Mark Hyman's Blog, page 8

A $59.6 million high school football field

The town of Allen, Texas has just broken ground on a $59.6 million high school football stadium. This sort of money buys a very nice stadium.

The field at Allen Eagle Stadium, scheduled to open in 2012, will be 15 feet below grade and covered with artificial turf. Seating capacity is said to be 18,000 including 5,000 reserved seats with seat backs. Other amenities that are unusual for high school fields: A video scoreboard, two-level press box and observation deck.

It is worth noting that Allen Eagle Stadium won't be the largest high school football stadium in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. The stadium in nearby Mesquite holds 20,0000.

Some may argue that spending this sort of money on a high school football stadium is excessive. But not everyone. Note this comment from a reader on the Dallas Morning News Web site.

I live in Rowlett and do not know a soul in Allen. What I do know is these people voted that they wanted this stadium and were willing to pay for it. What is wrong with that? That is the reason we vote. Do you want the people of Allen telling you what to do in your town? I doubt you do.

This post originally published at http://www.youthsportsparents.blogspo...

A $59.6 million high school football field - really

My vote for Youth Sports Construction Project of the Year.

The town of Allen, Texas has just broken ground on a $59.6 million high school football stadium. As you might imagine, this sort of money buys a few architectural flourishes.

The field at Allen Eagle Stadium, scheduled to open in 2012, will be 15-feet below grade and covered with artificial turf. Seating capacity is said to be 18,000 including 5,000 reserved seats with seat backs. Other amenities that are unusual for high school fields:...

The three best states for high school badminton

The National Federation of State High School Associations has just released its annual head count of kids participating in youth sports. I'm normally not a stats person, but this is always interesting stuff.

For those of us worried that parental misbehavior may some day totally extinguish youth sports, we can relax. The number of kids playing high school sports reached another record during the 2009-2010 school year, 7.6 million.

According to the survey, 55.1 percent of students enrolled in hig...

Concussions up for basketball players - but why?

A just-released study points to a a major rise in the number of kids suffering serious head injuries while playing basketball.

According to a study published today in the Journal Pediatrics, kid players 5 to 19 treated in hospital emergency departments for basketball-related traumatic brain injuries rose 70 per cent from 1997 to 2007.

Assuming this is right, why would that be? I got a call from a reporter Friday (the study was embargoed until today) wanting to discuss that and hear any theories...

How pushing a kid can push a kid out of sports

I was a guest on Bloomberg Radio last week. A few days later, I received this wonderful note from former minor-league player Phil Rosengren.

My name is Phil Rosengren and I am a former minor league pitcher. I'm now the trader for a small hedge fund in CT, but I stay involved in the game by giving pitching lessons to young ballplayers on weekends. I've encountered my share of crazy baseball dads, and I often find myself asking who is really the one invested in this training, the young pitcher o...

TV ratings dive for Little League World Series final

Bulletin from last month's LLWS: Apparently, a few people weren't watching.

Sunday's Japan/Hawaii championship game drew a 2.0 overnight rating on ABC, down 29 per cent from last year's game between California and Taiwan (2.8) and down 43 per cent from Georgia/Japan in 2007 (3.5).

Could it be that coverage - about 50 televised games in August - has reached a saturation point?

This post originally published at http://www.youthsportsparents.blogspo...

Why being a national sports hero at 12 isn't great

From Until It Hurts:

"Sport psychologist Richard Ginsburg is one of many who is deeply troubled by the morphing of youth sports games into top-rated TV shows. The attention and pressure focused on Little Leaguers during the World Series, in particular, he says is "preposterous." "Adolescent sports aren't meant to be entertainment for adults," says Ginsburg who treats youth athletes and their families at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

The stage is too big for kids so young, he says...

In The Heartland, the troubled state of kids' sports

Today the Columbus Dispatch published Day Two of its series, Little League, Big Costs. It's an impressive package of stories on the plight of youth sports. All the usual topics addressed by Dispatch reporters Mike Wagner, Todd Jones and Jill Riepenhoff but with a depth and thoroughness that you rarely see in such coverage.

Sunday, the Dispatch shared results of a poll pegged to these stories. The newspaper canvassed 1,000 Ohio high-school students and 218 coaches and came up with a pretty inte...

Relive your kid's no-hitter again, again (and again)

I wrote this for today's New York Times. It's a look at how technology is changing youth sports. The biggest change; We can now follow our kids' sports lives on our laptops and Smartphones.

The article looks at two emerging companies melding high tech and youth sports. Youth Sports Live sets up and maintains Web cams at neighborhood baseball and softball fields. Game can be viewed on demand at the company's Web site. (The monthly fee is $14.95). Want to relive the thrill of your kid's first ho...

Roger Clemens, when he was a nice guy

Is it me or is this not quite as funny as it was 15 years ago?

This post originally published at http://www.youthsportsparents.blogspo...