David Beckham Named Special Ambassador of Chinese Football

David Beckham is to make history by becoming the first global ambassador for Chinese Football.He will visit China in 2013 with his new role to help promote Chinese football domestically and globally.
He has received the invitation from the Chinese Football Association, the first ever honor of its kind bestowed on an International sportsman in the country.Beckham's Chinese football debut will be another influential role after his special ambassadorship for the London 2012Olympic Games.
"I am honored to have been asked to play such an important role at this special time in Chinese football history," Beckham said."I'm excited by the prospect of promoting the world's greatest game to Chinese sports fans as I've seen firsthand the growing interest in football there. This is a wonderful sport that inspires people across the world and brings families together, so I'm relishing the opportunity of introducing more fans to the game."
CFA, the governing body of the game in China, hopes to realize its goal of further promoting the world's greatest game to over 1.3 billion people in the country and inspiring young children to play the game by relying on Beckham's credibility as one of the most admired sportsmen and iconic figures in the world as well as his outstanding sportsmanship and professionalism.Beckham's own story and his growing role as the spokesperson of sport have made him the perfect candidate to the CFA.
Meanwhile, with the rapid growth of the Chinese Super League, the country's Championship league in the past two years, it is believed that Beckham's China tour will further popularize the game in the country as well as bringing Chinese football and the CSL to the world stage.
"2013 marks the 20th anniversary of professional football in China and the special ambassadorship of David Beckham will attract global attention to Chinese football and the CSL," said a CFA official. "We are pleased to invite Mr. Beckham to visit China at this special moment.While in China, he will attend the CSL and visit Clubs to get a deeper insight into football in China.He will also help us to inspire and motivate many children to participate in this beautiful game."
Adam Zhu, Vice Chairman of IMG Asia Pacific and Chairman & President of Greater China, said, "IMG, as the strategic partner of the CSL, shall spare no effort to promote the CSL and Chinese Football.Our dedication to CSL and Chinese Football is more than a business partnership, we are happy to invest IMG's resources in full range. The most important reason that makes this ambassadorship a reality is Beckham's growing role to promote this great game on the grassroots level with particular emphasis on inspiring young children to play football. I believe Beckham's own story and his love of the game will inspire a new generation of children to play football in China so Chinese football will take its place on the world stage.I wholeheartedly thank Mr. Mike Dolan, Chairman and CEO of IMG Worldwide, and Mr. Jiang Heping, Managing Director, CCTV Sports and Chairman, CCTV-IMG Sports Management Company, for their unrivalled support."
The 2013 Season of the Chinese Super League will kick-off on March 8th and Beckham's support will bring increased national attention to the county's Championship League.Chinese football fans are eagerly anticipating the new season and the presence of David Beckham.
Simon Fuller, David Beckham's business partner commented, "With David being invited by the Chinese FA to become an ambassador for the game he loves so much, it really underlines the scale and reach of his global popularity. This is the start of a new chapter in the David Beckham story, and I'm absolutely delighted for him. I'm certain he will enjoy his China adventure."
Mike Dolan, Chairman and CEO of IMG Worldwide, which has a 10-year deal as a strategic partner and promoter of the CFL, said, "This is the perfect time for an icon like David Beckham to be spearheading the effort to promote football in China. The combination of the 10-year anniversary of the CSL, the 20th anniversary of professional football in China and the global appeal of David Beckham practically ensures that every young person in the country will have a new found interest in the game.We expect that David's presence in the country will be massively important in popularizing the sport."

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David Beckham Named Special Ambassador of Chinese Football

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Virginia Tech Expands Sports Concussion-Risk Studies to Include Hockey and Baseball

The Virginia Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences is expanding its ground-breaking research of testing football helmets to reduce the number of concussions to now include hockey, baseball, softball, and lacrosse.

The five-year plan will see the Virginia Tech research center, headed by Stefan Duma, rate helmets worn by hockey, baseball, softball, and lacrosse athletes in their ability to lessen the likelihood of a concussion resulting from a violent head impact.

Ratings on hockey helmets are expected in fall 2013, followed by youth football in 2015, and then baseball, softball, and lacrosse in 2016. During that time, all ratings for adult and youth football helmets will continually be updated and released to the public.

The expansion into helmeted sports other than football comes on the heels of new research that allows for better prediction of sports-related concussions resulting from linear and rotational head accelerations. These accelerations result from head impacts that cause the head to translate and twist about the neck. The new research is published this month in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

(The peer-reviewed study is available online for free download from the journal.) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10439-012-0731-0 The new research is being funded by Virginia Tech, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech.

New ratings for football helmets will include data for linear and rotational accelerations starting in 2015, said Duma, professor of biomedical engineering and department head of the Virginia Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. Serving as lead author on the research paper is Steven Rowson, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech.

All head impacts result in both linear and rotational accelerations, and this publication provides the foundation for our research to address both accelerations relative to reducing the risk of concussion, said Duma. Our goal with the five-year plan is to provide manufacturers with a schedule detailing when we will release helmet ratings for each sport.

The helmet rating system is based on more than a decade of data collection by Duma and his research staff, and utilizes the STAR, or Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk, formula that assesses the ability of football helmets to reduce concussion risk. Sport-specific testing methodologies will be added to the website that lists the rated helmets prior to the initial release of each sports helmets ratings.

Using data collected from more than 63,000 head impacts during a period of 10 years, Duma and Rowson related linear and rotational head acceleration to the probability of sustaining a concussion in the form of an injury risk function.

This new analysis utilizes data measured from 62 concussions sustained by high school, college, and professional football players, said Rowson. We use these data to determine the best method to predict concussions when we test helmets in our laboratory.

In their research paper, the researchers write, With as many as 3.8 million sports-related concussions occurring annually in the United States and research suggesting possible long term neurodegenerative processes resulting from repetitive concussions, reducing the incidence of concussion in sports has become a public health priority.

Indeed, long-term, repetitive injuries that can cripple or eventually kill years after play have prompted dozens of headlines in major media outlets and several national studies, and even President Obama to recently weigh in on the subject. Dozens of former NFL players are suing the league over injuries sustained during years of play, and headlines were made this summer when former football great Alex Karras died at age 77 from various ailments, several allegedly said to be caused by years of hard hits.

In studying football-related injuries during the past decade, Duma and his research team have used on-field real-time sensors installed in the helmets of hundreds of adult and youth football players to study injuries, as well as a mechanical lab-tested 5-star rating system to track and grade commercially sold helmets.

The former can help indicate head injuries that require immediate attention while on the field of play. The latter has provided the only independent biomechanical data for consumers to make helmet purchasing decisions, Duma said.

Dumas goal is not to end the sport of football, but make it safer while still keep the same expected adrenaline rush and action for players, and viewers.

It is important to note that no helmet can prevent all concussions. The most effective strategies to reduce concussions in sports involve modifying league rules and player technique to limit exposure to head impacts, Duma said.

Beyond this, head impacts are a given in sport. Our research focuses on identifying helmets that reduce concussion risk so that athletes can make informed decisions based on independent data when purchasing equipment, which in turn, incentivizes helmet manufacturers to design helmets that better reduce head acceleration.

News source: NewsWise

Source:
Virginia Tech Expands Sports Concussion-Risk Studies to Include Hockey and Baseball

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