This is the blog from the talented bunch at SPACE! Physios, Orthopods, Masseuses, Podiatrists, Sport Scientists: all here!
There will be musings on health,sports, and science fact rather than fiction: YOU need SPACE in your life!
SPACE has a defibrillator in the reception area. It has never been used (mercifully). As part of the ongoing training for staff in sports however, our staff are skilled in recognising when it may be of use.
JT & Stephen Mutch have been at the magnificent surroundings of the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to further their skills & update their knowledge.
JT getting to grips with an Irish dummy
Broadly the Irish programme for SAFE-Rugby has similar aims as the Scottish Rugby Union's excellent pitchside emergency care course SCRUMCAPS which we outlined on these blog pages a year ago when last updating (Critical Care Pitchside SPACE Blog Oct 20122) & there was hugely positive feedback from around the Irish provinces from the different persons servicing the needs of Irish rugby and also general sporting communities.
What a glorious week in Italy for the spaceclinics.com sponsored Scotland Touch team at the European Championships in Treviso! With victories over England in the Mens' & Mixed Open Categories, a third place in the Womens' Open secured the overall Open title for Scotland for the first time ever.
The Mens' over 30s also managed 3rd, and Mens' over 35s finished 4th, but out of the five competing squads only one athlete was unavailable on the final day for selection which is testament to the hard work of players & medical staff.
Despite the location, one day's thunderstorms affected the pitches and the Team Accomodation Tent where the physio beds were situated to such an extent for Scotland that we had to negotiate to get a new pitch perched high on stage (cue many jokes about how it was always our calling to be on stage) away from the muddy swampland of the grassed area. Anyhow it established probably the best medical area witnessed in Touch as well as other events, as it was high and dry, and perfect for our three bedded physio setup.
Physios take the stage!
JT swamped
Stephen headed up the team, and liased with the National Team Management, JT continued his excellent clinical work from SPACE itself in the team environment, and the third physio was the experienced Touch campagner Luke Smith, whose soothing tones and hands were much appreciated by you and old(er) athlete as the matches piled up (between7 and 11 per team!). Gratitude was extended to one and all.
For anyone out there keen to touch base with the National Teams then check out the website http://www.scottishtouch.org.uk/ and we may see you out there on the fields and in the tents at a future event.
In the shorter term the Edinburgh Open Mixed Tournament is on 29th September, and the Aberdeen Tournament a week later on the 6th October.
This week sees the much-awaited European Touch Championships in Treviso, Italy. @TouchScotland will be there supported as they have all year by www.spaceclinics.com
SPACE transport for The Italian Job?
JT working on an unknown athlete at training
Last year's Touch World Cup was held in Edinburgh in June, and since October a group of enthusiasts have been training in squads throughout Scotland at venues in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stirling & Edinburgh in addition to individual conditioning.
15 European countries and 850 individual players will participate, with Scotland being represented across five divisions. Mens, womens and mixed teams are entered into the Open Category, with mens teams in the over 30s and over 35s. A full list of the matches to be played are here European Fixtures.
Here is a list of the players bidding to be crowned champions of Europe: Scotland Squads 2012.
Campbell Scott receives some urgent attention from JT
Best of luck to the veterans and virgins alike in Italy representing Scotland!
This remarkable human being is a paralympic champion at the age of forty-five.
What makes his backstory one of the strongest of #london2012 is his transition from Formula 1 to the Paralympics podium.
Winning celebration of Gold Medal H4 Time Trial
On the piste
He clearly has a thrill for all things speedy, with his website listing off-roading, karting, skiing and boating as being particular passions: the last giving rise to his father's quip that the expense was "like feeding a pig on mars bars". (see Official Website alex-zanardi.com for gallery and more on his passions and career)
With Johnny Herbert in F1 days
His 'magical adventure' to London2012 came after a horrifying crash in 2001, when he admits to losing control whilst leading the race as he was coming out of his final pit stop in a Champ Car accident at the Lausitzring near Dresden in Germany.
The first car managed to avoid him, but the second (Canadian Alex Tagliani who suffered minor injuries) did not, and after the 200+mph crash Zinardi underwent a three hour surgical operation that resulted in the amputation of both lower limbs above the knee, and a sedated coma.
Immediate aftermath of the 200mph crash
Quite clearly this remarkable man displayed character, doubtless spending much time in rehabilitation and then ultimately reconditioning as he was able to resume modified vehicle racing until 2009 when he embarked on an adventure that had him earmarking the 2012 Paralympics.
Whilst Zanardi insisted that his career had afforded him some degree of comfort, his need for speed and competition ultimately led him back, via the marathons of New York, Venice & Rome amongst others, to a place at a venue he knew well from his previous incarnation as a racing driver in the 1990s, and then as a member of the Touring Car series in an adapted vehicle.
It was at Brands Hatch on 5th September that he succeeded in the H4 Handbike 16km time trial event, clinching gold in a carbon vehicle he had even designed and built, suggesting that his individual seat was a 'Cinderella shoe'! (BBC Sport Report & Guardian Sport article) He found the course more hilly than he recalled when driving with an engine behind him, but ultimately succeeded lifting his bike above his head on the circuit in triumph having beaten his closest rival by more than 27 seconds to clock a time of 24 minutes 50.22 seconds. His last word on the success was that : "I am Alex Zinardi, I always have to come up with something at the end of a race - I have a bit of a big head".
He rode again on September 7th in the 64km and showed a turn of speed on the final corner to overtake South African Ernt Van Dyk and pull away from the peleton of eight riders to clinch a second gold medal. He has an opportunity to clinch the third medal in the team relay on Saturday September 8th!
What a comeback. What a career. Truly a remarkable character, and a credit to his family, his friends, to sport, and to human spirit.
Whilst the UK is in thrall to the amazing extraordinary efforts of the athletes at the London2012 Paralympics (see Paralympics Ad Blog) the National Football League (NFL) quietly opened last night, with this season due to end in Super Bowl XLVII in the New Orleans Superdome on February 3rd.
It began with the news that Art Modell had passed away, a man to be remembered for more than 'The Move' at the tail end of the last century that saw Cleveland lose the Browns' franchise (only to be resurrected later) and emerge as a quasi-expansion team based out of Baltimore where a new team called the Ravens (after a fan vote) emerged blinking into the NFL in 1996.
NFL news has a good piece that explains his part in that piece of franchise history NFL.com news Art Modell dies. However he should be celebrated as a visionary for his foresight in linking television and American Football for as broadcast chairman for the NFL from 1962-1993 he managed the network televising of the sport to wide audiences for features such as 'Monday Night Football'.
All 32 teams pose in their fresh new kits
Which leads the Great British public to celebrate the showing of that very programme on free-to-air television with the news that the BBC has won the live broadcast rights to Monday Night Football NFL European TV rights.
With Channel 4 additionally weighing in with Sunday evening fixtures from the US, and Sky finally signing up to cover 60 matches from Thursday & Sundays then there is pretty much a quality NFL television media presence for the UK based fans of Grid Iron.
Some of the more garish 'interpretations' of new kit circulating on the internet
Plus there are new kits for the new season, with some commentators complaining that the Reebok brand had become tired and stale. Nike have designed the Elite 51 Uniforms New Designs of Nike Shirt, just don't be expecting the wild and often crazy replication of their College designs. The internet fakers have been prevelent in the gap between Combines & pre-season, but a full vision of the new Nike style can be seen here: Official Nike Uniforms for NFL 2012.
Finally let's look ahead to this new season with another advert, this time showing how the Nike-NFL partnership is ramping up their 'humans', and compare it to the Channel 4 'Superhumans' Paralympic commercial... (see our blog Meet the Superhumans )
The dust is unlikely to settle on the USADA v Lance Armstrong case. We may never know exactly the truth. More evidence will come to light, and the UCI response is eagerly awaited.
For anyone with a bit of time on their hands, we can thoroughly recommend this fabulous blog piece highlighted by a patient last week who visited us in SPACE.
Although well known to the debate is the argument that Armstrong never failed a drugs test, that defence is dissected and discredited, as it is exaggerated, meaningless (in the anti-doping era he performed in) and likely to be false in an case.
This piece adds brilliantly to the debate by stating facts and looking at the climate of the period.
Also worth a read is an interview with 'Bicycling' online where she answers questions Betsy Andreu interview as one of the chief persecutors of Lance Armstrong, and gives her response to the opinion piece Injustice for All by Bill Strickland.
All in all, it is great reading, yet depressing at the same time.
The key message has to be that essentially illegal activities such as drug taking for performance enhancement have to be stamped out for sport to stand as being played on an essentially level playing field. Doesn't it? But how far back do we track for cheats? What if they are the inspirational heroes for a generation. Even an older generation for whom sideburns were the norm, and not merely newspaper cutouts to recognise medallists & Tour champions.
