Siouxland Life Magazine - September 2012

Remodeling doesn’t happen overnight

String holders anyone?

They’re a collectible

Protect your treasures with unique framing

A GUIDE FOR LIVING IN SIOUXLAND

GETTING READY IT’S NOT JUST THE FOOTBALL TEAM THAT PREPARES

TROUBLE SLEEPING?

SLEEP CENTER CAN DIAGNOSE WHAT WAKES YOU

SEPTEMBER 2012

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SEPTEMBER 2012

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

7/12/12 4:32 PM

CONTENTS September

2012

GETTING READY Before you can enjoy a weekend sporting event, a lot of people have to prepare.

In addition to the players and coaches, there are “back to work” rituals for referees, parents, musicians, physicians and groundskeepers. This month, we look at the people around the games – the folks who make fall such a season of anticipation…and fun.

13 HORSING AROUND

It takes more than energy to be a good sporting event mascot. Just ask the folks who wear the big heads.

ON THE COVER Morningside College football players run through a drill prior to the start of the 2012 season.

Like other athletes, they’ve discovered August is a time of “getting ready.”

Photograph by Jim Lee

FEATURES 4 Feature home: Remodeling takes time 8 Collection: String, string, string 10 Home: Protect your treasures 13 GETTING READY: Mascots 16 GETTING READY: Cheerleaders 18 GETTING READY: Feeding players 20 GETTING READY: Serving fans 22 GETTING READY: Making the team 24 GETTING READY: Coaching winners

26 GETTING READY: Strike up the band 29 GETTING READY: Ref ready 32 GETTING READY: Fields of plenty 35 GETTING READY: Sports injuries 38 GETTING READY: Let’s get physicals 42 HEALTH: Straighten up 44: HEALTH: Sleep, sleep, sleep 46: Doc, I’ve Got a Question 47: Parting Shot

PUBLISHER Steve Griffith EDITOR Bruce Miller EDITORIAL Joanne Fox, Dolly Butz, Tim Gallagher, Earl Horlyk, Nick Hytrek, John Quinlan PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Hynds, Jim Lee, Laura Wehde DESIGN Kathryn Sesser ADVERTISING SALES Nancy Gevik ADVERTISING DESIGN Stacy Pajl, Jill Bisenius

26 RUN FOR THE ROSES

©2012 The Sioux City Journal. Siouxland Life is published monthly by The Sioux City Journal.

For advertising information, please call (712) 224-6275. For editorial information, please call (712) 293-4218.

The MOC/Floyd Valley “Pride of the Dutchmen” marching band will be headed to the Rose Parade in January. Find out what it takes to make the grade.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

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HOME Remodeling

doesn’t happen overnight

HOMEOWNERS TWEAK THINGS UP

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

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Text by Joanne Fox | Photographs by Jim Lee

ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY AND neither were the remodeling projects at the home of Tom and Sharon Brown.

“But we had to do something if we were going to stay here,” Sharon acknowledged. “Some things were the same as when the house was built over 20 years ago.”

So, slowly, the Browns started to tweak things.

The kitchen needed an update.

“There were Formica counter tops that were all right,” Tom paused. “In their day!”

“They were so outdated,” Sharon added.

“The surfaces were not smooth anymore,” Tom noted. “And over time, the color had faded.”

The Browns decided to go with granite counter tops in a beige tone, highlighted with a variety of dark, darker and darkest shades of brown in a definite U-shape.

A small, portable island sits dead center, illuminated by lighting with a silver accent and white globes. The black top on the island matches the electric stove top and sink “That we wanted done in a very dark color to contrast the other counter tops,” Tom said. “We also added this nifty faucet that when your hands are full of food or anything else, you can turn on simply by touching it.”

A real cost saver?

“We didn’t have to replace the Below: The Browns’ remodeled kitchen. Left: The four-season patio in home of Tom and Sharon Brown.

Bottom left: Home of Tom and Sharon Brown.

cabinets,” Tom pointed out. “We did chose an oak floor, again more to update what was there.”

The boards in the oak floor run at an angle in the living area, adjacent to the kitchen. Large ivory area rugs provide a cozy feel. A fireplace serves as the centerpiece of the room.

“It was orange brick before this, matching the outside of the house, and I hated it,” Sharon confessed. “I always felt so stuck with the color, that I couldn’t decorate around it.”

To address that challenge, wooden columns hold up the fireplace mantel in a Grecian, ionic look. The hearth is made of black granite; logs are nestled in a black frame behind a meshed black screen.

Like most homeowners who remodel a kitchen, the Browns remodeled the bathroom.

“I don’t know who thought carpet in the bathroom was a good idea, but we tore that out,” Sharon said. “We replaced it with ceramic tile which was a much better choice.”

Becoming more important for many homeowners is a first floor laundry and the Browns set theirs up to be userfriendly. The granite kitchen counter tops are included in the small room, under eight roomy cabinets. A small black rinse sink with the same style kitchen faucet accents the white washer and dryer. The counter is long enough to accommodate the separating and folding associated with laundry.

“Plus, I added a coffee machine in here,” Sharon explained. “It’s just another

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

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Tom Brown demonstrates the touch controlled faucet in his remodeled kitchen

outdoor

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

way to make the process not so tedious.”

Although the first floor has been adjusted to make living more comfortable for the Browns, if you stop by their home, you’ll find them in their four-seasons porch.

“It’s one of the first projects we started because it originally was a deck,” Tom said. “We must have completed it about four or five years ago.”

The patio uses black outdoor rocking furniture with cushions and at least one ottoman that sit on a laminate, plankstyle floor. The black and brown rug continues the decor from the kitchen.

Plants remind visitors that it is a seasonal presentation, with sun coming in the large windows and doors on three sides.

A small flat screen television allows the Browns to relax with coffee or a meal and catch up on the news. An overhead ceiling fan, in the shape of leaves, circulates the air.

When the Browns moved into their home seven years ago, the lower level was unfinished.

“I had thoughts of a wine cellar,” Tom admitted. “Then, we started looking at a game room.”

Makes sense, since the Browns have

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POWER Above: The new game room and wine cellar, completed with grapes and grape leaves hanging from the lattice ceiling. Below: the Browns’ remodeled laundry room.

seven children – six in Sioux City, 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A foosball table gets a good amount of use.

“I can’t compete with the kids anymore,” Tom acknowledged.

“I’ve never been good at it,” Sharon added.

For those who tire of the tabletop game, an entertainment center with a television and video player can occupy one’s time. Card sharks or game players can always test their skills at a felt-top card table.

But you must look to the ceiling for the piece de resistance in the lower level.

Instead of open beams or corrugated tiles, Tom Brown installed a wooden lattice screen that has grapes and grape leaves dangling from the openings.

“It was my idea,” Sharon clarified of the structure of crossed wooden strips arranged in a diagonal pattern of open spaces between the strips, very reminiscent of something found in an outdoor landscape.

Complicated in appearance, Tom insisted the installation was easy.

“I just bought four by eight sheets of different thicknesses from some local big box store,” he said. “It was just a matter of putting them up and attaching them securely to the ceiling.”

“We get a lot of compliments on what we’ve done, but this ceiling probably generates the most conversation,” Sharon said, looking up.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

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COLLECTIONS stringing

along a hobby

COLLECTION FEATURES

STRING HOLDERS

SPENSERS) (PREDECESSORS OF TAPE DI

m

Text by Joanne Fox | Photos by Jim Lee

MARCUS, IOWA | EVER wonder what people did before tape dispensers?

Lorna Leavitt can point to her wall in answer to that question.

Her kitchen walls in her home in this Cherokee County community are lined with string holder dispensers.

“In the 1940s and 1950s, grocery stores would give these out as premiums if you bought certain items,” she explained.

The figurines typically have a removable back which contains a roll of string, which is pushed through the figure’s mouth. When you needed to wrap a package, you pulled out the string or twine, just as if you wanted to tape something.

“The nicer ones would also have a place to hold a pair of small scissors,” 8

SEPTEMBER 2012

added Leavitt, associate professor of education at Morningside College.

Q. When did you start collecting the string holders?

A. Around 1995.

Q. What’s the first piece you acquired?

A. I got the Babcombie fox and the book, “A Collector’s Guide to Stringholders including prices” by Sharon Ray Jacobs.

Q. How do you go about adding pieces?

A. My biggest addition was from another collector’s family who had passed away and offered individual pieces out of the collection to buy instead of the complete lot of 560 of them. I always try to put them on my Wishpot Christmas lists. I have purchased them on eBay. I go to antique stores and look for them. I am so blessed to have wonderful, loving family who are very generous in gift-giving and so, I have gotten many as gifts.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Q. What’s the appeal of this collection for you?

A. I started off thinking of how I wanted to decorate the plain white walls of my newly remodeled kitchen. I feel that they are from a unique classy era of life and just the fun of their faces and the historical reminders of a different era and each one’s story – like the Lithuanian Tea Lady. And antiques seem to relate well to my kitchen motif, I think.

Q. What criteria do you use for choosing an addition to your collection of about 60?

A. I prefer they are original chalkware.

Nothing that has been repainted as a restoration process. I would prefer no chips, and so on, but those are getting to be so high-priced that they are expensive to purchase. I am starting to like the “redos” made in more modern times out of porcelain.

Q. What about price?

Lorna Leavitt clowns it up with one of her string holder dispensers in her Marcus, Iowa, home.

Left: Lorna Leavitt has a large collection of string holders. You can pull the string through the mouth on the first two. Center: This string holder has the string dispensed from the apron.

A. The more common and larger amount produced the cheaper they are.

They can be $50 to well over $1,000 each.

When I started, they were not really a popular collection, but now they have really increased in value, just in the last four years, as being hard to find and expensive.

Q. Which is your favorite piece?

A. The baby is my favorite – unique and in great shape and one of the more pricey ones. It would be easier to say which one I am not the fondest of. I really like them all, except for my “Wizard of Oz” pieces. They’re a bit scary-looking and very poorly painted.

Q. What’s the response of friends and/ or family to the collection?

A. They usually ask what they are.

They probably think it is strange/spooky but too polite to say. They usually ask about the history of their purpose and how people got them and what they used them for.

Q. Do you collect anything else and how did that come about?

A. I collect music boxes but they must show their works, snowglobes, Winnie the Pooh memorabilia, and Yoda stuff. I guess I come from a family that collects things so it just seems natural to pick things to collect. Plus I love knick knacks.

My Grandpa and Grandma De Groot had three long shelves in their living room full of knick knacks and I always loved to look at them and enjoyed them. I have many doilies my aunts have tatted and given to me as well that are very special.

My sister has collections and always has them displayed so classy that it looked

Although it appears the string is being dispensed from this figure’s hands, it actually comes out above them.

like fun.

Q. Any thought to ever stopping the collecting?

A. Well, for now I have room for about one more full row and one partial row.

There is a series of characters that I don’t

have any of and I would like to add that to the collection as well as finish a few partner pieces. So I guess after that long answer, the result is I have not thought of stopping yet. Guess I could always expand out into the hallway!

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

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FRAMING protect

your treasures

THERE’S MORE TO FRAMING THAN MEETS THE EYE Text by

Dolly A. Butz | Photos by

Jim Lee

10

a

A PRIZED PHOTOGRAPH, newspaper clipping or jersey will fade over time.

All things do, according to Ed Rosston, a Certified Picture Framer and owner of FastFrame, 1929 Hamilton Blvd.

But that doesn’t mean you have to tuck your ribbons and awards away in an acid-free box in a dark closet to protect them. There are ways to display precious memorabilia in a shadow box or frame and preserve it, according to Rosston.

He said a quality professional framing job can cost anywhere from $150 to $1,000 depending on the object and its size.

“Framing is more than four sticks and a piece of glass,” he said.

Rosston, who has been in business for more than eight years, can put just about anything in a shadow

SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Top: Ed Rosston, owner of FastFrame, shows a print properly framed under UV protective glass and the same print that has been faded after being framed for a year under ordinary glass. Above: Rosston displays a classic Musketeers hockey jersey that has been framed.

box – from baby moccasins to violins. He has even framed some of Sioux City native and Chicago Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich’s jerseys.

“The proper way to do it is so it’s non-invasive and reversible,” he said. “If I put it in a frame and five years down the road want to take it out, nothing has happened to it.”

That means no tacking, gluing or stapling.

Dry mount pictures on an acid-free base, or consider hinge mounting.

If you’re thinking about framing a newspaper article, Rosston recommends copying it on acid-balanced paper and framing the copy instead.

What should you mount it on?

Museum-quality mats that contain an alkali buffer, Rosston said, are preferred over paper mats.

He explained that lignins in paper mats break down over time, producing acidic conditions that will change the color of the object on top of it, whether it is a certificate, photograph or fabric item.

Backing an object with cardboard, Rosston said, is another ‘no-no.’

“You never want to back anything with cardboard,” he said. “Brown cardboard is very, very acidic. The reason it yellows is acid.”

The type of glass you choose will also have an impact on fading and how much dust is collected.

Window glass provides 47 percent UV protection, museum glass 65 percent percent and conservation glass 99 percent.

Optium Museum Acrylic, Rosston said, is at the top of the line with its anti-scratch and anti-static properties. The downside is its expensive cost, which is five times that of museum glass.

Glass should never touch artwork or memorabilia in a frame or shadow box, according to Rosston, because a lack of air space can lead to condensation and ultimately ruin the object.

As far as color and style of frames and mats, Rosston said he presents some choices on his desk, but ultimately leaves the decision up to his customers.

A dark brown suede mat backing a silver belt buckle, he described as “dropdead gorgeous.” A customer’s selection of a mat that reminded him of stucco, not so much.

“All I could think of was a bathroom.

I didn’t think it went with the picture at all,” he said. “But I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to live with it.”

Rosston does all of his work at his store. A project can take him anywhere from one to eight hours. Typically, he said, a shadow box is ready for pickup in less than a week.

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Home Grown & Proud to Live & Work in Siouxland

LAURA E. GIESE, DDS

BRIAN B. BURSICK, DDS

DOUGLAS A. WHEELOCK, DDS, PC

Dr. Laura Giese was born and raised in Sioux City , growing up in the Morningside Area. She attended Heelan High School and graduated in 2000. She then went on to spend the next 8 years at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, receiving her undergraduate degree in Biology in 2004 and her Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree in 2008. In July of 2008, she joined Wheelock and Bursick Dentistry as an associate.

Dr. Giese is married to her high school sweetheart, Bob Giese and has a son, Cal. Dr. Giese is committed to providing quality dental care for Siouxland.

Dr. Brian Bursick is a Sioux City native growing up in the Crescent Park area. He attended West High School and graduated in 1986. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from the University of Nebraska Dental School in 1994. After graduation he practiced briefly in Sergeant Bluff, IA. In 1997 he joined Dr. Wheelock as an associate.

In 2004 he became a business partner.

Away from the office Dr. Bursick is busy with his family. He and his wife Kristy have three young sons.

Dr. Bursick is devoted to delivering quality comprehensive dentistry to the people of his hometown, Sioux City, IA.

Dr. Wheelock established his own dental practice in 1977. It originally was only 2 blocks from its current location at 4100 Morningside Avenue.

Dr. Wheelock was born and raised in Sioux City graduating from Sioux City Central High School in 1969.

He went on to receive his Bachelors of Science degree from Briar Cliff College in 1973. He attended dental school at the University of Iowa and earned his Doctor of Dental Science degree in 1976. After graduation Dr. Wheelock returned to Sioux City.

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Dr. Wheelock is proud to call Siouxland home and enjoys providing quality dental care to the community.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

GETTING READY the mascots

A Morningside College secondary education junior, Erik Chavarria played the part of Monte the Mustang – the college’s mascot.

THIS USTANG HAS AD OVES Text and photos by

Earl Horlyk

d

DURING ALL OF MORNINGSIDE College Mustangs 2011-12 home games, Erik Chavarria boasted a colorful wardrobe to show his school spirit.

The secondary education major routinely would wear a maroon football jersey (“No. 1”), a pair of white tennies (size 20) and a 10-pound head of a horse.

Chavarria was “Monte the Mustang,” Morningside’s tail-wagging mascot, at all of the school’s major sporting events.

Yet that certainly isn’t to say Chavarria was simply a “one-trick pony.”

The Santa Ana, Calif., native actually came to Morningside to be part of the school’s wrestling program.

“I was a wrestler my freshman year,” the Morningside junior explained. “But I had to quit due to the damage it was doing to my body.”

It was as a result of a bet with the girlfriend of a fellow wrestler that led the muscular Chavarria to join the school’s cheer team.

“She knew I wanted to show my school spirit and dared me to try out for cheerleading,” he remembered.

“Not one to step back from a challenge, I decided why not?”

Though he didn’t make the firststring team, Chavarria was offered a different role by Morningside cheer team coach Lindsay Huber.

“Lindsay asked me if I wanted to be Monte the Mustang,” he recalled.

“After learning the job paid $25 a game, I say, ‘Heck, yeah!’”

And it seems like Chavarria took to Monte, well, like a horse takes to water.

Showing off a costume that included a heavily padded football uniform, fur gloves and a cumbersome horse head (complete with a built-in helmet), Chavarria said he had a

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

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The Morningside College mascot, Monte the Mustang, is shown at the Oct. 8, 2011, Morningside College Homecoming football game.

“blast” playing the school’s most prominent mustang.

“Kids loved being around Monte,” he observed, “and everybody wanted to have their picture taken with me.”

But there are some cardinal rules in becoming a mascot, with the first one being no talking.

“Talking would break the illusion of being a mustang,” Chavarria noted.

Also, being seen without the horse’s head is definitely a no-no.

“There’s a small, out-of-the-way place behind the (Olsen Stadium) concession stands where you can take off the head,” Chavarria said, “but, even there, it’s chancy.”

Other than that, Chavarria said it was up to him to infuse the silent Monte with plenty of personality.

“I love to dance so I made sure that Monte could move,” he said, grinning.

“I wanted my mustang to be able to do both the ‘Reject’ and ‘the Dougie’ (dance moves).”

“Yes, my Monte could definitely ‘do the Dougie,’” Chavarria said with a sense of pride.

In addition to “fly” dance moves, Monte was quite the ladies’ man ... um, horse, 14

SEPTEMBER 2012

flirting with cheerleaders and, even, doing a few push-ups with members of Morningside’s marching band.

“Gotta tell ya, that wasn’t easy,” Chavarria admitted. “Monte’s snout got in the way.”

In fact, everything’s awkward when you’re inside a one-man horse suit.

“You do have tunnel vision,” Chavarria explained, “because you can only see through holes in Monte’s teeth.”

And what about wearing a heavy horse head continuously throughout a twohour game?

“It’s exhausting,” Chavarilla confessed, adding that his trick was to rest Monte’s head on a fence or railing.

“That way you can alleviate some of the weight off of your head and shoulders,” he said.

But that didn’t keep Chavarria from sweating up a storm inside his fur-lined suit. In order to keep from overheating, he traditionally wore a T-shirt and light pair of shorts underneath his costume.

“My first few games were tough because they occurred in late summer, last year,” he said. “I was so tired, I needed my friends to help take the costume off me.”

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Yet, there were plenty of perks from being Morningside’s resident horse-forhire.

“Since I was Monte, I got to keep the costume in my dorm room,” Chavarria said, adding that the horse’s head frequently sat on top of his TV and came out whenever he wanted to give his guests a good scare.

“A big head with unblinking eyes can be very terrifying when you’re not expecting it,” he allowed. “Sometimes, Monte looked like he came out of one of those ‘Saw’ movies.”

Still, Chavarria used Monte for good a lot more than he did for evil.

“Oh yeah, it was pretty cool being Monte,” he said.

A fan of hip-hop, dub step, even reggae music when he’s not wearing a horse suit, the already-outgoing Chavarria said becoming a mascot has done wonders for his confidence level.

“As Monte, I could do all of the stuff I ordinarily wouldn’t do,” he said. “I could dance and fool around and just have fun.”

“It’s perfectly fine to make a fool of yourself as a mascot,” Chavarria said.

“After all, nobody knows it’s you in the horse’s head.”

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c

GETTING READY the cheerleaders

West High School cheerleader Madison Puntillo, 15, practices with her squad.

16

Text by Dolly A. Butz Photos by Laura Wehde

“CHEERLEADING IS NOT JUST A sport, it’s an attitude.”

It’s a phrase Sioux City West High School cheerleaders say they hear a lot from head coach Rochelle Clark.

On a steamy August afternoon, the squad of 29 girls and two boys were taking Clark’s motivational statement to heart as they belted out cheers, tightly snapped their arms into high “V”s and tuck-jumped into the air on the black track at West High.

Clark’s squad has been practicing hard twice a week since May outdoors in the sun and heat. They start practice with a lap around the track and some stretching before getting down to serious business with their cheers.

Working outside, Clark said helps her cheerleaders get used to projecting their voices and prepares them for whatever the weather may bring come football season.

“Our cheerleaders have been exposed to the elements,” she said. “We’re definitely getting them prepared to cheer on the track.”

Besides getting prepared for the football season, Clark also wants her girls and guys to have the skills to take themselves to the college level.

Squads in the Sioux City Community School District are “ground bound,” meaning they can’t partner stunt or tumble, although some girls perform handsprings.

At a four-hour camp this summer, the West High School cheerleaders learned seven new cheers from a private instructor, as well as a dance routine and the fundamentals of basic stunting.

“It was all about learning,” Clark said.

“I wanted them to be educated so they can move to the next level.”

Cheerleading competitions during the school year are also out, but that doesn’t mean the girls don’t compete.

CHEERING & CHANTING

SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Clark explained that the opposing team is their competition.

“We want movement.

We want interaction. We want to get the crowd and the other cheerleaders involved,” she said.

Captains Diana Medina, a senior, and Cami Jensen, a junior, said there’s a misconception out there that cheerleading isn’t a sport. Both girls say it’s not easy.

“Saying the words and doing the actions, you’re out of breath pretty easy,” Jensen said.

Balancing the time commitment cheerleading requires with academics and other sports is also a challenge, according to Clark. Some of her athletes are also involved in dance, cross country and volleyball.

“It takes more effort because there are so many things our cheerleaders are involved in,” she said. “It’s another job for them.”

Clark wants cheerleading practice to be fun, not a chore, so she breaks up the time with games and an occasional Popsicle.

“I want them to come to practice with a smile on their face, not an ache in their gut,” she said.

Clark’s philosophy seems to be working. This year’s squad, which now includes freshmen, is the biggest it has been in a while.

Her cheerleaders were sweaty and a little red-faced as they sat on the track after a high-intensity hour-long workout, but all were smiling and surprisingly peppy as they talked.

Medina said what she likes best about cheerleading is the way her squad comes together to support one another.

“It’s like a family,” she said. “I feel really comfortable here.”

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West High School cheerleaders practice recently.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

17

GETTING READY feeding the players

GOOD NUTRITION

SCORES FOR ATHLETES

m

Text by Joanne Fix | Photos by Tim Hynds

MERRILL, IOWA | HINTON FOOTBALL players Mitchell Hoefling and Colin Poss swear an athlete can never have enough water.

“Especially right after a practice,” said Poss who is a fullback and linebacker. “It rehydrates you. When you’re thirsty or your throat is dry, you are already dehydrated and need to do something.”

“I’m always drinking water,” added Hoefling, who plays center and noseguard. “I have a bottle of water between classes.”

That’s not to say Hoefling and Poss aren’t big fans of chocolate milk.

“It has a lot of protein,” Hoefling pointed out.

Poss is also a big fan of proteins shakes.

“During the school year, I usually take seconds at lunch,” said Poss, a senior 18

SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

BEST ADVICE FOR STUDENT ATHLETES • Get calories and protein from healthful food first • Eat a balanced diet which will provide adequate protein • Start by eating breakfast every day • Stay hydrated with water • Save the sports drinks for long workouts or competitions • Avoid energy drinks • Be sure to eat before and after practice or games to keep your body fueled and ready to compete • Strive for this rule of thumb – “3 for 3” – aim for all three nutrients (whole carbs, lean protein and healthy fats) every three hours Source: Nancy Rosston, clinical dietitian at Mercy Medical Center – Sioux City

Above: Roger and Melanie Poss and their son Colin, of Merrill, Iowa, stand in their kitchen. Colin, a multi-sport athlete has to be smart about the food choices he makes to keep his energy high. Left: Hinton High School football player Mitchell Hoefling at his rural Hinton, Iowa, home with some of his favorite foods. Bottom left: Colin Poss holds up his favorite sandwich at Emma Rae’s cafe.

who stands 5’11” and weighs around 165 pounds with about eight percent body fat.

“I take thirds,” clarified Hoefling, a junior who weighs 250 pounds and stands 6’2.”

A recent article on the Olympics reported one competitive swimmer put away 6,000 calories per day. How many calories an athlete needs depends on many factors, explained Nancy Rosston, clinical dietitian at Mercy Medical Center – Sioux City.

“Age, weight, weight goal, is there a desire to gain or lose weight, type of sport and position played in that sport are all factors,” she said. “Because teen athletes are still growing, their calorie needs can be very high. For growth alone, a typical teen who is active, but not in competitive sports, needs 2,800-3,200 calories per day. For a teen athlete, calorie needs can exceed 5,000 calories per day.”

Ingesting those calories can be spread out during the day or delayed until later.

Hoefling likes to have something in his stomach before a game. Poss prefers not to.

“Eating before and after practice or games is equally important but for different reasons,” Rosston said. “Eating before practice provides the body with the fuel it needs to perform at its best. It is advisable to eat a meal three to four hours before and a carbohydrate-containing snack 30 to 60 minutes before practice or a game. Some athletes find they tolerate liquids better than solid food for this snack.

“However, it is necessary to eat/drink within 30 minutes after a practice or game to restore fluids and electrolytes, replace muscle fuel – glycogen – repair damaged muscle tissue and stimulate development of new muscle,” she continued. “It is important to include adequate fluids, protein and electrolytes, as well as carbohydrates.”

“Colin’s always been a naturally good eater,” said his mother, Melanie Poss, who then laughed. “That’s certainly no credit to us.”

Colin’s father, Roger Poss, recalled a different eating regimen when he played halfback at South Sioux City High School in the late 1970s.

“I ate everything I saw,” he said. “Nowadays, it’s different. Student athletes are more regimented in their diets. They’re more in shape before the start of the season.”

Mitchell’s dad, Kenny Hoefling, a 1982 Hinton High School graduate who played running back and linebacker, echoed those sentiments.

“Growing up on the farm, you ate roast, carrots, potatoes,” he said. “You’d go in for (football) practice, come home, work, go back in. You stayed fit baling hay, walking beans, just working on the farm.”

People who watch their weight are always told to eat a lot of veggies, fruits and go light on carbs and meat. Rosston clarified that’s not quite the same for student athletes.

“The goal for athletes is not just to lose pounds but to lose body fat without

losing lean muscle which could decrease their athletic performance,” she said. “They need to eat nutrient-dense foods – foods lower in calories but high in nutrition – such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins while decreasing their intake of simple sugar foods. Adequate intake of carbohydrates and protein are essential.

Eating smaller more frequent meals is often needed to boost satiety and satisfaction.”

Rosston acknowledged that routine is not easy.

“The need or desire to gain or lose weight can definitely be a challenge if not a struggle for an athlete,” she said.

“When a teen athlete is faced with needing to lose weight, he or she can be tempted to utilize starvation diets or diets that lead to weight loss by causing dehydration. When an athlete wants to ‘bulk up,’ he or she can be tempted to utilize nutritional supplements inappropriately. It is imperative they receive accurate information about nutrition, including safe weight management regimens.”

Colin, 17, does have his vices. So does 16-year-old Mitchell.

“He likes those frozen Swiss Rolls as a treat,” Colin’s mom Melanie tattled.

“Doritos,” Mitchell said – without elaboration.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

19

GETTING READY serving the fans

COMF FOOD ORT CONC S RULE ESSIO STAND N S

Bonnie Kleinhesselink, seen at Olsen Stadium, is in charge of concessions for Morningside College games as well as Sioux City’s three high schools.

Text by Earl

Horlyk Photo by

Laura Wedhe

20

SEPTEMBER 2012

POPCORN, PRETZELS AND TACO-IN-A-BAG

o

ON ANY GIVEN THURSDAY, Friday or Saturday during football season, Elwood Olsen Stadium will be a-buzz with players pummeling one another on the field and fans cheering them on in the stands.

But all of the pummeling and cheering can leave a person feeling peckish.

That’s why Olsen’s concessions stand can be equally as busy on nights when Morningside College and Sioux City Community School teams compete.

This is something Bonnie

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Kleinhesselink knows all too well. As the stadium’s concession manager, she’s the one who oversees all of the food served at Olsen.

And so does Mark Wisniewski, general manager for Distinctive Gourmet, which holds the food and beverage contract with Olsen, in addition to the Tyson Events Center, the Sioux City Convention Center, among other city facilities.

“Come football season, it’s always a crazy time for us,” Kleinhesselink said, weeks before the start of football season.

Wisniewski agreed, adding that’s to be expected as many parents come to see their children play immediately after work.

“People come hungry,” he said, “and they want good food at a good price.”

So, what do sports fans

want to eat?

According to Kleinhesselink, it’s often traditional fare like hot dogs and a soda.

“That’s a pretty safe meal for both kids and adults,” she noted.

Also popular is the Taco-in-aBag, which is essentially a taco salad served inside a bag of corn chips.

“The Taco-in-a-Bag is a relatively new item for us,” Kleinhesselink explained. “Once people realize we have ’em, they’ll get it because they’re very filling.”

In addition, such standard stadium sustenance like pretzels, popcorn and nachos are plentiful for football fans as are drinks like Minute Maid Instant Lemonade, Hot Chocolate and many variety of sodas.

But Wisniewski is quick to note such sodas don’t come in 32-ounce containers.

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“We don’t want (Mayor Michael) Bloomberg to come down on us,” he said jokingly in response to New York’s ban of “Big Gulp” sizes of sugary soft drinks.

Although other facilities like the Tyson offer a diverse selection of food items, Wisniewski said Olsen’s menu is much more limited due to the size of its kitchen.

“We’d like to do more,” he said, “but we simply don’t have the space.”

Another consideration is that the kitchen is often made up of members of the school’s athletic teams, booster clubs and business classes.

“Many schools use concession sales as a way to raise funds for various programs,” Wisniewski said. “That seems to have worked out very well for them.”

Despite the lack of fancy fare, Kleinhesselink doesn’t think any of her patrons will walk away hungry or disappointed.

“There’s nothing better than comfort food when you’re cheering your team on,” she said.

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HomeownersHip is a Key issue for fall elections If you are among the more than 75 million Americans who own their home, or the millions more who hope to someday achieve the American dream of homeownership, then you will want to tell your candidates where you stand on critical housing issues before casting your ballot this fall.

National policy has acknowledged the importance of the home in American family life for almost a century, yet today, homeownership is under attack.

Legislative and regulatory proposals that would greatly harm home owners, home buyers, the housing market and the nation’s economy are under consideration by government policymakers. These include ongoing threats to the mortgage interest deduction, instituting a standard 20 percent downpayment on home loans, and ending the federal backstop for housing, which would make the 30-year mortgage less accessible and more expensive.

The stakes are enormous. The decisions the politicians who are elected to office this year make on these proposals could not only strip away homeownership’s priority status and obstruct the economy’s ability to recover, but also reverse the housing policies that created a thriving middle class and contributed to a century

of economic progress.

Homeownership contributes significantly to the nation’s economy, and can help provide millions of jobs to get the economy back on its feet.

Currently, housing accounts for about 15 percent of the nation’s total economic output, including new construction of single-family and multifamily homes, remodeling and services provided by existing homes. Building 100 average single-family homes generates 305 jobs, $23.1 million in wage and business income, and $8.9 million in taxes and revenue for state, local and federal governments.

But persistently tight lending standards are making it difficult for creditworthy, financially responsible families to buy a home and threaten to ultimately prevent millions of families from ever becoming home owners.

Homeownership has always been – and continues to be – the single best longterm investment for most Americans. It is a primary source of wealth and financial security for many households, helping to provide for education, retirement and more.

Current and aspiring home owners need to choose carefully before voting

for political candidates this fall. Your vote could ultimately determine whether policies are enacted in the next Congress that impact your ability to buy a first home, keep your current home or enter into the move-up market.

As the debate over housing policy unfolds, it is crucial to ensure that homeownership remains attainable and that access to safe, decent and affordable housing remains a national priority. Make sure that politicians know where you stand on homeownership issues by signing NAHB’s online petition to members of Congress at www.protecthomeownership. com/petition.

For more information on the impact of housing and homeownership go to www.protecthomeownership.com.

Bob Wilcke President Bob Wilcke Construction

SIOUXLAND LIFE

712-255-3852 www.hbags.com August 2012

21

GETTING READY making the team

TALES FROM THE RECRUITING TRAIL East High star shares some great memories

PHOTO BY TIM GALLAGHER

s

Alex Imming, an East High multi-sport star, flips a football at the practice field at East High. Imming, 19, decided to walk-on at the University of Iowa, becoming a part of its football program.

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

Text by Tim Gallagher

SIOUX CITY | A COLLEGE RECRUITER once called Alex Imming at 10:30 p.m.

Imming received hundreds of calls and letters in the latter part of his junior year and the bulk of his senior year at East High, where he starred in football, basketball and track.

Memories from the recruiting trail are positive, for the most part.

“The call at 10:30 at night kind of bugged me,” he said. “The thing with recruiters is that even if you don’t want to attend their school, they still might talk to you for an hour.”

Such are the crosses to bear for a bluechip athlete. When all-stater Imming wasn’t setting offensive records at East, he was starring on the basketball court for the Black Raiders, who finished second in Iowa’s Class 4A state tourney last March.

He also made the state track meet as a hurdler.

Imming, the son of Kim and the late Steve Imming of Sergeant Bluff, decided during his junior basketball season that he’d play football in college.

It was a tough decision, as basketball remains his favorite.

“The Vanderloos (coaches Ras and Jeff) were really helpful in the process,” Imming says during a chat in the East High commons area. “They said they would have helped find me a basketball team if I went that way, probably a low Division I school or a Division II program.”

Imming, who stands 6-feet 3-inches and weighs in at 210 pounds, believed he’d be more suited for the gridiron.

“If I would have been better at basketball, I would have done basketball,” he says.

While he excelled on the basketball court, Imming was almost other-worldly in football. He paced the state in total offensive output as a junior, running for 1,100 yards and passing for 1,735 yards.

PHOTO BY JIM

“As an athlete it’s tough to give that all up and focus on one sport,” he says.

“I couldn’t believe HYNDS PHOTO BY TIM after our state championship game in basketball (a loss to undefeated Iowa City West) that the game would be my last. I’ve played basketball since I was 4 years old.”

The football quarterback shared positive tales from the recruiting tale, the late phone call notwithstanding. Imming was a guest of the Iowa Hawkeyes for four of their home games. His first visit marked the first time he’d attended a game at venerable Kinnick Stadium.

“I loved the atmosphere at Kinnick,” he says.

Iowa’s coaches showed highlights of said he always the team, and told Imming they wanted felt he’d likely stay in Iowa, or him to be involved in those highlights close to home while competing at the colin the future. Coach Paul Rhoads of the legiate level.

Iowa State Cyclones did the same. And That desire became more of a necesImming was there as a Cyclone recruit sity after his father died of a heart attack the night Ames, Iowa, rocked with ISU’s on January 20. upset of undefeated Oklahoma State.

When Iowa offered Imming the Imming also attended a football camp chance to walk-on with the opportunity at the Air Force Academy. He saw games to earn a full scholarship, he took it. He’s as a guest of the University of South Dain a unique position to get his education kota Coyotes and the University of Northpaid for at a school he loves while still ern Iowa Panthers, great experiences all. being close to his mother and younger When football programs were probrothers, Connor and Jake. hibited from contacting players during “I just need to work hard and impress certain “dead periods,” it was Alex’s dad the coaches,” said Imming, who would Steve, who would get emails. love to follow in the footsteps of former “They’d email my dad to invite us to Hawkeye walk-ons Dallas Clark and Chad games,” he said.

Greenway, both all-pros in the National Mail kept pouring in, too, at a rate that Football League. sometimes topped 10 letters per week.

“Even if you’re not on scholarship at Imming kept all of his mailers, stuffIowa, you get all of the same treatment,” ing them inside a sports bag that’s now he says. “You do the same lifting, go to the awfully heavy. Some schools he’d never same practices and have the same acaheard of before. demic learning center.”

While the Air Force camp at Colorado His biggest hurdle? He knows he’ll Springs, Colo., was a great time, Imming miss Mom and his brothers at home.

LEE

East’s Alex Imming drives around Ankeny’s Bryan Summer during Sioux City East’s victory over Ankeny in Class 4A semifinal-round action of the Iowa boys’ state basketball tournament on March 9, at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Right: East High School’s Alex Imming passes against Southeast Polk during football action at Olsen Stadium on Oct. 14, 2011. Imming is now a walk-on freshman in the football program at the University of Iowa.

“When my Dad died, I knew I had to be there for Mom,” he says. “And at first I felt like I’d have to step up and be the head of the house. That ended up not being the case. We have a lot of help from a lot of people.”

He’ll miss those people, too.

The people of rival Bishop Heelan High, who attended his father’s funeral.

And the people of East who continue to reach out to the Imming family.

“I’ll miss all the nice people here, the people who looked after me,” Imming says, looking around the East High facility.

The experience served to motivate. It also made this Hawkeye grateful for everything he had – and still has.

“My advice to high school athletes is to work as hard as you can,” he says. “It doesn’t get any better than playing high school sports with your friends. No matter how far you go in life, you’ll always remember the fun you had playing high school sports.”

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

23

20 QUESTIONS

GETTING READY 20 questions with a coach

with high school volleyball coach

Tammi Veerbeek Text by Nick Hytrek | Photograph by Tim Hynds

Tammi Veerbeek, the volleyball coach at Western Christian High School in Hull, Iowa, is shown at the school.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Tammi Veerbeek, volleyball coach of Western Christian in Hull, Iowa, has been at the helm of eight of the school’s 13 state championships. She talked with Nick Hytrek about the effort that goes into the game.

1. How long have you been coaching?

This is my 13th year, and I coached three years at Okoboji and my senior year in college I was an assistant at Sioux Center. So, 17 years.

2. What got you into coaching?

Ever since I was a little girl, I enjoyed sports. Already at sixth grade, I wanted to be a PE teacher and a coach, and that’s what I’m doing.

3. Are there other coaches in your family?

I’m the only one.

4. Why volleyball?

I enjoy many sports. Volleyball became my passion. It’s the ultimate team sport. You have six players on a small court, and you rely on your teammates. I enjoy the part of the game where you need to put the pieces of the puzzle together to make that part of the game work.

5. Do you coach any other sports now or have you in the past?

When I went to Okoboji, I was an assistant basketball coach, but not since then. I’ve coached my daughter’s youth softball team, but in high school, it’s just volleyball.

6. What certification do you have to meet to be a high school coach?

I’m a teacher. Every five years I have to renew my teaching license, so my coaching endorsement goes along with that.

7. What keeps you coming back every year?

The thrill of the game, the players.

After this many years, you don’t do it for the money. You do it for the love of the game and because of the girls.

8. How has coaching changed since you started?

I think the demand on the athletes is more. Weight training, plyometrics, agility drills – all the things they do off the court are more than they were 17 years ago. Because of all those training programs, the speed of the game is faster. Everybody’s bigger, faster and

stronger.

Yes, I have.

9. How much time do you spend working on your sport out of season?

Our volleyball season hopefully ends the second week in November at the state tournament. In December, we start with our youth, fifth through eighth grades, starting to have AAU practices and form teams. February and March, we do AAU tournaments. Then in April and May are two down months.

Once school is out, we have open gym and attend team camps. It’s never-ending in a way, but I enjoy it.

10. At what point during the summer do you start getting excited for the upcoming season?

I’d say right about now (mid-July).

We attend team camps. Once you start getting on the court with your players ... you start getting that itch, running scenarios through your head.

11. What do you do to keep up with developments in your sport?

They’re always putting out new videos you can watch. I like to go to team camps because you can learn things from other coaches.

12. How do you define a successful season? Is it based on winning or something else?

I would never want to say success is based off winning, because at Western we have so many other things going.

But yes, we are going to do everything we can to win. We want to become the best we’re capable of becoming with the God-given skills we’re given. We want to be good examples to younger players.

13. How much pressure is there to win?

It’s hard to get away from that. We’ve had some teams that have struggled with that. When you’ve been to state so many years in a row, kids come to expect it. We usually deal with it as a team and talk about it. We’ve got to realize that some of that is going to be there.

14. Have you ever gotten offers to coach in college or a larger high school?

15. Why did you stay?

This is where I was born and raised.

My family is here (in Sioux Center, where she lives). I love the area. It’s a very good community. To me, my family is more important than any coaching record.

16. What’s the best part about being a coach?

Developing the relationships with the players and having that continue on after they’ve graduated.

17. What’s the most challenging part of coaching?

The most challenging part for me would be playing time, especially at Western Christian we have so many talented players. I’m going to have 18 players trying out for varsity, and we have cuts. Still, after 17 years, to tell a kid they didn’t make it, that still hurts.

18. What’s your most memorable coaching moment?

That’s hard. I don’t know what year it was, but we had lost to Unity (Christian) in districts, but we got to keep going and played them in substate. It was at Dordt College, and it was packed. We were the underdog, and we beat them to go to state.

19. How long do you think you’ll coach?

My daughter’s coming up, and we’ll have to see how that goes. That’s going to bring a new dynamic. If I could predict the future, I’d like to say at least six more years until she graduates.

20. What advice would you give a young coach just getting started?

My advice would be to get to know your players and who they are. Each player is a unique person. Get to know them outside the game. In the end, wins and losses and state championships are going to fade, but later you see players and those relationships are going to last longer.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

25

GETTING READY strike up the band

ROSES BLOOM FOR TH

BAND FROM TULIP TOW Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band heads back to Pasadena

o

Text by Tim Gallagher

ORANGE CITY, Iowa | The Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day will come up...tulips next year.

That was the word from Sally Bixby, president of the 2013 Tournament of Roses, who stopped by the Orange City Tulip Festival in May to formally invite The Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band to the grand parade in Pasadena, Calif.

“This is the biggest parade in the world,” said Steve Connell, the band director at MOC-Floyd Valley High School 26

SEPTEMBER 2012

in Orange City. “A million people line the streets. It’s really hard to describe unless you’ve been there.”

Being in The Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band is like that. So, we stopped to ask five seniors their thoughts about the thrills they’ve had and the dedication they need to march for one of Iowa’s premier marching bands, a band that has marched and played all over the U.S. map, including parade shows in Hawaii, Oregon, West Virginia, Arizona, Florida and more.

Those who gathered include Kristin Probst, field conductor who has played alto sax; Drew Lemke, a trumpeter; Paige Hubers, a guard captain/drum major who can play trumpet; Andy Schuiteman, a field conductor/drum major who plays alto sax; and Jade Hanson, a flute

SIOUXLAND LIFE

player who now serves as color guard captain.

The 2012 fall show, dubbed “From One For All,” features a whirlwind of movement across three songs. It opens with Brendan Foughty in a trumpet solo.

“Brendan plays five bars and sets the mood,” says Schuiteman. “It’s the main melody the whole show is based on.”

If it is anything like previous Dutch efforts, it will be spectacular. Connell’s crew is known for more than its wooden shoes (they’ll be worn at Pasadena); the group is known for aggressive

PHOTOS BY TIM GALLAGHER

The Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band from MOC-FV High School in Orange City, Iowa, marches during the 2012 Orange City Tulip Festival. The band marches in the Rose Bowl Parade on Jan. 1, 2013.

Right: Steve Connell, director of bands at MOCFloyd Valley High School since 1975, keeps klompen (wooden shoes) on hand in his office, treasures of previous band trips.

PROVIDED PHOTO

HE WN

CHANGING OF THE SHOES There’s a changing of the shoes frequently when the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band strikes up the music for a big parade.

The Rose Parade, for example, is a 5.5-miler that plays out before an estimated 1 million people.

High school players in the band at MOC-FV High School sport Dutch wooden shoes while they march in such parades. The shoes play off the community’s Dutch heritage.

“For the Rose Parade and the Tulip Festival (in Orange City) we’ll sometimes wear four to five pairs of socks for those shoes,” says Andy Schuiteman, a senior field conductor. “We’ll also have volunteers with bags of wooden shoes along the route and we’ll change shoes during the parade.”

Each marching band member could, according to Schuiteman, go through two to four pairs of wooden shoes in the Rose Parade.

moves, great sound and bringing home the hardware. Rare is the day these musicians don’t bring home a first-place award.

“Since second grade we’ve known what this band is about,” says Hubers.

“A lot of us had older siblings in it. I know I always watched the color guard as something about the flags intrigued me.”

Hanson moved to the district five years ago. She came from the PomeroyPalmer School District, one that featured a 47-member band that played during football.

“We had a great band, but we didn’t march,” said Hanson, noting her band was like many others in the region. “Our band was nothing like this.”

“This” on a steamy August day involves 170-some high schoolers gathering for a full day of practice. A morning on the field gives way to rehearsal in the air conditioned band wing. The evening sees everyone assembled at the football stadium again for marching, blocking and sounding out.

“My brother Grant went to band camp the fall after we moved here and he said this is NOT normal,” Hanson adds. “He was tired. I went to watch as I thought my brother was being dramatic.

And then I saw how they moved constantly. You did not know where to look next.”

If you need to find a high school musician around here, the band program is the place to start. Students log 12-hour days during the first week of August in a camp that sets the tone for the upcoming fall schedule.

Connell, the director here since 1975, can be found zipping from place to place on a golf cart, or sitting in the bleachers next to his beloved dog, Patches.

What’s he like? The question draws chorus of laughter. The students love their leader.

“He’s got a unique leadership quality,” Schuiteman says, measuring his own

Color guard captain Jade Hanson of the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band tosses a rifle while practicing a routine at MOC-FV High School in Orange City, Iowa.

words. “And he says he’ll keep at it as long as he love it.”

While the success is virtually unparalleled around here, there have been mishaps. Schuiteman recalls one musician taking a fall during a show at Sioux Falls two to three years ago. Two other musicians stumbled in his wake.

“We still got first,” he says.

The band often does. The commitment, the energy, the involvement and the creativity take the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band to great heights. It’s worth the trip to Orange City for the halftime show. (The football isn’t bad, either.)

Connell, for his part, says the Rose Parade should be something his klompen (wood shoes) wearers will remember forever.

“It’s just a dream come true,” he says.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

27

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

For the life of Siouxland.

METROCREATIVE

GETTING READY ref and ready

LIKE CLOCKWORK, OFFICIALS RETURN TO RITE OF FALL

s

Text and photos by Tim Gallagher

SIOUX CITY | LIKE CLOCKWORK, Mother Nature cools the air on a midAugust night and five football officials gather around a kitchen table on Sioux City’s north side.

They talk about clockwork.

“If the band stays on the field and the teams can’t get the second half started in the allotted time, what do you do?” asks Stan Wisnieski, the referee serving this crew.

Marc Vander Wilt, Dwayne Johnson, Brett Johnson and Keith Baker wade into the debate, wondering how much of a penalty could – or should – be enforced against the host team.

“Homecoming is different,” says

In front, from left, are: Dwayne Johnson and Stan Wisnieski. In back, from left, are: Keith Baker, Marc Vander Wilt and Brett Johnson.

Johnson. “Teams get 20 minutes at the half for homecoming.”

There are black-and-white rules, and

there are select gray areas that leave a bit of space for interpretation. Each case, each call, each game is a different animal on Football Friday Nights. The debates, the relationships, the snap-judgments and the zeal to improve keep men like Wisnieski coming back to the kitchen table – and the gridiron – every autumn.

“It’s not the money,” Wisnieski says.

“We love the friendships, the competition, being out there and making sure the game is played correctly.”

The former Husker football walk-on from Omaha has officiated varsity football at the high school level for 28 years.

His days officiating youth football action dates back to 1971. He’s been getting critiqued ever since. And he doesn’t mind it a bit.

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29

Above: Keith Baker is all smiles while going over a rules interpretation during an officials’ preseason football huddle at the home of Stan Wisnieski, background.

Baker and Wisnieski have officiated football together for years. Left: A season schedule, a rule book and munchies are key elements for the preason football huddle.

“After every game, we ride home and we critique each other,” says Wisnieski, a physical education teacher who retired after 35 years in the classroom. “And you sit there and take it as your fellow officials tell you how you did that night.”

It doesn’t end with the ride home, a ride that sometimes lasts 90 minutes.

Wisnieski collects money from each of his crew members on this night. He’ll use that fund to buy DVDs, stamped envelopes and more in making sure each school sends him a recording of the game.

“I watch the game the following week and then pass the DVD on,” he says. “Or, we’ll all get together and watch the game and talk about what we were doing, what we were thinking on certain plays.”

It’s complicated, of course. Between high school and college football, for example, there are more than 305 rules differences.

“If a kid isn’t wearing a mouthpiece, it’s good preventative officiating to warn him,” Wisnieski says. “If he intentionally spits it out, then you throw the flag.”

“Question: The punting team is punting from their own end zone,” he reads from an open-book test placed on his kitchen table. “The snap is fumbled and the punting team is called for holding in the end zone. Is it a safety?”

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Relationships like that keep Wisnieski and officials like him coming back for more. This crew meets each Friday evening and carpools to their designated football site. The driving rotates and the driver always packs enough sandwiches for everyone.

Usually, it’s one of the passengers who conducts the pregame discussion involving what they’ve seen at younger football levels, or what they’ve seen in the previous week’s game.

“The film doesn’t lie,” Dwayne Johnson says. “We go over what we’ve done.”

Along the way there have been white-outs (at Sibley one year they couldn’t see the yard markers due to heavy now), driving rain storms (the soaked bill of Dwayne Johnson’s cap kept dropping) and injuries (Wisnieski pulled a hamstring during a game at Olsen Stadium last year).

There have been overtime contests and blowouts, calls they blew and those they got right.

“Kids get pumped for football,” Dwayne Johnson says, looking up from his rule book. “We do too. In those great, close games, we get goosebumps too.”

METROCREATIVE

There are four nods around the table.

“Safety,” says Brett Johnson, the back judge and youngest of the crew, a “kid” with about nine years of officiating experience. He’s a South Sioux City resident who works as a correctional officer at the Dakota County Jail.

Dwayne Johnson of South Sioux City is Brett’s father. The Mid-American professional serves as a line judge, and has called football games for 23 years.

Baker, another line judge, is in sales at Sioux Plating. The Sloan, Iowa, resident has been working Football Friday Nights for 21 years.

Vander Wilt, a five-year umpiring veteran from Sioux City, toils by-day for GCR Firestone.

The three longtime veterans of the crew worked for years with official Bill Clark, who died seven years ago. Baker, Wisnieski and Dwayne Johnson all wear a patch during games to honor Clark. Wisnieski wears or has something else of Clark’s with him at each game, be it a whistle or a flag or a cap.

After every National Anthem, Wisnieski looks toward the sky and offers a small verbal tribute to the man who worked with him in softball for 22 years, in football for 10.

“We coached softball together at North and taught for several years together,” he says.

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GETTING READY fields of plenty

THE T A E H WORK STARTS EARLY TO GET FOOTBALL FIELDS N IS O READY FOR FALL

w

Text by John Quinlan | Photos by Jim Lee

WHEN TONY SITZMANN TESTED THE ground at Olsen Stadium one scorching July afternoon, the recorded temperature on the football field’s artificial turf was 183 degrees. And that’s not a misprint. It was one hundred frakkin’ eighty-three degrees.

“Basically, you don’t want to be on that field this time of the day,” said Jay Malin, the college’s head groundskeeper.

But even in late August and early September when high school and college football teams are practicing and playing their games at Olsen, located on the Morningside College campus, and at Memorial Field, the home field for Bishop Heelan High School, Sioux City’s two biggest, most-used gridirons, it can almost feel like you’re playing on the surface of the sun when suited up and pumping 32

SEPTEMBER 2012

out the sweat.

Consequently, the football camps scheduled that July day were held in the somewhat cooler morning hours.

The facility is basically used all the time, he noted. And between football and soccer, both high school and college, there are around 40 events scheduled each fall.

“There’s always someone down here training,” Malin said.

Between youth and high school sporting events, Heelan’s Memorial Field is just as busy, said Jason Pratt, Heelan’s activities director who supervises all the groundskeeping activities there.

Top: Facilities manager Tony Sitzmann and head groundskeeper Jay Malin make sure Olsen Stadium is in top shape. Right: Jason Pratt, Bishop Heelan High activities director, keeps track of his school’s football field during the year.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

JOHN QUINLAN PHOTO

Can a field get too hot?

“I probably would say, yeah. Most people say no. But of course, if you get those types of temperatures, you don’t want to be out on it,” Malin said. “It won’t burn you. But you will feel it.”

And the running track, heavily used all summer, is no cooler. Made of rubber, it also absorbs heat.

The track has never been seriously damaged, but during football season, the ground grew places mats across the field where the young men with cleats cross onto the football field, Sitzmann said.

The field itself is starting to show a little wear, but it remains in great shape, he said.

“There’s no real issues with it, besides just losing some fibers. But I’ve talked to Midwest Turf, and they said it’s just normal wear and tear,” he said.

READY FOR KICKOFF Getting the football fields in shape for the fall – and for the spring and summer sports as well – is pretty routine business at both places.

“The first thing we’ve got to do is we winterize it in the winter, after the last event here,” Sitzmann said. “We winterize everything, drain everything. And then usually, weather permitting, by the time they start with track and football, you try to get everything going again by the middle of March because by the first of April, they’re starting track.

“Basically, repairing or putting together all your urinals and getting your water turned back on down here is a big part of it.”

Weather, of course, is a factor.

Sitzmann said he was able to get some work done in the middle of February this year because the weather was so mild.

The artificial turf at Olsen Stadium is groomed four times a year; and twice a year, Midwest Turf gives it a thorough cleaning, picking up loose fibers and trying to make the fibers stand up so the field looks plush and green, Sitzmann said.

“We have problems every now and then with the seams coming up, but Midwest Turf’s very good at coming out and repairing anything that needs doing,” he said.

The natural greenery around the stadium, the grass, plants and flowers, also need care. Irrigation handles much of it, and the flowers are planted soon after graduation each spring.”

This year’s drought puts more emphasis on weed fighting, not much different than the usual general maintenance work, he said. The water usage has doubled from the previous year.

Even the artificial turf needs water.

Facilities manager Tony Sitzmann pulls weeds from a flower bed at Olsen Stadium at Morningside College.

“It can’t handle the heat,” Malin said.

“General maintenance for the facility is constant. I mean this facility is used all the time.”

MEMORIAL FIELD The Heelan field also experiences heavy use each year.

The first week in August, Pratt physically lays the field out, starting at the goal posts with a sheet that tells him the exact yardage on the field and how it’s supposed to be marked. He then lays the corners out and takes a 300-foot tape measure, puts in flags every 10 yards, then calls in BlankenshipMeier Painting to do the stripes and hash marks.

“It takes a whole day to paint the field,” Pratt said.

There is no fulltime groundskeeper for Memorial Field. So Pratt rounds up

the usual suspects, mostly Heelan supporters, to spruce up the field each year.

Morin Turf Supply does the chemicals, making sure the practice and game fields are kept up.

And the sprinkler system has been running almost nonstop all summer, he noted.

As for the lawn service, football coach Roger Jansen’s company, Jansen Lawn Service, handles it.

The last major renovation to Memorial Field came seven years ago when new bleachers and a press box were erected on the home side of the field.

The running track, however, needs some work, Pratt aid. Full of cracks, it is OK for practice but unusable for meets.

So plans for renovations are in the works. hopefully when the new school project gets going, he said.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

33

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GETTING READY sports injuries

Brian Collette, director of athletic training services at CNOS, pictured at the Tyson Events Center.

INJURY

PREVENTION KEY TO SUCCESSFUL FALL SPORTS SEASON

s

Text by Dolly A. Butz | Photo by Jim Lee

STRENGTH TRAINING, STRETCHING AND ICING during the summer, Brian Collette said, are just as important for a winning season as working out.

According to Collette, director of Athletic Training Services for the CNOS Foundation, taking these measures early on can help prevent student-athlete injuries.

“If you wait until the fall sport starts you’re going to be a little bit behind the eight ball already,” he said.

“It’s really important. I think kids and coaches and parents are learning that more and more.”

There are three categories that sports injuries generally fall into, according to Collette: traumatic injuries, overhead injuries and overuse injuries.

Football players are likely to experience concussions, ACL tears and fractures, while volleyball players are prone to back and shoulder injuries from overhead hitting.

Cross country runners, Collette said, often suffer overuse injuries, such as tendonitis.

“The mileage that those individuals are running is certainly required for training for the sport, but I would say that it’s in the ‘not norm’ category for the human body sometimes to put that much stress specifically on the lower extremities day after day,” SIOUXLAND LIFE

SEPTEMBER 2012

35

While the only ways to prevent concussions are rule changes and equipment, Brian Collette, director of Athletic Training Services for the CNOS Foundation, said there are things athletes can do in the months leading up to their respective seasons to lessen their chances of suffering an injury.

METROCREATIVE

he said.

While the only ways to prevent concussions are rule changes and equipment, Collette said there are things athletes can do in the months leading up to their respective seasons to lessen their chances of suffering an injury.

According to Collette, different athletes’ bodies can handle the stress of running better than others’. Footwear, terrain and coaching styles, he said, can make a big difference when it comes to overuse injuries.

Icing the lower extremities after a workout, he said, limits the amount of inflammation that enters the muscles.

Properly performing strengthening and stretching exercises is also key to preventing injuries. To change tissue length, Collette said studies show stretches should be held anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds.

To maintain tissue length, warmup stretches or calisthenics, he said, is appropriate. Each exercise should last 10 to 15 seconds.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

“Sometimes that’s a hard thing to get sold to coaches and to runners, because it’s boring, it takes up practice time and it’s uncomfortable,” he said.

Volleyball players can strengthen their rotator cuffs by stretching with therabands – elastic, rubber-like bands.

“There’s four to five strengthening exercises that you would do daily,” Collette explained. “The rotator cuff is integral in controlling the shoulder joint so that you don’t get excessive movement and consequently impingement or flared-up tissues.”

Maintaining flexibility in the hips, hamstrings and other areas of the core, Collette said is also key to preventing lower back injuries during volleyball season.

Investing in a large exercise ball, he said would be beneficial to any athlete seeking to strengthen his or her core.

“I always check hamstring flexibility whenever I have a patient with low back pain,” he said. “If it’s really poor, I know it’s causing a little bit of an issue.”

SIOUXLAND LIFE

NEED TO SEE AN ATHLETIC TRAINER? CNOS offers walk-in injury screening for student-athletes and adults at its Dakota Dunes, Northside, Morningside and Moville, Iowa, clinics.

On certain days of the week, patients can walk in in the mornings without an appointment and see a certified athletic trainer, who will conduct an evaluation and determine the appropriate course of action. For information about the clinics, call CNOS at 605-217-2667.

Another option for treatment advice is to call CNOS’ 24-7 injury-line, which is staffed by a certified athletic trainer. Call 712-3333000.

ask a professional Q: Doctor, the kids are going back to school!

It’s a relief, but now sports are ramping up, any advice for my budding, young athletes?

A: Great question! A growing trend that we have noticed

at the clinic as we have been doing more and more sports physicals for the fall is that students are participating in two, three, or even four or more sports. The potential for their young bodies to possibly be injured increases exponentially with each additional sport. While their parent’s bones and Dr. Joel ligaments have completely hardened and calcified, their Pistello, DC children’s are still growing and maturing, which places more strain and stress on muscles, joints, and ligaments.

While we talk about how great physical activity is, there is definitely an upper limit.

Where that is varies from student to student, but what we DO want to impart to all parents and students is this: whether you think your injury is minor, or you know it’s major, get it looked at! Whether it’s a sports trainer, team coach, or my office, get it checked. The last thing any of us want is a minor injury that could possibly be fixed early on, end up being a major season-ender later on.

Q: What can you do chiropractically with our injuries this season?

A: Chiropractically, we work with joints, and the muscles and ligaments that surround those joints. Any pain that you might have is caused by a problem in any one of those tissues surrounding the joint. Swelling from one of those tissues cause the joint to lose its ability to function correctly. That dysfunction causes pain, which causes muscle spasm around the area, which causes pain and spasm in an endless cycle, until normal motion is re-established in the area. We adjust the joint, establish normal motion, and get all the swelling and inflammation out of the area so you can start healing faster. We have invested in tools specifically used by major universities and pro sports teams around the country – the same tools they use to get their players back on the court, field, or track.

Of course, we have all the fancy equipment such as digital motion X-Rays, digital imaging, and foot scanners to be able to determine the exact cause of what’s happening. We don’t guess with a sports injury – we need our players back on the field when the time is right. Getting your athlete better, faster, is our goal – and our passion.

Regardless, we always offer a no-obligation consultation in our office for any injury, just to see if we can help, OR if it’s nothing to worry about. Helping keep your team healthy, come see our team! The right team, the right care, Multi Care. And as always, stay safe out there Siouxland!

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

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37

GETTING READY let’s get physicals

St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center nurse practitioner La Vone Sopher talks about sports physicals.

STUDENT/ATHLETES CAN PHYSICAL WITHOUT PHY

s

Text by John Quinlan | Photo by Tim Hynds

SCHOOL’S BACK, AND STUDENTS throughout Siouxland have done their shopping for new clothes and basic classroom supplies. And whether they choose football, soccer, cheerleading or dance, they may have shopped around for their annual sports physical, as required by state laws in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Physicians still handle this basic chore, but so do nurse practitioners, chiropractors and other health care professionals. The exam is pretty basic, 15 to 30 minutes depending on the provider chosen, or maybe longer if problems are discovered. And in some cases, they are done in the schools. The Sioux City middle schools, for example, offer free physicals during the first three days of school each year, one day at each of the three schools.

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

John Vanderloo, North Middle School athletic director, shows the Iowa athletic pre-participation physical examination form students must fill out each year before taking part in school sports. Bottom: Dr. Nick Chicoine, shows how “text neck,” a condition caused from looking at your iPad or texting on your phone, occurs.

“Typically, at this age, at school physicals, kids are generally pretty healthy,” Dr. Nicholas Chicoine, a chiropractor with BAC Clinic of Chiropractic, Sioux City, said.

But he noted that while these fairly routine sports physicals seldom detect abnormalities, occasionally small things that health care professionals detect can prevent cardiac arrest or serious injuries.

“If we do find something, it will usually be in the urine analysis or something with their eyes, but even then it’s usually something they already knew they had anyway,” Chicoine said.

Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner LaVone Sopher said she seldom discovered debilitating conditions in the 18 years she has given sports exams.

“Our goal,” she said, “is to detect any conditions which could be life threatening, at worst, and disabling for a young child or high schooler. It primarily involves doing a good, thorough history of not only their family history but also their personal health history, and the examination itself.

MORE EDUCATION “We really use them also as an opportunity to check for making sure immunizations are up to date because a lot of times these are adolescents that are really normally healthy and they don’t go for health care very often. So we educate them what the latest immunization recommendations are and make sure that those are updated. We also try to reach

JOHN QUINLAN PHOTO

N’T GET YSICALS out and teach on health-related topics, such as abstaining from tobacco and alcohol, the recreational drugs that are out there, driving and not using your cell phone or texting – and, to some extent, even safe sex practices.”

She noted that the athletic pre-participation physical examination forms differ only slightly from state to state.

Jason Pratt, school activities director at Bishop Heelan High School, agreed that few students fail these physicals. It has only happened a couple times in his eight years at Heelan, and even then, the students have been cleared after further

JIM LEE PHOTO

exams or maybe more blood work.

“We have to have a signed physical by the doctor and the parent, and there’s been a couple occasions when the physician says, ‘I’m not going to release this particular student until I see him back in two weeks or until I get the blood work’ or something like that,” he said.

Getting the sports physicals from chiropractors has become a popular way to go, Pratt noted.

“There’s two good things about them,” he said. “One, they’re cheap. And two, they can probably get you in a lot faster.

With a family physician, the earliest they can probably get you in would probably

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39

be about six weeks.”

Chicoine said his office is pretty good about getting people in right away.

“We’re generally pretty good since we have three doctors, they’re usually able to see someone and get in pretty quick.

As for being cheaper, I can’t account for that, but if that is the case, all right.”

physicals, taking the reins from his late father Rich Vanderloo who started the middle school sports.

“Between community grants and donations, the school district doesn’t pay a dime on the physicals. It is all taken care of because obviously the district doesn’t want to get accused of paying for one

“We have to have a signed physical by the doctor and the parent, and there’s been a couple occasions when the physician says, ‘I’m not going to release this particular student until I see him back in two weeks or until I get the blood work’ or something like that.”

METROCREATIVE

JASON PRATT, school activities director at Bishop Heelan High School IN-SCHOOL EXAMS At one time, Pratt said, several physicians would come into the school to do the sports physicals, but that drew complaints from some MDs in the community.

But since the city’s public middle schools initiated sports programs five years ago, that has been the way to do it at East, North and West middle schools, said John Vanderloo, athletic director at North Middle School, who has spearheaded and coordinated these free

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SIOUXLAND LIFE

kid’s physical and not another kid’s,” he noted. “The state sanctions that we have a physical for every kid that plays, which is the right thing, and we didn’t want that to be a roadblock for out kids not to play.”

Middle school students lack the mobility of their older, car-driving brothers and sisters in high school.

Physicals were also a barrier for some kids because of the cost, particular with large families.

“Now, we get those kids playing right away in the fall, and we obviously offer sports all the way through the school year. So if we can get them physicals, we’re in great shape,” he said.

Even a number of the middle school students still go to their regular doctors, which is great, Vanderloo said. He estimated about 10 percent go to their physicians, another 8-10 percent to chiropractors and other health care professionals, the rest to the free exams offered at the schools.

Three doctors along with three or four nurses, appear at each of the three middle schools on one of the first three days of school, starting at 8 a.m. and remaining on duty throughout the day.

The first year (2007-2008), the doctors examined 105 middle-schoolers, with 6 teams participating in three sports. Last year, with seven sports and 14 teams in each school, the doctors examined 560 students. Vanderloo expects even more students to participate this year, especially with the addition of seventh-grade football.

“I think it’s good for us to get our kids involved. I think it’s been great for parents because it’s free, it’s easy, they don’t have to take time out of their day to do it, and also I think it’s a relief to the parents to know that their kids are healthy to play,” he said.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

41

HEALTH straighten

up

POOR POSTURE

i

Text By Dolly A. Butz

IF YOUR CHILD IS HAVING TROUBLE concentrating at school or his handwriting is a little messy, Sandra Burns said you might want to take a look at his desk and chair.

Burns, a physical therapist for Mercy Medical Center, said classroom furniture is not designed with proper ergonomic alignment in mind and schools cannot afford to customize desks based on students’ bodies.

“When you look at the chairs, they’re usually kind of scooped. They promote that posterior pelvic tilt with the head forward and their little feet dangling,” she said.

If a child’s feet aren’t touching the 42

SEPTEMBER 2012

Sandra Burns

Kristin Hightree

floor, Burns said they have to position their body in other ways to support themselves, which strains muscles.

“Sometimes the desks are too high and they have to crane to get that arm up there. Sometimes they’re too low and they don’t have enough support

SIOUXLAND LIFE

for that forearm,” she said. “If you don’t have a base of support or a surface to work off, how can you be successful in that task?”

The proper way to sit, Burns said, is with your knees and hips at 90 degrees.

Your feet should be on the floor and your elbows should be supported.

Most of the time, Burns said a child will squirm in his or her desk or move from side to side, but won’t consciously recognize the discomfort he or she feels.

“That’s our body’s fail-safe way of protecting us, saying, ‘Hey, this is not a good posture for your body, you need to shift it,’” she said. “Then the teachers are obviously like, ‘No. You have to sit still. You have to pay attention.’”

Most teachers, Burns said, won’t

METROCREATIVE PHOTOS

CAN CONTRIBUTE TO PROBLEMS IN THE CLASSROOM notice that posture, not a behavioral problem, is causing a student to perform poorly. That’s why she said it’s important for parents to take a look at their children’s seating arrangement.

Placing a towel roll on their chair or a yoga block under their feet can go a long way in terms of providing support, according to Burns.

“Parents need to know that if their child is struggling, whether it’s with attention in school or handwriting, or maybe they just can’t get the volume to speak up in class, little adjustments with their positioning can make a big difference in their outcome,” she said.

Call Mercy Medical Center at 712279-2068 for answers to questions about ergonomic issues.

WEARING A BACKPACK THE RIGHT WAY Sept. 19 is backpack awareness day.

Kristin Hightree, an occupational therapist for Mercy Medical Center, said a backpack should be no more than 10 percent of a child’s weight.

A backpack, she said, should extend from approximately 2 inches below the wearer’s shoulder blades to waist level or slightly above.

“It’s very important to wear the backpack with both shoulder straps to evenly distribute the weight,” she said. “I would always throw my backpack on my side. It’s bad for that shoulder because we have a lot of nerves, arteries and veins that run around there. You want to make sure that you’re not pinching anything off.”

Wearing a backpack improperly or having one that’s too heavy, Hightree said, can cause numbness and tingling down the arms, as well as back pain.

Backpacks aren’t as much as a concern as they used to be, Hightree said, because teachers in the lower grades aren’t sending books homes.

Technology is also helping to decrease the load as textbooks are replaced with ebooks at some high schools and colleges.

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43

METROCREATIVE PHOTO

HEALTH sleep,

sleep, sleep

WASH HANDS BEFORE E

WASH MIND BEFORE SLE Insomnia traced to poor sleep hygiene Text By Tim Gallagher

DAKOTA DUNES | HYGIENE ISN’T limited to washing your hands before eating.

There’s such a thing called “sleep hygiene.” Observing good sleep hygiene is a key factor in ensuring quality sleep 44

SEPTEMBER 2012

– and health – habits.

That’s according to Dr. Ross Bacon, Family Health Care of Siouxland Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep. Bacon is board certified in sleep by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine.

“Problems related to insomnia can be stress or depression,” Bacon says.

“They can also involve bad habits one has around their sleep. Or, poor sleep hygiene.”

SIOUXLAND LIFE

There are a number of negative influences when it comes to getting quality sleep. Elements of poor sleep hygiene involve distractions, things like keeping the television on while dozing off.

“If you watch TV in bed to help you relax, some of that is fine,” he says. “But if not, that’s not OK.” Bacon recommends that persons struggling to get to sleep should get up and occupy their time temporarily by doing a puzzle or reading just a bit.

In this file photo, espresso flows into a cup at a coffee house. Caffeine use can contribute to insomnia in some cases, sometimes even when consumption occurs early in the day.

EATING;

EEPING Getting one’s mind off this struggle to sleep will, ultimately, become a sleep aid.

One might also have to rise in the middle of the night if you’re tossing and turning. Again, a puzzle or a few pages in a book might do the trick.

In most cases caffeine and alcohol will not. Alcohol may put one to sleep initially; it does not keep one snoozing.

It does the opposite by disrupting sleep.

“Caffeine can vary person by person, but even caffeine in the morning can

Dr. Ross Bacon serves with Family Health Care of Siouxland Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep at Dakota Dunes, S.D. Bacon is board certified by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine.

contribute to insomnia much later in the day,” he says.

Bacon says 70 to 80 percent of us will have trouble sleeping at some point in our life. For many, it comes and goes and doesn’t require treatment. It requires you pay attention.

Those who have difficulty sleeping often arrive at Bacon’s office at the urging of a spouse or significant other who notices that inconsistent sleep has made their loved one tired much too often.

“It can be a spouse or significant other who notices the behavior change,” he says. “Or, not getting enough sleep can get in the way of doing one job. Or, the person might be tired all the time.”

While a few short-term sleep aid medications have helped temporarily, they don’t represent the long-term solution. Again, that’s a lifestyle alteration; a tweaking of one’s sleep hygiene.

“We are on the go more than we used to be,” Bacon says. “We have more night and early-morning activities. Our obesity rates have also triggered a rise in sleep disorders.”

The best approach to addressing insomnia is through a regularly maintained bed-time and rising time.

Other ideas: 1. Try a bed-time ritual.

2. Avoid caffeine, especially later in the day.

3. Avoid excess alcohol.

4. Get up and do something different for a short time if sleeplessness persists. No use lying in bed while “fighting” the urge to sleep.

What is needed? “Some need six hours of sleep per night, some need 10 to 12 hours. Most of us need 7-9 hours per night,” he says.

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ADVICE Medical

Answers

‘DOC, I’VE GOT A QUESTION …’ answers to your medical questions

My feet and ankles itch badly at the end of the day … to the point that I can barely stand it. I’ve tried all-cotton socks and soaking them in cool water. What is it and what can I do?

I assume that you didn’t replace your bluegrass lawn with poison ivy? I’m sorry, you’re in agony, no time for jokes. Itching, or pruritis, can have a multitude of causes.

Much to the dismay to both patient and doctor, there are many cases in which we do not find the cause. One of the most common causes for pruritis is contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is a skin irritation from either a type of material, detergent, dust, pet dander or other irritant which gets in contact with the skin. There may be redness in the shape of the clothing item present. Treatment of contact dermatitis is getting rid of the source of whatever is causing the itching and treating with antihistamines, and steroids. Benadryl, or diphenhydramine, is an antihistamine which sometimes helps with the itchy feeling and is available over-the-counter. The steroid is usually applied topically, directly on the skin. Over-the-counter hydrocortisone would be a start. Excessive sweating of the feet, called plantar hyperhidrosis, can cause the feet to itch as well. This is because the excess moisture is trapped between the sock and your skin and causes irritation. Keeping your feet dry by wearing moisture wicking socks (synthetic or wool not cotton) or changing socks during the day may help decrease the moisture and irritation. Itching or tingling in the feet could also be a sign of uncontrolled diabetes. If you have any family or personal history of diabetes or are at increased risk of diabetes due to being overweight and not exercising, I would recommend scheduling an appointment with your physician to discuss this.

In the morning I wake up with something that’s like skin on my mouth. What causes this? Can I prevent it?

Good ol’ morning mouth skin.

Sometimes certain brands of toothpaste and mouthwash can leave a film on the inside of the mouth. This is not harmful, it just doesn’t feel natural.

You are not orally molting. You may want to try changing brands for a few days to see if it goes away. Other causes could be residual food, drink, or liquid medications left on the teeth at night. Good oral hygiene like brushing and flossing right before bed could help. To be exact in diagnosis, I would have to ask a few more questions to pin down what kind of “skin like substance” we are dealing with here. Is there pain or redness associated with it? Were you on antibiotics recently?

If so, it may be possible to develop a yeast infection of the oral cavity. This would need to be looked at by a medical professional.

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What health remedy would you send with kids to keep in their lockers? Aspirin?

I heard an apple a day keeps the doctor away. As far as a health remedy, I would not advocate a child keeping over-the-counter (OTC) medications in their locker at school unless they have a medical necessity determined by their physician. The Department of Education at the federal and state level regulate the administration of medications to children in order to maintain the highest level of safety for your children. Most schools should have paperwork which gives a school employee permission to administer OTC as well as prescription medication to your child. The Iowa Department of Education has plenty of information on its website. One easy remedy for illness prevention that you could instruct your child to use is hand sanitizer. Eliminating the spread of germs greatly decreases your child’s chances of catching common viral infections. Remember to tell them to use soap and water if their hands are visibly dirty. As far as the apple keeping the doctor away, it depends on your aim.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

MEET THE DOC Dr. Nick Bechtold is a family medicine resident at Family Medicine Center.

He grew up in Sioux City, graduating from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School and Brair Cliff University. Before pursuing his career as a physician, he spent a couple of years in Omaha and Iowa City working at research labs and a biotech company. He graduated from Des Moines University and returned to his favorite corner of Iowa with his wife Karla.

Do you develop a tolerance to drugs to the point where they don’t work at a given strength? Do you have to go up in strength or try something new?

Medications are broken down and used by the body in many different ways.

Tolerance to a medication develops when the initial dose no longer has the same effect on the body. There are certain drugs that will cause the body to develop a tolerance. These medications include antihistamines like Benadryl and certain pain medications. When the medication is no longer effective it needs to be addressed with your doctor. It may be necessary to increase dosage but it may be equally necessary to address the cause of the problem and potentially take a different approach to treating what ails you. Medications all have a maximum dose. This is the level where they provide the most benefit to the body. In most cases, taking more than the max dose of a medication will not increase its effectiveness. In fact, it may create unwanted side effects.

When a medication is no longer working like it used to, it may be necessary to switch types of drug, if there is another available. Since there are so many medications, prescription and OTC, I would consult your physician or a pharmacist before making changes to a recommended therapy.

WHAT KIDS OF HEALTH QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE? Submit your questions and they may be used in this monthly feature. Write to Siouxland Life at 515 Pavonia St., Sioux City, Iowa 51102.

PARTING SHOT By

t

Bruce Miller

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A BLANKET TO SEE YOU THROUGH

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH holding onto a blanket – or a towel – long after it has lost its purpose.

Just ask Danell Leyva – the gymnast who won a bronze medal, clutching a favorite towel at the Olympics – or Linus.

Or me.

I had a favorite blanket as a child that went everywhere. If I was in the car, it went with. If I was in church, it was, too.

I’d eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with the blanket only an arm’s length away. I never went to sleep without it.

Noosie – as he was called – became such an eyesore my parents frequently hid him, assuming I would somehow lose track and forget.

Fat chance. That blanket survived all kinds of thunderstorms (left on the front porch), car accidents (he was run over twice) and one rather horrible water tragedy (the bathtub overflowed...don’t ask).

Noosie, however, soldiered on, well into my pre-school days, offering me a warm hug whenever I needed it the most.

Before school started, the folks were convinced I needed to be weaned from the thing, just in case I might think of hauling it with (which would have been a good idea, considering the hulking kids I met).

Mom “accidentally” vacuumed the thing up one day and said he had been torn to shreds. Unconvinced, I asked for evidence.

She took me to the living room and, sure enough, strands of Noosie were wrapped around the vacuum cleaner brushes. What to do? What to do?

Unplugging the vacuum, I carefully plucked my friend from the jaws of death, vowing to return him to new.

“Let’s just throw it,” mom said. “There’s

Danell Leyva burries himself in his towel that hangs around his shoulders at each gymnastics meet. After a disappointing night in the team competition, Leyva won a bronze medal at the Olympics.

probably so much dirt on that thing we’d never get it clean.”

Undeterred, I found a pillow case, wrapped a rubber band around the end and urged her to wash him.

Laundry had never taken so long.

While Noosie spun around inside the washer, I stood watch, convinced some adult was going to toss him in the garbage when I wasn’t looking.

I kept a keen eye on the dryer cycle, too. And when we unwrapped the package, Noosie was still there, shredded. Clean, but shredded.

“Throw it,” dad said.

“No,” I insisted. “I’m keeping my blanket.”

Using one of my mother’s old recipe card files, I gave him a special resting place and put him on a shelf in my room. He wasn’t the same.

But he wasn’t gone.

I had given up the blanket. But the blanket hadn’t given up on me.

After my first day of school, I checked to see if he was still there and, sure enough, Noosie made it through the first day. And the second. And many more to follow.

Eventually, he found his way into a box that got packed away on a shelf in my parents’ basement. That box followed them from house to house to apartment to storage unit.

And when I was cleaning out their things, I happened upon my old friend.

He still looked tattered. But he was still

ASSOCIAT ED PRESS

PHOTO

available to comfort – at a time when I needed it most.

Perhaps if he had been in better shape, Noosie could have propelled me to a bronze medal, too.

But I’m not complaining. He saw me through the tough times. The least I could do was return the favor.

Noosie didn’t get thrown that warm summer day. He stayed in the recipe card file and was put in a box of treasured pictures.

Someday, I assume, someone will toss all of it.

But that someone won’t be me.

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

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