#netball coaching

[bishopsport]

How to improve every part of your netball game

Netball icon Tamsin Greenway gives us her top tips on how to make yourself an all-rounder.

Some great tips from Tamsin Greenway to help you improve your netball

[mywineshopper-blog]

New Post has been published on My Wine Shopper

New Post has been published on http://www.mywineshopper.com/alcohol-and-sport-a-bad-match.html

Alcohol and Sport - A Bad Match

It may seem harmless to have a quiet beer or wine the night before a game. Or perhaps you go all out and even turn up to your netball game hungover. Either way the effects of alcohol – long and short term – do not mix well with sports of any kind.

Alcohol is so detrimental to your game it’s almost designed to make you bad at sports. It drastically reduces reaction time, dulls your body’s ability to process food into energy, increases body heat loss, leaves you dehydrated and puts you in greater risk of developing debilitating muscle cramps. In other words, even the most basic netball drills will leave you confused and exhausted.

Of course, you shouldn’t be expected to become a teetotaller for the rest of your life if you enjoy sport. It only takes a little consideration and responsible drinking to enjoy a few drinks every now and then and still have your body on top form for your game.

Alcohol is a relaxant, meaning it relaxes your muscles and dulls your reaction times. It does this by attacking the central nervous system, which is the control hub in your brain that looks after your coordination, balance and accuracy. If you’ve been drinking the night before a game then the chances of your netball shooting skills making that match-saving goal are slimmer than they should be.

Not only does alcohol slow you down, it also makes your body give less than it could to the game. Alcohol affects the liver, an organ whose function it is to release essential glucose into the blood stream. Essentially, alcohol deprives you of your energy reserves, and when it’s just gone half-time and you’re waiting for your second wind you might find that it’s just not there.

But it’s not just a disappointing game that alcohol consumption leads to – it can be downright dangerous. Body heat loss can cause huge problems for your health. Alcohol can bring on a fever and hot and cold flashes which in extreme cases can lead to hypothermia. It may sound odd, but a hungover athlete is at huge risk of becoming very sick. Alcohol also affects the body’s immune system and ability to heal injuries. It can inhibit the healing process and lead to a far longer recovery period.

All this is focusing on the physical, but what about the psychological effects of alcohol? Alcohol is a depressant drug, and regular consumption can and will lead to a different outlook on the sport. Motivation starts to wane, and when the physical effects of alcohol become apparent, it’s a slippery slope to giving up the sport altogether.

Asking athletes not to drink at all is asking too much. But it’s plain to see that once it affects one part of your game, you’re thrown off track. Players with alcohol in their systems are more at risk of injury, will take longer to heal and will be bad at the sport. But perhaps worst of all, you’ll be letting don your team.