RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Keegan]

My blog post on it.

http://www.insaneplatypus.com

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[womens_hoops]

awesome work!

I might differ in that I would include speed and quickness as primary components of athleticism. But I think you're right that you can be athletic (in some respects) even if you're not super fast.

The central point you make is the important one -- that we should watch out for using "athletic" as a shorthand for "black." TV commentators do that all the time. It creeps me out.

And a related point is that athleticism isn't all genetic. With hard work, you can make yourself more athletic.

You can do exercises that will improve your jumping ability. You can do exercises that will improve your foot speed. And you can do exercises that will improve your strength and body control. Part of being athletic is working hard to become athletic.

[herrade]

i agree with womens_hoops. this is a really great analysis of that infamous throw-away term, but i also think speed is a component of athleticism. speed seems to have a lot to do with leaping ability and fluidity, and i don't really think you'd categorize someone with good speed as "non-athletic". strength is clearly an issue in all instances, but at a certain point that might boil down to "girth", which might lead to someone like kelli roehrig being labeled athletic. (!)

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[pilight]

I'm not going to disagree with your assessment of what "athletic" really means. However, the word is often a code word for "black" when people are discussing teams and/or players, especially on TV.

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[Keegan]

[womens_hoops]

One other thing I was thinking about --

sometimes when I think that someone is athletic, I mean it as: she's a great baskeball player, but she probably would have been great at any sport she wanted to be.

Wecker (despite not-so-great foot speed) fits that bill. She seems like she could be a great softball player, a great shot-putter, a good tennis player, a great swimmer, a great cup-stacker. Soccer might be tougher.

Taurasi, by contrast, seems like someone who turns into a clumsy fool the minute she leaves the basketball court. I know, I know -- that's not really true. But something about her skills seem specifically suited to this particular game.

[mercfan3]

Taurasi, by contrast, seems like someone who turns into a clumsy fool the minute she leaves the basketball court. I know, I know -- that's not really true. But something about her skills seem specifically suited to this particular game.[/quote]

LOL, I'm pretty sure she's quite the soccer player..and my guess is she's good at football. I really think it depends on the sport..like I doubt she's great in track....where as I think a lot of basketball players would have made great track players.

[Sass]

As a collegiate strength and conditioning coach, I can tell you that warmups for most teams (exceptions may be diving) include something like jump roping to get the muscles warm. Then we go right into agility drills. You know the ladder? We have athletes take several passes through the ladder doing various footwork drills. Then it's speed and quickness drills. Those include anything from the "catch the tennis ball before it hits the ground" drill to the sudden change of direction in sprinting drill. Then we go into weight training.

Athletes in any sport are on a year-round periodized program. Right now, basketball players are in the immediate off-season, which involves rest and general recreational activity. Beginning in late May or early June, they will move into the general conditioning phase, which includes a lot of aerobic endurance work. This is the base of the training pyramid, and it diminishes gradually because basketball players need to focus increasingly on speed work.

Up until practices officially begin in mid-October they will rotate between strength and power phases in their lifting. It is all designed to get the athlete to peak at the proper time during the season.

The components that we and strength and conditioning professionals in the pros look for are: aerobic endurance, agility, speed, strength and power. This is not taking into account, of course, the various ball-handling and related skills needed for the game. That is up to the basketball coaches.

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[threefrom60]

For all the Pacific Northwesterners on the board who have seen the Sue Bird: Before the Bigs, then you've seen high school footage of Sue playing soccer, and man did she have awesome footwork. And fast... her knee injury really has taken away some of her speed, because she could blow right by people back then. In track she ran mid distance races like the 400, anchored relay teams, and ran some hurdles. Her old track coach said her nickname was "The Natural" because anything she tried, she instantly excelled at. I'd love to get a peek in to some alternate universes, see how good she could have been had she focused on one of those other sports instead.

[PUmatty]

"that we should watch out for using "athletic" as a shorthand for "black." TV commentators do that all the time. It creeps me out. "

We should also watch out for assuming that people are using it as a code word. That is what brought all of this about.

[Ballwinner]

once, twice, thrice--sorry for the triple post

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[Ballwinner]

repeated posts-sorry

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There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the most important ships for a viable WNBA future are ownerships, and that will always be.

[Ballwinner]

Those are my thoughts on the term "athletic"--the ability to be comfortable playing most sports. Growing up in St. Louis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the definition of athlete; she can more than hold her own in running, throwing, jumping, basketball, etc. Babe Didrickson, Mia Hamm, and Marion Jones are among the women that I think as being examples of "athletic"--the ones that you would pick in gym class even before you knew what sport you were playing.