Did you know this is about the time in the new year when people begin to lose their resolve to be healthier and more active? If you feel you may be at risk, check out our statewide prescription for a prolonged active lifestyle. We have something for the team player (volleyball at the coast), the nature lover (a geology hike in the Piedmont) and — what’s a nice way to put this — the nutcase, in the form of a night downhill mountain bike race in the mountains.

Stay active, my friends.

Coast

Someday, I’m going to get three friends and head to the coast for the periodic 4 x 4 Coed Indoor Volleyball Tournaments held by the Emerald Isle Parks and Recreation Department. You must pre-register, which discourages the unpracticed, and the $55 team fee is fair but, again, makes you take the tourney a bit more seriously. And, there’s the prospect of prize money — 70 percent of the take goes to first place, the remaining 30 percent to second place — which could cover gas and a stop on the way home at Smithfield’s Chicken and Bar-B-Q! It’s BYOB (Bring Your Own Ball).

Logistics: Pre-register by calling Emerald Isle Parks & Recreation at 252.354.6350 by 5 p.m. Friday. Six team limit. More info at the aforementioned number or via smcnally@emeraldisle-nc.org. Games start at 8 a.m.

Saturday forecast: The tourney is indoor, but if you lose in the first round bring outdoor play clothes: the weatherman is calling for partly sunny skies and a high of 50.

Piedmont

Brisk weather for hiking is in the forecast for this weekend in the Piedmont; if you’re a fan of  medium brisk, then you might want to plan on hiking Saturday, when the temperatures will be a skosh warmer. It just so happens there’s a mountains-in-the-Piedmont hike Saturday, at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough. This popular hike explores this pyrophyllite quarry with insights offered by a bonafide geologist. Plus, Occoneechee, the highest point in Orange County, is especially good in cold weather. Don’t ask why, just is.

Logistics: Saturday, Jan. 26, 2 p.m., Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough.  Free, but pre-registration required, by calling 919.383.1686. More about Occoneechee Mountain here.

Saturday forecast: High of 43, clear with clouds moving in as the day progresses.

Mountains

Don’t you love an event where the name says it all? Like Saturday’s Icycle Mountain Bike Event out of Fontana Village? The Icycle consists of a cross-country race — several actually, in various categories and skill levels. All on a 7-mile course that “consists of varied terrain with rocks, roots, creeks, & wide open passing lanes offering some of the finest western North Carolina singletrack.” There’s also the Icycle Night Downhill, described as “not for the faint at heart.” A minimum 10 watt/150 lumen light is required for this one.

Logistics: Entry fee starts at $30 and registration closes at the very end of today (Thursday, Jan. 24). Register here. More info by calling 800.849.2258, or going here.

Saturday forecast: Partly cloudy, high of 45.

* * *
Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

* * *
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The post This weekend: Spike, hike, bike appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Hiking into the past: It’s all the rage in North Carolina this weekend … .

Coast

Feeling competitive? Have three friends, at least one of whom is the opposite sex? And are all of you 16 or older? If you answered yes to all of the above, consider about heading down to Emerald Isle Saturday for the Emerald Isle Parks & Rec 4 x 4 Volleyball Tournament. Entry fee is $55, winner gets 70 percent of the pot ($231 if the maximum of six teams signs up), second place gets 30 percent. You must preregister by 5 p.m. Friday, by calling 252.354.6350.

Logistics: In addition to pre-registering (see above), you have to bring your own ball and officiate games you don’t play in. More info here.

Weather: The tournament is indoors. That said, it’s supposed to be 60 and sunny at the coast.

Piedmont

When you hike in the woods, odds are you’re oblivious of the history around you. That you’re unaware of the daffodil that might signal an old homestead, or the wide trough that could be what remains of an old “highway.” This weekend, you have not one but two opportunities to hike into history.

Friday at 2 p.m. (we like to start the weekend early around here), join a ranger for a mostly off-trail hike to historic Camp Craggy in Raleigh’s Umstead State Park. Located upslope from Crabtree Creek near the old Company Mill, Craggy was a Boy Scout camp in the early 1900s. The hike, 2.5 miles round trip, begins at 2 p.m.

Logistics: The hike, which begins from the parking lot off Harrison Avenue and I-40, is free, but pre-registration is required, by calling 919.571.4170.

Weather: The good news: A high of 63 is forecast. The not-so-good: there’s an 80 percent chance of rain.

On Sunday, join the Eno River Association’s Joe Liles for a hike, Fanny’s Ford and the Road to Holden Mill. Subtle signs will tell the tale of this once commercially vibrant area that is now part of Eno River State Park.

Logistics: Meet at the picnic shelter at the end of Cole Mill Road at the Few’s Ford access area of the Eno River State Park, at 2 p.m. More info here.

Weather: Sunny with a high of 54.

Mountains

They’ll also be hiking into history Saturday in the Stone Mountain area, albeit for a more colorful past. The 336 Area Hiking Group sponsors the Moonshine Stills Hike, a 5- to 7-mile mostly off-trail exploration in/around Stone Mountain State Park. Stills, old homesteads, cemeteries “and what ever we can find,” are the objectives, according to hike leader Steve Martin. A rugged outing is in store, Martin cautions. “If you enjoy nice, marked trails please pick another hike.”

Logistics: The group will meet at 7:30 a.m. in Greensboro to carpool to the park. More info here.

Weather: High of 52, 20 percent chance of rain.

* * *

Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

* * *

 
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The post This weekend hike into the past appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today, I have a story appearing in both the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer offering tips for parents of student athletes as the busy falls sports season gets underway. The story focuses primarily on the emotional issues that often arise. Below is a look at the physical side of high school athletics, with information and tips on injuries and injury prevention.

If you have a high school athlete, there’s a 1 in 5 chance he or she will suffer a physical injury.

In the 2009-2010 school year, the latest year for which stats are available, 1.35 million of the nation’s 7 million high school athletes got injured, according to the Center for Injury Research & Policy at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. To be a certified injury, the incident had to require medical attention (doctor, athletic trainer, emergency personnel) and result in the athlete missing at least one lost day of practice or a game.

Some highlights from that study:

Injuries by sport

Injuries per 1,000 players.

Football:  3.81 injuries
Girls soccer: 2.0
Wrestling (boys): 1.98
Boys soccer: 1.75
Girls basketball: 1.58
Boys basketball: 1.45
Girls volleyball: 0.99
Softball (girls): 1.12
Baseball (boys): 0.82

Mostly commonly injured body part

Reflects percent of total injuries.

Ankle: 17.5
Head/face: 17.2
Knee: 15.7
Hand/wrist: 10.3
Hip/thigh/upper leg: 9.2
Shoulder: 8.4
Trunk: 5.8
Lower leg: 4.7
Foot: 4.1
Arm/elbow: 4.0
Neck: 1.9
Other: 1.0

Bench time

Number of days (practices and games) missed due to injury.

1-2 days: 14.7 percent
3-6 days: 27.3 percent
7-9 days: 16.1 percent
10-21 days: 16.9 percent
22 or more days: 25.0 percent

Injuries by class

Percentages of injuries by year in school, broken down by male and female athletes.

Freshman: 20.8 percent | 27.9 percent
Sophomore: 23.5 percent | 26.7 percent
Junior: 25.8 percent | 24.1 percent
Senior: 29.9 percent | 21.3 percent

Check out the entire report here. For comparison sake, check out this study of the 2005-06 school year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* * *

Hydration

Hydration is a particularly important issue for so-called “fall” sports — practice for some of which began over a month ago, in the dead of summer. If your student athlete is fatigued, irritable, unproductive and is suffering headaches and muscle cramps, he or she might be dehydrated.

Here’s a good overview of dehydration that ran in the New York Times last year: “In Summer’s Heat, Watch What You Drink.”

For a succinct take on recognizing dehydration and getting rehydrated, here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say.

Playing hurt

“If you get hurt,” advises the National Institutes of Health, “stop playing. Continuing to play or exercise can cause more harm.”

Schools and coaches have gotten better about sidelining injured players until they’re ready to return. Still, there’s often subtle suggestion that an athlete “gut it out” that puts injured players on the field before they’re ready.

For most non-serious injuries, follow the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) approach to recovery. That will help relieve pain, reduce swelling and speed healing.

For more on sports injuries, check out the Sports Injuries section of MedlinePlus, a service of the NIH and U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Cheerleading

60 percent of cheerleading injuries are the result of stunts, according to a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. By stunts, they mean: cradles, elevators, extensions, pyramids, single-based stunts, single-leg stunts, stunt-cradle combinations, transitions and miscellaneous-partner-and-group stunts.

The most common injuries were strains and sprains (53 percent). Injuries occurred most frequently during practice (83 percent). The top five body parts injured were the ankle (16 percent), knee (9 percent), neck (9 percent), lower back (7 percent) and head (7 percent).

Photo: The famous “my-achin’-everything” photo of NFL quarterback Y.A. Tittle after a loss in 1964, his last season. In addition to his bloodied face, Tittle was thought to have a concussion and possible broken ribs.

The post Coach! My ankle hurts! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Mountains

Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to get the juices flowing the second week of January than on a hike, a mountain hike. A 9.8-mile mountain hike that gains 2,000 feet of total elevation, flirts with an elevation of one mile, takes in frozen waterfalls and promises great winter views in the Shining Rock area. That’s what the Carolina Mountain Club has in mind for this Sunday when it takes on the Seniard Ridge Loop in the Pisgah National Forest west of Asheville in the Looking Glass Falls area. Because of the potentially dicey footing, trekking poles and YakTrax (or a similar traction device) are recommended.

Hikers will meet to carpool in Asheville at 8:30 a.m. with a pickup in Pisgah Forest at 9 a.m.  More info here or check with Mary Beth Gwynn at 828.545.6487 or mbgcmc@gmail.com.

Piedmont

Need some incentive to support that New Year’s resolution to be a healthier, happier, more active you? There’ll be incentive aplenty this

Saturday on the American Tobacco Trail as Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space team with Rex UNC Hospital and the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists for Kickoff to a Healthy New Year. Guided nature hikes, a scavenger hunt, geocaching, chair massage, information on running programs and yoga, free health screenings and a bike ride led by TORC. Hot chocolate and marshmallow roasting, too.

The event is from 1-4 p.m. at the southern trailhead to the American Tobacco Trail, a 22-mile rails-to-trails project that runs from downtown Durham south to New Hill and the aforementioned trailhead off New Hill-Olive Chapel Road.

More info here.

Coast

Let’s say you and three buds were musing about resolutions on New Year’s Eve and someone hit on the idea of forming a competitive — or not — four-person volleyball team. One thing lead to another and before long your bubbly-inspired team was traveling to exotic locales across the state participating in 4-on-4 volleyball tournaments. Then Dick Clark croaked that it was midnight, you broke a couple lamps and thoughts of 2011 volleyball glory faded as you searched for a vacuum cleaner.

This weekend you can live your New Year’s Eve dream at the Emerald Isle Parks and Recreation Community Center gym when the first of two 4 x 4 Coed Volleyball Tournaments kicks off (the second is Feb. 5). Play begins at 8 a.m., you have to bring your own ball and you may have to officiate other games when you aren’t playing. And, there’s prize money: of the $55 team entry fee, the winners take home 70 percent, second place 30 percent. Who knows, you may play well enough to pay for those lamps.

Preregistration is required. To do that or for more info, contact Laurie Morris at lmorris@emeraldisle-nc.org or 252.354.6350.

* * *

Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

The post Hike, spike, bike this weekend in North Carolina appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We just got back from five days at Brigantine Beach, which sits just north of Atlantic City, N.J., though the gulf between the two couldn’t be greater. Atlantic City is all about glitz and gambling, Brigantine Beach is about kicking back — and kicking in.

Even before we got to the beach I could tell this place was different. One morning having a bagel and coffee ($1.89!) outside Aversa’s Italian Bakery on the town’s main drag, I noticed that maybe one in five patrons arrived by car. The rest either walked or rode their bikes. Like many beach towns, the Brigantine Beach’s streets are wide, easily accommodating cyclists. The larger roads all have bike lanes. And they were all well-used, from people down for the week on beach cruisers to townies (the year-round population is 12,600) running errands on 30-year-old 10-speeds. I’d never seen so many people on bikes. Most surprising: A goodly number were men of retirement age who in other beach settings would be tooling around in a Lincoln Town Car.

The bakery prepared me for the beach. The beach here is wide, about twice the width of Wrightsville, Emerald Isle, or most other beaches along the North Carolina coast. Good thing, because these folks — who judging from their license plates come from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, in that order — make use of it. Sure, like us, they wheel in 40-gallon coolers filled with beverages and sandwiches. But their beach wagons, made of PVC pipe and bulbous, oversized wheels, also bore all forms of recreation. Horseshoes and bocce balls were big. Families decked out in Phillies T-shirts and hats brought mitts and balls and played catch. Frisbees and assorted other flying discs whizzed over unsuspecting sunbathers, who were more apt to get thumped by an errant paddle ball. Stunt kites kept several sun-and-air worshipers occupied. There wereinfo

rmal family volleyball games, there were more formal (though not

necessarily more competitive) contests on courts

established for the local beach volleyball club. There was the Atlantic City Beach Soccer Tournament, a five-on-five competition that pitted a melting pot of teams against one another.

And that was just on land. Once you hit the surf, there were boogie boards, surf kayaks, surf boards, windsurfers and kite boarders. And, of course, the frolicking you encounter trying not to notice the water is 73 degrees. (At Wrightsville Beach, the temperature was a bath-watery 85.)

In New Jersey, 23.3 percent of adults are obese; in North Carolina, the figure is 29.3 percent. Sure, the New Jerseyans like their hoagies and pork rolls. But as this beach scene suggested, they’re also more likely to get up afterward (30 minutes afterward, presumably, to accommodate proper digestion) and work off their indulgences with a spirited game of volleyball, an endless contest of horseshoes or catch with the kids.

We go to the beach to shed stress. Lying in the sun and having a picnic is certainly part of that process. But as our friends from the Garden State demonstrate, it’s only part of the process.

The post In New Jersey, life’s a (more active) beach appeared first on GetGoing NC!.