April 2013 Newsletter

CLUB NEWS
Sisters Athletic Club
April 2013

FEATURED CLUB MEMBER
Sally Hockin and Leslie Lamport

Nearly every Wednesday a weekly ritual takes place in the Café at the Club. Two friends meet and work together solving the Nugget crossword puzzle. Sometimes they recruit some help from others nearby but for the most part teamwork prevails and through lots of giggles and cheers the puzzle is eventually solved.
The two joined the Club 3 years ago and realized that they lived nearby one another when Sally’s dog walked over to Leslie’s house. Leslie had to call Sally to let her know where her dog was and their friendship has blossomed. They now regularly attend water aerobics together.
Sally has lived in Sisters for 8 years and is so thankful for joining the Club, She says she enjoys the friendly staff and friendly members and has made a lot of friends. Sally has 2 sons and 4 granddaughters and has been married to her husband Jim for “100 years”.
Leslie has been in Sisters for 15 years. Her grandmother lived here when she was younger so this was a place she frequently visited. She has been a widow for 30 years and raised 2 daughters as a single mom. She is self proclaimed “tough cookie” and animal lover and has a talking parrot that “barks” in addition to her dog and cats. Leslie also has made a lot of friends at the Club whom she regularly meets with for dinner and movies.
We are tickled to have such wonderful members that bring a fun energy to the Club.

FEATURED STAFF MEMBER
Chance Graggert

Chance has worked in the maintenance department at SAC for the past year and a half. He is a 15 year old sophomore at Sisters High School whose favorite subject is P.E. In addition to helping out in the maintenance department Chance has also helped out with our kids club. He is great with kids and has a ton of experience from being a big brother to his 9 year old sister and 5 year old brother. He is the son of Khiva who you may recognize as one of our instructors/personal trainers.
Chance is a HUGE sports fan. He enjoys playing basketball, snowboarding and wakeboarding. He attends about 10 Portland Trailblazers games per season and is also a fan of the Padres and 49rs. He hopes to one day be a general manager of a basketball team. He enjoys hanging out with his friends and shooting hoops. He also enjoys working at the Club so he can earn money for game tickets and save for a car since he will be getting his license this summer when he turns 16! Chance has done quite a bit of traveling in his life and even went shark cage diving with his mom on the North Shore of Oahu where he was surrounded by 20 sharks in a feeding frenzy. Most recently Chance swam with dolphins while on his family vacation in Mexico. We love having Chance on our staff and hope he can save up enough money for a really cool car!

JOINT HEALTH
Matt Kirchoff
Pre-Round Warm-Up: Dynamic vs. Static Stretching
The majority of golfers getting ready to tee off on the first hole do not properly prepare themselves for the repetitive stresses they are about to encounter for the next 4-5 hours. You see it all the time, golfers rushing to the range to spray a few balls, taking a few putts on the practice green, grabbing the foot pulling it up, bending forward to touch the toes, and then they are trying to crush it off the first tee. The golfers you do see stretching are usually performing traditional stretches holding them for 15-30 seconds (static stretching) as we learned in P.E. growing up. However, recent evidence has shown that static stretching prior to a dynamic activity like golf can actually hinder performance rather than enhance it.
The golf swing is a very dynamic activity. There are numerous moving parts and those parts are moving in several different planes. The average golf swing takes less than 1.25 seconds. Stretching for 15-30 seconds does not adequately prepare these moving parts for what needs to happen during the time it takes to perform the golf swing. Dynamic stretching consists of using sport specific movements to prepare the body for activity. It involves moving through ranges of motion holding each end position for only 1-5 seconds. These movements often mimic the positions and movements that are involved in the dynamic activity. The speed and reach of the movement can be increased with repetition as the muscles heat up. Ideally, even prior to dynamic stretching, the golfer would do an activity for 5-15 minutes that would increase their core temperature like walking or riding a stationary bike.
Static stretching has been shown to actually “deaden” a muscle neurologically for a time. You could also think of this as the muscle being “put to sleep” which is not ideal for increasing sport specific performance. As you stretch for a prolonged time, the brain is not able to effectively monitor the change in length due to a disengagement of the system which links muscle length to movement. You may have noticed a slowed reaction time or feeling “out of sync” if you have done a number of static stretches just prior to dynamic activity. If prior to a round of golf a muscle is trained to gradually stretch over 30 seconds, but really needs to stretch in a half second then it is easy to see why static stretching does very little to prepare the body for golf. Static stretching, however, may have a place in your general flexibility program in order to maintain or gain overall muscle length due to asymmetry, previous injury, or general tightness. After the round or in the evening may be a better option for this type of stretching.
If you were about to engage in a static activity, static stretching might well prepare you for it. If you are about to play a round of golf, dynamic stretching is necessary to get your parts moving and ready to perform. For example, putting your foot up on a bench, bending forward to touch your toe and holding that position for 30 seconds would be considered a static stretch. However, if you put your foot on the bench, bent forward and then rotated your torso back and forth mimicking the rotation needed for the golf swing, this would be considered a dynamic stretch.

TATE’S TIDBITS
April is Bring a Friend to the Club Month!

This month we will allow members to bring a friend with them to the Club free of charge for one visit. Simply come in with them and make sure that they mention that they are your guest on their paperwork so we can keep track. You will be entered into a drawing for a great prize just for participating and your friend will be eligible for a discounted membership should they decide to join.
We will also have this offer for our swim Clubs on Tuesday April 16th and Wednesday April 17th. Your swimmer will receive a great prize just for bringing a friend to swim club and the friend will receive a swim club discount if they decide to join. So, grab a pal and come have some fun!