Meet Nathalie Brockman

Earlier this year we introduced you to the lovely Alice Coakley, now this month we’re introducing you to Sports Fever sales assistant Nathalie Brockman.

Nathalie has been working at Sports Fever for three years and is actually well on her way to becoming a doctor! Nathalie is a fifth year medical students and says she loves combining her passion for health and medicine with her work with Sports Fever customers.

“It's very useful understanding the anatomy and underlying pathology when serving customers with complaints like pain and instability,” she explains. “It helps to apply anatomical knowledge and product-specific technologies to find the perfect fit for a customer's foot.

“It has also been particularly useful when explaining how products like Skins work. TEDS stockings are used in the hospitals and work through a similar mechanism (but they're a lot less aesthetically pleasing!). It's very easy to sell a product when its efficacy and reliability has been proven time and again.”

Nathalie says she decided to study medicine as she has always been fascinated by how the human body works and how doctors can help when it doesn’t work properly. “Things like pregnancy and birth amaze me,” she says. “I'm constantly impressed at the advances being made in medicine to improve well-being and I hope one day to be able to optimise peoples' quality of life through my practice.”

If that’s not impressive enough, Nathalie also recently worked in a mobile clinic in Kenya. “I saw some very interesting tropical medicine, made some very good friends and saw a lot of a very beautiful country,” she says.

Nathalie says one of the things she loves about both her medical studies is also one of her favourite things about working at Sports Fever – meeting new people and working as part of a team. “Our staff all seem to be very happy people and we all get along really well. It's great to work with friends.

“I also love the relationship we have with physios, podiatrists and sports doctors. I think customers appreciate that we have the backing of health professionals and are able to use our training to work with their recommendations.”

Make sure to say hi to Nathalie next time you’re in the Subiaco or Cottesloe store!

Kids Feet and Exercise

The make-up of children’s feet may discourage them from being active, a new study has shown. The study featured in the January 2011 issue of The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, is the first to determine whether foot pressures generated during walking by preschool children were related to time spent in physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Results showed children who experience greater pressures on the plantar surface of the foot may suffer more pain and discomfort during weight bearing activities which in turn may act as a barrier to physical activity.

Author of the study, Karen Mickle from the Biomechanics Research Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Wollongong said further research needs to be done to reduce plantar pressures in inactive children so they can enjoy the benefits associated with participating in a more active lifestyle.

“Participation in physical activity provides numerous benefits for children including improved cardiovascular risk factors, muscular strength and endurance, skeletal health, mental health and academic performance,” she said.

“Given the health benefits of physical activity for preschool children and the proportions who do not meet recommended levels for physical activity, better understanding of the factors that influence such behaviours among young children is paramount for successful efforts and for public health promotion.

“Identifying children who have foot discomfort associated with high plantar pressures may be an important step in removing a potential barrier to these children participating in physical activity."

How to act on your child’s foot discomfort:

• Provide comfortable, well fitting shoes that reduce pressure under the foot. This may reduce foot discomfort whilst children participate in physical activity.
• Promote activities that reduce loading on the feet, such as cycling and swimming, as this may also encourage children with foot discomfort to be more physically active.

2XU Women's Triathlon this Week

Attention ladies! The 2XU Women's Triathlon is on this Sunday March 6. Online entries are still open or you can register in person this Saturday. You can choose between a number of events including the Tadpoles Triathlon, Casa Dairy Mini Triathlon, Specialised Short Course Triathlon or Long Course Triathlon. These range from 100m swim to 750m, 3km ride to 20km and 500m run to 5km run. 

Even if you have already registered online, you must attend the registration day on Saturday to collect your participants pack. The venue is the Whitfords Nodes Beach Park at Hillarys form between 1pm and 4pm. 

For more information visit the 2XU website.  

Sustainable Drinking

I am sure you’ve seen packaging marked as BPA-free. But do you know what a BPA is and why it matters?

BPA, or bisphenol A, is an organic compound often found in plastic. The Food and Drug Administration in the USA released a report in 2010 questioning the safety of BPA’s use in food packaging and in September Canada became the first country to declare BPA a toxic substance.

Here’s what Kor Water have to say about BPA:

Bisphenol-A, also known as BPA, is a chemical that is commonly used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate is the most common type of plastic used in clear water bottles. BPA has been linked to a variety of health issues, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and early onset of puberty. The longer a liquid sits in a container made with BPA, the more of it leaches into that liquid. The hotter the liquid and the older the container, the faster this leaching occurs. 

The controversy over BPA has escalated in recent years as more scientific data has accumulated. While government agencies such as the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR) have called for a ban on BPA, the Food and Drug Administration believes these measures are premature and that more research is required. 

As a company, we place the utmost priority on the health safety of our products. While there is still debate over the health impact of BPA, we didn't want to leave anything to chance. That's why none of our products contain BPA. 

Want to go BPA-free? You can get a Kor bottle from any Sports Fever store.

Fundraise and Ride for Free

Want to ride for free in this year's HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma? Simply register for the HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma, enter in all your details but do not pay for your registration. Once you have registered then set up an Everyday Hero Fundraising Page, fundraise or donate $200 or more and you will qualify to ride for free!

Two hundred dollars is an achievable target and one that will change the future for those living with asthma in WA. Please support the Asthma Foundation of WA by starting your efforts to raise $200 for Asthma by March 2011.

Your contribution will go directly towards education and support services for asthma sufferers, their parents and carers. It will also allow us to continue funding research in the hope that one day, we WILL find a cure.

For tips and hints on how to successfully fundraise email the Asthma Foundation of WA at bikehike@asthmawa.org.au and they will send through all the information you need!

HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma

Start Sunday 20th March 2011 with a great ride on the Freeway. The 7th Annual HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma is on and offers three fantastic and challenging events for those of all ages!

If you're a keen cyclist, then why not try the 60km ride from Kwinana Train Station? Looking for an exciting experience then try the 30km ride from Belmont Park that goes through the Graham Farmer Tunnel?

If you're just looking for something to do with the whole family then the 10km City of Joondalup Family ride is for you!

All three events finish in the City of Joondalup CBD. Entries are now available online, so please add this date in your diary and make sure you are a part of one of the largest mass participation cycling events in Australia!

All HBF Members receive a 15% discount on online entry fees. For more information, to register online or download an offline entry form at www.freewaybikehike.com.au.

Participants who enter before the 4th March will have the option to have their participant pack posted to them and save you time queuing on the day.

2011 Smokefree Perth Criteriums

Inspired by the Oz Open?

With The Australian Tennis Open inspiring many to take to the sport, tennis players can get an advantage via Sports Medicine Australia’s Preventing Tennis Injuries Fact Sheet.

The rate of tennis injuries has been calculated at five injuries per 1,000 hours of participation. The most common injuries are to the lower limbs – ankle, knee and thigh.

“Every year once The Australian Tennis Open is over and won people are inspired to start playing tennis, often without appropriate preparation. Sadly, this is a recipe for injury,” Sports Medicine Australia’s spokesperson, Dr Anita Green said.

“However many common tennis injuries can be prevented by undertaking good preparation in the form of hydration, warming up, using appropriate equipment and practising good technique,” Dr Green said.

Sports Medicine Australia offers these tips to get prepared and minimise the risk of tennis injury:

• Always warm up, stretch and cool down
• Maintain an adequate fitness level. Undertake specific conditioning and training exercises that simulate tennis (i.e. acceleration, deceleration, twisting, turning and stretching).
• Seek instruction from a qualified coach to develop correct skills and techniques.
• Avoid over-repetition of any one type of shot. Practise a range of strokes including groundstrokes, serves, return of serves, overhead smashes and volleys.
• Use a racquet suitable for your style of play and physical capabilities.
• Check and maintain the playing surface to ensure it is in good condition and free of hazards. A tennis ground checklist can help.
• Seek professional advice on footwear.
• Be sun smart to protect from heat injury. Wear sun-protective clothing, a hat, sunglasses and SPF 30+ sunscreen.

To download the Preventing Tennis Injuries Fact Sheet visit sma.org.au. Sports Fever is here to help with offering professional advice on footwear and if you're getting in to tennis make sure you swing by our Cottesloe store and check out our Wilson concept area and stringing machine!

City of Perth Triathlon 2011 Video

If you were part of the City of Perth Triathlon 2011, make sure you watch this great video to see if you made it on camera. If not, check out all the action to see what went down on the day and maybe give some thought about competing in the next one!

While you're at it, hit comment below to tell us what you thought of this year's event. Did the cyclone warnings scare you off?

Rotto Swim turns 21

Safety is the key message as the WAtoday Rottnest Channel Swim turns 21. Rottnest Channel Swim Association president Raymond Yong said 2011 was shaping up as the best swim yet.

“We’ve put an added emphasis on safety because we have a full ballot of swimmers,” Raymond said.

“That means not only will there be thousands of swimmers on the water, there will also be lots of boats and paddlers supporting them. Once again we want to make sure everyone gets to Rottnest in great shape.

“To do that, our emphasis is on making sure skippers know they are the key ingredient to their swimmer’s safety and the safety of those swimmers in their immediate vicinity, all the way to Rottnest.”

Early on Saturday, February 26, 2300 swimmers will take to the waters at Cottesloe Beach for the 19.7km swim across the Indian Ocean to Rottnest Island. Raymond said the 20th anniversary of the swim last year was a milestone and testament to the continued enthusiasm into the event’s 21st year for all swimmers – whether they have been in every event, or just made their channel debut.

“It’s such an iconic event on Western Australia’s calendar and indeed on the international swimming calendar,” he said. “We’re excited about the continued support from swimmers who want to be part of the event, so we’re working very hard to make sure our preparation for the day is thorough.”

Event details:
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Start: Cottesloe Beach from 5.45am. Last swimmers leave the beach at 7.30am.
Finish: Thomson Bay, Rottnest. First swimmers are expected from 9.45am. Last swimmers must hit the beach by 5pm.