Minutemen Youth Wrestling

Halloween is a holiday most students at Ohio University have grown up celebrating. But for international students, Halloween is a new concept. As the weekend celebration draws near, the international community is buzzing with curiosity. India does not have any holidays similar to Halloween. Mechanical engineering graduate student Altaf Rasyani, who is from India, said he is very excited about Halloween weekend. This is his first year at OU, and has never seen what the holiday is like here. “I heard people in weird costumes come to Court Street to make conversation and that Halloween in Athens is famous and unique,” he said. Rasyani said he will not be dressing up for the weekend celebration, though, because he is not familiar with the tradition and does not know what would be a customary costume. Another Indian student, Mohammed Qadeer Ahmed, was here for Halloween two years ago. He said he liked the Halloween celebration because people get together and have lots of parties. However, he was less impressed with activities late in the evening. He said, “At the end it gets a bit weird because people are drunk and do weird things. I didn’t like that part.” Qadeer Ahmed, also a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said he is not sure whether his friends and he will go out on Halloween, but he would like to see the variety of costumes on display. Peter Otiato, an African studies graduate, is interested in what will happen this weekend from a cultural standpoint. He said he has not heard much about Athens Halloween traditions, but is curious about whether the original significance of the holiday is still revered. Also, Otiato, a native of Kenya, said students here presume Halloween is more global than it actually is. “There’s an assumption that international students know exactly what happens,” he said. “People are culturally biased.” by Karlie Dunsky Staff Writer

If you go to our "Link" page you will see several new links just for Halloween. Some great sites for information and halloween ideas.

Thanks to everyone who got out and voted! It sure was a clear message that things needed to change.

No one doubts that spring is a great time. Once we can get outside consistently, all many of us can think of is hitting the pitch and playing, or hitting the road for a nice long run. Forget the fact that for the last 4 to 8+ weeks, the most activity some of us got was jumping up and down during the NCAA basketball tournament. It's time to PLAY, so let's just get back into it as though we last played a day or two ago. Stepping right back into play might not be the wisest thing to do, and we realize that by the amount of pain we feel during and after exercise. Pain can be instructive and telling. Is there pain at rest, or just during exercise, or both? Does it go away after exercise starts? Did the pain come all at once or gradually? Where is the pain located? One source of pain is one of the most troubling problems in sports: the pain in the lower leg, especially shin splints. The aching pain in the lower leg can happen to athletes who are unaccustomed to exercise, or the running surface, as well as to the experienced athlete who increases their exercise intensity, changes to different shoes, or moves to harder surfaces. The pain comes with exercise, especially when running on roads or tracks with tight turns, and is usually felt on the medial (middle) aspect of the lower leg. This pain may linger even after exercise. Shin splints are a problem in figure skaters and gymnasts, as they don't have the freedom to select training shoes with lots of support and cushioning features that runners have. Shin splints can be fairly common on track teams because they train so much on a very hard surface. The actual medical term for shin splints can be medial tibial stress syndrome or posterior tibial syndrome. All of the muscles of your lower leg have some attachment to the tibia or fibula. The common perception is that the change in exercise habits leads to a tearing of the muscles as they attach to the tibia. Some tendon involvement may be present. The typical treatment for shin splints is: Several weeks of relative rest (do something other than running). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (e.g. ibuprofen). Stretching and thorough warm-up before activity. Ice massage for 15 minutes after exercise (use a bag of frozen peas, or fill a bunch of paper cups with water and keep them in the freezer. Just peel back the paper as the ice melts as the leg is iced). Stretching exercises to improve flexibility of the calf and heel cord. Work on strengthening lower leg muscles, with exercises such as: 1. Lay a towel on the floor and put an object of some weight on the towel then use the toes to pull the towel/weight toward you. 2. Loop a towel around the leg of a chair or table. Sit on the floor in front of the chair and put the foot in the looped towel then point the toes up to the ceiling trying to pull the chair across the floor. 3. Sit high up enough up so that the foot is off the floor. Loop a towel over the toes and put something heavy (and unbreakable!) in the towel below the foot, then raise and lower the weight. Slow, gradual return to running — progress from water running to Stairmaster to treadmill to over-the-ground running. Also, make sure running shoes are of good quality. If there is access to an athletic trainer, there are some taping techniques that help. As soccer shoes are not noted for their cushioning, soccer players may have to train in running shoes for a while after returning to training. Orthotics may be prescribed. But don't just take these comments and self-treat any pain in the shins. See a sports medicine physician. Why? Unfortunately, there are more serious problems that also cause lower-leg pain and are mistakenly called shin splints; specifically, stress fractures and compartment syndromes (which require surgery). This is why simply shrugging off lower leg pain as "shin splints" is not a good idea, and why a sports medicine physician should be consulted. Copyright © 2003 Donald T. Kirkendall

Well the numbers are in and we have enough money to purchase a used mat. Now the original mat we wanted was sold but we have another one we can get from Xavier. The first annual Restlin Run was a huge success as was able to reach it's goal to purchase a used mat. The race was timed by longtime New Britain High track coach Irv Black. Coach Black said, "I've never seen such a good turnout for a first year race." There were 140 runner registered with 127 finishing the race. Coming in first place overall was Chris Green of Berlin in a blistering time of 10:05. In second place was Mike LeMay of South Windsor with a time of 10:45. Third place was Mike Munroe of Newington with a time of 11:42. The Team division trophies went to both Berlin Minutemen (86:19) and Berlin High School (64:45) Teams time of the top five finishers were used to determine the winners. Youth Coach Roger Moss, said, "If it were not for the efforts of Jack Banks and Paul Carson of Powerhouse Gym, this event would have never gotten off the ground." He added, they not only assisted with financing the event they handled the registration and had staff available to assist the day of the race. "We look to make this an annual event which we hope can benefit not only youth wrestling but a local cause." The Youth Wrestling Program will meet this year at the Old Knights of Columbus Hall on Percival Ave on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Anyone still interested in registering may do so at the Berlin Parks and Recreation Office. The cost for the entire program is $65.00 which runs from December 1st to March 12th. The program is open to boys and girls in grades 1st through 7th. The top fundraising effort by a youth wrestler was Matt Cote who raised $200 on his own toward the race. Each wrestler was asked to get individuals to sponsors their run. Matt had a time of 24:25. A final thanks to all our other sponsors who gave financial support to the race. They include: The Herald, Dr, Donald L. Piccoli, Carlos Zovich, Santoro Electric, AMCO Precision Tool, Gnazzo, First City Bank, AW Direct, Inc., Chiropractic Care Center, DFI Consulting, The New Britain Trasportation Co., Berlin High Schoo Booster Association, T. Maier Sand and Gravel, MBA Engineering Inc., Kid Time Trophies, Best Western, Ann's Hands, Mooreland Hill School, Magabyte Technologies, Delicious Dogs, Absolute Auto Center, Knaus Building Co., Ultimate Billards, Accounts Management, John Bogden Agency, Matson Rugs, Country Farms, Mortenson's and Kesington Market. I have added some pictures to our "Photo Album" from the race. Check out our finishers. Our top youth finishers were as follows: Ryan Butler 16:17, Mason Powers 16:23, Danny Hackett 16:32, Tyler Cunningham 17:06, Brendan Butler 20:01, Jacob Eliades 21:08, Sean Pentalow 21:40, Jeremy Eliades and Kyle Zuk at 22:44. Again thanks to everyone for a great job today. Coach Moss