Local High School Coaches May be Injuring Female Softball Players

Thousand Oaks, CA -- April 3, 2005 - The Thousand Oaks High School girls' softball season is about to end. But studies show that as more females participate in sports there is a marked increase in unwanted injuries, much more so than with males.

What's the reason for this shift in sports-related injury?

Many look to the way coaches are taught to teach athletic skills to females. Most coaches learn from other male coaches, who in turn were taught "old school" coaching methods originating from male football players. "Certainly female softball players should not and cannot prepare for sports the same way male football athletes do," said Warren Potash, head of Strength & Conditioning of Sport Fit Conditioning Programs (TM), based in Thousand Oaks, and co-author of SAFELY TRAINING THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE ATHLETE.

The latest research reveals female athletes spend $646 million each year on knee surgeries alone, compared to an estimated $81 million for male athletes.

With most of the educational materials being created for male athletes, coaches and trainers just aren't receiving the education they need to effectively work with female athletes. The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), in their Consensus Report titled, "Female Athlete Issues for the Team Physician" reports that, "The injury rate is two to ten times higher in females than in their male counterparts."

Edward J. Wojtys, MD, editor of Orthopedics Today's Sports Medicine section, said, "It has become clear that the female athlete is different from the male athlete. Nutrition, training, health issues all need to be addressed in a gender-specific manner, and recent research has supported that. In the past, training of female athletes was conducted the same as for male athletes. That clearly was not the right approach."

Steve Gordon, PhD, former Chief of Musculoskeletal Diseases Branch at the at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said, "Girls simply cannot train for sports the same way boys do. In order to avoid excessive injury they must adhere to a specific pre-training pattern to properly prepare the body - something that most high school

and college coaches don't know how to do, let alone a weekend soccer coach." He said that "this is precisely the reason I co-authored SAFELY TRAINING THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE ATHLETE - to help drive down the high female injury rate by properly educating coaches and trainers to know how to work with these young athletes."

Dr. Gordon commented on the release of the consensus report by saying, "It's about time this important issue became noticed by the medical society. More and more girls are injured every day because of poor athletic training caused by a lack of quality education for the personal trainers and coaches."

Dr. Sal Arria, Executive Director of the International Sports Sciences Association said, "This is the first and most comprehensive training program in the industry. We are honored to work with these world renowned experts and accomplished authors, Dr. Gordon, Robert Filer and Warren Potash," he said.

"Their program is cutting edge, yet easy for anyone to understand. Every person who works with athletes should know how to safely train adolescent females...there is no excuse, their techniques and training methods work." Dr. Arria concluded.

SAFELY TRAINING THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE ATHLETE is the only training program in existence dealing specifically with working with young female athletes. Dr. Gordon co-authored the 84-page course with Robert Filer, MPT, and Warren J. Potash, NFTA, Accredited Fitness Professional, to address topics such as nutrition and eating disorders, physical training, shoulder, knee and bone conditions, contest preparation, stress fractures and menstrual dysfunction.

After working with countless female athletes for a combined 61 years, the three authors have lectured, counseled and taught thousands of medical doctors, coaches, personal trainers, and concerned parents on the proper care of adolescent female athletes.

About the Program:

SAFELY TRAINING THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE ATHLETE, PART 1 ($119, 5 Continuing Education Units-CEUs); PART II ($119, 5 CEU's) is published by the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), and can be ordered toll-free 800-892-4772, CEU department. The program can be ordered online at www.ISSAOnline.com

About ISSA

Since 1988 the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) has provided certification and continuing education to nearly 100,000 fitness professionals. ISSA certifications are recognized worldwide. From Sports Conditioning to Youth Fitness, ISSA offers 10 certification programs and dozens of continuing education courses. For more information on the ISSA, please visit: www.issaonline.com

To schedule an interview with an author of SAFELY TRAINING THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE ATHLETE, or with a representative of ISSA, please contact:

Rochelle Yoshida
Director of Public Relations for the ISSA
Email: rochelle@issaonline.com
Toll-free: 1-800-892-4772
International: (805) 884-8111

# # #