Athletes' Interest

Athletes’ Interest The Modernization of Sports

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Covid’s Effect on the Sport Industry New Technologies in Swimming The History of Ultimate Frisbee A New Age of Training The Social Network of Sports

Fall 2021

Dear Readers, We are excited to present this magazine to you as it is the product of many hours of work. We have a shared interest in sports like basketball, ultimate, swimming, and football. The stories within it include the effects of Covid on the sport industry, the changes to olympic swimming, ultimate frisbee, new training methods in sports, and the connection between social media and basketball.

We decided to do a sport-themed magazine because we have a shared interest in sports and all had topics we wanted to explore. It was very fun to learn new skills and programs as well as how to interview. We are especially proud of the infographics because we got to use our new programs like Illustrator and InDesign and they turned out well. The writing of the feature stories was the hardest part of the whole process because none of us had ever written anything in that style or worked with transcriptions before.

From start to finish we have put our all into these spreads from interviews to layouts and graphics. We put a lot of effort into making Athletes’ Interest and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Thank you for reading.

Sincerely, Augustus, Wilson, Huck, Austin, Rachel

Table of Contents Meet the Editors - 6 covid’s effect on sports - 8 fan attendance at games - 12 The New Swimming - 14 Sporty Salaries - 18 Best Perspective - 20

Covers, table of contents, and acknowledgements

by Rachel Joy-Rocha Meet the editors by Auggie Sefcik Letter from the editors by Austin Buckley

Flying Through History - 24 a new age of training - 26 Food For Thought - 30 the social network of sports - 34 Kings of social media - 36 Acknowledgements - 38

Meet the Editors Rachel Joy-Rocha (she/her) is a freshman and the copy editor of this magazine. She has been playing ultimate frisbee since 6th grade for about four years and currently plays for LASA. She also plays for Texas Tango, which is the Texas youth girls club team, over the summer. In her free time she takes her dog on walks, spends time with friends, and does homework She likes doing

Augustus Sefcik (he/him), the graphics editor for Athletes’ Interest, has been swimming for nine years and made the varsity teams in swimming and cross country as a freshman at LASA high school. When he is not swimming or doing homework, he enjoys playing with his dog and eating candy. He lived in England for a year and it shaped how he views the world. He likes math and making things in Illustrator.

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Wilson Masters (he/him) is 15 years old and he is the content editor of this magazine. He is a student at the Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy and has been playing golf for about seven years. He plays for the LASA High School golf team as a freshman on the varsity team.

He likes to sleep, watch TV and movies with family, play video games with friends, and play with his dogs.

He wants to be successful in life.

Austin Buckley (he/ him) is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy and layout editor of this magazine.

He is 14 years old and is on the LASA varsity football team. In his free time he likes to code, play sports, hang out with friends, watch TV and play video games. He has been playing football for 8 years and has been coding for 6 years. He has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, San Diego, California, Denver, Colorado, and Austin Texas all of which have shaped him as a person.

He also enjoys going to the gym over the summer and spending time with his family and his dog.

Huck Light-Whipple (he/him) is the photo editor for this magazine. He is a student at LASA High School and has been playing basketball for seven years. He currently plays on a national AAU team (Amateur Athletic Union) and is a freshman on varsity at LASA. His other hobbies include watching movies with his family, hanging out with friends, and editing videos. He recently turned 15 years old and is excited to get his learner’s permit.

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Photo Credit Jack Dempsey

This is a football game with no audience due to COVID. It shows what COVID did when it first hit.

COVID’s Effect on Sports -19

COVID

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COVID-19

CO VID

-19

I

n the sports world there has been a huge spike in restrictions at events and games, leaving fans with nothing

to view for a while.

In football there have been little to no fans at some games COVID has put huge restrictions on things that are a part of our everyday life. Other issues that were being faced were fans not being able to buy certain concessions that weren’t pre-packaged or the same thing but with drinks like soda and water had to be in a bottle and couldn’t have come out of a fountain in some stadiums. Other issues

“So it was almost a year from the time March COVID, shut down. So till February, the following year, that we’re able to bring back everybody to practice and competely on campus.”

that have been faced are at colleges where student staff can’t be allowed on the field if they haven’t been vaccinated or haven’t tested for COVID in the past couple weeks. “to show you know that they’re vaccinated or a 72 hour test, negative test in order `to gain access to the facility.” Jaime Breslin of Stanford University said This is forcing the staff to find more people who have either been vaccinated and can prove their vaccine, or have tested

“So it was almost a year from the time March COVID, shut down. So till February, the following year, that we’re able to bring back everybody to practice and compete on campus.”

negative and can prove it, in some cases both vax and test. Other issues were lack

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This Photo Shows a new report from KOMO News 4 in Seattle. It talks about how COVID has shut down football.

This photo shows another empty stadium in South Carolina where all staff and players are gathered on the feild.

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Photo Credit Top to Bottom: Tammy Mutasa - Chris Carlson

of resources and other things that are definitely needed. Some colleges have had projects on their stadiums and some of those projects have had either a spike in price or a complete stop in their projects because of the lack of building resources. Chris Thompson of Texas State University said that when the pandemic hit they were getting ready to rip out a lot of the seats in their football stadium and they had to stop because the contractor for the job couldn’t get the resources for the project.

“A $2 million project turned into like an $8 million project and it couldn’t guarantee that we’d have it in time for our September football game,” Thompson said.

Coordinators for event safety will have to keep making sure people have been vaccinated and/or have tested negative for COVID until there is a cure or a vaccine with a very high efficiency rating or until everyone gets a virus turns into something get the shot every year getting COVID. This is done well for upcoming games.

“It was almost a year from down,” Thompson said. “So

“So like a $2 million project turned into like an $8 million project and it couldn’t guarantee that we’d have it in time for our September football game.”

COVID vaccine and the like the flu virus where we so we have a lower risk of to ensure things work out the time March COVID, shut till February, the following

year, that we’re able to bring back everybody to practice and compete on campus.”

When COVID shut down the whole world it hit sports pretty hard, most games were shut down and almost all fans and media were unable to get into stadiums during games for a period of time. In response owners and managers of organizations like the NBA or the NFL have urged fans to get a COVID vaccine and are checking temperature at the door. While we are yet to have a cure for COVID we are taking good precautions to keep from spreading the virus even more.

When teams play football in a certain conference like The ACC, or The BIG-12, or SEC conferences you only play other teams in that conference, meaning if one team shut down it would mess up the schedule for the whole conference. When COVID hit there were teams that either didn’t keep playing football and got paid anyways or didn’t get paid or play at all meaning there were teams that made money and teams that didn’t make any money and the tournaments weren’t exactly fair due to lack of fan attendance and less preparation meaning less practice. While there has

“They’re having to kind of walk that tightrope on how to ask somebody if they’re vaccinated versus non vaccinated.”

been no sign of a cure or a vaccine that will last a few years like the regular shots a person gets as a teen, sports will come back along with everything else even if it’s tomorrow or next year.

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Fan Attendanc 2 2019 2020 2021 0

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30

40

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Percentages of Fans Per Gam

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ce at Games Since 2019

Fan attendance at football games between 2019 and 2021

Data by Interweivs of Jaime Breslin of Stanford University and Chris Thompson of Texas State University

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me

0

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70 30

80 40

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Graphic credit Wilson Masters

Caeleb Dressel swims the 100 yard butterfly at the 2018 Santa Clara swim meet. Caeleb Dressel holds the world record in the 100 fly.

Photo by JD Lasica

The Modern Aquatics The Why and the How of the Many Changes to Swimming

By Augustus Sefcik

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Graphics by Augustus Sefcik

The Barcalona Olympic pool is now used as a local pool for residents and visitors.

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loud buzzer sounds and ten splashes fill the arena as a new group of talented swimmers takes on another race.

Sports have been changing rapidly recently, but some sports have changed more than others, including swimming. Olympic swimming has changed a lot in the past 20 or 30 years. Many technological advancements have been made, and times have improved dramatically. The times that were considered fast 20 years ago are nowhere near the best times today. Changes in training and technology are reasons for the time drops.

“Things like the lane lines are better, the blocks are different,” said Elli Overton, 3 time Olympian. The lane lines, what separates the lanes in competitive swimming, are now made to absorb waves and the blocks have motion-sensing technology to help officials (swim referees) with identifying false starts.

Training and technology have been developing and changing for swimming as the sport has gained more popularity. There are many differences in styles and techniques that have been formulated just in the past 10 years.

“When I was swimming, we did not have the breaststroke

Photo by tobym

pullout with a dolphin kick,” said Colleen Cox, a silver Olympic medalist.

The breaststroke pullout is a way to push off the wall and move under the water much faster than gliding. In 2004, a swimmer added a dolphin kick to the breaststroke pullout, making the pullout much more powerful. This accounts for most of the time increases, but not all of it. Training is also a big part of swimming.

“I think people are a lot more specific about weight training and power training,” said Overton.

With the new training techniques, swimmers are stron-

As much as times have changed over the years, they are not the only new thing in the Olympic swimming experience.

As swimming has gained more popularity, more people have started watching new competitions like the World Championships.

Swimmers practice at the University of Texas at Photo by Austin Ross Of course, another Austin. This pool is used to host high-level meets. big change was COVID in 2020. The summer Olympics were postponed for better, the ger and a year and many swimmers “I think people blocks are faster than lost loved ones or missed their different, you they have are a lot more chance to race. know, they’ve ever been.

specific about got the things Dryland, that you can swimmer weight traing.” dive off the little slang for -Elli Overton, 3 wedge,” said training out time Olympian Overton. “the of the pool, swimsuits, of has been used by course, are always changing swimmers all the time. and improving.

So there’s a lot of like technoStrength has become an imlogical differences that have portant part of swimming, sidelining pure skill. But training changed.” is not all that has changed.

Gear such as racing suits and goggles have been improved “Things like the lane lines are dramatically. In the 2008 Olympic games, sometimes known as the plastic games, 23 world records were set in swimming with athletes using suits that have been banned since.

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“I watched the opening ceremony, and I saw the empty stands, I was, teared out, I just think it’s so sad, “ said Overton.

“I just felt so bad for all those athletes.”

Swimmers have a window in their life when they are at the peak of their fitness, and often it is the only chance they will have to make the Olympic team. Athletes who were expected to make it in 2020 did not because of the extra year they had before. On the other hand, the break gave some people the opportunity to excel at the Olympic trials.

“We saw so many young

The Athlens Olympic pool from 2004 sits unused. It has since been filled.

people stepping it up… because they had that extra year to kind of just keep grinding,” said Cox. Working hard is part of becoming a good swimmer, and it is not for everyone.

“I would say, Do you really want that because it’s a big life commitment,” said Overton.

“We saw so many young people stepping it up… because they had that extra year to kind of just keep grinding.”

Photo by Dave Smith

technique and the rules have changed. But I think the fundamentals, you know, the love of the sport for people is still the same.”

- Colleen Cox, Olympic silver medalist

Swimming has changed the most for people who are young because you have to start so early. For many, though, the yearning for the pool is still the same.

Cox said, “ A lot of the stroke

Graphics by Augustus Sefcik

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$8.2 million

Sporty Salaries S S S

$4.3 million

The average football player makes 16 times more than the average American.

$2.69 million

Source: SSA

$860,000

The average basketball player earns a stagering 8.2 million a year, more any other sport looked at.

Source: Basketball-Reference

Premier Legue soccer is next, with the average salary of a Premier Legue player is $4.3 million.

After soccer comes hockey. Hockey players earn an average of $2.69 million per year.

We are finally on to football, with the average football player earning $860,000 per year.

Source: The Guardian

Source: Indeed

Source: Chron

$61,000

At the bottom there is swimming, with the average swimmer earning $61,100 per year.

Source: SimplyHired

Athletes and Gender

17.9%

4.2%

79.9% Source: Zippy

Male Professtional Athletes Female Professtional Athletes Undeclared Professtional Athletes All graphics by Augustus Sefcik

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Best Perspective

By Rachel Joy-Rocha

Ultimate: a growing sport Waterloo player #15 starting to pull. This throw will start off the game. Photo by Matthew Slimmer

A

player sees the frisbee flying through the air and jumps to intercept it and, while in the air, they feel a push from the side as an opposing player jumps in the way to catch it. This is a foul and in every other sport they would have to wait for the referee to make a call but not in ultimate frisbee.

Ultimate, also called ultimate frisbee, was founded in 1968 but has been a rela-

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tively small sport. It is played with a frisbee and the scoring is by catching the frisbee in an endzone. In schools it is played in mixed or co-ed teams and at professional levels it is played in gendered teams.

There is also a club team division that can be played in mixed or gendered teams. A concept in the game and community is spirit of the game which is the sportsmanship of ultimate. It says that the players can self-officiate or call fouls without referees, so the

term best perspective, refers to the person that had the best view to determine a foul or whether or not someone was out of bounds. In 2015, ultimate was recognized by the International Olympic Committee but it has not become a sport included in the Olympics. USAU stands for United States of America Ultimate and is the governing organization in the US for ultimate.

Spirit or spirit of the game is a part of the community surrounding ultimate, according

to Caroline O’Connell, professional player with team Austin Torch “Spirit of the game is what sets Ultimate Frisbee apart from other sports. It is our way of simultaneously ensuring respect, integrity, and competitiveness between teams,” O’Connell said “Spirit of the game takes the place of official referees by allowing players to make their own calls, communicate, and agree or disagree with one another.”

For Katie Herbers, a coach in Austin for a youth team, it can also be about respect for the sport and your opponents.

“The way that I talked about it is having integrity when you’re playing your opponents,” Herbers said. “So choosing not to cheat, choosing to follow and uphold the rules. And to play with fair-mindedness and giving the other person the benefit of the doubt. And working to build a community, although that’s more, I think, more of a personal definition than actually what it is to turn it what it is right now.”

What drew Herbers to ultimate was being a part of a team and the sense of camaraderie.

“It’s the team aspect of it, and the relationships you get out of that, and the camaraderie ...teams will cheer each other after the game and they might sing a song or do a dance. So there’s unique aspects like that are sometimes, in other fun tournaments, you might, you know, give a spirit gift to a player that is really spirited. ...it’s just kind of neat that we all as players own and care for the sport together. And yeah, just a lot of fun.” Herbers said.

“Spirit of the game is what sets ultimate frisbee apart from other sports.”

-Caroline O’Connell, professional player

O’Connell likes the uniqueness of the game and how it is played.

“I always describe ultimate as a combination of soccer, basketball, and football. Football because we score in an end zone, basketball because we pivot and can’t move with the disc in our hands, and soccer because it’s the same amount of running.” she said.

O’Connell is a college student at UT who has been playing ultimate for years.

“I started playing ultimate my freshman year of high school when one of my friends dragged me to a practice for the high school club team,” she said. “I was a softball player at the time, but quit softball a couple years later because I liked frisbee so much more, and I’ve been playing ever since!”

Since then, she has played on a variety of different teams in a few cities in Texas.

She currently plays for Austin Torch, a semipro women’s team, and Texas Melee the UT college women’s team. She has been playing Melee for six years and has been captaining for four.

O’Connell joined the professional team Austin Torch and played at that level for the first time in the 2020 season.

“I’ve been wanting to play professionally for a while now, but it took a lot of hard work until I was good enough to make the team,” O’Connell said, “I wanted to play because I wanted to reach the extremely high level that professional teams play at, and I also really enjoy playing with many of the women on Torch.”

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Waterloo player makes a pass. This throw will get the team closer to scoring. Courtesy of Matthew Slimmer

Her first season was interrupted by COVID as the women’s league was shut down for months.

“My experience playing professionally hasn’t lasted that long so far since most of it was cut short by COVID. So far it has been really cool to get to say I play for a professional women’s team, and to be supported by my friends and family,” said O’Connell.

Ultimate has been a small sport since it’s founding and some in the USAU want to see it go into the Olympics. Sarah Powers is a youth outreach director for USAU and handles programs to help new teams start across the country.

“It’s something mainly our CEO is focused on. And I think he works with may-

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be some board members on that, and he has connections in the Olympic movement. ...It’s probably not one of the higher priorities but it is something that I think the community finds important.” said Powers.

Herbers is more focused on the sport’s community than growth.

“I would like to see ultimate, I don’t really care that much about the big scene or if it will be in the Olympics or maybe on a slightly larger scale. But I think that it’s really important to keep the community and the like, the focus on integrity and playing with integrity as a part of the game,” said Herbers “...it’s less of a question of, larger goals than trying to maintain a lot of the Spirit. ...so that it’s a sport that still resembles a lot of the things that I

enjoy and appreciate about it rather than just becoming another mass sport.”

O’Connell would like to see more growth while maintaining community.

“I hope to see ultimate keep all of its good qualities while continuing to grow and spread throughout the country, especially among young women.

I don’t want the atmosphere and community of ultimate to be sacrificed in order for the sport to grow,” she said.

The expansion of ultimate to different demographic groups is an important goal of the USAU as well.

“A focus of ours in the last couple years has really been to reach more underrepresented players, ...we’re gonna have to do some work to do, a lot of sports are dealing with this

right now that just there’s been some attrition and so trying to get players, reenergized and engaged,” said Powers.

O’Connell has decided to start coaching for the Texas youth girls team Texas Tango to help the women’s division.

“I decided to start coaching because I wanted to give back to the team that I helped start and played for many years ago. I think COVID hurt women’s divisions in ultimate more than it did men’s divisions, so I want to help grow the female community back to where it once was. I also really wanted to try out coaching just to see if I could do it!” she said.

Herbers is the head coach for Tango and has been doing it for years. She started coach-

ing after playing in college.

“One of the coaches Cara Crouch just asked me because she knew that I liked working, I’ve had a lot of experience working with kids, and I like working with kids. And that was another one that I didn’t fully know what I was getting into. And just kind of started showing up the practices and ended up really enjoying it and enjoying the girls that we coach, and so I’ve been doing it, four or five years.” said Herbers.

Spirit of the game enables that same player that was pushed to call the foul and have a discussion with the opposing team member and

Waterloo player #9 jumps to catch the disc. He keeps possession for his team. Courtesy of Matthew Slimmer

create good sportsmanship instead of relying on a referee and waiting for a call.

“Spirit of the game and teaching integrity and building that into a sport is something that I really, really value and gives back to the sport and to the community as a whole.” said O’Connell.

A Waterloo player catches the disc. He gets past his defender and moves it up field. Courtesy of Matthew Slimmer

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1959

Wham-O produced the first frisbee

1975

Rugters won the first tournament

1968

Out of 70 freshmen,

Columbia High played the first game of ultimate

74% have thrown a frisbee 47% ultimate

have played

38% have played disc golf

The Ultimate Timeline Ultimate has been around since 1968 but it’s history is not well known. These are some significant events and statistics about frisbee. For the bottom section 70 LASA freshman were surveyed for their experience with a frisbee.

1983

First world championship was held

1979

The national organization USA Ultimate was founded

2017

Vermont made ultimate a high school varsity sport

Graphics by Rachel Joy-Rocha USA Ultimate logo courtesy of USA Ultimate.

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A personal trainer assists and teaches a man exercizing

A New Age of Training The Importance of Athletic Training and Its evolution

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By Austin Buckley

Courtesy of 24hr Fitness Sweat gushing out of every pore as the last repetition is being forced out of every last bit of their will power. This is what some may believe training to be like but training is not always like this. Although this may be the best form for some, training is nowadays very evolved to help each individual do the best they can.

Training is the process of exercising to improve certain aspects of one’s physical nature. Training has played a big role in sports for a long time. It is used for athletes but it is also widely used for regular people too. For athletes training is generally used to

try to improve overall health but mainly to try to target and improve specific aspects of their performance that relates to whatever sport they participate in. For most people though training is used to try to improve their general health. The idea of training and the training process has evolved quite a bit over time but especially recently. Training can be very rewarding and there are various reasons to participate in the training process.

“I’ve been able to impact people the way that I do, not only physically but emotionally and they’re improving their mental health as movement releases a lot of endorphins. I’ve seen a lot of people’s lives literally transform and improve, because of what I’ve been able to provide them“ said Matt from 24 Hour Fitness.

Training has the ability to change a person’s life significantly. “for someone who’s new to working out, they don’t necessarily know where they should start, right? If they don’t have time to do their own research, working with a trainer at least for a month is a good way to get started on the right foot.“ said Matt.

Training is not just for the best and most experienced athletes. Training can be extremely beneficial to people who have not been exercising in a long time. It will be able to teach or assist someone that may not have a lot of experi-

ence training or exercise that is trying to be healthier. ”I basically see where they’re at physically and how they move if they have any injuries I need to know about.

And just kind of measure how well how strong they are in that tells me what I would do

a plan that is specific to you.

This is based on a number of factors based on what that person’s goals are and where they are now. This is why the best athletes and the people who may just be wanting to get into better shape could all work with a trainer.

A 24hr Fitness center with training equipment is shown.

Courtesy of 24hr Fitness

to train them, like what exercises to choose. I also asked them what their goals are. If they are looking to be stronger than that’s one pathway if they’re looking to lose weight, but that may be a different pathway if they just want to get better cardio, which makes their heart work better. So it kind of depends on what they’re looking for and that tells me what I need to look for and then what I need to plan for.” said Carrie Kieth, an independent personal trainer.

A trainer’s knowledge and experience are probably the most prominent reasons that someone would want to work with a trainer. Generally, trainers are able to set up

“the benefit I see working with her versus working out on my own is accountability. So on the days that I feel lazy, I know I have the scheduled set time with her. So I know, okay, if I cancel, I’m, you know, losing money, I’m also going to inconvenience her as well, because she set aside time for me. And so it’s more motivating for me to come in and get the workout in whenever I’m working with a trainer.” said Matt.

Accountability is one of the many reasons that someone may go to exercise with a trainer. While Graphics by some people Augustus Sefcik can easily rou-

tinely go to the gym and exercise on their own, many people need to have something to hold them accountable, so that they will actually go to the gym and exercise. This is why a large group of people will often start exercising but not be able to follow through as is the case around the time after the start of each new year when resolutions are set, but this is why trainers are here to help. ”I would say what I have learned was one of the biggest pieces of that is accountability. And that really helps people stay consistent with their exercise and workout. You can of course go to the gym and workout on your own but I found that a lot of people do better when they have to meet someone and they have to have that appointment and like to make a commitment.

And plus, you know, the expertise of working with somebody who can specifically help you get where you want to go.” said Carrie Keith. “there’s one gym that I have been to, like their whole sign up for classes and training. It’s all done through an

Courtisy of HIT Athletics

A man a workout at HIT athletics with a personal trainer and training group

It’s so much easier than trying to call in, get the trainer and sync up the schedule. I mean, everything’s in this app, and you just push buttons and your appointments set. Or you have a reservation for a small group class and you’re just in or it tells you it’s full. And it’s really, really easy. I like it a lot.” said Keith.

Technology has been used in many innovative ways to help improve the training process for many. Apps and websites have been developed to help improve the training

Courtesy of 24hr Fitness

app. And it’s great.

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Rows of wieghts are set up at 24hr Fitness.

process for everyone.

“I say one more part that helps personal training is access to things, nutrition apps. I use MyFitnessPal a lot and it helps clients track their food because nutrition is part of the training. And it helps a trainer kind of get an idea of what’s going on outside the gym” said Keith.

Diet related apps are also very popular and helpful in training. They help manage what the trainee is eating and drinking along with various values that correspond to that such as calories, fat, protein and more. ”I know that there are trainers who do a lot [on] social platforms...They’re on Instagram, they’re on Tik Tok, and they get on, it’s more online.

And there’s a lot more that it’s not quite personal as personal.

It’s not the same one on one.

They kind of make workouts and they film them, and then they sell them to their clients.” said Keith.

Using social media can

be very useful for certain train- Keith and in some cases stopped ers. It can be used to reach a The pandemic has the workflow, causing many very large audience that are prevented a large population people to have a lower income, all able to participate and in many cases lose and interact with each their jobs.

“I’ve seen a lot of peoother. It can also build “I have trainer friends a community around who still work in the ple’s lives literally transtraining with like-mindgym, and they’re doing form and improve, beed people. It can also okay, but it’s still not make it easy for the like normal times. It’s cause of what I’ve been person being trained still hard to get clients to access the training and small groups going able to provide them... session from anywhere. because not as many getting them to see the people are going to Although this is true it does have some disadgyms still. So that has results that they want vantages. Doing these really put a damper on to see and prove their large scale training this particular career” sessions gets rid of the said Kieth. competence. It’s exone on one or small “I’ve seen a lot of peogroup nature of traditremely rewarding, one ple’s lives literally transtional training that preform and improve, beof the most rewarding vents it to be as percause of what I’ve been sonalized. Using social able to provide them... career fields I’ve ever media was especially getting them to see the been in.” helpful during times results that they want of quarantine during to see and prove their the pandemic because the competence. It’s extremely majority of people could not of people from being able to rewarding, one of the most reattend in person training sesor wanting to attend a gym or warding career fields I’ve ever sions. see a trainer. This has slowed been in” Said Matt. ”my gym closed permanently… I have a A woman exercises at HIT Athletics making use of special equipment. couple of clients left, but most of them are really Courtisy of HIT Athletics kind of just scattered... a lot of people just scattered, do it at different gyms or just worked out at home... I have the clients that I have, because I was willing to mask up and work outside and go to their house. So it really changed how I work with my current clients that way and getting new clients is really difficult because I don’t really have a base to work from like the gym that I worked at” said

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Food is something that goes into everyday of our lives. What we eat everyday is very important to sustaining a healthy lifestyle. It is especially important to athletes as they are trying to maximise the health of their bodies to be able to performe as well as they can. Although it is especially important for athletes it is also very important for everyone.

What we eat effects how we do throughout the day, allowing us to perform each and every task and providing us the energy to function, repare, and grow.

Foo

fo

Thou

Calorie Management Calorie Defecit

• •

Excersize

Calorie Maintenence

•

Calorie maintenence is when you consume the same amount of calories you burn causing you to maintain a steady weight.

A calorie deficit is the state to were you are consuming less calories than you burn in a day causing you to loose weight, generally from fat, assuming you still consume the neccessary nutrients.

A calorie surplus is when you eat more calories than you burn in a day causing you to gain weight in fat or muscle depending on how much you exercise and the type of exercise along with what it is you eat.

Information from Harvard Health Publishing Excersize

Calorie Surplus

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All graphics by Austin Buckley

Michelle Obama is largely credited with the creation of the MyPlate food diagram as a part of her Healthy, Hunger-free Kids act of 2010 to help reduce kid hunger and obecity.

LASA Student Favorite Foods

od

or

ught

Other Other - 19% 19%

Bre B reaad - 3

d -% 3%

Sushi - 4% Sushi - 4% 2% %

ue-2 eque Ba rbec Barb

Pasta

Pasta 31% - 31%

4%

Burritos rito-s4% Bur

Tacos Tacos -14% 14%

Pizza Pizza 8% 8%

sebu

rger s-7 Cheeseburger % 7%

Hamburgers Hamburger 88%%

About 20% Protiens

About 30% Grains

MyPlate Suggested Food Portions

About 10% Fruits

Chee

Dairy or Dairy Products

About 40% Vegetables

Information from U.S. Department of Agriculture

31

Photo Courtesy of Mike Mackenzie

Phone with social media apps.

The Social Network of Sports 32

By Huck Light-Whipple

S

Social media is changing basketball off and on the court. Players today upload videos of their gameplay daily, communicate with their fans through popular apps and even develop relationships with recruiters and scouts.

Professional trainers and exNBA players agree that social media plays a big role in the current basketball marketplace.

Online platforms have put spotlights on amateur athletes before they sign any contracts or even play any games of consequence, yet they can pick up thousands of online followers from Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok videos. Current NBA players like Zion Williamson rose to stardom during high school for their flashy dunks and exceptional talent. College trainer Nick Anderson explained that social media propels their careers to the next level.

“It definitely helps kids get exposure,” Anderson said. “That’s the name of the game”.

“That’s the name of the game” - Nick Anderson, college sports trainer

Social media changed the way some basketball players are recruited. Players who have large social media presences already have a kind of brand recognition, but it also comes with some drawbacks.

“It’s given these kids a certain

Photo courtesy of Chiara Coetsee Group of people playing basketball on an outdoor court.

type of platform,” Anderson said.

“And almost overhyping them and setting them up for failure sometimes. But you are getting them used to scrutiny...I think it’s good and bad at the same time.”

Former NBA player Travis Knight said for promoting yourself as a player.

“I think players are kind of in charge of promoting themselves, marketing themselves,” Knight Said. All players have YouTube channels now and it’s a great way to send it out because coaches aren’t able to see everybody.”

The basketball director of the East Austin YMCA, Roger Harner, is skeptical of the effect that social media plays on the sport.

“Personally, I don’t like when children are exposed to social media too early,” Harner said.

“There are plenty of studies that suggest it’s not good for their development. I tend to agree, as social media can give a false sense of reality that children simply do not have the ability to distinguish between what’s real and what’s for show, what’s

cherry-picked from hundreds of their clips to post.”

The effect of this consumption of edited video content is that young players try to mimic their favorite players which is detrimental, Knight said. The players themselves are changing along with the game.

“They see somebody like Zion [Williamson] who’s doing these dunks or they see somebody like

Graphics

by Huck Light-Whipple

33

Photo Courtesy of Shakey Deal

34

Talen Horton-Tucker, NBA player, wearing a ballislife t- shirt. Ballislife is a popular basketball social media accout.

Steph [Curry] who’s just knocking down crazy threes and I think it kind of steers players towards the detriment of their game,” Knight said. “Maybe you can’t jump like Zion so you have to be really fundamental...I never walk into a gym and see any kids doing anything but shooting threes”.

Zion Williamson is an NBA player who rose to stardom during his senior year of high school. He played in a lower division but due to his viral highlights that put him on the map, he was the number one recruit coming out of Highschool. In 2019, he signed the most lucrative rookie shoe deal ever.

Seventyfive million dollars according to Business Insider.

“It’s very important for a player to eventually have a portfolio of work/highlight reel, which might be nowadays primarily online. But ultimately, you have to start with “DESIRE”, does your athlete

“It’s a skill to play hard nowadays, it was required back then” - Nick Anderson, college sports trainer

have the real desire to be great?”

Harner said.

This means that at the end of the day it is up to the player and their work ethic.

Social media has changed the relationship between players, fans, and recruiters. They have access to one another in real-time like never before. Fans are engaged with players’ personal lives, upand-coming players can promote

themselves, and recruiters have easy contact with the prospects. Knight, who played with Kobe Bryant on a championship team, felt that social media causes youth athletes to mimic flashy players and create holes in their game.

Anderson and Harner agreed that social media is a powerful tool for young players today, but that it does not take the place of the most fundamental traits an athlete must have; work ethic, desire, and perseverance.

“It’s a skill to play hard nowadays, it was required back then,” Anderson said.

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The Kings of Social Media Social Media’s Influence on the Interest in Basketball Over Time Graphics by Huck Light-Whipple Data by Google Trends

The search term “Basketball” has risen overtime with the growth of social media platforms. 100 on the graph means the peak search amount and 50 would mean that it is half as popular overall.

100 80

5 4

60 40

3 2

20 36

0

2004

1

1-Facebook founded in 2004 2-Twitter founded in 2006 3-Instagram founded in 2010, upward trend starts 4-Snapchat founded in 2011 5- Vine founded in 2012 6-Vine declares bankruptcy in 2016 7-Tik Tok founded in 2018 8-Instagram hits 1 billion users in 2018 9-The covid virus stopped basketball in 2020 thus stopping online engagement in it

8

6

7 9 COVID

2021

37

Acknowledgements We want to thank everyone who helped through the journey to make this magazine.

Thank you to Mr. Garcia for assisting us along this process and teaching us the necessary skills from InDesign to interviewing. You were always ready to help us out with all of the issues that came up along the way. We also want to thank our parents for supporting us with interview scheduling and everything else.

Finally, thank you to all of our interviewees for their patience and willingness to talk with us as well as providing us with images and useful information. Also a special thanks to Matthew Slimmer and Austin Ross for providing a lot of amazing photos for the frisbee and swimming feature stories.

From all of the editors of Athletes’ Interest, thank you!

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