Don't Let H1N1 Destroy Your Season
from SwimNetwork.com
As the H1N1 flu spreads around the world, age group and college athletes are unfortunately coming down with the flu in high numbers. Tulane University, Duke, and Texas Christian University all reported outbreaks among their athletes. Earlier in the year, Swimming Australia cancelled its Grand Prix competition due to a swine flu outbreak. And 12 Zamalek swimmers and their coach were infected at the Cairo Championships this year. Athletes are more likely to be physically and mentally stressed, making them more susceptible to illness, warns Charlie Thompson, the chairman of the National Athletic Trainer’s Association’s college and university athletic trainers committee. More

Ailment Can't Slow Down Defending Champion Swimmer
from AP via Mlive.com
As if swimming wasn't already a tough enough sport, Anne Goering has an extra challenge: chlorine-induced asthma. That inconvenience didn't stop the West Valley High School captain from winning the 200-yard freestyle state championship a year ago. Now a senior who will graduate a semester early, she appears to be the favorite in that event again Nov. 6-7 in Anchorage and also has a decent shot at the 100 freestyle title. More

Cutting Sodium Consumption: A Major Public Health Priority
from Science Daily
Reducing sodium intake is a major public health priority that must be acted upon by governments and nongovernmental organizations to improve population health, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). More

Virginia Paralympian Swimmer Targets London in 2012
from StandardNET
Diana and Kent Johannes spent nearly a month in the summer of 1995 shuttling between an orphanage in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the office of the region's adoption officials, who couldn't understand why the couple wanted to adopt a cute little girl missing her left arm below the elbow. The officials kept asking the same questions: Why do you want an "imperfect" child? Are you going to sell her body parts for research? It was impossible for the Johanneses to convince the adoption officials that they considered little Anna, then 2, a perfect, beautiful girl, but they were able at least to explain the Christian concept of caring for the poor and sick. Finally, little Anna was released. Those officials, perhaps, would have a difficult time believing the rest of the story. As Diana Johannes sat in the rafters of the Cub Run RECenter, her daughter Anna, now 16 and a junior at Mount Vernon High School, churned up the water below with the rest of the Potomac Marlins swim team. Anna had no trouble keeping up with her able-bodied teammates. In fact, in many ways, she was leaving them behind. She is competing this week in Cartagena, Colombia, at the 2009 Youth Parapan American Games, an 18-and-under event that represents a major step in her quest to make the U.S. Paralympic team that will travel to London in 2012. More

Swim Coach Demands the Most ... and More
from News & Observer
Paul Silver spots the problem with his ears. One of the elite high school swimmers he trains with the Marlins of Raleigh, N.C., club team is crashing the waters at Pullen Aquatics Center. She's working hard, but her technique has become counter-productive. "I can hear with my one ear you going down the pool," Silver says. "Slide it in quietly." It's an honest assessment delivered in a monotone that can come off as both caring and unsympathetic. That's on purpose. Silver sees his job as head swim coach as part counselor and part taskmaster. More

Children Need More Vitamin D, Researchers Say
from The Los Angeles Times
Like adults, children require vitamin D -- it's one of those often-ignored fundamentals. But how much? The vitamin is crucial for, among other things, bone development, so no one wants to skimp. But not many experts want to go overboard either. More