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State works to increase funding Nixon sets aside state revenue for Hospital, park system and state Capitol improvements By CHRIS BLANK and JORDAN SHAPIRO
GREG KENDALL-BALL/Missourian
After suffering four concussions, former Missouri women’s soccer player Jessica Gwin decided to quit playing the sport. This portrait, taken March 11, was made using a technique where a flash was fired multiple times during a single exposure.
The cost of a sport By Brandon Weiss and Stephanie Graflage // Missourian
Jessica Gwin quit playing soccer after sustaining several concussions both on the field and in daily life
F
ormer Missouri soccer player Jessica Gwin often wonders whether the trouble she has remembering things is a result
Is gender a factor? According to a study published in the Journal of Athletic Training, the following numbers of concussions occured per 100,000 “athlete exposures.” The British Medical Journal later said that gender is a possible risk factor, but the research on the topic is inconclusive.
of being in tougher classes or from the concussions she suffered playing soccer.
“It’s a hard line to draw, whether my classes were getting harder or if there really were effects,” Gwin said. “Sometimes I think there are days when I could remember things like this — memorizing and such.” Gwin, 22, played soccer for 13 years, including two seasons with Missouri’s women’s soccer team. She has suffered several head injuries, including three sportsrelated concussions. She also suffered a concussion when she was 5 and ran into a wall while playing with her brother. She cut her soccer career short two years ago after a hit late in her sophomore season at Missouri while playing Texas A&M. Gwin was slide tackled and took a blow to the neck. “When you’re 20 years old and you’ve spent your whole life working for this, it’s kind of hard to know
Females Males High school soccer
High school basketball
Please see INJURIES, page 6A
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ACL TEARS, EATING DISORDERS AND THE ‘TRIAD’ FEMALE ATHLETES ARE FOUR TO of stress fracture, poorer perfor- sumption, said Jana Heitmeyer, ACL injury,
eight times more prone to ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears than male athletes. They're also more likely than nonathletes and most male athletes to be calorie deficient and to have an eating disorder, which can lead to a condition termed Female Athlete Triad by the American College of Sports Medicine. The term was coined in the 1990s and describes the interplay between energy availability, menstrual function and bone health. The condition starts when the female athlete doesn’t eat enough, and the low caloric intake results in irregularities in her menstrual cycle. The short-term effects are just as harmful as the long-term effects. There’s an increased risk
mance and a diminished ability to recover from workouts and competition. The long-term effects include a loss in hormones, and that leads to weaker bones and more severe osteoporosis and bone loss later in life. “It’s about the overall caloric intake,” said Kathryn Ackerman, co-director of the Female Athlete Program at Boston Children's Hospital. “Girls must take in the appropriate calories, fat, protein and carbs. It’s everything.” MU's athletics department is educating its athletes on proper nutrition with information about how to grocery shop and cook. This is especially important for female athletes who are concerned about eating too much or those who have a misconception about increased protein con-
MU director of sports nutrition and a former college gymnast. “I don’t necessarily want them counting calories because I don’t want to do that personally,” Heitmeyer said. The focus instead is on whether the plate is balanced. "Are you getting the nutrients you need every meal?” To lower the risk of injuries and other health problems, female athletes need to eat the right amount of protein and calories for their workout, Heitmeyer said. “We’re also asking our bodies to do a lot of really crazy stuff, and if we have a bunch of the wrong type of weight, we could potentially be injured,” she said. Female athletes are also somewhere between four and eight times more likely to suffer an
Ackerman said. That's because females are built for greater flexibility and rely less on their hamstring in movements. The hamstring does not act as quickly or powerfully in females as in males, putting more stress on the knee ligaments. Ackerman says the key to preventing ACL injuries in girls is teaching better strengthening techniques for the hamstring and how to jump and land to reduce stress on the ligament. Female athletes are also at an excessively high risk for eating disorders as they try to maintain weight and stay in playing shape. “Everyone’s at risk, but females are more susceptible than males,” Ackerman said about the potential to develop an eating disorder. “And athletes even more so than regular people.”
The Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri officials moved forward Thursday with efforts to add funding for improvements to the state mental hospital, Capitol and park system. The efforts coincided with a favorable financial report released by Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration Thursday that showed state revenues through April were 11.2 percent higher than at this point last year. Buoyed by the news, Nixon announced he directed his budget director to develop an amendment for next year’s proposed budget that would allow $86 million for capital improvements if current trends continue. On the same day, the House advanced legislation that includes $121 million for construction work in the 2014 budget that takes effect July 1. Nixon’s administration said the House’s proposal is for one-time purposes and is consistent with the governor’s proposal. Nixon’s amendment included $13 million for the planning and design of a new facility at the Fulton State Hospital, $28 million for structural repairs to the state Capitol and $45 million for improvements to state parks. The Please see BUDGET, page 6A
Air traffic tower likely to be open, official says Manager calls closure a ‘political game of chicken’ for Congress By ETHAN COLBERT
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
Columbia Regional Airport Manager Don Elliot expressed confidence on Thursday that the air traffic control tower at the airport will remain open. “I believe the tower will stay open,” Elliot said, noting that he has not received official notification from the Federal Aviation Administration. “This has been nothing but a political game of chicken, between the Congress and the executive branch. This has all been a political game played out on the local level. I never actually thought they would close the tower.” FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro in Kansas City said the FAA hasn’t decided on what direction the agency takes after the bill known as Reducing of Flight Delays Act was signed into law by President Obama on Wednesday. The law allows the FAA to reallocate $253 million from within the agency’s budget to keep 149 towers staffed and open. The Columbia Regional Airport tower was slated to close June 15 due to sequestration cuts from the federal government. “All of the information is coming from Washington,” Molinaro
Please see AIRPORT, page 6A
ENERGY
ECONOMIC TRENDS
TODAY’S WEATHER
INDEX
Clean technology investment funds are not trying to replace the fossil fuel industry. They’re trying to help it by financing companies that can make mining less dirty. Page 4A
New data concerning unemployment, domestic oil production and worker productivity might suggest the United States’ economy is finally on the upswing four years after the Great Recession ended. Page 3A
Today: Sleet, possibly mixed with rain showers and snow, becoming all rain after 10 a.m. Temp: 41° Tonight: Chance of showers. Temp: 37° Page 2A
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