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Pro-athletes Stay Motivated and at Peak Performance by Using an Exercise Journal

July 2nd, 2011 |

Author: admin

Most of us enjoy watching professional athletes, at the peak of their performance, participate in their sports. There is such a wide variety of professional sports to choose from, ranging from football, soccer, basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming, biking, and every weekend you can enjoy watching athletes play on television or at the stadium or arena. Some of the most amazing athletes, in terms of overall fitness, are triathletes. Practicing a sport that demands a high degree of skill in running, swimming and cycling requires the ultimate in physical fitness. This can only come about with regular training and using exercise journals to keep accurate track of activity. No matter what the sport, professional athletes often rely on exercise journals and a Calorie calculator to help them meet their fitness and sports goals.

A professional athlete, as well as any weekend warrior who wants to enter a sports competition of some type, will need to plan a workout schedule and weight loss program so that they peak at their top performance on the day of the competition. This requires a carefully thought-out regime of cardio workouts, strength training, and stretches, along with strategic rest periods interspersed so that the athlete arrives at the day of the event perfectly trained but not overtrained or undertrained. Exercise logs are how they keep track of all the details of their workouts each day. They include information such as the type of workout, the duration and the intensity. This not only keeps them on track to meeting their overreaching goals, but it also helps to motivate them because they can see in writing every day that they are making progress, which is encouraging.

Athletes also find it imperative to not only follow a workout schedule but also to use a calorie calculator to make sure they are getting an appropriate number of calories, and the correct percentages of protein, carbohydrates and fats. For instance, for muscles to repair properly after a workout, they require adequate amounts of protein. If pro athletes participate in a sport that focuses on strength training, such as weight lifting, it is imperative that they receive adequate protein in their diet in order for their muscles to repair and become stronger. Athletes might do all of the correct exercises, but if their diet is lacking in any vital component they will not reap the benefits of all their hard work. They find that keeping an accurate food diary is an essential aid to helping them reach their peak performance.

Both exercise journals and calorie counters are much quicker and easier to use when they are online. Professional athletes rely on them to organize and record their workouts, as well as the food they consume, in order to meet their fitness goals at the correct deadlines.

Posted in Journal Of Sport |

Tags: Football Soccer, Professional Athletes, Soccer Basketball |

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Effective Management

June 18th, 2011 |

Author: admin

Effective management

Dr.N.C.Martin, Ph.D

Lecturer – HOD

Department of Social Work

Shree Chandra Prabhu Jain College, Minjur, Chennai.

Planner

A Manager has to take a long-term view; while a team member will be working towards known and established goals, the manager must look further ahead so that these goals are selected wisely. By thinking about the eventual consequences of different plans, the manager selects the optimal plan for the team and implements it. The manager ensures that work is not repeated nor problems tackled too late, and that the necessary resources are allocated and arranged.

Provider

The Manager has access to information, which the team needs. The role of a manager is important because authority, which the manager holds uniquely within the team and the manager, must exercise the power for the benefit of the team for the effective productivity.

Protector

In any company, there are problems, which can deflect the work force. The manager should be there to guard against these and to protect the team. If a new project emerges which not given an impossible deadline. If someone in your team brings forward a good plan, you must ensure that it receives a fair hearing and that your team knows and understands the outcome. If someone is in your team has a problem at work, you have to deal with it.

Inspires a Shared Vision

An effective manager is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability to articulate it.

Qualities of a Manager

Good Communicator

The ability to communicate with people is the most important skill by managers and team members. The Manager is also the team’s link to the larger organisation. He must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective communication, manager support individual and team achievements by creating guidelines for accomplishing tasks and for the career advancement of team members.

Enthusiasm

If Managers are negative – they bring staffs down. Manager with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. Many people tend to follow people with a can-do attitude. Enthusiastic Managers are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism.

Competence

Managers will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in management skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if managers are to be seen as capable and competent.

Ability to Delegate Tasks

Trust is an essential element in the relationship of manager and his or her team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions – how much you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate.

Cool Under Pressure

In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major problems or obstacles to overcome. A leader with a hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the outcome and they see it as an opportunity.

Team-Building Skills

A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the substance that holds the team together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics required for this transformation. He or she must also know the appropriate leadership style to use during each stage of team development. The leader must also have an understanding of the different team players styles and how to capitalise on each at the proper time, for the problem at hand.

Communicate the big picture

If you want your employees to work hard and be committed to your business, you have to keep them in the loop. Open communication helps foster loyalty and gives employees a sense of pride. It helps them understand how their work contributes to the company’s success.

Delegate work and responsibilities

Some employees, share their workload with them and assign the work according to people’s strengths and weaknesses, and let employees develop their own good work habits and abilities.

Help employees set goals

Setting deadlines and goals helps keep employees focused, busy and motivates them to do their work. Talk to each of your employees about the company’s goals, and work with them to set individual goals directly linked to your business’s mission. Make sure employees understand their professional growth path in the company.

Recognize problems

It is impossible to know about personality conflicts, lagging productivity or other problems in the office if you have your head in the sand. If you notice a change in an employee’s work habits or attitude, try to get to the root of the problem before it starts affecting the rest of your staff.

Effective dealing of Problems

The first step in dealing with a problem employee is to identify the trouble. Many times, a simple, honest talk with an employee will dissolve issues such as occasional tardiness or minor attitude problems. Coaching requires a manager to work one-on-one with problem employees or to assign another employee to work with the employee to overcome their shortcomings. The mentor should provide the employee with feedback and solutions for improving their performance. Coaching requires patience and a substantial time investment, but it can help modify an employee’s behavior.

Poor performance

Poor performance is not always due to a lack of skills; the employee may simply be disorganized or sloppy. These habits can usually be corrected with proper guidance. If performance difficulties relate to a lack of skills, consider coaching or additional training.

Job incompatibility

In some cases an employee becomes a problem because their skills aren’t compatible with their assigned tasks or regular duties. In this case, offering the employee additional training or assigning them a different set of tasks is usually the most appropriate course of action.

Sloppy work

When you notice that, an employee has made some errors, point out the mistakes to the employee and monitors their work more closely. If the problem persists, speak with the employee and detail the most serious examples of problems with their work. Remember to remain positive and focus on how important the employee’s contribution is to the company.

Create an effective message

Consider the specific informational needs of executives, middle managers, supervisors and employees, and tailor your message to fit each audience. An effective message should also explain how your employees´ day-to-day duties directly affect the company’s performance and should touch on the values and pride of the employees. A direct, face-to-face interaction can help reinforce positive attitudes inspire employees and help them adapt to the change.

Listen to your employees

Employee feedback is critical in managing change. Holding focus groups with employees is a great way to gauge reaction and monitor the progress of change. You also can encourage employees to provide feedback through email or the company intranet. Communication is the cornerstone to successful change management. Talking to your employees is not a one-time event, and you need to reinforce your message by communicating early and often.

Conclusion

To be an effective manager you must know yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses, and those of the people around you. You must know your objectives and have a plan of how to achieve them. You must build a team of people that share your commitment to achieve those objectives, and you must help each team member to achieve their best which will be able to attain a common goal.

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Posted in Journal Of Sport |

Tags: Effective Communication, Effective Management, Optimal Plan |

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Sky Network Television

June 16th, 2011 |

Author: admin

History

Founded by Terry Jarvis, Craig Heatley, Trevor Farmer and Alan Gibbs in 1987 as Sky Media Limited.

Sky Media Limited originally formed to investigate the possibility of beaming sports programming into clubs and pubs using high performance 4 metre satellite dishes by Jarvis and an engineering associate Brian Green but was redirected into pay television following successful bidding in 1990 for four groups of UHF frequencies in the Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga regions.

The first Sky subscriber was former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Jonathan Hunt, according to Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Sky rapidly won long term rights from US sports network ESPN (which became a 1% shareholder) as well as CNN and HBO providing it with a supply of sports, news and movies for three channels: Sky Sport, Sky News (a mix of CNN International and BBC bulletins) and Sky Movies (later renamed HBO, before reverting back to its original name.)

Initially only operating in the Auckland region Sky contracted Broadcast Communications to provide the broadcast service and transmission from its Panorama Road studios formerly owned by defunct broadcaster Northern Television.

Later, as funding allowed Sky extended its coverage throughout most of New Zealand, in 1994, Sky launched two further channels, Discovery and Orange. The company expanded to Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Southland and Otago, follow by the Wairarapa, Taupo and Wanganui regions in 1995. Its final UHF expansion, in 1996, was to Taranaki, Whangarei and eastern Bay of Plenty.

In April 1997, Sky introduced a nationwide analogue direct broadcasting via satellite (DBS) service that would also give it the opportunity to offer its customers more channels and interactive options. It upgraded it to a digital service in December 1998.

The concept of a pay television service was new to New Zealand and Sky had early problems. These included viewer acceptance of subscriber television. It faced difficulty in educating retailers and customers on the use of the original decoders. However, this problem was eased with the introduction of easier-to-use decoders that allowed greater viewer flexibility.

Channels that are no longer carried by Sky TV include Granada UKTV, Hallmark Channel, TVSN and Property TV. A SkyMail email service was also featured for a time, but was later pulled due to lack of interest, (including the wireless keyboards they had produced for it).

2006 Sky Digital outage

The direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) service went offline just before 7p.m. NZST (8 a.m. London, 3 a.m. New York) on March 30, 2006. The interruption affected service to over 550,000 customers and caused many decoders to advise customers of “rain fade.” Due to excessive volume of calls to the Sky toll-free helpdesk Sky posted update messages on their website advising customers that they were working with Optus to restore service by midnight.

Sky gave the cause as a problem during a routine manoeuvre of the B1 satellite. Sky also blamed the total solar eclipse that occurred the same day, with the solar panels being in shadow and unable to recharge themselves. Astronomers said that it was extremely unlikely there was any connection, as the satellite would only have been in shadow for a few more minutes than usual, if even in the shadow of the Moon at all during the eclipse. Service was resumed at 8 a.m. (9 p.m. London, 4 p.m. New York) on March 31, 2006. SKY credited customers with one day’s subscription fees as compensation for the downtime, at a cost to the company of NZ$ 1.5 million.

This outage prompted a New Zealander by the name of “Ben” to jokingly list the satellite as an item for sale on New Zealand’s online-auction website TradeMe, eventually clocking up over 231000 page views and receiving much feedback and even mention in local media. It was listed with the description “One slightly used digital TV broadcast satellite. Seems to be misbehaving at the moment, unsure what the problem is, so bid at your own risk.”

Prime Television

In November 2005, Sky announced it had purchased the free-to-air channel Prime Television for NZ$30 million. Sky uses Prime to promote its pay content and to show delayed sports coverage. New Zealand’s Commerce Commission issued clearance for the purchase on February 8, 2006.

2009-2010 UHF shutdown

Sky is now in the process of turning off their UHF service. This started with Taupo on August 31, 2009, and should be completed by March 1, 2010. They plan to hand their UHF and radio spectrum back to the Government and trade them for digital terrestrial bandwidth.

Products and services

Television

Channels Available

The following lists all current digital channels:

Channel No.

Channel Name

Subscription package

Widescreen

HD

Notes

000

Preview

Basic

Yes

No

Previews Sky Box Office

001

TV One

Basic

Yes

Free-to-air

002

TV2

Basic

Yes

Free-to-air

003

TV3

Basic

Yes

Free-to-air

004

Prime

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

005

the BOX

Basic

Yes

No

006

UKTV

Basic

Yes

No

007

Vibe

Basic

Yes

No

008

Living

Basic

No

009

Food Television

Basic

No

010

Comedy Central

Basic

Yes

No

011

E!

Basic

Yes

No

012

C4

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

014

MTV

Basic

No

016

TVNZ 6

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

017

Fashion TV

Basic

Yes

No

019

Mori Television

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

020

Sky Movies

Yes

021

Sky Movies 2

Sky Movies

Yes

No

022

Sky Movies Greats

Sky Movies

Yes

023

MGM

Sky Movies

Yes

No

024

TCM

Sky Movies

No

025

Rialto Channel

Platinum Movies (also Extra Channel)

Yes

No

028

Preview

Basic

Yes

No

Previews Sky Box Office

030

Sky Sport 1

Sky Sport

Yes

031

Sky Sport 2

Sky Sport

Yes

032

Sky Sport 3

Sky Sport

Yes

No

131

Sky Sport 4

Sky Sport

Yes

No

132

Sky Sport 5

Sky Sport

Yes

No

133

Sky Sport 6

Sky Sport

Yes

No

134

Sky Sport 7

Sky Sport

Yes

No

033

Sky Sport Highlights

Sky Sport

Yes

No

034

ESPN

Basic

No

035

TAB TV

Basic

Yes

No

036

Trackside

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

037

The Rugby Channel

Platinum Sport

Yes

No

040

Disney Channel

Basic

Yes

No

041

Nickelodeon

Basic

No

042

Cartoon Network

Basic

Yes

No

045

Playhouse Disney

Basic

Yes

No

050

Playin’ TV

Extra Channel

No

Interactive games channel

051

MindGames

Extra Channel

No

Interactive quiz channel

059

Te Reo

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

062

Juice TV

Basic

Yes

No

063

63 – Our Music TV

Basic

Yes

No

070

Discovery Channel

Basic

No

071

ci

Basic

Yes

No

072

National Geographic

Basic

Yes

No

073

History

Basic

No

074

Documentary Channel

Basic

Yes

No

075

Animal Planet

Basic

No

077

Travel Channel

Basic

Yes

No

079

The Arts Channel

Extra Channel

No

089

Triangle STRATOS

Basic

No

Free-to-air

090

Sky News

Basic

Yes

No

091

CNN

Basic

No

092

Fox News

Basic

Yes

No

093

BBC World News

Basic

Yes

No

094

Parliament TV

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

095

CNBC

Basic

No

World business channel

097

TVNZ 7

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

098

Weather Channel

Basic

No

Interactive weather service.

099

Country 99 TV

Extra Channel

Yes

No

110

CUE

Basic

Yes

No

Free-to-air

111

Shine TV

Basic

No

200

Sky Box Office Events

Basic

Yes

No

A pay-per-view channel showing events such as combat sports and concerts

201-216

Sky Box Office Movies

Basic

Yes

No

A group of pay-per-view movie channels

217

Playboy TV

Basic

No

Pay-per-view

218

Adult Channel

Basic

No

Pay-per-view

219

Spice Xcess

Basic

No

Pay-per-view

300-309

World TV

No

A group of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese channels

310

CCTV-9

Basic

No

311

Real Good Life

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

312

New Supremo

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

315

STAR Plus Hindi

Extra Channel

No

319

Preview

Basic

Yes

No

Previews Sky Box Office

400-413

Sky Digital Music

N/A

A group of digital radio channels

500

Kiwi FM

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

501

Radio New Zealand National

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

502

Radio New Zealand Concert

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

505

Tahu FM

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

506

Calvary Chapel Radio

Basic

N/A

Digital radio channel

Future Channels:

Travel Channel – May 1, 2010

Interactive Services:

Skybet – interactive sports betting service.

Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) – Television listing information

Playin TV Games – video games.

MindGames – challenging video games.

Weather Channel – interactive weather maps and information.

Digital video recorders

My Sky

In December 2005, Sky released its own Digital Video Recorder (DVR), which essentially is an upgraded set top box similar to Foxtel IQ in Australia or TiVo in the U.S.. Called My Sky, it offers viewers the ability to pause live television, rewind television, record up to two channels at once straight to the set top box and watch the start of a recorded programme while still recording the end. It also gives viewers access to a revamped Guide and the new Planner, used to plan and access recordings at the touch of a button. However the PVR box remains the property of SKY Television.

One of the advertised features of My Sky is the ability of the system to record series of programs using the “Series Link” feature. But this has proven to be somewhat unreliable in that on occasions, intended future recordings are not made. This has occurred since the inception of the service. Sky TV say they are working to determine the cause of the random failures, and to rectify it. Soft rebooting the decoder appears to temporarily overcome the problem.

There was software in My Sky that after an hour of no signal from Sky then the decoder locks playback of pre-recorded programmes. This was discovered after the Optus B1 satellite was unable to broadcast Sky to over 600,000 subscribers.

This generation of box was replaced by My Sky HDi when it launched on 1 July 2008.

My Sky HDi

The My Sky HDi decoder and remote control

On 1 July 2008, a new service called My Sky HDi was launched, and is the successor to the My Sky service released in 2006. The HD channels available are Sky Movies, Sky Movies Greats, Sky Sport 1, Sky Sport 2, as well as free-to-air channels TV ONE, TV2, and TV3.

The new boxes allow connection of to up to four satellites which can work with its four TV tuner cards in any combination. Two channels can be recorded at once, while another can be watched live and the fourth is for a non-real time pay per view service. The device has a 320GB HDD however only 160GB is available for recording, the remaining is reserved for on-demand downloads. The quality of My Sky HDi is 576i via component and 720/1080i via HDMI.

As of June 30, 2009, there are 84,002 My Sky HDi subscribers.

Sky On Demand

Sky announced late 2006 that it will be using the 30% reserved disk space in the PVR to offer a video on demand service to its My Sky customers. This service commenced in 2007 and offers 12 – 15 titles at any one time. New titles will be downloaded automatically from the Optus D1 satellite to the PVR and listed only when they are available for purchase and instant playback. SKY intends to add a remote programming feature to My Sky allowing customers to program their PVR’s using the Internet or mobile phones.

Copy Protection

In May 2009 Sky introduced copy protection on My Sky and My Sky HDi decoders limiting the ability to copy material from My Sky/My Sky HDi to DVD/HDD recorders and to PCs. Sky Movies, Sky Movies 2, Sky Movies Greats, MGM & TCM have a copy-once encoding meaning movies can be copied however any further copying is prevented. Sky Box Office channels, including Adult channels are copy protected so DVD/HDD recorders & PCs will not record from these channels. Other channels are not copy protected. Copy protection technology is not built into other decoders.

Remote Record

In August 2009 a new online service was launched where customers can log on and set their My Sky or My Sky HDi’s to record programmes.

The instruction to record a programme is sent to the set-top boxes via satellite.

Mobile

Sky Mobile TV

In December, 2006, Sky announced that it will be launching a new mobile television service to Vodafone New Zealand’s 3G customers. The channels include:

Adult swim

Cartoon Network

Comedy Central

Discovery Channel

MTV

E!

Trackside

Playhouse Disney

Disney Channel

WWE

Nickelodeon

Sky News

Sky Sport Live

Sky Sport News

Publishing

Skywatch

Sky also provides a Skywatch monthly magazine to all its customers. The latest readership survey shows that Skywatch has a readership of 965,000 which makes it the largest magazine read in New Zealand, and the largest monthly magazine. The magazine provides monthly listings for Sky channels, as well as highlights and features.

Sky Sport The Magazine

In January 2007, Sky launched Sky Sport The Magazine, as the published extension of the Sky Sport television package. The magazine features articles by local and international sports writers, as well as sports photography.

Web

Fatso

Main article: Fatso (online DVD rental service)

Sky also owns an Online DVD rental service – Fatso.

Technical

Sky Digital subscribers get a standard 60-centimetre satellite dish installed on their home along with set-top boxes including modems for a return path.

Sky switched from the elderly Optus B1 to the Optus D1 satellite for its DBS service on 15 November 2006. Initially, Sky used vertically polarised transponders on Optus D1 (as it had on Optus B1). However, on 31 July 2007 it moved its programming to horizontally polarised transponders with New Zealand-specific beams to be consistent with Freeview and to gain access to more transmission capacity. Sky have also purchased some of the capacity of Optus D3, which was launched mid August 2009, this gives Sky the ability to add more channels and upgrade existing channels to HD in the future.

A set-top box (STB) is used to decrypt the satellite signals. Digital broadcasts are in DVB-compliant MPEG-2. Interactive services and the EPG use the proprietary OpenTV system, with operates both a UHF terrestrial pay television service on five networks of frequencies covering around 83 percent of the population and direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) service offering around 70 channels of programming.