NEW FOOTBALL HELMETS MAY CUT INJURY RISK
By Ramesh Santanam (Associated Press Writer)
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Newer helmet technology could reduce the risk of high school football players getting concussions, but not the severity of the injury, according to new research.
A three-year study by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that athletes who wore a helmet with more protection for the temple area of the head and jaw had fewer concussions than those wearing a standard helmet, said university neuropsychologist Micky Collins, the study's principal investigator.
The study, published in the February edition of the scientific journal, Neurosurgery, looked at 2,141 high school football players from 2002 to 2004. Of those, 1,173 wore the improved helmet and 968 wore standard helmets through both the pre- and regular seasons.
The study, funded by helmet maker Riddell, is the first to look at whether helmet technology can reduce the severity or number of concussions, Collins said.
The study showed the annual concussion rate was 5.3 percent in athletes wearing the new Revolution helmet and 7.6 percent in the older version. Revolution wearers were 31 percent less likely to sustain an injury, compared with wearers of standard helmets, the study showed. The Revolution helmet was introduced in 2002.
However, helmet type made no difference in the recovery time of athletes suffering from concussions, Collins said.
Investigators used a test developed by UPMC to check the athletes' reaction and memory skills before and after concussions.
Collins said 50 percent of the athletes who had concussions didn't recover within one week, 30 percent didn't recover within two weeks and 15 percent didn't recover within three weeks. This is crucial because reduced cognitive skills also hurt the athletes in the classroom, Collins said.
"There's no such thing as a concussion-proof helmet," Collins warned. "The biggest mistake anyone can make is saying, 'This kid has a concussion. Put him in this helmet and send him out there.' ... Any athlete who has a concussion and goes back to play too soon, that's when the risk levels are high."
Experts studying sports-related brain injuries welcomed the study.
"(It) supports what we have anecdotally been discovering over the past few years," said Kevin Guskiewicz, chairman of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at North Carolina.
Fewer concussions were reported among University of North Carolina players wearing Revolution helmets, he said.
Stefan Duma, director of the Center for Injury Biomechanics at Virginia Tech, called the UPMC study "a critical aspect in improving player health."
Duma and Guskiewicz are involved in separate studies to measure the acceleration of football players' heads in real time by installing wireless transmitters in their players' helmets, both Revolution and standard.
Guskiewicz said he hopes studies like his and UPMC's help researchers to better protect the brain from sports related injuries.
"The exciting part is it indicates there are design factors that can be modified to reduce your risk of concussion," Duma said. "Just showing they have shown a reduced risk with design change, maybe they can change the design more and keep improving."
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www.charactercounts.org
Are All FitnessTrainers Built Alike?
By Brian Grasso
As the youth sports training industry grows and more professional conditioning coaches begin working with younger athletes, the undeniable reality is that the quality of this section of the athletic training world is becoming watered-down. That is not intended to be an insult or negative comment towards the truly well educated and passionate professionals, in fact, to any conditioning coach or trainer who engages in work with younger athletes, I should be serving as a beacon of sorts, calling out the ‘gurus’ and ‘experts’ who apply little more than adult-based prescription and program design to kids. There are several wonderful youth conditioning coaches to be sure, but the trick to any young athlete, soccer coach or parent is how to find them.
One of the issues that I feel needs to be addressed is the lack of preparation that goes into producing an athletic development or training program. As is often the case, the first session between the coach and athlete is simply a ‘jumping in with both feet’ kind of endeavor. The training program is either a group of exercises that the coach has a preference for, or a replica of a program that the coach has employed in the past. As I have outlined in previous articles, the concepts of multilateral development indicate that various measures of athletic diversification pertain to young athletes as a whole. Sporting interests and associated training programs can be largely determined for the majority of young athletes based on factors such as chronological and biological age, emotional maturity and past sporting experience. Even the specific exercises associated with a young athlete’s development program can be the same or similar across the board, but exercise volume, intensity and subsequent progressions or regressions are determined exclusively by the individual young athlete.
Push-ups, for example, have long been determined to be a quality exercise for young athletes. Kids either love or hate to bring home stories about their physical education teacher and his or her daily ritual of handing out gross numbers of push-ups, typically, in the interest of developing better fitness in the youngsters. Push-ups have always been considered a wonderful and functional upper body activity; while that is true, push-ups can also serve to improve core strength or, unfortunately in many cases, lead to various spinal or pelvic dysfunctions. It is with this latter scenario that the need for assessments of young athletes prior to developing a training program is so blatantly obvious.
In a push-up position, the body can tell you many things about itself (this, by the way, holds true for nearly any bodily position). For example, if one or both feet are externally rotated (opposite of pigeon-toed) that can be a very strong indication of tightness through some of the major external rotator muscles in and around the hip (biceps femoris for example). If there is an extension or hyper-extension present through the lumbar spine (a ‘dip’ in the body at the lower back), that likely indicates a tightness through some of the major muscles on the front of the thigh (psoas specifically), a decreased ability of the gluteal muscles to contract properly, or even a decreased amount of neuromuscular control over the deep muscles towards to the front of the ‘ab’ area. It should be clear that while push-ups, or any other functional body weight exercise remain terrific strengthening activities, the individual physiology and structure of each young athlete will dictate whether or not the exercise has a positive application to them. It is only after an assessment that a functional and optimally useful training program can be developed.
Another example is the overhead squat (squat with feet shoulder width apart and arms straight up over head and out to a rough 45 degree angle). By watching a young athlete actively performing a few squats slowly, you can assess several areas of concern for potential dysfunction. Watch the feet for example. Do they either pronate (the arch of the foot caves down towards the ground) or supinate (the opposite)? If so, the indication is tightness along either the medial or lateral musculature of the lower leg. Does the athlete come off his or her heels and balance entirely on the toes during the squat? If so, you can conclude that the soleus (lower leg) muscle may be tight. Watch the knees. Do they either collapse inward or angle outward during the squat? Tightness along the medial or lateral musculature of the upper leg could be prevalent.
I hope that you have been able to see the concerns that these imbalances will have from both a developmental and athletic standpoint. If dysfunction resides within the pelvis of young athlete, for example, then any exercise is bound to exacerbate the situation. The body has a natural ability to compensate for dysfunction, but long-term athletic proficiency and injury avoidance with undoubtedly be compromised. Every time an exercise is performed through a dysfunctional movement pattern, the dysfunction becomes more pronounced and more difficult to correct. Make no mistake, however, if the dysfunction is not corrected, then performance will suffer. Better to take the time to PREVENT the dysfunction than to correct it once it has become a problem. Look at it in simple terms... If you can’t perform a squat motion properly, without holding or carrying any weight at all, why than would a trainer suggest that you perform the same squat with a significant load on your back.
The above ideas are not meant to serve as a diagnosis in anyway. Ultimately, a parent or coach is best served to take their young athlete to see a qualified SPORTS medicine professional in order to receive a full structural work-up. Having said that, the day to day care of these young athletes falls into the hands of the countless trainers and coaches throughout North America. By not understanding the principal of preventing dysfunction or by blindly prescribing exercises absently regardless of the individual nature of the athlete, you are contributing to the gross negligence that has and continues to plague this industry.
A word to parents and soccer coaches with regards to hiring a conditioning specialist...
Buyer beware.
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SLOW DOWN IF YOU WANT TO SPEED UP
Quickness is an illusion. It's all about deceleration.
By Gray Cook
Most field and court sports require cutting and turning. The way you use your legs, specifically, your lunge movement patterns, will determine your ability to lower your center of gravity and decelerate and accelerate.
I hope that you have recognized left-right asymmetries within the lunge and other movement patterns and have taken the necessary steps to resolve any strength or endurance deficits you found. If you have taken rope jumping seriously, the quick, reactive movements you have been training for in rope work will complement your cutting and turning. These quick movements, added to core stability and better body mechanics, should reveal improved body mechanics with greater stamina in competitive situations. It is advantageous to have a reserve of energy in the second half or quarter of any sporting event.
You can use intervals throughout cutting and turning to develop conditioning intervals that will reinforce your mechanics, improve your endurance, and maintain the quality of your movement throughout a competitive event. I particularly appreciate the wisdom of John Wooden's approach to conditioning. He said that his team would always prevail against an equally skilled opponent because his team would be better conditioned. He was confident in his team's conditioning because of how they trained and the emphasis he placed on quickness and execution throughout practices.
Certain movements -- squat, hurdle step, lunge, active straight leg raise, and seated rotation -- are all important for cutting and turning. Squats and lunges are fundamental to cutting and turning. Make sure these patterns are not limited, can be performed well, and do not demonstrate asymmetry.
The two fundamentals required for cutting and turning movements in athletics are a low center of gravity and control. The two work best together; however, control is needed even in situations in which a low center of gravity cannot be achieved, and a low center of gravity is safe and productive in situations in which control is not possible.
The illusion of quickness is a demonstration of both of these factors. Quickness on the field or court often looks like above-average acceleration, but most of the time acceleration is not the key. Deceleration is the key because it sets up the rest of the movement. When one athlete is able to lose, or break away from, another athlete, it often is done with a cutting or turning movement. This movement is the result of deceleration or direction change, followed by acceleration.
It is important for athletes to train deceleration movements, whether they play soccer, football, or basketball or use deceleration to execute better moves, such as fielding a baseball or hitting a tennis ball.
It is ironic that quickness is often thought of as the ability to start a movement in a short amount of time. Actual true quickness also includes the ability to stop a movement in a short amount of time. Quickness improves as deceleration develops because when an athlete is able to stop more efficiently and with better control, she has more time to set up, change direction, and accelerate in a new direction.
Deceleration places much greater stress on the joints and muscles than acceleration. When an athlete tries to change direction without properly decelerating, his momentum may take him off line and put him off balance. This can either slow him down or increase the risk of injury. Training deceleration ultimately will reduce the risk of injury from deceleration-type movements such as landing, stopping, or changing direction.
For specifics on how to improve your deceleration training, see my book, Athletic Body in Balance.
Gray Cook is a practicing physical therapist. He has created the Functional Movement Screen, one of the pillars of the Reebok Core Training System, which he developed in 2000. He is author of the book titled Athletic Body in Balance, from which this article is adapted, and which includes training programs to address issues raised in this article. You can reach Cook through the web site www.functionalmovement.com
Being a Champion: Competing with the Right Frame of Mind by Coach Stan Tzogas Canada
The secret to success lies in your pattern of thought - your attitude. Your attitude will determine whether you are successful or not.
Be careful what you are saying to yourself because you will believe what you say.
True inner character will reveal itself by how you react after you lose. That is why you have to learn how to lose with dignity before you can learn how to win with class. Learning how to lose with dignity is far more difficult.
It is easier to be a winner when you have won and it takes more self-confidence and courage to lose with dignity. Lessons learned in a losing effort are more likely to be reinforced than those learned in a winning effort. Athletes and coaches have to realize the essence of success lies in the full out effort brought forth in competition. This effort centers on controlling what we have control over and not worrying about that which we have little or no control over.
We have control over developing, improving and perfecting physical, technical, tactical and psychological components of our performance. We have little or no control over officiating, the environmental conditions, etc. For example, and athlete should never lose a competition because of poor physical conditioning. Getting our bodies into superior shape is what we have the most control over. Failing to prepare any of the above components is preparing for failure.
It is important to focus on putting forth a full 100 percent effort in controlling that which we have the most control over. Championships are won before hand in the training sessions. When you step out to compete, you must know that you have prepared more than your opponent has. This being the case you will develop an attitude, in which you will refuse to lose in any conditions that you have control over. This is what I call confidence; although, be careful not to be over-confident as this could lead to detrimental results. Being confident is knowing you can lose, but thinking you will win. Being over confident is knowing and thinking you will win. Think of every competitive opportunity as a championship event, and where your opponent will challenge you to the best of your abilities.
More is not always better than less, because working harder is not better than working smarter. Working smarter means being productive by doing the right things, the right amount, and at the right time in order to improve physically, technically, tactically, and psychologically.
You should also make sure you are eating a nutritious diet, getting adequate rest and recovery. You also have to prioritize the following with the end in mind: education, work or a career, a relationship and/or family, and a social life. This is what successful athletes do. Unsuccessful athletes do no like to do all these things or do not do these things well.
Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to pay the price for success. It takes commitment to do this in order to get your body to perform under the most demanding conditions, but the effort is worth the lessons that will be learned in the process. If you are willing to commit yourself to doing this, and to sacrifice things along the way, you will find that success will take care of itself. By focusing on the process, the product will take care of itself.
When you step out to compete you will be prepared, focusing on the here and now - task at hand, what you can do effectively, and not on what you cannot or should not do. Look for reasons why you should perform to potential, not excuses why it will be acceptable to lose. Be positive and think about what you are going to do.
Don't be distracted by that which you have not control over; for example bad calls by the officials, illegal tactics and fouls by your opponents to get you to lose your composure, the crowd, the noise, and/or any other environmental factors. Visualization, relaxation and concentrations skills are psychological skills that can help you to overcome these situations.
Never worry about the outcome, focus on your performance, the lessons learned, and you will come out a winner. Remember that there lies a possibility that you can lose and still perform well. |
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CENTERING
By Beasey Hendrix
High Performance Athletics
What is it? Centering is a focus/refocusing technique that allows athletes to recover composure and to redirect focus by taking a breath and focusing on the act. It is promoted as a basic stress control technique.
The Idea Behind the Method
Sports psychologists tell us that it is important for the athlete to "stay in the present." We can't control the future, nor the past, so thinking about these time frames can cause anxiety and stress. Yet, many athletes place themselves in the past by dwelling on what has happened. Others jump to the future to worry about what might occur. Both of these situations can negatively affect performance.
Centering helps you "stay in the present" by helping you concentrate on your body and your breathing. This allows you to focus on things other than stress, bad calls, what happened, or what will happen next in the competition. The mere act of thinking about your breathing changes your focus from the negative or anxiety causing event, to the present task. This kicks out the negative and helps you regroup your thoughts.
How Do I Center?
Focus on breathing a slow, steady stream of air in through your nose. Feel the air enter your lungs and settle into the center of your body. Blow out through your mouth while thinking a key work or phase that helps you to refocus on what you need to be doing. Some athletes choose to think, "What do I need to do now?" Others say, "Center." Some even close their eyes and envision a successful move. You can develop your own key word or phase. Just make it one that has meaning to you.
How Do I Learn this Skill?
Centering can become automatic if you practice it enough. Center yourself after flurries, a break in the action, or a time out. Teach yourself to use every break to regain focus by centering. Train yourself to control your thinking by using this centering skill as your cue. Invoke that automatic refocus.
When Do I Apply this Skill?
Center any time you have a pause in the action. Simply take your breath and repeat your key word to refocus on your goals. When centering becomes automatic, you will be almost "machine-like" in your response to competition situations.
What Will Centering Do for Me?
Once you learn this skill, you will notice a definite change in the thinking patterns you use in your competition. You will spend less time thinking about problems and more time focusing on solutions. You will have less stress, and you will enjoy more success.
You make the call. If centering is something that will benefit you in competition, then practice it daily until you master the skill. It is a simple and effective way for your to control your performance self-talk and focus.
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PERFORMANCE ENHANCER
By Coach Doug Reese
The sports world is a buzz with the Major League Baseball's steroid scandal.
The leaked grand jury testimony published by the San Francisco Chronicle in which Yankee Slugger and American League MVP Jason Giambi admitted to using steroids and human growth hormones has jolted the baseball community back to reality from a season of record attendance and a storybook postseason authored by the Boston Red Sox.
Not everyone is shocked by the testimony of Giambi. Rumors of performance enhancing drugs were circulating when a bottle of Andro was found in Mark McGuire's locker during his record-breaking season in 1998. Rumors also surrounded Sammy Sosa's unbelievable string of 60 plus home run seasons and well as Barry Bonds assault on Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record.
There are more than 100 anabolic steroids that have been developed. Steroids can be taken orally, injected into the musculature, inhaled, or rubbed on the skin. Regardless of the method of ingestion, all steroids affect the body's self regulating system and quickly begin to damage the body.
Some sources estimate that as many as 10 million American men and women have taken steroids. Ten million. It's not just athletes and it's not just adults. A 1999 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that 2.7 percent of eighth graders had taken steroids.
But why do healthy, fit athletes choose to risk their health by taking steroids? Because steroids work, that's why. Despite all the dangers, steroids produce the desired results. Athletes are always looking for an edge. The edge that steroids give are strength, size, speed, intensity, and a quicker recovery time. That is a huge advantage over someone who is not using a drug that enhances performance.
But is it worth it? The answer is a definitive NO. The health risks associated with steroid usage are numerous. Both physical and behavior problems loom for those who want a quick fix.
Let me share with you the very best performance enhancer that is not getting front page, headline attention.
A year ago Jon, a junior high school running back from Ohio, had his world crash down on him. He blew out his ACL playing football. The news wasn't good, not only was his season over, but the doctor believed his career was through.
Late one night while surfing the Internet, Jon found the "To The Next Level" website. Something pulled him back to it night after night. Jon came to the realization that what he was missing in his life was a relationship with God. As Jon prayed to ask Jesus Christ into his life, miraculously he felt something strange happening to his injured knee.
The strength and the range of motion all returned to his knee. He believed he was healed. Jon had the knee checked, and he was given a clean bill of health! Jon then contacted me through e-mail. He wanted to tell me his awesome story, and he wanted to know more about God. Since that time we have corresponded regularly as he reports his game statistics to me almost weekly and asks for prayer support.
Jon's story is not just about a healing of a heart and a knee to play the game of football again; it is much more than that!
This season was a breakout year for Jon. His high school team went 14-1 and won the Ohio Division V State Championship. Jon rushed for 2,293 yards on 305 carries (that's 7.5 yards a carry!), and he scored 34 touchdowns! He was named the Most Valuable Player in the State Championship game where he rushed for 165 yards and scored three touchdowns earning a $500 scholarship.
I think Jon would tell you the greatest performance enhancer is not found in a syringe, a pill, or a cream, but in Jesus Christ.
It was Christ that enhanced the performance of a poor, uneducated fisherman who denied him three times! This fisherman was one who later would preach the gospel with power; healing the sick and lame, and ultimately going to the cross for His Savior (Acts 4:13-14).
It was Christ that enhanced the performance of Kurt Schilling in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series. On the morning of the game, Schilling who had a dislocated tendon in his right ankle, couldn't walk. He knew his teammates and the fans of the Red Sox Nation were counting on him. Schilling did the only thing he could do... he prayed.
After giving a gutsy performance on the mound to give the Red Sox to a two game lead in the World Series, Schilling said this: "I wish everybody on this planet could experience the day I just experienced. I will never use the words unbelievable and the Lord again in the same sentence."
It was Christ that enhanced the performance of heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman. In 1974, George lost his heavyweight world title to Mohammed Ali. Then, three years later, after a brutal 12 round match-George was so beat up he thought he was dying.
"I just don't know how I was able to be a boxer, in the first place, without belief in God. When I found Jesus Christ it taught me everything. I learned to be a better athlete, I wasn't in a rush, I didn't have to go out there and try to knock someone out and hurt 'em in the first round. I learned to be patient, skillful in the ring. And at the same time, I wanted to prove to other boxers that you can just take off this 'killer instinct' stuff. You can really be a great athlete, a great boxer, and love your brother."
At age 45, 20 years after losing his championship belt to Ali, Foreman stunned the boxing world by winning back the heavyweight world title.
The greatest performance enhancer is not found in the locker room of some gym, in a back alley pharmacy, or in the advertisements of the latest muscle magazine. The best performance enhancer is not injected, digested, or rubbed in. The best performance enhancer changes your heart, then your entire life.
The best performance enhancer avalable is Jesus Christ. It is free and totally safe. It promises peace, contentment, and eternal life. Go to your knees and ask Jesus to come into your life today. You will never regret taking a full dose of Him!
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STRETCHING & FLEXIBILITY
Are NOT The Same Thing!
By Brian Grasso
www.iyca.org
Very often, people assume that I am against static forms of flexibility because when asked about it, I challenge the questioner to examine why they use this type of method. It’s not that I am against static flexibility per say, I just want people to understand the notion that flexibility does not equal static stretching - that is something our industry seems mired in.
First of all, the term ‘static flexibility’ is in itself non-descriptive. What type of static flexibility are you referring to? Herein lies the trouble; many trainers, parents and coaches have connected that ‘flexibility training’ infers sitting and holding a hamstring stretch for a period of 10 - 60 seconds, and this is simply not the case.
Static stretching has two viable categories -
a. Static passive
b. Static active
Static passive flexibility is what you may be most exposed to. Holding a stretch for a certain duration of time while being supported by an external force (such as standing and holding a hamstring stretch with your leg on a bench or sitting with your leg outstretch in which case the bench and floor respectively serve as the external forces).
Static active flexibility involves holding similar positions as discussed above and for similar timeframes, but with the definable difference being that the antagonistic muscle groups of the area you are stretching become active in holding the position. For instance, as opposed to lying your leg on top of a bench, in a static active version of that stretch, you would simply hold your leg up by contracting the hip flexor muscle group. This is much more difficult from an effort perspective and in many cases, is more beneficial to the young athlete since it requires strength and manipulates reciprocal inhibition (which states that active contraction of one muscle group allows for an optimal elongation of its antagonist).
Other forms of static flexibility include myofascial stretching, which involves complex and finite positions held in order to elicit an elongation effect of the fascia covering a respective muscle.
The Fitness Industry Water Down...
With the fitness industry currently engrossed in its usual ‘watering down’ effect, I am seeing more and more personal trainers and health clubs developing static passive stretching and Yoga-based programs for youths and dubbing them ‘Youth Flexibility Training’.
It is not static passive stretching that I have a problem with, it is the unfortunate predictability it is being used for as ‘flexibility enhancement’ training for youths by unknowing trainers, coaches and health clubs.
In fact, static passive training can be quite detrimental to young people in general if not used in proper context:
Inappropriate elongation of supportive connective tissue (ligaments, tendons etc) can cause lifelong instabilities at various joints. This reality is not far fetched either – typically, trainers and coaches look for young athletes to ‘stretch farther than last time’ in there daily habits. This coupled with the notion that young connective tissue is innately pliable can result in damage.
Static passive forms of flexibility are best incorporated with biofeedback methods – simply put, assessing what you feel as you stretch and where the restrictions appear to be kinesthically speaking, must be part of the equation. Merely enforcing a stretching protocol without teaching appropriate form, function and kinesthetic feedback can lead to damage via over-stretching. This is why I have long been a proponent of TEACHING static passive exercises through a phasing in period once the athlete has reached a certain maturity and is prepared to grasp and respect the context of what they are doing.
From a neural perspective, static passive stretching goes innately against Natural Law. The young nervous system is energetic and constantly in flux. That is best incorporated with movement-based training agendas that are routed in fun and serve to fill the plastic and adaptable nervous system with appropriate stimulus. No 6 year old I have ever worked with truly enjoyed or gained much from sitting and ‘stretching’… it just goes against what there bodies are doing.
Having said that, limitations and dysfunction in hip flexibility do present themselves quite frequently in young children. Rather than having the kids ‘stretch out’, I use a hip circuit dynamic which serves to both elongate and strengthen the muscles supporting the hip region and is clearly movement-based.
The Perfect Exercise
Have the athlete/child kneel on all four’s…
Bring the right knee up to the chest, make a large external rotation with the hip and extend the leg strait back. That is one repetition. Repeat 3 – 8 times based on efficiency while watching for compensatory action.
Next, repeat the exact same sequence, but this time in reverse. Extend the leg straight back, make a large internal rotation at the hip and bend the knee up to the chest.
Lastly, place the leg out to the side in line with the hip. Raise the leg (straight) off the ground as high as comfortable and then return slowly to the ground. Repeat this 3 – 8 times.
With respect to compensatory action, watch to make sure that the child is not ‘leaning’ to one side or the other. Even during motion, the athlete should stay square in their 4-point kneeling stance.
Static passive stretching DOES have its place with kids, but you have to understand why and when. Never forget:
- Stretching and Flexibility are not the same thing
- Static starching has more than one form to it
- Movement-based measures of flexibility are inherently better for kids and are consistent with the stimulus-seeking drive of the nervous system.
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