NCAA Division One Top 10 Finalists Announced for National ARA Sportsmanship Award
The results are in for this year’s top 10 finalists for the Awards and Recognition Association (ARA) seventh annual sportsmanship award www.arasportsmanshipaward.com, given to one outstanding NCAA Division I collegiate football player who best personifies the spirit of sportsmanship.
The 2011 Sportsmanship Award recipient will be chosen from 10 finalists and announced this November.
“This year’s candidates are an outstanding bunch, there is no shortage of positive role-model athletes,” according to former Brigham Young University Head Football Coach LaVell Edwards who chairs the selection committee.
Previous winners are Arizona Cardinals and former University of Texas defensive end, Sam Acho (2010); Miami Dolphin and former Kansas State University tight end, Jeron Mastrud (2009), Chicago Bears and former Northwestern University receiver Eric Peterman (2008); Winnipeg Blue Bombers and former Washington State quarterback Alex Brink (2007); Cincinnati Bengels and former Rutgers University fullback, Brian Leonard (2006) and, Carolina Panthers and former University of Memphis running back, DeAngelo Williams (2005). Read more
Legislation to Protect the Brains of Young Football Players
A bipartisan bill aimed at decreasing the concussion rate in youth and high school football players by improving helmet safety was introduced to Congress on Wednesday, in recognition of Brain Injury Awareness Day.
Senator Tom Udall (D—NM) and Congressman Bill Pascrell (D—NJ) sponsored the bill, which would give companies that make football helmets for youth and high school athletes nine months to improve helmet safety standards. If they fail to do so, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would be required to set standards. The bill would also enforce stricter penalties for companies that make false safety claims.
At a press conference with the bill sponsors, Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, Director of Neuroscience Research at Kessler Foundation in West Orange, N.J., explained the medical implications of concussions: “Concussions are brain injuries that impact the brain permanently…with every concussion, you are weakening the connections in the brain. Repeat concussions increase the risk of mild cognitive impairment [problems with thinking, learning and memory] and depression later in life, as well as illnesses such as Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Rep. Pascrell, co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, said, “We want our children to be active and athletic, but in the safest possible circumstances right down to the helmets they put on their heads. This bill is the logical next step in Congress’ effort to protect our young athletes from brain injuries.” In September, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Pascrell’s Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act, which calls for national protocols to be established for the management of sports-related concussions.
A concussion is caused by a blow or jolt to the head. The concussion rate for young athletes has doubled in the past decade. According to WebMD, 40% of the approximately 250,000 sports-related head injury cases seen in the emergency room between 2001 and 2005 were children, ages 8-13 years.
A study by the National Association of Injury Prevention, released in January 2011, reported that 47% of high school football players endure a concussion in one season while 35% have multiple concussions in a season. Approximately 85% of concussions, however, remain undetected.
Kessler Foundation Research Center conducts groundbreaking research, examining the medical, rehabilitation, cognitive and functional problems associated with acquired brain injury and related conditions.
Study shows ethnic minority players are not treated unfairly by football referees
An analysis about whether there is a racial element to referees decisions to give a yellow card to football players in the Premiership, has been carried out by staff at the University of Surrey.
Dr Rob Witt, head of the Economics Department, worked with Barry Reilly, of the University of Sussex, on the study called “Disciplinary Sanctions in English Premiership Football: Is There a Racial Dimension?”
The project used data from five recent seasons and exploited an extremely valuable, but hitherto barely used, administrative database held at OPTA Sportsdata in London. These data were used in conjunction with specific information on the characteristics of players.
An analysis of raw data suggested evidence of a racial dimension in the application of sanctions with black and mixed race players receiving, on average, between a quarter and a third fewer yellow cards compared to white players in spite of having a higher foul count.
However, once a variety of characteristics are controlled for including a players’ field position, foul count, time played and club, the empirical analysis revealed no systematic evidence of a bias against black or mixed race players by referees.
Dr Reilly says: “Our study finds no systemic evidence that ethnic minority players in the English premiership are treated unfairly by referees when dispensing yellow card sanctions.
“Although the raw data on yellow cards dispensed actually suggest that referees appear to behave more leniently towards black and mixed race players than white players, the statistical evidence for such a claim is not found to be all that strong.”
The field position of a player is found to be important with defenders and midfield players statistically more likely to incur the wrath of referees than forward players.
The analysis showed there was no bias against black or mixed race players in the eyes of the referees.
But there is a racial dimension to the application of sanctions with black and mixed race players receiving between a quarter and a third fewer yellow cards compared to white players, on average.
The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found no evidence that ethnic minority players are treated unfairly by referees.
Dr Witt said: “A study of the English Premier League finds no evidence that ethnic minority players are treated unfairly by referees when dispensing yellow cards.
“If anything, at the average, there is evidence that referees appear to behave more leniently towards black and mixed race players than towards white players.”
The analysis revealed a harsher application of the rules by referees over time. On average, the number of yellow cards issued rose statistically between the last season studied (2007/08) and the earliest (2003/04).
The research found the salutary result that a player’s race is not a determinant of a sanction outcome and this reflects positively on the professionalism of referees.
The findings in regard to race differ from that detected in a study by Price and Wolfers (2007) in their study of the National Basketball Association in the US, which is currently the only other paper to our knowledge that has explored the relationship between race and disciplinary sanction outcomes in a professional team sport.
They found that during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players.