In Full Swing at Sorrento Canyon Golf Center

Sorrento Golf Canyon Golf Center offers a local outlet for golf practice and golfing needs. Practice your long game at the driving range or make your way over to the unique 18-hold put course. This is not your standard putting green but offers practice with fun. Challenging, angles, pitches, and natural grass help in balancing skill with recreation. 

 

Still need some work on your swing? Sign up for their classes and work on perfecting the line of the ball, your hand position, legs, and torso movements. I am somewhat of a slicer myself unless I focus on keeping my swing straight and my arms in the right position. People like me would do well with a class. If you are having any of the same problems you might want to call and check out their rates. 

Instruction mixed with practice is a strong formula for success. Taking a few hour or half-hour classes can make a difference in the amount of strokes (1). PGA instructors will help you master your swing so that you can apply that action uniformly throughout the game thereby shaving points and raising your performance.  

The site also offers a chance for freshly minted Americans to learn the English language better. I did not expect this when I entered the facility but they also have English classes within the facility. Called the Sorrento Canyon English Academy it offers a variety of classes in a nice classroom facility. 

Golf can be an exciting game and can be played in groups. It is beneficial in getting people out of the office and on the course for some social interaction. Nature has a way of settling us down and getting us connected to the world in which we live without all the electronic distractions. Just you, the ball, and a friend or two that spend time together. 

http://sorrentogolfcenter.com/

5605 Carroll Canyon Rd, 

San Diego, 

CA 92121

 

Size versus Full Body Fitness-Is There a Difference?

Fitness is often seen in a specific mindset that assumes that bigger equals better. When dealing with sports and general health this is not always the case. Size has its place but that place is beneath other aspects and markers of good health. Those interested in fitness and sports may focus on activities that increase their performance on tasks or improve perceptual body image. This could include the building of arms and chest at the expense of other body parts or it may also include engaging in the same activities over and over thereby increasing the risk of injury.

Sports and health are a full body activity. They require the ability to maintain cardiovascular endurance, strength, the ability to get into certain positions, put the body in the right positions, and the coordination of many parts working together. Ensuring that your entire body is at peak performance has great benefits beyond specific activities. General health should be seen as a full-body experience.

Fitness components include the following (1, 2, 3):

-Cardiovascular endurance: Improvement of the cardiovascular system that carries oxygen and blood to different parts of the body. The cardiovascular system is used in nearly all sporting activities and ensures that the body doesn’t become winded under prolonged stress.

-Muscle tone: Improvement in the strength of the muscles to lift more and do more. Muscle tone is used in nearly all sports and can create more power in activity. 

-Flexibility: The ability to use a full range of motion. Flexibility is used in all sports as well as those requiring particular body movements that can be difficult.

-Body Composition: This is how the body connects together and its relative portions that allow for full use. Body composition works well in sports that require proper body mechanics and form.

-Muscle endurance: This is how long the muscles can sustain pressure and weight. Muscle endurance is useful for activities that require equipment and other weighted items. 

-Coordination and Balance: This is how the body and all of its parts work together to ensure that tasks are completed. Coordination and balance is used in all sports and activities to create accuracy, coordination of movement, and momentum.

Multiple physical developments have its place within the literature. In the military it is often necessary to maintain stamina and peak performance above that of the civilian population. The military has four components of physical fitness that include endurance, mobility, strength, and flexibility (Roy, et. al., 2010). Coordination is often calculated a different way through successful task completion.

Focusing on something like size alone is not the only determinant of performance. A study developed to predict battlefield performance included 32 physically trained men for peak performance (mean +/- SD: 28.0 +/- 4.7 years, 82.1 +/- 11.3 kg, 176.3 +/- 7.5 cm) (Harman, et. al., 2008). They used anthropometric measures associated with height and body mass, fitness tests (push- ups, sit-ups, 3.2 km run, vertical jump and horizontal jump) as well as simulated battlefield physical performance under load (30-m sprints, 400-m run, obstacle course, and casualty recovery). The researchers found that body mass helped with recovery but not actual performance.  

What should we learn from this? If you are a steroid chomping, weight pumping, crazed beach buff who is completely satisfied with bulging arms and pin legs you are on the wrong track. True fitness should be measured in broad-based terms. Tone, flexibility, body composition, endurance, coordination and balance are more effective as measurements of potential performance. These aspects help to ensure the body has the skill for varying types of activities. 

General sporting and fitness health should include multiple sports. For example, yoga will support flexibility and balance while dance will encourage higher levels of coordination of movement. Muscle building activities will improve endurance and strength while sports like kickboxing and fencing will enhance how different muscles work together. Don’t forget the sprinting, jogging and walking that ensure your body is getting the proper amount of blood and oxygen for stamina. 

1    http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/body-building/the-5-components-of-physical-fitness.html

2   http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/components.htm

3    http://www.htps.us/Page/1388

Harman, E., et. al. (2008). Prediction of simulated battlefield physical performance from field-expedient tests. Military Medicine, 173 (1). 

Roy, T.et. al. (2010). Physical Fitness. Military medicine.

Online Education: How To Collect Data To Assess Needs and Student Outcomes

Tuesday, June 3, 3:00-4:30 (Eastern)
Type: Online Webinar

As the cost of education continues to increase and the availability of new and innovative technology tools expands online teaching and learning opportunities, keeping up with and increasing faculty skill sets proves challenging. Moreover, institutions are experiencing tighter budgets, making opportunities for professional development more difficult to fund.

This webinar will focus on how to collect, correlate, and use data to expand faculty capacity and assess outcomes. During this webinar, participants will learn how the University of the District of Columbia initiated an effort to provide professional development opportunities to faculty across three levels: track participation and outcomes, target specific training to faculty based upon skills, and move faculty along a continuum toward being certified to teach online. The presentation will also disclose how a simple correlation was used to map trained faculty and their online offerings to student outcomes and increased success.

Objectives
- Attain skills in designing, collecting data, and assessing professional development initiatives
- Learn how to correlate and map data to determine the needs of faculty
- Learn how to design and explore LMS use via a content analysis
- Learn how to use data to expand faculty capacity on an individual basis
- Discover how to begin to use these tools immediately and not need statistical expertise

Additional Information: http://www.innovativeeducators.org/product_p/2067.htm

Top American Concerns- Jobs, Economy, and Government

According to a recent Gallop Poll 20% of Americans are worried about jobs, 19% on how government functions, and 17% about the nature of the economy. Over the past year all three have switched places as main American concerns and appear to be somewhat tied in a race of sprints and walks with each coming out on top at one time or another.  Some are saying it is the economy and others are indicating it is the employment rate-all three numbers are likely associated.

Certainly there is no denying the connection between the employment rate and the strength of the economy. A strong economy is able to create jobs and keep people employed. Generally, as the economy improves so does opportunities for gainful employment. Employment rate is a major symptom of economic strength and can fluctuate as the economy shifts gears. 

However, the numbers released by Gallop indicate that the economy, employment, and perception of government are important to Americans. Research by Heinz Welsch found that life satisfaction is negatively associated with unemployment and positively associated with growth (2011). As the economic engine speeds up, so does the satisfaction of citizens and this is an obvious benefit to everyone.

Likewise, other research supports the concept that trust in local government is associated with overall satisfaction and often results in residence retention (Van Ryzin, et. al. 2004). The New York study helps highlight how governmental functioning impacts satisfaction and may run off into other areas such as employment numbers and economic strength. 

Over the recession employment growth has been based primarily in small business. Further research by Glaeser & Kerr (2010) helps us understand that many small businesses lead to greater job growth than a few large employers alone. Revitalizing small business can have a direct impact on economic growth and in turn the employment rate. The same can be said for cities and national economics.

What we may find through the Gallop study is that as the economy speeds up and more jobs are created that concerns of government effectiveness are likely to decline while citizen satisfaction rises. Of course there are no perfect solutions and there are many confounding variables that go into the development of a nation. Many of the variables are associated with each other in one way or another but do not have a one-to-one relationship.  Focusing on the economy and the employment numbers seem to improve perception of government effectiveness and therefore a proper place for discussion.

Glaeser, E. & Kerr, W. (2010). The secret to job growth: think small. Harvard Business Review, 88, (7/8). 

Riffkin, R. (May 19, 2014). Jobs, Government, and Economy Remain Top U.S. Problems. Gallup Politics. Retrieved May 20^th, 2014 from http://www.gallup.com/poll/169289/jobs-government-economy-remain-top-problems.aspx

Van Ryzin, G. et. al. (2004). Drivers and consequences of citizen satisfaction: an application of American customer satisfaction index model to New York City. Public Administration Review, 64 (3). 

Welsch, H. (2011). The magic triangle of macroeconomics: how do European countries score? Oxford Economic Papers, 63 (1).