My son has been playing soccer for almost four years. He loves the sport and—me being his somewhat biased mother—he’s really good at it. He plays it for about eight months out of the year. During the other four months, however, he chooses other games to play such as basketball and flag football. We feel it’s important to ‘broaden his horizons’ if I may be so cliché and we’ve noticed that different kinds of training have enhanced his skills on the soccer field.

There appears to be some merit to this philosophy. In an article written by Tim Alan Kauppinen and featured on ConsumerHealthDigest.com there are potential risks involved with specializing in one sport at an early age. Kauppinen, aka “Coach K” has more than 20 years of experience as an athlete and coach and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. There are four dangers of specialization, according to Coach K.

Overuse injuries—working the body in the same way repeatedly year-round can lead to overuse injuries. Different sports utilize different parts of the body leading to better overall athletic performance. Pediatricians agree that children should participate in a variety of physical activities.

Burn out—playing one sport day in and day out for several years can lead to burn out at an early age. Taking part in other sports provides some relief from the same ol’ thing and at the same time can keep the main sport interesting, challenging and fun.
The college scholarship myth—in fact only a very small percentage of young athletes actually earn a scholarship. Contrary to popular belief, most college recruiters are looking for the best all-around athletes, says Coach K.

Not achieving your full athletic potential—by focusing on only one sport children don’t develop other skills that would benefit their performance in their primary activity. Speed, balance, mental focus, jumping, twisting are emphasized differently in other sports, thereby resulting in a better soccer player (in the case of my son) for example.

What do you think about sports specialization? Does your child focus on one sport for the majority of the year? If he or she participates in other activities, what are they? For more information on sport specialization for your child, please visit http://i9sports.com
 

To improve your putting, try this one-hand putting drill. Once they get over the shock of the thought of attempting to putt with just one hand, it has helped many of my students to improve their putting stroke and in turn lower their golf scores. This can easily help you do the same.

Two reasons that I highly encourage my students to practice this one handed putting drill is that it gives them the exact feel of a proper putting motion and it develops a feel for the proper impact position for the putting stroke. This is a very simple thing to implement into your putting practice. Take your grip stance and posture and proceed to setup to stroke a putt from just two to three feet away from the hole.

Take your usual putting grip for a putting stroke. Assuming you are putting right handed, take your left hand off the putter leaving only your right hand on the putter in the hands usual position. Now you should have your putter in its regular position and the ball position placed in your usual position as well. The palm of your right hand should be equal to the direction of your putter face.

One reason for doing this putting drill from such a short distance as two or three feet is the backswing will not need very much movement. This should allow you to “feel” the putter head as it moves through the motion no matter how strong you are. The right wrist should keep the same angle throughout the stroke as at address and will not break AT ALL during this stroke from this distance.

With the correct grip pressure, you will be able to feel your putter load against the index finger of your right hand (again, for a right handed golfer). This load that is properly stored will be delivered to the golf ball during the forward stroke and will be lost just after impact. If you use a stripped range ball while doing this putting drill, place the stripe so it is parallel to the green surface and make your stroke under the stripe on the range ball. Your right hand should be ahead of the ball at impact. To finish the putting drill, hold your finish to a slow count of three. The putter head should be under your hands and not way out in front of your hands. Remember, your right wrist angle should not change.

With this simple putting drill, it will not take long at all and you will begin to hit your putts more and more solid and will be watching them go into the hole. Once this happens you will watch your scores go lower and lower.

Pros of the 231

Most comfortable riding position.
Famous for the great seat.
Fights boredom with lots of workouts.
Stable ride so no rocking and shaking.
Schwinn reputation for quality.
Free shipping if you buy at the right place.
A lot of bike for the money.

Cons you need to know

It’s fairly heavy to make it stable, so not so easy to move.
Fan makes some noise.
It’s not as heavy as a gym model.
Not as many workouts as some more expensive bikes.
Like all recumbents, it takes quite a bit of room.

A commercial exercise bike is made to take the toughest pounding and still live a long time.  Also the gym bikes are heavy, so they won’t move and rock under the hardest use.  The 231 is a home model that’s not as heavy as a gym bike, but still is durable and stable.

Another real plus to this bike is there are many owners.  It’s easy to find owner feedback and learn what users like and don’t like.

The Schwinn 231 Recumbent Exercise Bike, like many Schwinn models, offers a lot of machine for the money.  It’s certainly not one of the more expensive exercise bikes, but it’s rated as a good value.  You get many features of more expensive commercial machines, but you get a home machine price.