favourites to take over at Anfield.
Dalglish arrived back in England on Tuesday morning after meeting
representatives of Fenway Sports Group, including Liverpool's principal owner,
John W Henry, and the chairman, Tom Werner.
At the meeting, instigated by Dalglish in response to the uncertainty that
has surrounded his position since defeat in the FA Cup final on 5 May, he
delivered his end-of-season review and outlined his strategy for next
season.
FSG, however, were dissatisfied with Liverpool's poor eighth‑place finish
in the Premier League, matching their lowest league finish since they were
promoted back to the old First Division in 1962.
A statement from the club said: "Kenny Dalglish is to leave his post today
as manager after having his contract terminated. After a careful and
deliberative review of the season, the club came to the decision that a change
was appropriate. It is not a decision that was reached lightly or hastily. The
search for a new manager will begin immediately."
Henry said: "Kenny will always be more than a championship winning manager,
more than a championship winning star player. He is in many ways the heart and
soul of the club. He personifies everything that is good about Liverpool
Football Club. He has always put the club and its supporters first. Kenny will
always be a part of the family at Anfield.
"Our job now is to identify and recruit the right person to take this club
forward and build on the strong foundations put in place during the last 18
months."
The Liverpool chairman Tom Werner said: "Kenny came into the club as
manager at our request at a time when Liverpool Football Club really needed him.
He didn't ask to be manager; he was asked to assume the role. He did so because
he knew the club needed him. He did more than anyone else to stabilise Liverpool
over the past year-and-a-half and to get us once again looking forward. We owe
him a great debt of gratitude.
Even as they paid tribute to Dalglish, co-owners Henry and Werner revealed
it was the failure to come remotely close to delivering a top four finish that
ultimately cost the Anfield icon his job.
"Kenny will always be more than a championship winning manager, more than a
championship winning star player (but) our job is to identify and recruit the
right person to take this club forward," Henry explained.
That process gets underway immediately, with bookmakers installing Roberto
Martinez and former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez - who still lives in the
area - as the two overwhelming favourites for the vacant position.
But the owners have made clear they will not be rushed into any hasty
decisions in finding the right man to take them towards the top four challenge
they consider is the minimum requirement for next season.
They are admirers of Andre Villas-Boas and considered him a credible
candidate when they sacked Roy Hodgson in January 2010.
