Science and Art in Sports

[Guest guest]

I must say that I don´t agree at all with your thoughts ,

and I also want to say that I agree fully with Dr Siff:

" I know that there are some top brains around the world 'despite'

their having been strength athletes, marathoners or participants in a

wide range of very demanding sports. " Mel Siff

Just an example:

At the Olympics in Moscow 1980, two Swedish swimmers took gold medals:

- Par Arvidsson [100m Butterfly]

- Bengt Baron [100m Backstroke]

Both these swimmers had been studying at a top university in USA,

Berkeley and they got awards for being something like(I don´t have the

exact numbers)the no 1 and 2 top students at Berkeley, and after

Berkeley, Par went on to study at Harvard.

Also in Sweden we have had several investigations showing that top

sport athletes do VERY WELL in school (and swimmers were very high

on these lists). I think athletes are competitive not only in their

sport but also in school work and the also set goals and learn how

to make the best of their available time for school/sports

So, as I said I don´t agree with you on this!

[A final note of interest: Both Par and Bengt come from the same

club, a small town club in Sweden called Finspangs SS, not bad to

produce two Olympic gold medalists : ) ]

Mats Brisenfeldt

Sweden

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From: " Cruz " <juancarloscruz@...>

Subject: Re: Science and Art in Sport

The thing is that fatigue from sports blocks the will to study. It is

an admitted principle, that sports and physical exercises should be

employed in education, and that for students those exercises should

be shorter and lighter, avoiding severe diets or painful toil, lest

the growth of the body be impaired. The evil of excessive exercises

and sports in early years is strikingly proved by the example of the

Professional athletes; for not more than few of them have gained a

good grades and honors in their academic careers.

[What you have written above is called a 'non sequitur' - " it does

not follow " . Has it occurred to you that some folk go into

professional sports because they are not interested in or capable of

achieving academic success - or that some folk are drawn to the money

and fame offered by pro sport? Please supply some references which

show that successful academics cannot emerge from a background

of strenuous sport. Having met many top sports scientists,

scientists, doctors and therapists, I know that there are some top

brains around the world 'despite' their having been strength

athletes, marathoners or participants in a wide range of very

demanding sports. Mel Siff]