The Locker Room is excited to sponsor Bears Linebacker Lance Briggs’ NorCal All-Star Football Camp for girls or boys ages 8-17 on Saturday, June 8th, 2013 from 9am to 3pm (PDT) at American River College in Sacramento, CA.

Campers will receive a shirt, lunch, autographs and a gift bag as well as join All-Pro Chicago Bears Lance Briggs and his NFL friends in football fundamentals.  Register by May 7th to pay $25.  The fee increases to $35 per camper after May 7th.  Participation limited to the first 300 campers to register.  Registration is available online at Lance Brigg’s site.

Other players scheduled to attend include Nick Roach, Jerry Azumah, Anthony Adams, Kahlil Bell, Major Wright, Tim Jennings, Donald Butler, Antonio Garay, Rashied Davis, Sam Williams and more!

As of 2011, 65% of NFL players leave the game with permanent injuries. Consequently, the average life expectancy for an NFL player is 53-59 years. For this reason, cardiologists, Dr. Steven Schnur, author of The Reality Diet and Dr. Perry Krichmar, founders of Elite Health Medical Group, understand what a complete medical wellness approach can do for an athlete for both performance and longevity. In the realm of sports, professional athletes do not retire in their mid-thirties because they lose their talent. They simply retire because they lose their capability to recuperate from the physical game impact, physical stress and trauma. For example, a lineman could be suffering from sleep apnea due to his unimaginable size and weight. He may excel in the game for a short period of time but be in poor health upon retiring. Likewise, a player may develop low testosterone levels due to the inability for the body to recover. As a result, the quality of life of that individual upon retiring will be affected. Dr. Schnur and Dr. Krichmar would never derail an athlete’s dreams for playing in the NFL or any other professional sport, but would encourage the person to become more proactive while in the game to prevent lifelong conditions and extend life expectancy.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to performance, recuperation and longevity for each individual athlete” says Dr. Schnur. “You have to look at each athlete from every angle—medically, psychologically and nutritionally to really create optimal performance and extend quality of life.” Elite Health ranks supreme compared to any other medical practice. Understanding the latest in innovative medicine, the staff will screen each athlete, individually addressing any underlying medical concern that may affect performance, recuperation or overall health. Elite Health has evolved in one of the leading medical practices in the country and provides high-level healthcare through diagnostic testing and state-of-the-art prevention screening all under one roof. Elite Health is also a leader in concierge healthcare, where every athlete has direct access to a healthcare advocate and receive unparalleled service.

What makes Elite Health unique is its testing and integration of medical and wellness experts. Elite Health’s extensive staff includes physicians, registered dietitians, sports nutritionists, exercise physiologists along with Sports Psychiatrists. Every athlete is run through a series of tests that determine a variable essential to recuperation and performance.

One key to increasing performance is boosting metabolism. Metabolism simply means energy—and the more energy you have, the better you will perform. One of the main components of Elite Health is nutrition, an area where most athletes need improvement. Bill Cortright, the COO of Elite BioFit and author of the The Stress Response Diet & Lifestyle Program has created a program that enhances athletic performance by creating a lifestyle where an athlete’s body is able to recuperate each day from the rigors of training and everyday life. “As the body ages and undergoes tremendous stress, nutrition becomes like medicine” states Cortright. When measuring stress, it cannot be limited to the ordinary definition of just mental stress. Stress can derive from over— exercising, not eating appropriately, metabolic imbalances, lack of sleep and traveling, which can affect the recuperation of the athlete. The problem with professional athletes is that nutrition has never been customized to their body, their sport, their position and their goals. Elite Health can do just that.

Elite Health can create a tailored program to measure how each athlete handles stress, processes food and recuperates. The accumulation of these results determines the right diet and supplementation to increase performance, energy and recuperation.

The third aspect Elite Health has to offers is neurofeedback sessions. Sports psychiatrist Dr. Rick Harris and his staff at The Neurofeedback Institute make it possible for athletes to gain the competitive edge on the sports field without having to spend more hours practicing. By identifying areas of the brain pertinent for performance enhancement and improving their overall functioning—behaviors can be altered and athletic deficits, areas of weakness and even extraneous distractions can be eliminated from the game. As such, treatment is tailored to the specific needs of the athlete based on a comprehensive evaluation.

Dr. Rick Harris has worked with several professional athletes and teams such as the 2006 World Cup Italian soccer team, the 2010 winter Olympic Canadian free style ski team and the 2012 St.Thomas University woman’s basketball team, along with numerous individual NFL players. Neurofeedback is helping athletes gain a competitive edge over opponents, allowing athletes to reach optimal mental and physical states necessary to be successful on the field.

Athletes need to focus on many aspects to enhance their careers, status among others and longevity upon retiring. They have never had a problem when it comes to pushing themselves on the field; however, it’s time they utilize that motivation to amplify their talent.

However, all professional athletes should take a serious look at their estates and give them the necessary time and attention that they need. Although salaries of professional athletes continually rise, the statistics surrounding athlete impropriety, litigious legal battles, and bankruptcy filings have risen as well. Lack of education or oversight is often cited as the ever-growing problem, therefore every professional athlete should have the following documents in order should an accident or unforeseen illness render the person unable to make decisions.

Durable power of attorney
This document enables an appointed person to carry out your wishes on behalf of your estate and to allocate money appropriately. However, no one should ever make a major financial decision for you without your knowledge or consent.

Health care power of attorney
This document carries out your wishes in the event you cannot make your own decisions, especially if you become ill or physically incapacitated.

The will
In terms of planning for the future, this document allows you to decide what happens to your assets in the event that you pass away. It also gives your loved ones the comfort of to whom and where the assets will be distributed in the event something ever happens to you.

A loan out corporation
A loan out corporation can be set up as a corporation or limited liability company for the purposes of using the company’s corporate legal and tax advantages.

Prenuptial agreement
A prenuptial agreement can save an athlete’s fortune and avoid a litigious separation while dividing assets of the estate accordingly, prior to marriage. In addition, it stipulates as to whether one will pay alimony or spousal support. Poor planning on this part of your estate can erase over 50% of your net worth overnight.

Having a trusted team of professionals around may cost you more than you care to allocate for these services up front, but the money you will save in the long run will far outweigh the initial cost. A competent team around you can identify problems in your financial outlook, long before a crisis may arise. In many instances, friends, family or trusted professionals can play valuable roles in shaping your career and image. However, unless any of those members are educated and trained to handle the complexities of a professional athlete, the journey can often turn problematic.

Let’s examine a hypothetical NFL rookie making the league minimum under contract and implement some of the strategies here. For simplicity, I will assume that the player is engaged with no children and has a competent financial adviser or business manager overseeing his expenses. Of course, the permutations will change as the variables change over the course of his playing career and whether he receives money from outside endorsers.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the player could make roughly $390,000 for his first year, assuming he received no signing bonus and he is on the team for the full year. Let’s also assume the player received no endorsement money or trading card money and that roughly 40% of his salary will be allocated to taxes, an agent fee (if it is taken) and possible insurance.

As you can see, before the player steps foot on the playing field, and assuming he lasts the entire season, his salary is already reduced to $156,000 before various expenditures and deductions. However, if you implement some of the strategies mentioned earlier, you receive some much needed tax benefits and legal protection in the event of sudden death, paralysis, divorce or any type of fraudulent investment advice that was given.

If that rookie marries his fiance and they divorce shortly thereafter, the jurisdiction they live in will dictate the proportion of the estate that will be divided. New York State employs an equitable distribution model that provides for a formulaic standard whereby various factors are considered in determining the dollar amount allocated to each party whereas in a communal property law state, the percentage given is predetermined, and both parties are allocated a portion of the estate pursuant to the law.

The $156,000 can once again be cut in half if appropriate planning is not taken and a prenuptial agreement is not drafted. The severity is even worse if that hard-earned money cannot be allocated to the appropriate people or the loved ones that truly need it or may rely upon it.

In the event of death or a sudden state of incapacitation, a little preparation will make a world of a difference in terms of keeping financial matters out of court, let alone dwindling the estate away from people the money is not supposed to go to.

A durable power of attorney and a carefully drafted will can save hundreds, if not millions, of dollars ones in the event of a sudden crisis. It will enable flexibility and distribute assets to the people who are supposed to receive the benefits, even if the dollar amount is very small.

Former NFL great Derrick Thomas died suddenly in a car crash. At the time of his death, he left no will and mothers of his children filed suit with the probate court for a share of his estate. This started a lengthy court battle. Once again, if adequate preparation would have taken place beforehand, loved ones would have received their appropriate share of the estate and kept the matter out of court.

As we often see, when professional athletes lend money to a business, family member or friend, careful consideration must be addressed before potential financial misfortune strikes. Setting up a loan out corporation is of utmost importance to ensure tax flexibility and adequate legal protection is in place. Not only will the corporation provide tax advantages, but it will also protect the athlete’s personal savings against possible litigation or creditor action.

Statistics surrounding professional athletes lending money and investing money into defunct companies is readily reported. Adequate due diligence and lack of education and/or understanding runs rampant in an industry where appropriate professionals aren’t asked or don’t answer questions. Until professional athletes are educated by the right professionals and surrounded by the right team, they will continue to become statistics in terms of their financial stature.

Often times, greatness may be achieved through failure, but when it comes to money, there is no room for error or the repercussions may wipe out a fortune, and the costly mistake will claim the potential generational wealth intended for your loved ones.

What is the antidote?
Anyone advising an athlete needs to start the relationship by talking about how the athlete’s life is going to change by virtue of the transition from amateur to professional and to give them an idea of the kinds of issues they could confront. A good adviser will tell them that they are experts in their sport but that they can’t be expected to perform at their best if they try to deal with other issues without guidance from experts in other fields. Good advisers make athletes understand how getting advice before taking action can go a long way towards being sure that any unintended consequences from a decision they make were known possibilities before they made the decision.

Athletes are usually unprepared for requests from friends, family and acquaintances for everything from investments in business ventures to outright cash gifts. If athletes don’t know in advance how to deal with these requests, they can feel pressured into making commitments with unforeseen consequences. Then the adviser gets the call to try to control the damage. Athletes should be told that anytime anyone asks them for something financial, the best answer is to say they are not sure whether the request will fit into their financial plan and they will get back to the person if it is a possibility.

In particular, when it comes to investments, an athlete should not be shy about saying that materials on the investment need to be reviewed by his financial advisers. This is a subtle way to remind people looking for help with their businesses that there is an element of due diligence involved and the athlete expects a return on the investment.

This only works if the athlete is prepared to pay advisers to go through requests like this. If the athlete would prefer not to have expenses for reviewing these types of requests, the response could be simply, “Making an investment like that isn’t part of my current strategy, but I will let you know if my plans change.” Being prepared to field these types of questions off the field is no different than being prepared to call or run a particular play on the field.

Real Estate Matters
Requests from family members present even more difficult-to-spot problems for an athlete who, for example, feels honor-bound to buy a home for a parent, a sibling or a child. While the athlete might be prepared to fund the purchase and let another individual live in the home, the athlete may not want to make a gift of the home because of gift tax-consequences.

Most real estate purchases are in excess of thre annual per person exemption from gift tax. That means the athlete continues to own a home where someone else lives, which does not solve possible problems the athlete may encounter. If the athlete is the owner of the home, the athlete remains responsible for payment of any mortgage, real estate taxes and upkeep of the property. If the individual living in the home does not take these responsibilities seriously and there is not a lease or other document confirming what that individual’s responsibilities will be, the athlete could be confronted with a whole host of unexpected and unwelcome expenses for a piece of property the athlete did not need in the first place.

Worse yet, if the athlete buys the home, it can be treated as either marital or community property in a divorce, and the spouse on the other side of the divorce doesn’t have to honor the athlete’s intention that his family member live in the home. That home is subject to division like any other marital or community property unless there is an agreement with the spouse that states otherwise.

Athletes also need to guard against overloading their investment portfolios with non-income producing real estate. When real estate values drop, mortgage loans can leave the athlete to pay off a mortgage or home equity line of credit with funds earmarked for other things. As long as the athlete plans to decide which risk is better to take, if any, there won’t be surprises, and advisers who don’t point out these possible downsides won’t be open to criticism.

Personal Situations
As if dealing with friends and family were not enough, professional athletes become targets for marriage and family situations that may not be right for them. These situations generally fall into two categories: marriages and having children outside of a marriage (paternity situations).

Most professional athletes get advice about getting a premarital agreement before they marry, but few get good guidance about setting goals for such an agreement. The laws on drafting and interpreting premarital agreements are not yet uniform throughout all 50 states.

This means if the athlete has residences in more than one state, the differences between the laws of those states need to be taken into consideration, and the agreement must be clear about which state’s law will apply to questions of whether a premarital agreement is valid and enforceable and how to interpret the agreement.

While premarital agreements may designate what property will remain the athlete’s in a divorce and how to divide any property that would be shared with a spouse, they are often the starting point for legal battles rather than an ending point.

Why is this? Laws change over time. What might be perfectly acceptable in a premarital agreement written in 2000 may not be acceptable in an agreement being judged for its enforceability in 2015. Most agreements include waivers of the right for a spouse to seek attorney fees, some courts have decided that these waivers cannot be enforced to stop a spouse from seeking fees to deal with child related issues.

While there is no absolute means to guarantee there won’t be arguments over premarital agreements, they are usually enforced. Even when some parts are not enforced, the athlete is still in a better position that not having an agreement at all.

Good premarital agreements have clear goals that athletes understands so they can be sure to title assets correctly and maintain money properly during the marriage. They will get the most value out of the agreement if this is done.

Prenuptial Agreements
The Prenuptial Agreement should also be drafted to account for the fact that the athlete’s financial fortunes can change. If there are provisions talking about some minimum property settlement or some minimum amount of support, for a spouse (alimony or maintenance), these provisions should be accompanied by a clause of “but not less than” some percent of the athlete’s net worth.

In the case of support, it may be some percentage of the athlete’s gross or net income. Athletes should know that they cannot bind a spouse with respect to child custody and child support in a premarital agreement. These items can remain open even if there is a premarital agreement with comprehensive provisions about division of assets and support for a spouse in the event of divorce. If terms like “net worth, net estate, gross income, or net income” find their way into an agreement, they need to be defined specifically in terms that are not open to multiple meanings.

Postnuptial Agreements
While many athletes have prenuptial agreements, most do not get information on post-nuptial agreements. These are any agreements entered into, after marriage. There are times when circumstances change or a spouse asks an athlete to make a large purchase. The athlete may be in favor of doing this, but needs the protection of an agreement to spell out how that change or purchase will be treated in the event of a divorce.

An example is buying a house a spouse wants that has a heavy monthly carrying cost. If the athlete doesn’t already have an agreement about limiting spousal support if there is a divorce, the athlete might be wise to have an agreement that states, “While there will be a home purchased because the spouse wants it, the spouse waives the right to the lifestyle in that home if there is ever a divorce.”

Paternity & Parental Right
Whether by mutual decision, by accident, or as a result of a woman seeking a better lifestyle, children born into a relationship can present another set of issues for athletes.

Situations involving children are different from property issues in divorce. The biggest difference is there are statutes in place in every state that make it impossible for more than one state to properly have the power (subject matter jurisdiction) to decide matters of child custody (this includes visitation) and child support. In the case of child custody, the state where the child resided during the six months before a lawsuit was filed, will be the state that makes custody and visitation decisions. If a child hasn’t lived consistently in one state for those six months, other rules apply.

Once a particular state gets the power to make custody and visitation decisions, that state keeps the power until circumstances change in a way where the federal statute would allow a different state to take over. There is a similar federal statute for deciding child support issues and enforcing them across the states.

Different states also have different ways of calculating child support, and some states’ child support guidelines result in higher awards than other states. This can lead to those who target athletes for pregnancy trying very hard to make sure a case will be heard in a state where the guidelines are higher. There is no way to protect the athlete against high guidelines applying when the parent who has the child is free to move from one state to another. This is why it is sometimes to the athlete’s advantage to be the first one to file a petition to determine parental rights and responsibilities.

When it comes to children, the first rule of thumb and one which most athletes have a hard time following, is not to sign an acknowledgment of parentage at the hospital. Athletes are no different than any other parents. They like to take part in the birth of their children. Hospital staff follow a standard operating procedure that is no different for athletes than for others, and it includes getting the parents to acknowledge the parentage so that they are listed on the child’s birth certificate.

In some states, these acknowledgments can only be revoked inside short time windows, which can change from state to state. Once the window closes, the athlete is not entitled to paternity testing because the court can presume the athlete is the father even if the athlete turns out not to be the father in genetic testing. The best practice is for the athlete to wait to sign anything until after paternity testing confirms parentage. Even if the acknowledgment is signed, there will be paternity testing done in enough time to give the athlete the option to revoke the voluntary acknowledgment of parentage.

Spousal and Child Support
Athletes, and those working with them, sometimes argue that spousal support or child support should take into consideration the athlete’s career will not last forever, and the athlete needs to accumulate savings that allow for life after the athlete’s career ends. This argument can cut both ways. It may lead some courts to require athletes to establish trusts to take care of children once the athlete’s earning career as an athlete ends. It may award higher support to a spouse so the spouse can have resources when the athlete’s earnings change.

Many who advise athletes, consider establishing the athlete’s primary residence in a state like Florida that has no state income tax. If the athlete is eligible to do that, there is nothing wrong with this kind of tax planning. However, it can have unanticipated effects during a divorce.

Not all states’ laws are the same when it comes to defining what is marital property, what is subject to being divided by a court and what is non-marital property that can be protected as the athlete’s own property. What does this mean? It means that an athlete who does not have a premarital agreement and establishes residency for tax purposes in a state where the laws are more favorable to creating marital property can be surprised.

For example, Florida makes it easier for a spouse to get access to the appreciation on non-marital property than Illinois does. Without an agreement, there is no perfect way to both enjoy the tax savings of living in a state like Florida and having the protections of non-marital property that exists in Illinois. The key for the adviser is knowing that the athlete should be told about both instances and be part of the choice so any downside that comes later is not a surprise.

Multiple and Different
Jurisdictions Although a person can only have one residence for income tax purposes, more than one state can have the power (jurisdiction) to enter a divorce decree. This sometimes results in races to the courthouse and rushes to judgment when an athlete’s homes are in more than one state.

Sometimes the difference between one court having the power to deal with the case exclusively comes down to who files first or who serves the other party with papers first. Because of the variables, athletes considering divorce would be wise not to mention it to their spouse until they have a well-developed plan for how to proceed based upon their advisers’ recommendations.

Advisers to athletes should have standing relationships with family law professionals who have access to resources nationwide so that questions about comparisons, between the laws, of multiple states can be addressed quickly and efficiently.

Social Networking and Spin Doctoring
Now that gossip about professional athletes and their lives, has so many more venues, among social networking sites, on the Internet, anyone working with an athlete must take the steps necessary to include provisions regarding the confidentiality of any agreements reached. They should consider restrictions on sharing the athlete’s photographs in social media.

Athletes should also be reminded that e-mails, texts, tweets and twitters, as well as things they post and that others post on their social networking sites, can be used as evidence against them in legal proceedings. As hard as it might be, an athlete should not say anything in writing that they wouldn’t want to show up in the media, particularly since more and more professional teams hold athletes accountable for negative acts off as well as on the field.

In short, those serving professional athletes need to seek the advice of professionals in other disciplines as soon as issues surface so a well-conceived strategy on offense will limit the need to be on defense.

If there ever was a freedom fighter in the sports world, Charisse Espinosa-Dash is the lady. As an attorney with experience in reading legal verbiage and a keen sense for negotiations, she has turned more sad situations into positive reinstatement than what could be considered luck. Most importantly, however, is her love of the game of baseball and her love for the people of her native Dominican Republic, a country where the talent is as prevalent as the individuals who seek to exploit it.

“With offering money in countries where you have poverty, you’re up to anything. You don’t know what these people have been through, and they do have legitimate talent, even though some of them do make mistakes —they’re human.” Most of the time, according to Dash, these mistakes come from trusting the wrong people, many times family and friends. “A lot of times, you hear the culture is that you don’t need an agent; you only need what’s called a buscon. In the Dominican Republic, there has been a plague, for lack of a better word, of people who have their own interest at heart and not so much the interest of the athletes.”

It is from these situations and controversies that Ms. Espinosa-Dash has so expertly rescued some of her most prominent clients. Most notably, Alexi Ogando, after admitting guilt to involvement in a human trafficking scheme, who was facing indefinite banishment from the United States. Roberto Hernandez was deported for falsifying identification documents when applying for an entry visa.

One could argue that there is no amount of talent that is worth tarnishing the reputation of an established league like the MLB. It is easy to see why they simply choose to put these situations as far away as possible. Espinosa-Dash sees it from a different perspective. Knowing the culture and the common circumstances, she can hear the pitch that’s made to these aspiring athletes: you’re not going to make it if you don’t do this; it’s your only way out. When faced with the responsibility to elevate their families out of poverty with the talent they possess, these athletes (many times minors) are often the victims of exploitation as much as heroes to their families.

How have your legal and professional backgrounds helped you and your clients?

Immensely. My legal background has allowed me to understand the regulations very easily. Being able to explain it to my client, especially knowing what they’re going to face when it comes time for arbitration and to help them understand everything in plain language.

What tips do you have for young players to help them identify unprofessional or unhealthy relationships with representatives and agents and finding good council?

The biggest advice that I can give them is to be careful with who surrounds them. What is their interest in signing. In the Dominican Republic, there has been a “plague” (for lack of a better word) of people that have their own self-interests at heart, not so much the athletes’ interests. The best advice that I could give is to encourage these players to call the league and ask to speak with someone in the union. Let the union give you someone that they recommend or give you a list of registered agents to call and do some research.

How important is it for any professional athlete to have good representation and good support from an agent?

It’s extremely important to know what skills you have, what tools you have and what the teams are purchasing those tools for. You have to know what the value is to know that you’re getting prime dollar for your talent. I think that comes with someone with experience. Someone who’s able to bring clarity and good advice, clear advice based on knowing the system. In the end, it is very important, as a player, to know that you’ve gotten true value for your skill. A lot of problems that these players get themselves involved in has to do, number one, with a type of ignorance. The second thing is that they are easily swayed by the advisors around them because they have known this person since they were 14 and that the person had their best interest at heart. But they don’t really understand the intricacies of the business enough to know whether someone does have their best interest at heart or not. They make mistakes based on ignorance, based on a lack of education and based around the wrong advice that they’re getting from people who have ill-intent because, their intent is greed.

How have the athletic successes of your clients affected their families and their lives? What are some sad moments and, what are some gratifying stories that you’ve experienced?

Baseball, to a lot of my clients from the Dominican Republic, means an answer to a lot of poverty and an answer to being able to give their family members the lives that they otherwise would have never been afforded an opportunity to have. The Dominican Republic is a third-world country and that comes with a great gap between classes. Either you’re very wealthy—you have a middle class but it’s not that powerful—or you’re part of the majority living in poverty. A lot of the players come from very impoverished upbringings. Enough money to them to just buy a simple home for their mom is seen as success.

The happiest moment is when you see a kid who is 16 years old sign for $400,000. No matter what they have to pay out to their representation, for a lot of these kids, the first thing out of their mouth is, “I want a bigger house for my mom.” It’s very satisfying to be a part of that and be able to help them reach that goal through effective negotiation; seeing them make a huge change for their family. A lot of these kids don’t have running water. You’d be surprised, with all the glitz and glamour what they go back home to.

The saddest part is when they don’t have the proper advice around them on the financial side and you see them blow all their money. They’re back home, without an education and without anything to really show for their efforts.

Many of your success stories involved a change in public perception. How important is public relations and image to an athlete?

In any type of industry where there are children looking up to you, I think you have a responsibility to keep up the image that these kids are looking at. You have the youth looking up to you and idolizing you and seeing you as a hero. You have to respond to society and children and know that there’s someone out there that’s looking at you. Someone’s kid is looking at you. Your public appearance is 100% who you are. You don’t go on that mound and wear a uniform of an organization if you don’t have the proper appearance. You have fans and you answer to your fans. The reasons why you have that big league and that fan following is for your talent but, also, for how you portray yourself. Everyone wants to be seen in the best light possible, and I think that’s extremely important.

Athletes react to injuries with a wide range of emotions that may include denial, anger, sadness and even depression. An injury often seems unfair to anyone who has been physically active and otherwise healthy. Although these feelings are real, it’s important to move beyond the negative and find more positive strategies to cope with this setback. In many cases, dealing positively with an injury helps an athlete become a more focused, flexible and resilient athlete.

Learn About Your Injury
Learn as much as possible about the cause, treatment and prevention of your injury. Not fully understanding an injury can cause fear or anxiety. Ask the following questions of your doctor, trainer, coach or therapist until you know exactly what you can do to heal quickly and completely.

• What is my diagnosis?
• What type of injury do I have?
• How long will recovery take?
• What is the purpose of the treatments I am receiving?
• What should I expect during rehab?
• What alternative workouts can I safely do?
• What are the warning signs that I am getting worse?

By understanding the injury and knowing what to expect during the rehabilitation process, you will feel less anxiety and have a greater sense of control. This greater sense of control can also increase your determination and allow you to set goals for recovery. First, however you must accept personal responsibility for the injury. What this means is that you accept that you have an injury and you are the only one that can fully determine your outcome. By taking responsibility for your recovery process, you will, once again, find a greater sense of control and will quickly progress in recovery, rather than dwelling on the past or blaming the injury on an outside factor.

To heal quickly, you must be committed to overcoming your injury by showing up for your treatments, working hard, and listening to and doing what your doctor and/or athletic trainer recommends. You also need to monitor what you are thinking and saying to yourself regarding the injury and the rehab process. Your self-talk is important. Are your thoughts negative and self-defeating? To get the most out of your daily rehab, you need to work hard and maintain a positive attitude. Remain focused on what you need to do.

Growing research shows that it may be possible to speed up the healing process by using a positive mental attitude and specific mental skills and techniques such as imagery and self-hypnosis.

Imagery techniques use all of the senses to create mental images, feelings and sensations related to a desired outcome as though it is happening now or has already happened.

A common response after an injury is to become isolated from teammates, coaches and friends. It is important to maintain contact with others as you recover from your injury because they can listen when you need to vent some anger or can offer advice or encouragement during the rehab process.

Just because you are injured doesn’t mean you should stop planning or setting goals. Rather than viewing the injury as a crisis, make it another training challenge. Your goals will now focus on recovery rather than performance. This will help keep you motivated. By monitoring your goals, you will also notice small improvements in the rehab of your injury. You will feel more confident that you are getting better and improving. Remember to work closely with your therapist or doctor. They can help you set realistic goals that are in line with each stage of your rehab. Most athletes have a tendency to try to speed up the recovery by doing too much too soon. It is important to accept that you are injured and know your limits.

Depending upon the type of injury you have, you may be able to modify your training or add alternate forms of training to maintain cardiovascular conditioning or strength. Work with your trainer, therapist or physician to establish a good alternative workout program, implementing different methods of exercise. For example, if you can’t run, perhaps you can cycle or swim. Create a modified, strength-training program. Do a limited amount of exercise to maintain cardiovascular fitness or focus on better nutritional health.

Exercise-induced injuries frequently prevent optimal training and competitive success for an athlete and can limit or discourage others from enjoying the health benefits of exercise. Enhancing recovery from sports injuries is therefore crucial to athletes and recreational trainers. Injured exercisers often use methods such as rest, ice, and/or stretching in an attempt to enhance recovery from injury, but frequently overlook nutrition.

These injuries generally have two main phases, both of which may be influenced by nutrition. Immobilization atrophy is the first phase. Depending on the type and severity of the injury, immobilisation can last from a few days to several months. During this time, metabolic changes in the tissues resulting from inactivity lead to loss of strength and function.

Rehabilitation and increased activity of the injured limb is the second phase. This phase follows the return of mobility, leading to muscle hypertrophy and the return of functionality. Unfortunately, the complete recovery of strength and function following injury-induced immobilization takes much longer than the time it takes to lose them. Whereas, the ideal, nutritional regimes may be similar for these two phases. Some differences that may be important to consider are the degree of inflammation, muscle loss, energy expenditure and rehabilitation.

Immediately following a severe injury, an inflammatory response is initiated, which is generally considered necessary for proper healing. The inflammatory stage may last from several hours to several days ,depending on the injury. But, as with many situations, too much of a good thing may be bad. Recommendations are often made to reduce the inflammation by using anti-inflammatory medication; however, given that inflammation may be critical for proper healing, artificially dampening it may not be wise.

During immobility, the most obvious change is a loss of muscle mass leading to reduced muscle function. Inactivity results in rapid muscle loss, and the primary metabolic factor leading to muscle loss is decreased muscle protein. Muscle protein balance is the metabolic mechanism responsible for changes in muscle mass. So nutritional interventions should focus on alleviating, as much as possible, the decrease in muscle protein synthesis so that any period of negative muscle protein balance is minimized. Increased protein intake is often the first nutritional countermeasure considered for muscle loss. However, protein intake may not have the same impact during inactivity.

Another important consideration during injury-induced immobilization is the total energy intake, such as calories consumed. By necessity, the total energy expenditure is likely to decrease during immobility. Depending on which limb is immobilized, a substantial decrease in total energy expenditure is likely because exercise is more difficult or less convenient. Furthermore, a more subtle reduction in energy expenditure may stem from reduced protein turnover. This fact contributes to the necessity for many injured athletes to dramatically reduce energy intake and avoid weight gain. However, there are factors to consider here. First, it is clear that during the healing process, energy expenditure is increased by as much as 20%, particularly early on and if the injury is severe. The total energy intake may still need to be reduced, but the reduction in calorie intake may not need to be severe.

Another factor related to calorie intake is the energy cost of moving around. If an injury results in the need for crutches, to get about, the energy cost can be dramatically increased. This increase results from the fact that, per unit of distance covered, walking with crutches increases energy expenditures 2 to 3 times over that of regular walking. Depending on how much ‘crutching’ is done, the energy intake may not need to go down by much at all. Although muscle loss is the obvious concern during inactivity, tendons and ligaments are also affected by immobilization. This results in changes in the way that tendons move, which is associated with decreased tendon collagen synthesis.

The functional situation and metabolic requirements during the rehabilitation stage may be very different from those during enforced inactivity of the limb. It’s likely that the overall energy expenditure will increase to a greater or lesser degree. Muscles that have atrophied will begin to hypertrophy with increased activity. Moreover, muscle protein synthesis requires a lot of energy, which will further increased energy requirements.

With the right knowledge, support and patience, an injury can be overcome without turning your whole world upside down. By taking things slowly, setting realistic goals and maintaining a positive, focused approach, most athletes can overcome minor injuries quickly and major injuries in time.

Sports writer William Rhoden wrote a piece for The New York Times in 1991 about the change in professional athletes. The article quoted psychologist Dr. Wilbert McClure, who doubled as a former Olympic boxer. “When you say sportsmanship, the first thing I think of is businessman-ship,” said McClure.

As salaries continued to rise in professional athletics, this sentiment became commonplace, and disconnect between athlete and society grew. Thus, professional athletes began to surround themselves with people who were “like” them. People who wouldn’t be turned off by their money, who would understand where they came from and perhaps more aptly, where they were going. We know them now as “entourages.”

While there is no set demographic for athlete entourages, trends begin to bleed through when observing the nature of certain professional sports. For example, the stories most commonly cited at sporting events involve athletes from the United States. It’s not easy, no matter what salary an athlete makes, to have 10-20 friends and/or family move from country to country, especially to America.

Due to the NHL filtering high levels of talent from Canada and Europe and MLB concentrating so many efforts on Latin and Asian markets, those leagues profile as having fewer athlete entourages.

On the opposite side are the entourage hot beds: NBA, NFL, and professional boxing. The three major entourage sports also support the with rags-to-riches stories. Not coincidentally, they also carry the highest concentration of athletes who feel the need and want to remain close to their roots—their mantra being, “Don’t forget where you came from.”

According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated piece, 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. That figure jumps to an astronomical 78 percent of NFL players within only three years. While other factors surely contribute to the losses, it’s clear that the influences around the athlete play a major role.

Bill Lyon, reporting for The Philadelphia Inquirer, summarized the sad tale of former NBA MVP Allen Iverson. Despite earning $154 million during his storied career, Iverson declared bankruptcy in early 2011. According to the piece, much of his money was washed away by the “Posse he had to support.” While the exact figures vary, it wasn’t uncommon to see 50 friends, along with a personal hair stylist, traveling to games. To Iverson and his ilk, money was of no object; it was merely a small price to pay in order to feel the comforts of home and to pay debts not measured by dollars and cents.

In fact, Lamar Odom, former Los Angeles Laker and current reality television star, once admitted to his wife, Khloe Kardashian, that he was paying rent for twenty friends and cell phone bills for thirty more.

While money may be a painful thing to lose, entourage trouble often ventures into far more dangerous areas. Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, the troubled NFL defender, nearly took his career and life, not to mention the lives of innocent people, during a strip club shooting in Las Vegas in 2007.

According to warrants filed by the Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, it was one of Jones’ entourage, a female, who started a fight with a dancer at the club. When the altercation moved outside, a man who was also believed to be with Jones fired gunshots.

The NBA had it’s own entourage-gunshot headline later in 2007 when Jamaal Tinsley, along with a group of friends, were shot at several times leaving the Cloud 9 nightclub in Indianapolis. It would be unfair to classify all entourages as greedy, dangerous packs of hangers-on. Often, they more closely resemble a traveling support crew. Last December, Sports Illustrated ran a story on its longtime photographer, Walter Iooss Jr. During his 50+ years with the magazine, he met and photographed nearly every famous athlete in the world. Fifty-years as a photographer for the world’s foremost sports magazine surely brought about interaction with these groups, but nothing like what Walter described.

“I’ve seen a lot of entourages, but none like his (LeBron James). In July 2010, I got an assignment from Nike to shoot LeBron right after his TV special, announcing his move to the Heat. We rented the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where the Lakers and the Clippers used to play, and there were 53 people on my crew—including hair and makeup artists, production people, a stylist.”

“I had $10,000 in Hollywood lighting. It was huge. When LeBron arrived, it was as if Nelson Mandela had come in. Six or seven blacked-out Escalades pulled up, a convoy. LeBron had bodyguards and his masseuse. His DJ was already there, blasting. This for a photo shoot that was going to last an hour, tops,” said Iooss.

The athlete-entourage relationship is easy to dismiss as phony or unnecessary for those outside the facility and lives of the superstars. But it remains an important component to who they are and how they perform. The evolution of athlete to mogul and media entity is fascinating to watch.

Sure, some athletes, like Luke Scott of the Tampa Rays, are throwbacks. Scott criticizes the government, loves to hunt and speaks his mind regardless of consequences. His demeanor represents the exception rather than the rule in professional sports today—a solitary man inside a tribal culture.

The ability to give the politically correct answer, not upset the fan base and remain an entity over a person is essential to the rise of the athlete as a businessman. While most fail from time to time, the pursuit of a non-controversial life makes the entourage vital. It’s with the old friends or family from back home that the athletes can feel like themselves instead of nodding along to a reporter’s question that will be aired to millions of potential customers.

Although the perception of entourages may take years to change, the tenor of these relationships has shifted over the last decade. What were once one-sided monetary relationships have shifted into unique business partnerships. It’s hard to pinpoint the star that truly begat the trend—LeBron James is often credited—but the changes are stark.

Floyd Mayweather, the WBC Welterweight Champion, is 42-0 as a professional. His nickname, Money, suggests he’s great at handling his assets, too. Mayweather Promotions is estimated to be a $140 million company. According to The Wall Street Journal, Leonard Ellerbe (Floyd’s friend and right-hand man) is the chief executive of the company. As Ellerbe told the WSJ, he starts his day at 5:15 a.m. “It’s no different than working for Xerox,” Ellerbe said.

Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers forward, created a one-man representation team when entering the NBA—his best friend. At $40,000 per year, his “entourage” acts as a personal secretary and pays his own rent. Carmelo Anthony, newly embraced by the lucrative New York market, heads up “Team Melo”, which is comprised of 10 members, bi-annual business venture meetings and a flow chart designed by Anthon.

Then there’s the case of William Wesley, better know to fans as World Wide Wes. A former Pro Shoes employee and nightclub doorman, Wes worked his way from fringe entourage member to business partner with high profile basketball stars. Milt Wagner, former South Jersey basketball star, embraced Wes and introduced him to Michael Jordan after college. In 1993, he partnered in a Chicago nightclub frequented by Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

Years later, Wes would influence Wagner’s son, DaJuan, to commit to playing college basketball at Memphis for coach John Calipari. Then came the seminal moment for World Wide Wes: LeBron James’ affection.

In the 2003 cover piece for Sports Illustrated entitled “The Chosen One,” LeBron James, the high school sensation, referred to Wesley as his role model. From his influencing most major free agent signings to attempting to restrain Ron Artest during the infamous brawl between the Pacers, Pistons and fans in Detroit, it is impossible to deny that William Wesley has become of the most important and influential figures in professional basketball.

The comfort of a support system and benefits of trusted business associates make the athlete entourage a vital part of the system in professional sports. It’s hard to predict how many horror stories will emerge in a given year, but rest assured that plenty of tales will remain.

But perhaps athletes like Floyd Mayweather and LeBron James have given a framework for the next generation superstar to use when it comes to managing their life long friends and colleagues. While the past generation of athletes was consumed by not forgetting where they came from, it would appear the current crop is far more concerned with not forgetting where they are and where they are going.

Wearing a red Ohio State t-shirt and black Nike basketball shorts, Scoonie Penn sat on a leather sofa inside his home near Columbus, Ohio. He shares the gorgeous, split-level structure with his beautiful wife and children. The spacious unit features five bedrooms, five baths, encased on the outside by a stone façade, all built upon the strength of a hoop dream realized.

A few miles down the road, Scoonie Penn had once led his alma mater to a Final Four. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year, an All American, and remains today one of the most celebrated Ohio State Buckeye Basketball players of all time.

“It’s a difficult journey”, Scoonie said, while reflecting back on his last eleven seasons as a professional basketball player overseas. “But you’re going to get out of it what you put in. More often than not, you’ll find a lot of the Americans can’t handle it. All of our dreams are to play in the NBA.”

After being drafted 57th overall in 2000 by the Atlanta Hawks, Penn would accept a guaranteed contract offer to play in the Italian League as a rookie. A lucrative overseas playing career would follow over the course of the next decade. But his path to financial success, through the game of basketball, would be as challenging as it was foreign.

“My first year, I was on a team in Italy, a middle of the pack team”, Scoonie recalled. “At the time, the Italian League was the best league in all of Europe; guys like Marko Jaric and Manu Ginobili were there. Carlton Myers, probably one of the best Italians ever was there. It was from top to bottom a great league. Even the good Yugoslavians were there too, everyone was in Italy at the time.

So when I came in, I got thrown into the fire. And my coach, he knew nothing of English. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.”

Twelve years later, Scoonie Penn can now speak Italian. Initially though, equipped with only a couple years of high school Spanish, simply trying to converse with his coaches and teammates was a challenge unto itself. He was alone in a foreign country, unable to communicate freely, while his friends and family remained a million miles away in the United States.

“It was tough for me at first, it was tough, but you adapt”, Penn said. “I was kind of depressed being in Italy the first year. I was thinking, man, I should be in the League.

I would be alone in my apartment. I’d go to the same pizza joint everyday, order the same food, then go home and eat. I didn’t have cable television, Internet wasn’t hooked up right away, it was unreal. I wasn’t with my friends and family, and that was the toughest part. I just started to read, I read a lot of books.”

It’s that initial shock of realizing actually how far away you are from everything you’ve ever known, Scoonie says, that’s most challenging for American professional basketball players trying to make their way overseas.

“That was a dark time for me”, Scoonie admits, “but my escape was basketball. To get over those first couple months, or through them, I just started staying in the gym a lot.

I would practice in the morning, come home, eat lunch, take a nap, practice for the second time that day, and just stay there in the gym until they kicked me out.

When I eventually got home, I’d eat, read a book, maybe get on the Internet to send an email if it was working. My phone bill was astronomical, but it was a time where I really got to know myself as a person. As that season went on, I ended up playing some of the best basketball of my life as a result”.

Scoonie’s play would capture the attention of powerhouse teams all through Europe. He’d eventually play for clubs like Virtus Roma, Olympiacos, and Elfes Pilsen, in Italy, Greece, and Turkey respectively. He created an opportunity to earn a great living for himself and his family in the process, and now shares his experiences with young pros preparing to make that same leap overseas.

Prior to our meeting, Scoonie had just sat down with former Ohio State stars Jon Diebler, David Lighty, and Dallas Lauderdale. He offers what guidance he can on the overseas experience to anyone who reaches out.

“It’s to the point now where the guys who are going overseas, they’ll call me to find out what’s going on before they go”, Penn said. “I’ll advise them on the pros and the cons, because there are a lot of pros, and a lot of cons.

But my main message is that you have to go overseas with the right mindset”, he explained. “Go there to get better, and then come back. Don’t go there depressed, and think about how you’re not in the League. That’s everyone’s downfall.

The problem is, when a lot of the Americans get over there, it’s like they’re hung up on not being in the League. That clouds your mind from taking care of business while you’re there.

I tell guys that you have to be thinking about where you’re at and what you have, instead of where you’re not and what you don’t have. If you’re not focused, they’ll just cut you, and then you’re stuck with nowhere to go.”

As his first year in Italy went on, Scoonie says the game of basketball itself helped to break down those foreign barriers that initially appear so overwhelming to many.

“Come game time that first year, my coach would be yelling at us in Italian. He’s in the huddle, speaking a foreign language, looking right at me while he’s drawing up a play because I’m the point guard.

But even though I can’t understand a word he’s saying, I began to understand what he wanted because I knew what the right basketball play was in that situation.

So even though I maybe didn’t understand what he said, I’d understand what he wanted. Eventually, what happened, was that the game of basketball translated the language for me.”

Which is why Scoonie’s main message for American pros overseas is to stay as close to the game as possible.

“The language barrier, being away from your friends and family, everything outside the court, it might be difficult at first to learn and understand. But you’re job is to play basketball. So I tell these guys, when you go, put that time in the gym. Remember why you are there.

“A lot of Americans, they’ll do the same things I did, but the thing is, can you get over that hump? The first three months are going to be tough. But if you can you get past Christmas, you’ll create a lot of opportunities for yourself and your family.”

Those opportunities include bigger paychecks from more prominent overseas clubs, as well as the chance of catching an NBA scout’s attention if you remain focused on the task at hand.

“There are more NBA scouts in Europe than are here nowadays”, Penn said. “They see guys all the time. The scouts are there at all the big games overseas, and even the smaller games they’ll be there. There are scouts all over.

If you’re starting out in a situation where it’s not a good team, or you’re not making big money at first, just make sure you play well. If you do that, you’ll set yourself up to make more money next year, and then you’ll have leverage.

You’re there to work on your game, get better, play basketball, and make money while you can. If that is your mind-set, and your process, you will end up setting yourself up very well.

If you play well in Europe, handle yourself well, and the NBA doesn’t work out, you’ll have another place to come back to. But if you go there and you mess this up, now you’re stuck. You don’t make it in the League, then where you going go? You’re career could be over.”

Scoonie Penn is now retired from professional basketball, on his own terms. His family later joined him in Greece after his first couple seasons overseas, and stayed with him through the remainder of his career.

The Penn family made stops in Serbia, Croatia and the Ukraine, as well as in Greece while Scoonie starred for Olympiacos. His children attended International School while abroad, and his family stays in touch with friends and teammates they met all over the world.

Scoonie Penn is now a Basketball Mentor and Educator in the Columbus, OH area. He recently launched the 5-on-5 T.O.U.C.H Hoops Classic this past July; an annual event he created to support the charity organization Teaching Opportunity Unity by Connecting Hearts. A mentoring program supported by Scoonie to assist the formerly incarcerated.

You can connect with Scoonie Penn on Twitter @ScoonieP12.

While sports coverage is what we do best, our spirit of adventure takes us on interesting sidetracks to bring you the lives of Hollywood superstars. MTV’s “Big Black” and Bam Bam spent an afternoon sporting their trademark BB/ Do Work gear for a candid interview.

Making the most of the opportunities presented to them, Big Black and Bam Bam have used their celebrity gained through reality television and put it to work, where others have simply have enjoyed the ride. With an ever-expanding apparel empire, sponsorships of MMA fighters and a security company that draws from the experience that made them famous, this dynamic duo lives by the motto they sell so well: “Do Work.”

Meet Big Black
Christopher “Big Black” Boykin was born in Wiggins, Mississippi, in January 1972. Big Black is a United States Navy veteran who was honorably discharged after his tour of duty. He’s now an entertainer and musician who is best known for his role on MTV’s show, Rob & Big, which followed the daily routines of Boykin and professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek.

Isis Rae Boykin, Big Black’s daughter, was born in 2008. Big Black tells us that being a parent means everything to him and all that he does is for his daughter’s future.

Big Black is quite the entrepreneur. In 2007, Boykin decided that he didn’t want to advertise other clothing lines and footwear. Breaking from tradition of being just a fashion follower, he created BB/Do Work. The line was later relaunched in 2010 with his friend Nilo Jones who worked with Big Black and “Bam Bam” at The Blue Tattoo nightclub from 2001 to 2002.

In 2012, Boykin’s brand launched its plus sized apparel named BMN (Big Man Network) and BDP (Big Dime Pieces) in conjunction with Do Work Union (DWU) which caters to sizes from small to extra large.

Meet Bam Bam
Whenever I hear Bam Bam’s nickname, I think of the young cave kid from The Flintstones. Rashawn “Bam Bam” Davis was born in Columbus, Ohio in March 1978. Bam Bam went to California State University at Berkley on a full football scholarship, where he played defensive lineman and majored in business management.

Landing a job after college at The Blue Tattoo Nightclub in San Diego, California, Bam Bam met Big Black through what he refers to as ‘destiny’. Davis came onto the Hollywood scene very quickly when he appeared as a security guard in the second installment of “The DC Video.”

Bam Bam and Big Black are both members of the self-formed rap group, The Chunky Boys. Their album, Weight Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number is rhythmic and fresh, containing completely original lyrics. Bam Bam and Big Black are able to both rap and sing. They also released the mega-hit Dirty Girl with R & B legend Bobby Light.

The Interview
Born and raised in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago, Big Black is thankful to have overcome the challenges of his youth, serving his country in the U.S. Navy and eventually opening his own security and apparel companies.

On a lighter side, Big Black holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the most bananas eaten in one minute and the most powdered donuts consumed in 60 seconds. Bam Bam attempted to beat that donut record, but fell short of his goal due to the fact his lips kept sticking together.

Their rap group, The Chunky Boyz, who musically share their life experiences is soon releasing a new album that is “dedicated to all the chunky men out there,” according to Big Black.

“It’s an eclectic mix of breast and fries, legs and thighs. We rap about our surroundings,” jokes Big Black.

“It’s like reality rap. We don’t rap about stuff we don’t know about. I’m sorry. I didn’t grow up on the streets selling drugs and guns. I grew up in buffet lines, hanging out, taking my time,” rhymed Bam Bam.

Big Black told us that he’s enjoying being a dad to his daughter, Isis.

Big Black is responsible for picking the theme song for the show Rob & Big from Courtship of Eddie’s Father, which played on WGN-TV in Chicago and starred the late Bill Bixby. It was just another testimonial on Big Black’s part, basically stating that his roots are from Chicago and he’ll always pay homage to that fact.

Bam Bam doesn’t just sit on the sidelines when it comes to Big Black’s apparel line, which has made millions. Bam Bam serves as the ambassador for BB/Do Work apparel. Big Black has faith that Bam Bam will put his marketing skills to work and be a huge success in the near future.

From Bam Bam parasailing to Big Black rockin’ a purple thong or just dancing in the buff, these guys made for entertainment. When asked what’s next for the celebrities and entrepreneurs, Big Black responded, “I’m going to do work, live in moderation and be a dad. I’m going to work until I get tired, and when I get tired, I’m gonna shut it down.”

Bam Bam and Big Black offered words of inspiration at the conclusion of our interview. “I came through and I made it. You’ve got to give to get. Life’s about choices, changes, chances,” said Big Black. “Every change, make the good ones. Every chance, take advantage of it. And every choice make the right ones.”

“I want people out there to know it’s okay to have a personality. You might have something original about yourself and somebody might try to shoot you down from that. Be you! It’s okay to smile. It’s okay to laugh. Personality goes a long way and we’re proving that,” said Bam Bam.

“Loyalty is very important in life. I believe in that 110%. I think with loyalty and a good personality, you’ll have a good life.”

Watch All 8 Parts of the Interview on YouTube