According to environmental activists, major sporting meets and commutes to these events are one of the biggest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Sustainable efforts geared towards sports event transportation and tourism can largely minimize their ecological impact and instill environmental awareness and camaraderie in both fans and participants.

Although they are not continuously ongoing, major sports events are highly energy intensive. When individuals consider the electricity needed to power a single football, basketball, or baseball game, they will realize that a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend or The World Series consumes a staggering amount. Add to this the long line of cars and recreational vehicles making their way to the stadium, energy and water use, and the amount of trash people produce during these events.

Transport systems have a considerable impact on the environment, accounting for as much as 25 percent of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. One of the best ways that organizers and fans can help offset the ecological impact of major sporting events is to explore sustainable means of travel or transportation.

According to environmental studies and research, travelling in large groups or taking public transportation can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a major sporting event. Therefore, when sports fans or event organizers enlist the services of sustainable transportation service companies, they allow spectators and participants to save on commuting costs and make a positive contribution to the environment, all while enjoying the sights and festivities.

Sustainable sports event transportation providers play a huge role in determining how eco-friendly a customer’s trip is. When sports fans decide to travel as a group or when event organizers are trying to choose their transportation provider, they should also look for event transportation or shuttle services that make use of hybrid vehicles and fuel-efficient fleets. There are even some companies that employ chauffeurs and drivers who are specifically trained to prevent unnecessary idling and to conserve fuel as they drive.

For sports event organizers, transportation management providers usually offer services that match their clients’ needs while ensuring exceptional travel experiences for the passengers. Whether it’s providing multiple load-in or drop off points to thousands of sports participants, spectators, and media, or simply bringing a small group of 20 from Point A to Point B, sustainable sports event transportation companies can offer the most eco-friendly solutions for their clients.

Baseball trading pins are no longer restricted to big teams but are quite popular with the smaller teams as well. Realizing this, there have been good increases in the number of companies that manufacture and sell baseball pins. The buyers can contact them and look for good designs that can represent their team. The pins, which were introduced in the 1980s, have now become a great part of the sports culture. They are popular with other sports team also and are available across the world.

The softball pins are now popular with the different sport companies also who use it to promote their brand. The softball trading pins that are used by these companies have their name or logo printed on it so that players and the fans can see it easily. The pins used for this purpose are either given as free gift or as promotional gift during the sports event.

If you plan to reach out to your target consumers then you can also opt for the baseball trading pins and use them for the same. The buyers can contact good trading pins manufacturer who may be able to provide you with a wide range of designs. They can see the available design or send in their own designs that may be used for it.

When you use the softball pins for advertising your brand then you need to make sure that the pin is of the best quality. The quality of baseball pins plays a major role in impressing the target consumers and therefore you don’t have to compromise on the same. The pins are as it is inexpensive so you don’t have to worry about the same and can easily advertise your brand on a limited budget.

The manufacturers have now introduced different shapes and sizes of products which gives buyers the ease to experiment with their design. So make sure that the company you choose for designing your pin provides you with a good number of options. You should be able to make your pin more colorful as that attracts people easily.

These days the manufacturer provides you with different designing options. The buyers can get their pins in soft enamel, photo etched or can also look for offset digital printing. They can also buy them through the online store which can help them to get good designs at low prices.

The online stores like Trading provides the buyers with good softball trading pins and offer services like free artwork, free shipping and so on. This works out to be inexpensive and makes it convenient for the buyers to get the right product.

This year’s baseball playoffs and the World Series are approaching rapidly. As always, pitching will play a key role in determining which teams will do well in post season play.

Pitchers who can perform well at this crucial time of the year require a special kind of physical toughness and mental toughness.

Where physical toughness is concerned, pitchers who play well at the end of the year need to have energy and strength to continue to pitch well after spring training and after a one hundred and sixty two game regular season schedule.

Where mental toughness is concerned, the best pitchers know how to remain relaxed, confident and focused when the pitch in these tense, post season games. They benefit from having control over their range of pitches. They also benefit from being able to get ahead of hitters and from knowing hitters strengths and weaknesses. Previous playoff experience also seems to help pitchers to adjust to the special kind of pressure that is a part of championship baseball.

But, how do pitchers develop mental toughness?

Some pitchers use traditional sport psychology techniques like relaxation training, meditation, self-hypnosis, visualization, guided imagery and pre-pitch routines in order to perform to their fullest potential on the mound. I teach these kinds of techniques to pitchers all the time.

A recent study by my colleague, Anthony Cinelli at Boston University, sheds some interesting insight into how pitchers develop mental toughness.

Mr. Cinelli, who pitched in college and who has studied the psychology of pitching, approached me several months ago because he wanted to collaborate with me on some research about mental toughness, choking and staying in the zone.

We decided to interview pitchers about these issues.

Interestingly, ten of the nineteen college pitchers who were interviewed, stated that their father played an essential role in their development of mental toughness. That is,

fifty two percent of these pitchers attributed the early learning of mental toughness to contact with and coaching from their dads.

Many young baseball players are first introduced to this sport by their fathers. So, their dad t is often their first coach. Therefore, fathers often play a crucial role in how an a pitcher develops physically and mentally.

Some of the pitchers interviewed also attributed the learning of mental toughness was function of watching their fathers behavior in their careers and in their businesses.

Apparently, the young pitchers started to model some of the behaviors, attitudes and actions that were demonstrated by their fathers in the world of work. In short, they took what they observed their dad’s doing in their lives and brought some of these attitudes and behaviors to the baseball field.

Others pitchers stated that fathers taught them valuable lessons about being accountable, taking responsibility and learning to accept good and bad performances.

While this study has a small sample, it does seem to reinforce the importance that early learning, relationships between parents and kids and early coaching can have on the development of mental toughness among pitchers.

Chances are, you want to be able to jump higher. I mean, who wouldn’t want to, right? Whether you want to be able to dunk a basketball, block shots, or improve your high jump in Track & Field, there are many reasons to want to improve your jumping ability. With the right exercises and technique, soon you’ll have an advantage on your competition.

How to improve your jumping ability.

“___ people can’t jump”. You often hear this common excuse people give for not being able to leap higher. It is completely untrue. There are people of all races out there who are able to dunk the ball. Sure, some lucky people are gifted with more “athletic” or “taller” genes, but anyone with the proper guidance and an actual desire to jump higher, can easily do so.

Simple exercises such as squats, which work your thigh and hip muscles, and calf raises can quickly increase the strength in your legs required to jump higher. You want to avoid too many repetitions and any other endurance exercises if you are trying to improve your jumping. Think about it: endurance athletes are skinny and have little muscle mass by comparison. What you want to do is combine strength and quickness to create explosion which is essentially how you “pop” off the ground.

Take a look at 5 foot 8 inch NBA player Nate Robinson, winner of two consecutive NBA slam dunk competitions and former high school track & field and football star… if he can do all those acrobatic dunks, then you can too. If you can’t grow a foot taller overnight, then there is only one solution, and that’s having the proper exercise routine.

Many exercising fanatics and aspiring athletes are hardly aware of the interval timer mode that a stopwatch often comes with. This helpful function of a sport timer helps structure the workout or the training sessions of the athletes enabling them to measure the precise timings spent on various types of exercises and workouts.

Importance of an Interval Timer in various types of workouts:

For Weight Loss Training: Suppose you set up your weight loss workout session with 5 sprints of 3 minutes each with one minute interval between each session. If you will try to maintain this timeliness with an ordinary wristwatch, it will be almost impossible. Consequently, you may not achieve the desired benefits of your weight loss training. Thus, you need to have an advanced quality racing stopwatch that can give you the ability to gauge the time intervals with more precision.

For Athletes & Sprinters: A stopwatch, with a countdowntimer display, serves as an alarm for an athlete who is trying to make better speed and wants to complete his race within a given time period. For example, if an athlete wants to beat duration of 9 seconds in a particular race, he can fix the timer for 8.9 seconds and can practice his running.

With a decimal stopwatch this can be more precise, like 1/100 of a second.

If the timer beeps before reaching the finish line, he would understand he will have to practice more. This way a stopwatch with timer serves the purpose of an athlete and there is hardly any doubt that behind the creation and breaking of all world records in athletics, sport timers play a very important role. Today, all sports trainers and coaches take help of racing stopwatches to offer efficient training to the athletes and other sports persons. By utilizing these stopwatches effectively in training, they determine the level of efforts one would require to better his or her performance on the track or the field.

Buying a stopwatch with timer:

Today, there are several advanced types of sport stopwatches and timers that come with multiple interval timers. There are racing stopwatches available today in the market that may allow you to set up even 10 sequential time keeping for ten individual runners, like 10 lane timer. But such a timing device is meant for advanced level of workouts and one need to make sure whether this is what you are really looking for before getting one.

If you want to buy a perfect stopwatch that comes with an interval timer, choice are abundant today, as there are several leading brands offering high-quality digital stop watches to the fitness freaks and sporting enthusiasts.

A stopwatch and timer has been of great importance for any person who wants great results from his or her workouts. This is the reason why a timer could be a necessary feature that one needs to keep in mind while trying to purchase a stopwatch for his or her daily practice.

Today Michael Jordan is a part-owner and Managing Member of Basketball Operations of the Charlotte Bobcats in North Carolina. He is divorced from his wife Jaunita; the couple has three grown children, Jeffrey, Marcus and Jasmine. It is reported that Juanita received a $168 million settlement, making it the largest celebrity divorce settlement in history on public record, according to celebrity magazines.

Michael Jordan, born in 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in North Carolina. He started out his stellar basketball career at the famed University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1982 he led the team to a National Championship. This accomplishment landed Michael Jordan and teammate Sam Perkins on the cover a 1983 Sports Illustrated magazine cover; it would not be his last. In 1984 he became a professional basketball player, joining the NBA’s Chicago Bulls team.

From the start Michael Jordan was a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line earned him the nickname “Air Jordan.” He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball.

In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993; fans called the triple accomplishment a “three-peat.” To read more about Michael Jordan’s championships with the Chicago Bulls, read sports magazines like Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Weekly and The Sporting News magazine.

Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993-94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball. He rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997 and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995-96 season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons in 2001 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Jordan’s individual accolades include five MVP awards, 10 All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, 14 NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP awards, 10 scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

He also holds the NBA records for highest career regular-season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game). In 1999, ESPN named him the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press’s list of athletes of the century, which ran in many magazines.

Jordan is also noted for his product endorsements. During his career he was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation. This recognition was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

At the height of his career he was a major spokesman for brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, McDonald’s, Wheaties and Hanes to name a few. A couple of his most-famous commercials include the “Like Mike” commercials for Gatorade and a commercial for his signature shoe, Air Jordan, by Nike, featuring legendary film director Spike Lee.

Should you spur your child to play dangerous sports with the goal of becoming a professional athlete and making a boat load of money? De la chanson or it depends on the child, parent, talent, motive and opportunity. The answer is a resounding “no”, if you ask this parent of four. I will explain more of my rational later. For a starter, caveat emptor: sports, like other businesses, have exploitative under-bellies few see or want to see. Being proactive is prudent because advice given after injury tantamount to medicine after death.

There are functional skills one can acquire from playing various sports: teamwork, perseverance, determination, winner and resilient habits. Also, playing sports can be beneficial to one’s overall health.

Obesity is a world-wide health problem with known consequences. Some of these consequences are high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, joints disease, various cancers,to name a few. But don’t tell that to many Nigerians (in particular and Africans in general) who believe that being fat is a glorious thing, a status symbol, evidence of good living and wealth. Engaging in physical activities throughout one’s life are worthy habits that promote both the quantity and the quality of life, per health experts.

However, there is a huge divide between playing sports recreationally and playing them professionally. No sport is risk-free but some are more dangerous than others. The admission costs to the professional athletes’ club can be too high; frankly, may not be worth it.

In my 20’s I liked to watch boxing. Sugar Ray and Thomas “Hitman” Hearns II fight comes to mind. Marvin Hagler, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson, George Foreman’s second coming were my favorites. I watched those fights every chance I got. At one Pay-View event in 1987 in Oakland, California, I happen to be seated close to a former boxer. As we walked out of the venue after the thrilling fight, he made statements that stuck in my mind when a spectator begrudged the millions the fighters earned. He said, “these fighters will pay dearly for the rest of their lives for the hits they have taken today.” He continued by saying, “all the millions they made today will not be enough to heal the life-time of pain and suffering.”

Looking back, his utterances were rather prophetic because little were known then about the effects of concussions, hits to the head, performance enhancement drugs, Parkinson’s disease, memory loss and slurred speech issues. Some of the sports we send our children to play today are equally dangerous, don’t let the hype, money, fame, and medical advancement fool us. Remember that beef came from a cow or as the Igbos say, “Suya ahu si n’ahu nama”!

Seeing the huge money and fame in these sports, it was just a matter of time before Nigerian parents and/or our children themselves started pursuing the trappings of these sports. Some may want to reap the obvious benefits without seeing the latent pitfalls. These parents and children should adhere to this Einstein quote: “learn the rules of the game [first]. And then you must play it better [on and off the court] than anyone else”.

I must devote a paragraph and pay homage to Nigerian, and in deed world’s, athletic heroes. Dick Tiger, Christian Okoye, Hakeem Olajuwon, and current professional players have shown glowing examples on and off the stage. They remain the beacon of everything great about Nigeria and Nigerians. When was the last time you heard anything negative about these heroes? Through their actions, they continue to varnish the image of our Motherland even as corrupt politicians and 419ers are bent on tarnishing her global image. Like grateful Nigerians everywhere, I salute these evergreen heroes.

Are these reasons compelling enough to let your child play dangerous sports?

I hope Nigerian parents both at home and, especially, abroad are not pushing their children into these sports to cash in. Often, we’re people with all-out tendencies to make money at all cost. Some may want to dispel a myth out there and end up exposing themselves and their children to hidden dangers. According to one sportswriter, “people are skeptical about Nigerian players; they are soft, not tough enough and too educated”. That’s a loaded statement! Trying to “prove a negative” may cost one dearly. You may recall Loyola Marymount basketball star Eric “Hank” Gathers who died on the court in 1990 during a televised game. They young man had a known heart condition but he continued to play without taking his medications that made him too drowsy to perform up to his star caliber.

All sports have inherent risks. As Italians say, “ogni rosa ha le sue spine” or “every rose has its thorns”. I like to ride bicycles. Lots of cyclists get hurt and even killed while bicycling. Just 3 weeks ago here in Austin, Texas, a cyclist pushing his disabled bike was killed by an inattentive driver less than 10 miles from my residence. Do you know that girls’ soccer players sustain the second highest number of concussions, after American football players? Go figure that one.

However, some sports are like cigarettes: they are dangerous when played as prescribed. Some of the injuries are cumulative from very young ages (elementary and middle schools) and the ill-effects are not fully felt until after one’s playing days are over.

The odds of making it to the pros are quite infinitesimal. As a friend who played ones of these sports professionally tells me, “people only see the very few who successfully jumped over to the other side of the ridge. But look down in the abyss to see the multitude that did not make it.” The few that make it to the pros end up living painful lives after their injuries begin to manifest and when their insurance benefits are no more. They quickly squander their earnings due to poor financial management skills. Just like too many Nigerians refuse to plan for retirement, these athletes think they will always be in money. Those who help you waste your resources will not be there for you when you need them. Wake-keeping, if that, can only bury one after one had died, it won’t sustain the living.

I am not advocating you or your children eschew amateur or professional sports. Neither am I singling out any one sport. Like I said, every rose has its thorns; no sport is risk-free. What I am recommending is for you to conduct your own research before exposing your family to any sports. If after all that you still feel the sport is for your child and he or she has the wherewithal to become the one-in-a-million victor, go for it. I wish your family well. Please beware all that glitters may be brass, not gold.

Ask yourself these questions:

How come very few offspring of pro players follow the footsteps of their parents? Did the genes that propelled their parents to stardom suddenly “miss road”?

Why don’t team owners, coaches, team doctors, use their enormous clouts to play their children in these evidently lucrative sports? Other businesses, including preachers, train their children in the family enterprise, why not as dangerous sports players? Could it be because they the truth or, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, society writes injuries in dust and benefits in marble?

Are sports the only way to earn university scholarships? Academic scholarships are better than most sports scholarships. The former graduates more students than the latter. Reading will not give you the aforementioned injuries.

If you don’t know any ex-professional players in the sport your child might be interested in, Google or Facebook search to find one to talk with. They are relatively easy to find and you would find them willing to assist you. Listen with an open-mind to what they tell you; don’t take their feedback as bitter ex-players comments. That is what I did years ago before my children were of age to play popular American sports. As a proactive step, I started discouraging my sons from playing football. I was shocked when my middle schooler told me he had been asked to tryout for his school team.

My wife and our children were first jubilant at the news. I went into high gear to talk him out of playing football. When he refused to back down, I blessed him but told him I would not go to any of the games. They said he was good at it. He convinced his mother to go to one of the games. I must inject here that she’s in the medical field. After watching the game live and hearing the sounds of war… I mean the hits the on the field that day, she returned home to join me to dissuade our son from playing that sport. The sounds of the hits were not like anything she hears from football games on TV. My response was if she thought the middle school players hit hard, she can imagine how harder the high schoolers and college players hit, not to talk of professional players. I could not stand watching my child play football, just can’t. Call me chicken!

After that first year of football, our son announced to our delight that he was giving up the sport. I asked why, he said none of his team members were in his Advance Placement classes, in fact, most of them were not doing well in school, partly because of missed classes due to injuries and/or sports distractions. This is the case in Africa and elsewhere. Some excel in both sports and academics.

Thank goodness my son didn’t get hurt and his grades remain high. He talked about serious injuries other footballers sustained, how they were encourage to eat and weight-lift more to get bigger, stronger and hit harder and run faster. He talked about sub-par equipment use and the push to play for college scholarship and pro prospects. Academics were not a priority, practicing and wining games were! Finally, he said he found out that we wanted what was best for him both now and in the long run. He realized we did it with and for love. And we can live with that!

Perhaps the sport of baseball needs to follow the example of a luxury retail brand, who just announced that its name needed a facelift. According to the November 24 edition of The Wall Street Journal, the company will do business under its new name beginning this month.

While changing the very name of baseball would be much too drastic, there are some stale phrases which seem to reinforce the sport as outdated or inaccurate. Take for instance its anachronistic nickname as America’s pastime, of which the very first syllable equates to something that has long gone by.

Another term, which has grown alarmingly in usage the past few seasons, is the disabled list. The adjective in that phrase clearly comes from an entire different generation, given its association with the present society.

Disabled has for the past few decades applied to serious physical and mental problems that are rarely ever thoroughly overcome, unlike its purpose in terms of baseball. An injured player spent an average of just thirteen and half days on the D.L. last year, a clear indication that these guys are not what the average American would label as disabled. Why not, like all of the other major sports leagues, call it the injured reserve list?

Another phrase has been much less mentioned than the disabled list, but must also have been psychologically more painful for some players. It is the concept inaccurately referred to as the Mendoza Line, an imaginary designation for a batting average o .200.

The term for some reason has been inappropriately named for former player Mario Mendoza, whose batting average was actually fifteen points higher than .200. For the entire month of September fans had to listen to announcers debating whether Toronto All-Star outfielder Jose Bautista and Texas infielder Roughned Odor would finish above the Mendoza Line. (Bautista ended the season with a .203 batting average, Odor at .204).

Those averages are nearly identical to those of the two players that resulted in the original mark being called the Mason-Dixon Line, a catchier and more accurate phrase. Leo Dixon, who played from 1925-1929, had a career average of .206. Jim Mason fared even worse, finishing with a lifetime .203 mark after a career that lasted from 1971-1979. The duo batted a combined .204, or eleven points lower than Mario Mendoza.

Most people are already familiar with the geographical reference in the term, a demarcation unique to the United States of America. This fact, combined with the accuracy of the statistics, is just one more reason for broadcasters and other representatives to scrap the term Mendoza Line.

And while they are at it, they could bury one other annoying inaccuracy. When referring to the pitcher’s mound, call it by its original nickname of the Bump. Considering the paltry height of the thing, it is much closer to being a bump rather than a hill.

ADHD has been described as the most misdiagnosed and misunderstood condition in school children. It is officially the most commonly diagnosed chronic psychiatric disorder in school age children, described as a neurological, genetic and developmental disorder. Yet ADHD is situational, and depending on the circumstance can be the source of wonderful talent.

The child is hyperactive, is disruptive in class, fidgeting, tapping a pen or foot, constantly blurting out answers out-of-turn, or is quiet, but not able to concentrate and follow the lessons, being a constant day dreamer. The conventional answer is to diagnose them as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and prescribe stimulant medication.

Somewhere between 6% and 10% of children in school are afflicted by this disorder. About 70% of them will continue into adulthood with this condition. There are an estimated 5% of adults with ADD or ADHD.

The list of people who have suffered the handicap of this impairment throughout their lives include the philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, scientists Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell, Thomas Edison, the entrepreneur Richard Branson, the rocket scientist Werner von Braun, actors Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, composers John Lennon, Georg Frideric Handel, Rachmaninov and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, authors Jules Verne, Leo Tolstoy, William Butler Yeats, Edgar Allan Poe and Samuel Johnson, the Emperor Napoleon, many United States Presidents and innumerable sports stars.

Obviously there must be some benefit with this condition and it must be possible to develop coping mechanisms to compensate for some of the impairments. If it were not for great people with ADD, ADHD and even autism we would not have come as far today as we have in science and technology. Many of humanity’s greatest geniuses and creative people have had one of these conditions.

We keep hearing the negative sides of the ADHD coin, but there is a flip side, which is very positive. ADHD people tend, by their nature, to be enthusiastic, open-minded, determined, imaginative, creative, hardworking, insightful, trusting and sensitive. The problem while they are in school is that school was not designed for hyperactive or daydreaming children.

School is the most difficult part of an ADHD person’s life. In the list above of successful and creative people are many who failed at school. The rocket scientist Werner von Braun failed mathematics, Einstein was a school dropout, and failed a university entrance exam despite his excellent results in maths and physics. Winston Churchill failed a year at school and Louis Pasteur did not do well in chemistry. The list goes on.

Unfortunately the school system crushes many ADHD children’s spirits with all the negative criticism they receive. Low self-esteem from the feeling of not “fitting in,” being lazy or being stupid for thinking differently is baggage many ADHD children carry with them from their school years. Many go into adult life still trying to fit in when they should be creating an environment and lifestyle which suits them as individuals.

Why is ADHD so contradictory? The majority of research studies on attention deficit look at a disorder that needs to be fixed. Focussing on the negative sides of attention deficit and labelling it a disorder, automatically makes it a “disorder.” The people with ADD or ADHD who succeed have gone beyond the label and found their own personal path in life. One of the positive traits of an attention deficit personality is resilience.

Going back to the description of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as being a neurological, genetic and developmental disorder. That description should throw up red flags. This is one complicated disorder.

• Is it neurological? Yes and no.
• Is it genetic? Yes and no.
• Is it developmental? Yes and no.

Neurological Differences
Left-handedness and right-handedness, having a talent for art or for mathematics, being a sports star or a sports coach all are based on neurological differences. A talented artist with dyscalculia would not work as an engineer, but can lead a successful life as an artist. The mathematical tasks can be delegated to a spouse or a manager. Defining a normal brain is tricky as the ADHD brain works differently, but is it abnormal? Hardly if so many geniuses have had this type of brain.

ADD and ADHD is a result of brain wiring. The attention deficit and hyperactivity can be rewired by biofeedback, brain training, such as the Cogmed method, balancing boards with bouncing balls and a variety of other physical training methods. Coping mechanisms and strategies can be used to compensate for the “handicaps” left over. These natural methods of treating ADHD improve the attention focussing ability without dulling the positive traits of the ADHD personality.

Genetic Differences
76% of people with attention deficit share certain genes. There is a definite genetic component to attention deficit. But this over simplifies the complexity of ADHD genetics. This is not an either/or, you have it or you don’t have it issue. For example in one study 45% of ADHD children and 34% of non-ADHD children were considered at risk based on one of these genes, the dopamine DRD4 gene.

There is no direct link. Having a gene predisposes the person to developing certain traits, but does not guarantee it. Genetics is complex.

Developmental Delay
About a 30% of the hyperactive school children develop out of their hyperactivity by the time they finish school. Brain scans follow-ups have confirmed this.

What is odd is that this developmental delay comes as a surprise. When we look at a class of 14-year-old children, some look like 12 year olds while others look like 16-year-olds, yet by the time they are 18 they all look like 18-year-olds. Children develop and mature at different rates, but schools have chronological age groups not taking consideration to developmental delays.

The other two-thirds who go on into adulthood with ADHD might seem less mature, but that is linked with their creativity, intuitive thinking, energy, enthusiasm and passionate charismatic personalities. These positive characteristics are a part of the positive makeup of the ADHD personality.

Children should be getting at least one hour of physical activity per day. That’s an absolute minimum. When I was a kid, we spent so much time running around outside that it was never a question of just one hour, but nowadays, with phones, TV’s and iPads, getting a kid to play outside can be a challenge.

So how do we get kids more active in their daily lives? Having raised 4 children of my own, I can recommend a few of my top tips.

Find out what they’re really interested in

You may be a hardcore baseball fan with dreams of your child becoming the next big star, but please don’t let your projections define their future. They may go to baseball just to please you, but they won’t enjoy it if inside their true passion is for tennis, for example. Never force your child to do something they truly don’t want to do.

I encourage you to try all the different sports there are, even those that may seem strange to you. Listen to your child and pay attention to them, see what they respond to best and positively encourage them to continue with it.

Don’t compare

I would not recommend comparing your child to another, “Billy is so good at basketball, he plays everyday, why can’t you be more like him?” This is an almost sure way to get your child to give up basketball altogether. Nobody likes being criticised. Instead, why not find positive and uplifting ways to encourage your child to play sports.

Teach by being

It’s no surprise that kids look up to their parents. If you tell them, “you must exercise every day” but don’t do it yourself, they may not be as keen to listen to you. See if they can join you during your practices, be it morning yoga on the beach or a bike ride in the evening. They will love spending time with you and it will somehow feel more natural to them to be active if you’re active too.

Got a dog?

If you have a dog in the house, see if you can get your child to be the main dog-walker of the house. Make them feel important, saying that it’s “their” dog or that they do this job the best. Half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening – a great way to get them moving.

If you don’t have a dog, encourage your child to walk or cycle everywhere. Not only is it better for the environment, something that I’m quite passionate about, but it will also keep them fit.

Build a tree house

If you have a garden in your house, why not build a tree house? Kids love making stuff, and when it’s done, they will stay active by climbing it. If you can’t have a tree house, why not hang some ropes on the thicker branches and encourage your kids to climb them? You can even make it into a game, like treasure hunting, with one of the clues being on top of that rope.

Do something different

Very few people like routine, especially kids who can’t sit still for very long. If you make them do ballet everyday for 6 months, they may get bored and lose interest. However, if you vary things every now and then, they will never know what’s coming next and will get excited by new adventures.

Perhaps you could try new things every other weekend, like go surfing, rock climbing, a tree-top adventure park, trampolining, horse riding – anything you can think of. Make it a fun day out. Your kids will see new places and keep active in the process.

Gym classes

Did you know that many gyms now have classes for kids? They’re done in game-form, for example jumping around obstacles. This allows kids to have fun since they don’t see it as a chore, and get fit at the same time. Not only that, but if you go with them to do your own thing, you will teach by example that going to the gym is a good thing to do.