http://www.newsday.com/news/health/the-daily-apple-1.4760551/long-island-trainer-provides-drive-for-triathlon-competitors-1.6436417
“The joy is in the journey.”
It’s the mantra that Jose Lopez lives by.
And it became the mantra for two Long Island triathletes that Lopez helped train for this year’s Ironman World Championship.
On Saturday, the world will watch an elite crop of athletes take on an
unforgiving terrain in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii when the 2013 Ironman World
Championship is televised. The world will also get to see how Lopez
helped his Long Island Ironman competitors -- Marc Blumencranz, 50, of
Manhasset, and Bob Spina Jr., 50, of North Massapequa.
“I am lucky enough to be guided by Coach Lopez,” said Blumencranz, who
is a member of Lopez’s Long Island Tri Coach program and successfully
tackled his first world championship.
In reference to his mantra, Lopez explained that it was created as “a
result of searching for the true meaning behind making the most out of
the time spent balancing work, family and the sport we all love.”
Lopez, 50, started LITC -- a multi-sport discipline agency -- in 1998
as a way to help athletes, young and old, fulfill their triathlon
dreams.
“One of the missions for my coaching company is to give back to the
sport and support many youth who have a passion and dream of competing
in the sport,” said Lopez, who also traveled to Hawaii to support
Blumencranz and Spina. “We provide as much as we can to allow them to
race locally and abroad.”
In preparation for the Ironman World Championship, Lopez said
Blumencranz and Spina were regular participants in his track, interval
biking, running and open-water workouts.
Blumencranz clearly remembers Lopez‘s intensity.
“Thanks to Coach Lopez, I have probably seen more of Long Island than I
would have ever imagined,” he said. “Recently, we rode from Bob
[Spina‘s] house in Massapequa to Montauk – truly an amazing 111-mile
journey.”
Lopez, a certified USA Triathlon (USAT) coach, has an interesting history of his own.
The Mineola resident has been competing in triathlons since 1983, has
received several USAT All-American honors and in 2008 he secured a spot
on the USAT World Team for Olympic Distance. Lopez competed in his first
Ironman – Cape Cod Endurance Ironman – in 1987 and has since competed
in four more.
“I have always had a sincere passion and desire to share my love for
the sport,” Lopez said. “I am a believer that anything worth having is
worth sharing, so giving to others is a common theme for myself and
those who choose to be involved with the LITC family.”
Editors note: NBC will air the 2013 GoPro Ironman World Championship event special this Saturday, Nov. 16 at 4:30pm EST.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
Former NFLer Merril Hoge talks football safety with new helmet system
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/the-daily-apple-1.4760551/former-nfler-merril-hoge-talks-football-safety-with-new-helmet-system-1.6354411
Former NFL player and current ESPN analyst Merril Hoge almost lost his life to post-concussion syndrome in 1994.
“I was in cardiac arrest and intensive care for two days,” said Hoge, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears, and was one of the first players to undergo cognitive testing. “Not only did [a head injury] cost me my career, it almost cost me my life.”
At the time of his forced retirement, Hoge had the longest consecutive playing streak in the NFL. Since then, Hoge has made it a point to promote advancements in concussion prevention and recently spoke about technology advancement at a forum hosted by Riddell Sports in Manhattan.
Riddell Sports, based in Rosemont, IL and currently the world’s leading helmet maker, has been using the Head Impact Telemetry-Sideline Response System sensor units since 2003. The units are placed inside the helmets of athletes in amateur football programs who choose to participate. But Riddell Sports has recently expanded its technology to include the InSite Impact Response System, which was developed based on millions of data points secured through HIT-SRS.
Currently, more than a dozen high schools across the United States are using InSite, according to Thad Ide, Riddell Sports’ senior vice president of research and product development.
The impact systems, which are designed by New Hampshire-based Simbex, record data every time a player receives a hit to the head and transmit a warning signal to sideline medical personnel who are wearing specialized pagers.
“We think [this is] the game-changer,” Ide said. “[InSite] sends an alert -- or not -- to the sideline based on data. What’s alert-able and what’s not is based on skill level and playing position.”
Dr. Rick Greenwald, Simbex’s founder and president, said that during the last 10 years, two million-plus impacts have been recorded by schools using the technology. “Simbex specializes in biofeedback systems and makes that data actionable,” he said. “The data is used to inform athletes and the training staff. This is not a diagnosis of concussion, this is not a diagnostic tool -- this is to understand what happens on the field.”
Greenwald noted that one of the initial challenges of the HIT/SRS system -- which is very much like the air bag sensors in cars -- was to find appropriate placement on the athletes. “You have to be nonintrusive to measure things on the field in sports,” he said. “You have to find a way to measure athletes that doesn’t interfere with their job -- one of the great places to do that was inside the helmet.”
Scott Blatt, the athletic trainer at Westlake High School in Westlake Village, Calif., started using InSite with his football program this season and is part of the small group currently using this technology. “If an alert goes off, I’ll bring the athlete over to the sidelines and ask basic questions. If I’m comfortable, I’ll let them play -- if not, they’ll [go through] further evaluation. I’ve never had an athlete sustain a concussion and the monitor didn’t go off.”
Hoge believes that with the right preventions and technology in place, football can be played as a safe sport. “If you let kids sit on the couch, play [video games] and eat a doughnut, you’ve jeopardized their health -- [maybe] more than letting them play football with the right tools.”
Former NFL player and current ESPN analyst Merril Hoge almost lost his life to post-concussion syndrome in 1994.
“I was in cardiac arrest and intensive care for two days,” said Hoge, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears, and was one of the first players to undergo cognitive testing. “Not only did [a head injury] cost me my career, it almost cost me my life.”
At the time of his forced retirement, Hoge had the longest consecutive playing streak in the NFL. Since then, Hoge has made it a point to promote advancements in concussion prevention and recently spoke about technology advancement at a forum hosted by Riddell Sports in Manhattan.
Riddell Sports, based in Rosemont, IL and currently the world’s leading helmet maker, has been using the Head Impact Telemetry-Sideline Response System sensor units since 2003. The units are placed inside the helmets of athletes in amateur football programs who choose to participate. But Riddell Sports has recently expanded its technology to include the InSite Impact Response System, which was developed based on millions of data points secured through HIT-SRS.
Currently, more than a dozen high schools across the United States are using InSite, according to Thad Ide, Riddell Sports’ senior vice president of research and product development.
The impact systems, which are designed by New Hampshire-based Simbex, record data every time a player receives a hit to the head and transmit a warning signal to sideline medical personnel who are wearing specialized pagers.
“We think [this is] the game-changer,” Ide said. “[InSite] sends an alert -- or not -- to the sideline based on data. What’s alert-able and what’s not is based on skill level and playing position.”
Dr. Rick Greenwald, Simbex’s founder and president, said that during the last 10 years, two million-plus impacts have been recorded by schools using the technology. “Simbex specializes in biofeedback systems and makes that data actionable,” he said. “The data is used to inform athletes and the training staff. This is not a diagnosis of concussion, this is not a diagnostic tool -- this is to understand what happens on the field.”
Greenwald noted that one of the initial challenges of the HIT/SRS system -- which is very much like the air bag sensors in cars -- was to find appropriate placement on the athletes. “You have to be nonintrusive to measure things on the field in sports,” he said. “You have to find a way to measure athletes that doesn’t interfere with their job -- one of the great places to do that was inside the helmet.”
Scott Blatt, the athletic trainer at Westlake High School in Westlake Village, Calif., started using InSite with his football program this season and is part of the small group currently using this technology. “If an alert goes off, I’ll bring the athlete over to the sidelines and ask basic questions. If I’m comfortable, I’ll let them play -- if not, they’ll [go through] further evaluation. I’ve never had an athlete sustain a concussion and the monitor didn’t go off.”
Hoge believes that with the right preventions and technology in place, football can be played as a safe sport. “If you let kids sit on the couch, play [video games] and eat a doughnut, you’ve jeopardized their health -- [maybe] more than letting them play football with the right tools.”
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