All Articles by Brooke de Lench

Fresh Ideas For Growing a Youth Sports Program

Looking for ways to grow your local youth sports program? MomsTeam founder and publisher Brooke de Lench has some suggestions on registration, advertising, cross-promotion, and making sports programs more family-friendly, especially in these tough economic times when the cost of sports may be impeding full participation.

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Energy Drinks Pose Serious Health Risks to Children,Teens and Young Adults Says New Study

Energy drinks may pose a risk for serious adverse health effects in some children, especially those with diabetes, seizures, cardiac abnormalities or mood and behavior disorders, says a new study in the March 2011 issue of Pediatrics. Reviewing data gleaned from a meta-search of the medical literature via PubMed (an online data base of medical journals) and print and trade media via Google, researchers at the University of Miami conclude that energy drinks have no therapeutic benefit to children, and both the known and unknown properties of the ingredients, combined with reports of toxicity, may put some children at risk for adverse health events.
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Polluted Air at Ice Rinks Is Dangerous to Athletes' Health

Attention hockey moms and dads: the air you and your children are breathing at the rink may be hazardous to your health. The culprit:  gas-, diesel- and propane-powered ice resurfacing machines which spew out a toxic stew of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter, all which can result in potentially serious short- and long-term health problems.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Defunding of Texas Steroid Testing Program A Chance to Consider Better Ways for Schools To Spend Money on Sports

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sat, 02/05/2011 - 16:23. | comments

A recent article in the Boston Globe reported that a controversial steroid testing program of high school athletes in Texas is in danger of being de-funded, as the state House budget has cut the money for the program.  The Senate draft still includes funding for the program.  Florida eliminated a small testing program in 2009.  New Jersey and Illinois also have statewide programs.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Was The Welker Benching During the Patriots-Jets Playoff Game a Teachable Moment?

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 18:48. | comments

On Sunday, the New England Patriots met their bitter rivals, the New York Jets, for the third time this season, with the winner advancing to the AFC Championship game. The Pats had only lost two games all season, were unbeaten at Gillette Stadium, and were heavy favorites to not only beat the Jets but to go all the way to and win the Super Bowl in Dallas in early February.

But it didn't go according to plan. Bill Belichick's team played poorly, the Jets played well, and the result was a shocking 28-21 loss by New England to Rex Ryan's Jets.

As painful as the loss has been for Pats fans, it nevertheless provides a great "teachable moment" for parents to talk about with their young athletes around the dinner table.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Indiana Teen Unfairly Kicked Off Basketball Team Because Of Length Of His Hair

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 01/10/2011 - 17:10. | comments

Last October, 14-year-old Austin Hayden earned a place on his Greensburg, Indiana middle school boys' basketball team.  A week later, he was told he could no longer be a member of the team after refusing to cut his hair (which was long, but not long enough to pull into a pony-tail) to comply with the coach's policy, which required that his hair be above his collar and ears.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Brooke de Lench on the Today Show: Baby Goes Pro!

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 16:17. | comments

 


Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk to Lester Holt on NBC's Today Show about a subject I have been writing and talking about for the past decade - sports training for kids at earlier and earlier ages.  It was fitting to end the year and the last week of MomsTeam's first decade speaking to the nation about the tremendous pressure parents are under to place their infants and toddlers in programs that promote giving young children an "edge" in the mad rush to grab a seat on the runaway bus of youth sports.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk to Lester Holt on NBC's Today Show about a subject I have been writing and talking about for the past decade - sports training for kids at earlier and earlier ages. It was fitting to end the year and the last week of MomsTeam's first decade speaking to the nation about the tremendous pressure parents are under to place their infants and toddlers in programs that promote giving young children an "edge" in the mad rush to grab a seat on the runaway bus of youth sports.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Concussion Awareness At All-Time High But Athletes Want to Keep Playing Despite Risks

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Tue, 12/21/2010 - 16:10. | comments

A new poll by ESPN: The Magazine contains some good news and bad news about sports concussions.  A confidential survey of 300 high school football players, 100 coaches, 100 parents, and 100 athletic trainers in 23 states reported that concussion awareness is at an all-time high but that players, and to a lesser extent their parents, continue to downplay the risks:

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Ten Years After: The State of Youth Sports in 2010

In August 2010 MomsTeam.com celebrated its tenth anniversary.  As we head into 2011, MomsTeam.com founder and Publisher, Brooke de Lench, looks back at where youth sports were 10 years ago, where it is now, and where it is going.  She says it's a mixed bag: In some ways, things have gotten better, and some ways they have stayed the same, and in some ways they have gotten worse.

 

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Sports Training for Babies and Toddlers Won't Give Them Athletic Edge

Athletic training videos for babies.  Soccer and T-ball classes for toddlers.  Do they give kids an edge in the increasingly cut-throat world of youth sports or are they just the latest signs of the commercialization of youth sports and that we have become a nation of "helicopter" parents trying to enrich every second of their lives - even as infants - with activities instead of just letting them be kids? MomsTeam.com founder Brooke de Lench weighs in on sports programs for the pre-school set.
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