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Simone Manuel returns from overtraining syndrome and focuses on the Olympic Games in Paris

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ATLANTA (AP) – As Simone Manuel zigzags across a decent deck filled with swimmers, she reminds herself that there are still some things about her sport that irritate her.

“I’m not sure a crowded pool deck is always the most fun,” she jokes, smiling. “I don’t think any swimmer likes it very much.”

Not that she’s complaining.

Not after the whole lot she’s been through.

Manuel, the first Black swimmer to win a person Olympic gold medal, is coming off a devastating case of overtraining syndrome that has seen her body break down in the run-up to the 2021 Tokyo Games, following a starring role five years earlier in Rio de Janeiro, where she won two golds and two silver medals.

Manuel struggled to make the U.S. team in Japan and only won a bronze medal as anchor in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. As soon as the flame went out, she was forced to present up all activity – even something as mundane as a light-weight walk – for seven months to permit herself to heal each physically and mentally.

“These are probably the most boring months of my life,” she told The Associated Press. “I spent loads of time talking about my feelings, what happened, processing what happened, because I feel once you’re in that, you are type of in survival mode. I actually needed to work through it and come to terms with the whole lot.

Heading into the U.S. Olympic trials, which begin Saturday in Indianapolis, Manuel is in a a lot better place.

As at all times, she is set to win the Olympics for a 3rd time, but she knows that there are things way more essential than hitting the wall for the first time.

Like ensuring he takes care of himself.

It’s a lesson that a growing variety of top athletes – from swimmer Caeleb Dressel to gold medalist gymnast Simone Biles to tennis star Naomi Osaka – are heeding once they are overwhelmed by the demands of their sport.

“I always liked to dream big and set very aggressive goals for myself,” said Manuel, who won historic gold by tying for the 100-meter freestyle at the 2016 Rio Games. “It would be unfair of me to lower my standards. but at the same time, I have to give myself grace because this journey is unlike any other I have ever been on in this sport.”

After a protracted doctor-ordered break – accompanied by inevitable doubts about whether she would ever be a top-level swimmer again – Manuel looks like herself in the pool again.

The 27-year-old Texan posted her best time in the 100m freestyle since 2019 ultimately month’s meet, making her one in every of the top sprinters.

“I’m very happy with where she’s at,” said one in every of her coaches, Bob Bowman, who’s best known for working with the most decorated Olympian of all of them, Michael Phelps. “He’s pretty close to his highest level.”

Manuel transferred to Arizona State University in suburban Phoenix to work with Bowman and his chief assistant, Herbie Behm, which had a huge effect on her recovery.

“I just felt like when I met Bob, I had a really good connection with him,” Manuel said. “He really understood my experience with overtraining, which was extremely important to me. I wanted to be able to talk to my new coach about this experience, what it was like for me, mentally and physically, and have them want to talk to me about it, but also understand what it was like and how they can help me moving forward.”

Bowman’s acknowledgment of Manuel’s condition was in stark contrast to the lack of awareness – outside of sports and even at the pool – when she revealed her condition. Overtraining syndrome is a really real problem, but some felt she was simply making excuses for her underperformance ahead of Tokyo.

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She even considered giving up sports.

“I’ve achieved a lot in this sport and I think to some extent some of the reactions to what happened to me haven’t been entirely kind,” she said. “I suppose I believed, ‘I haven’t got to place myself in a position again where I’m vulnerable to the world simply to have them not accept the undeniable fact that what happened to me was real and that it isn’t. Excuse.'”

Experts say overtraining syndrome – also referred to as burnout – is a really major problem for all top-level athletes, who must walk a fantastic line between working harder than their competitors without reaching the point of diminishing returns.

Every body, even people who win gold medals, has its limitations.

“This does not give the body enough time to recover from intense training, which results in fatigue and lack of motivation,” said Dr. Paul Arciero, a professor in the Department of Sports Medicine and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh. “One of the telltale symptoms is a decline in performance.”

That’s what happened to Manuel, who at all times believed – like a lot of her fellow athletes and coaches – that the only strategy to continually improve was to push her body even harder. As the Tokyo Olympics approached, she couldn’t understand why her times were getting worse, though she felt like she was working harder than ever.

Dr. Robert Trasolini, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Northwell Health Orthopedic Institute in New York, said Olympic athletes, who devote countless hours to achieving a goal that may only be achieved every 4 years, are particularly prone to overtraining.

“When you start to push yourself beyond strength and you notice a drop in activity, that should be the wake-up call that says, ‘Hey, I need to stop,’” Trasolini said. “But it’s hard for an athlete who is working towards a goal, especially when it doesn’t give them immediate satisfaction.”

Proper nutrition and adequate recovery time are essential in stopping overtraining syndrome. It’s also essential to have coaching and support staff who can recognize the warning signs that may appear in the whole lot from resting heart rate to blood pressure.

Arciero also recommends that any top-level athlete who has gotten where they’re largely through single-minded focus hunt down activities that provide a way of purpose outside the arena.

“It could be knitting, reading or doing art,” he said.

To that end, Manuel began her own foundation to assist expand swimming to Black communities and other groups which have been largely excluded from the predominantly white sport in the U.S.

He’s not trying to seek out the next Simone Manuel. He just wants to reveal more people of color to the lifestyle and show them how much fun it’s to spend a day in the water.

“We won’t see more diversity in sports unless it starts from the grassroots,” Manuel said. “Swimming should be something really positive in the Black community, but historically it hasn’t been.”

Bowman, who left Arizona State in April to hitch the famed University of Texas swim program, continues to work with Manuel as she prepares for trials, though it is a more long-distance relationship lately. She remained in Tempe to do most of her training under Behm, who replaced Bowman as the Sun Devils’ head coach.

Manuel is in a a lot better situation than three years ago. She got married at the end of last 12 months. He swims fast again.

“When it comes to swimming, I have always taken care of my body, but I just learned that breathing is really important,” Manuel said. “It’s really important to not just tune into your body, but really listen to it.”

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Houston’s Trills On Wheels Expands With Brunch Tour

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Houston, Trill on wheels, hip hop


A well-liked interactive Houston attraction that continues to attract visitors and showcase the town’s wealthy history and black business scene has expanded its offerings.

Trill On Wheels is a national prime minister a hip-hop bike experience that celebrates Houston culture and contributions to hip-hop. Launched in 2021, the party bike offers a two-hour cruise around Houston with stops at various black-owned businesses while guests enjoy cocktails and shisha.

Designed to rejoice the Houston lifestyle, each bike is designed to spotlight the town’s automobile culture with a “Candy Paint” mural featuring hip-hop heroes and the neighborhoods they represent. The bikes also feature Swang’s rims wrapped in trendy tires and Houston’s signature bass pumping out of the speakers.

The exuberant experience has made Trill On Wheels a tourist attraction that visitors put at the highest of their lists. Now, the brand new EADO Hip-Hop Brunch Tour offers guests a fun-filled approach to experience popular brunch stops in Houston.

Trill On Wheels is currently based in Houston’s historic Third Ward neighborhood, EADO, and plans to expand to the Fourth Ward. The tour experience combines the talent of Houston-born artists with a splash of sunshine fitness. Featuring Beatking, Slim Thug, and Lil Keke.

What began as a single bike delivered in a shipping container to the resort “is a testament to our team’s commitment to meeting high expectations and delivering a world-class experience to our riders,” he said. business stated on its website.

“Team Trill” is run by a married couple with two babies.

“As true fans of hip-hop culture, hosting epic game nights and being ‘out there,’ we wanted to create an experience that we could enjoy ourselves and one day pass on to our son,” the couple said. “After a year of prayer, research and pure, unfiltered hustle, Trill On Wheels was born and we couldn’t be more proud!”

Trill On Wheels has served over 30,000 tourists who’ve donated over $700,000 to local black-owned businesses, helping to spice up Houston’s economy. Be sure to examine out Trill On Wheels in your next visit to Houston, and don’t forget to bring your personal booze!


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Fear of sitting in crowded, black spaces

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There are two types of black people in the world: 1.) those that can walk right into a church on Easter Sunday, “sit” the highest five seats, and take a look at the ushers to just accept that those seats are taken; or 2.) me.

I’m the kind of person, and I represent the kind of black people, who hate being asked to sit down anywhere. I almost never feel anxious in public and I’m rarely nervous or concerned about who’s around me. But after I am in a public place and someone who just isn’t there and is not going to be there for some time asks me to sit down, I get anxious. I sweat. I stress. I fade quickly after which hand over. I don’t like to sit down for other people and I don’t ask people to sit down for me. I don’t prefer to put my burdens on the riverbank of the one who was on time.

But unfortunately, in the black community, “holding seats” is a thing—a sport, even. I’ve seen (and I mean this with dead seriousness; “without a hat,” as the children would say) an elderly black woman tell an usher in church that she was holding seats, and get mad on the ushers who suggested she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t consider they thought she couldn’t hold a row of seats, and so they couldn’t consider she couldn’t consider she couldn’t do it. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. My wife is one of those individuals who will hold all of the requested seats and risk a public demonstration of “Who’s going to break first, loudly?” over said seats. She’ll even be very mad at me after I can’t do it. Marriage, right?

If I’ll, I would really like to share with you all a recent experience I had attempting to get a seat that not only threw me out of the constructing, but threw me into an overcrowded room where I could now not see anything on account of the stress of attempting to get a seat for somebody. Also, as you may see, I failed this task with flying colours.

Just a few weeks ago, a famous friend of mine was giving a speak about books at a famous Washington landmark. I had been to that bookstore before—persistently—and had attended many of that friend’s talks. A math problem was about to pop into my head; there was absolutely no way that store could accommodate the number of individuals who would show up for that talk. Spoiler alert: I used to be right.

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Since I consider myself a forward-thinking person, I anticipated this math problem and got to the shop early enough to get a seat, but late enough to get one of, for example, three remaining seats. Many people should have been pondering the identical thing I used to be occupied with math, not math, given the space constraints of the shop. Anyway, I went in and sat down on a stool, then watched the parade of people, mostly black, who got here in after me, attempting to determine where to sit down. As an increasing number of people, especially older blacks, entered, I prepared to present up my seat and use my younger legs to face for your entire show.

And then I got a text from a friend asking me to avoid wasting a spot for her. Now that friend cannot stand for long, I had to avoid wasting her a spot (which I used to be already willing to present up) or we’d have to depart together; that wasn’t an option; we were there to see our friend be amazing and do her own thing.

But here’s the issue: My friend who asked for a seat was a minimum of quarter-hour away, and the stream of people coming in was growing. On top of that, my seat was in the aisle where people were coming in, which meant that everybody, including women who looked like my grandmother, could see that I used to be NOT giving up my seat. I looked like a young kid on a subway automotive not giving up her seat to seniors or pregnant women. The thing is, I knew why I wasn’t getting up, but they didn’t, and I couldn’t look my grandmother in the face and say, “Hey, I would give up my seat for you, but I would save it for a woman younger than you but older than me who potentially has a leg problem and wouldn’t care if you didn’t get it.” No one asked, they simply watched.

I used to be sweating an increasing number of with every passing minute and an increasing number of people were observing me. I do not know if that truly happened or not but that is the way it felt and I felt uncomfortable and judged. I used to be texting my mate with my ETA and he kept saying “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” for over 5 minutes. I let her know I didn’t think I could sit any longer because I used to be beginning to seem like I hadn’t been raised properly.

Then the book event organizer took the microphone and identified that there have been issues with the seating and that those of us who could should hand over our seats to those that were older than us or might need to sit down down, and I felt like she was talking on to me when she said that. She mentioned the overflow situation outside on the back patio instead for all of us who either needed a seat or had to present up our seats. At this point, my stress and anxiety were at their peak; my heart was beating fast and my palms were sweaty. I could not take it anymore. I stood up from my seat and without anyone, said, “The seat is free,” and quickly ran to the overflow spot while texting my friend that I could not hold on to my seat any longer.

It’s been weeks since that night and I still remember how I felt attempting to keep the place going. I felt really uncomfortable and I knew my wife could be high quality. Oh, and concerning the overbooking situation – it was awful. The place had no idea what they were doing and arrange a projector TV during sunset so nobody could see what was happening. Cool idea, terrible execution, but a minimum of I wasn’t stressed anymore. I used to be briefly annoyed that the place hadn’t thought to order a bigger space for the lecture considering who that they had brought, but that is in the past now.

Now it’s OK; thanks for asking. But one thing is obviously, and two things are obviously: next time I’m going right into a place that I do know can be crowded, I’ll just skip the entire sitting thing and prepare to face in the front, back, or side. Sure, my back might hurt and my legs might ache, but a minimum of I won’t feel stressed or judged.

If you’ve gotten a friend who cannot hold seats, please don’t force them to. It’s an excessive amount of.

Thank you for coming to my talk in Panama.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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White woman calls 911 about her racist and uncompromising mother for shaving her 3-year-old mixed-race child’s hair without permission

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In a now-viral Reddit post, a woman shared why she called the police on her mother after she shaved her biracial daughter’s curly hair.

This fastingWritten on the r/AITAH forum by user OrneryExchange8001, it has since been faraway from the platform’s moderator list, but received over 17,000 votes after being posted on September 8.

A Reddit user wrote about her 3-year-old mixed-race daughter, Zoe.

Stock photo
A well-liked Reddit post describes a grandma pushing her limits. (Stock photo/Pexels)

“Zoe is biracial – I am white and my husband Tyler is black,” she said. he wrotein response to the New York Post. “Zoe has the most stunning curly hair, and I’ve always taken great care of it. She absolutely loves her curls, and we’ve made it a fun, bonding activity to style her hair together.”

Unlike Zoe’s parents, the little girl’s grandmother was not a fan of the 3-year-old’s hair and made disparaging comments about it, similar to, “It looks so wild,” “That’s just too much hair for a little girl,” and “Wouldn’t it be easier if it was straight?”

Zoe’s mother said she all the time ignored the comments as “harmless” until a childcare incident involving Zoe’s grandmother led to disaster.

Zoe’s mother said she left the 3-year-old girl in her mother’s care for a couple of hours a couple of weeks ago as a consequence of a piece emergency.

“When I arrived to pick up Zoe, I was horrified – Zoe’s beautiful curls were completely gone,” Zoe’s mother wrote. “My mum cut my daughter’s hair without my consent – ​​she did it halfway through.”

Zoe’s head was “shaved bald.” When her mother asked her grandmother what had happened, her grandmother “just shrugged and said, ‘I did her a favor. Now she looks neat and tidy. And her hair will grow back straight.'”

The child’s mother said she was “angry” and near tears, adding that she felt her mother had “violated my daughter’s self-esteem” and “did not respect my boundaries as a parent.”

The incident prompted Zoe’s mother to call police and report the hair cutting as an assault.

“They came and gave statements to both me and my mum and she was later brought in for questioning. Then my dad, who I have always loved and respected, called me and was furious,” Zoe’s mother wrote. “He said I had gone too far, that my mum was just trying to help and that calling the police was a huge overreaction.”

Thousands of Reddit users sided with the child’s mother, expressing similar contempt and disgust on the grandmother’s behavior, noting the racist connotations surrounding the incident.

“This is terrifying,” one other commenter added. “There is a long, racist history against black women wearing their hair natural, I can’t help but feel like this is somehow stemming from that. Not to mention her ignorance that her hair will ‘grow back straight.’”

“NTA your mom attacked your child because he’s black. That’s a hate crime,” one person added.

“Her comments and inflicting physical harm on a minor are more reminiscent of a hate crime than a haircut,” one other comment echoed.

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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