“Hey, kids, do us and yourselves a favor: Take a shower after games” plus 1 more |
| Hey, kids, do us and yourselves a favor: Take a shower after games Posted: 10 Jan 2011 11:05 PM PST This was Saturday afternoon at Planet Fitness in Waterford, when I ran into a local high school coach who had just put his son through a workout. We were chatting as I was dressing, just showered and preparing for the rest of the day. It wasn't long before I noticed the coach's son was no longer in the vicinity, off to the showers himself. "It's good that you make him do that," I said to the coach, noting that it's rare when kids partake of the showers at schools or gyms after games or workouts anymore. "He does that on his own," the coach said. It was here I considered having a Fred G. Sanford mock heart attack, when he would tell Elizabeth he's coming to join her. Imagine. There's a kid left out there who knows "hygiene" is more than a pleasant greeting for a woman named Jean. It got me to thinking about why high school kids - boys, for purposes of this discussion - don't shower in the locker room anymore, especially after rolling in the mud during football games or sweating like coal miners during basketball. This is one of the subtle, if not malodorous, generational changes in high school sports. It used to be that, whether you had Body By Jake or Body By Haagen Daas, a quick shower after the game was part of the routine. Now the best example of the two-minute drill is watching kids dress and leave the locker room after the coach's postgame state of the union address. So in the past few days, I asked a few kids about it, a health teacher and a doctor. Here is my conclusion: I believe the No. 1 reason boys don't shower at school after games - or heaven forbid physical education classes - is that homophobia is still quite pervasive in this allegedly progressive society. "You know how it is now?" the coach from the locker room was saying Saturday. "Two boys could be riding in a car. One reaches across to get something and accidentally brushes up against the other. You know what they say? 'No homo.'" "No homo" is slang and what you're supposed to say, apparently, before or after you do or say something that might give the impression of homosexuality. It is used in Kanye West's lyrics, Li'l Wayne's lyrics as well as some others. Pretty sad. I mean, the "no homo" thing is about as funny as a church fire. And the idea of not showering after sweating profusely is somewhere between disgusting and unhealthy. Somewhere along the way, the idea of a quick shower after the game - an antibacterial quickie - has become a four-touchdown underdog against "no homo." "You just don't feel right about getting naked next to another dude," one kid said. And it doesn't seem to matter that the unhealthy aspect of it is irrelevant. Schools aren't doing much about it. New schools are being built with fewer showers. Existing schools are using the shower area for storage space because nobody uses them anymore. Still, studies are showing that not showering leads to the spread of infectious diseases such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can be deadly. It already happened in one Virginia school. This is one of the reasons wrestlers are the notable exception. They understand the threat of skin infections. So they shower. Aside from good hygiene, the locker room setting should be part of the team structure. I remember talking to Gil Varjas, who coached many championship teams at New London High for many years, about this once. He said that locker-room time after practices and games was a major aspect of team building. In the time it took to peel off clothes, shower and dress again, social plans were made, friendships were born and team bonding happened a little at a time. If you remember watching "The White Shadow," the old television show about the boys' basketball team at Carver High, half the scenes were in the shower. Coolidge was singing the lead with everybody else providing the harmony. I'm sure the various scholars out there have their own ideas on this. But it's time educators removed their craniums from the beachfront (got their heads out of the sand) and starting teaching kids that a postgame shower is part of good hygiene. And team building. And the ability for the rest of us to inhale without smelling the equivalent of week-old sushi. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Kids invited to Scots games this Saturday Posted: 10 Jan 2011 01:59 PM PST MONMOUTH – Monmouth area youth will get a little extra when they attend the Monmouth College basketball games against Lawrence University on Saturday, Jan. 15. For the second consecutive year, the Fighting Scots basketball teams, as part of the NCAA's Take a Kid to the Game (TAKG) initiative, are encouraging adults to bring children ages 14 and under to Saturday's contests at Glennie Gym. The women's game tips off at 2 p.m., with the men's action to follow. Admission is free and fans 14 and under will have the opportunity to win prizes and to participate in a variety of halftime activities. Monmouth's mascot, Big Red, is also scheduled to be in attendance and available to have his picture taken with fans of all ages. "This is a great way to introduce kids to the college game and experience college basketball in person," said Scots women's coach Melissa Bittner. "You miss so much of the atmosphere of college ball if you just sit at home and watch it on TV. Our hope is that by coming to the game, kids will become interested in athletics and become more physically active and healthier. You'll want to get there early, while we still have plenty of prizes." Members of Monmouth's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be assisting in the giveaways and activities. Last year, more than 30 youth participated in the effort. "This is a wonderful opportunity for our college community and the Monmouth community to make a connection," Bittner said. "We do numerous community activities throughout the year, but this is specifically designed to benefit Monmouth's youth." Now in its 16th year, TAKG is a national grassroots program designed to introduce youth to the game of basketball on college campuses. More than 700 TAKG games are scheduled nationwide throughout this season. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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