sex and football

Sex and Football - Does sex affect player performance?  

For many years there has been this whole myth about players should not have sex 1-2 days before a match as this will affect testosterone levels within in the body resulting in affected performance.. but is this really true?

This is just a suspicion which many sports still abide to as they 'believe' that no sex before a match helps performance when in fact no scientific evidence has been produced to back up this point. As World Soccer magazine states, "It's not the sex the night before, it's the staying up all night looking for it" which is also seen as another suspicion..  why would the Ghanaian team be banned from having sex, how is the team management going to enforce the ban, and does not having sex improve an athlete’s performance on the field? It seems the Ghanaian football team management has some ideas about the correlation of sex and football performance that makes them think that having sex will decrease performance on the field. “Ghanaweb reports that a sex ban has been imposed on the Ghana squad during the World Cup. It’s hard to know how this might affect things, nor how it might be enforced, but we must trust in the powers that be and assume they know their players,”. The same article says that this strategy allegedly worked for Switzerland in 1994 as well because they got very far in the tournament before being knocked out by a lucky Spanish side. What is interesting to note here is that no one on the Ghanaian management team attributed the winning streak of the Swiss side in the ‘94 World Cup to nothing more than good play and luck. Even though the Swiss team and their management denied the no sex rumours, the story became legendary and may have inspired the current thinking from the African nation.
In truth it wasn't until the arrival of the psychologist Freud and his psychological and psychiatric disciplines in the late 19th century that the view of sex as a harmful activity was first thrown into the spotlight. Scientists are now studying sexual activity related to sports and with a lot of tests being carried out on a range of athletes from footballers to olympic runners there is yet to be any concrete evidence which supports the theory of sex before a match affects performance. A sports medicine scientist from McGill university in Canada, has carried out various tests and states that "The idea of sex can make an athlete tired and weak the next day has been disproved"

The chemistry has also been studied and it is found that far from the act of depriving the body from vital fluids it can actually increase the volume of testosterone within the blood.   Pravda sports reporting by Abigail Opoku

foreign

photo and story credit:skysports.com

Jose Mourinho has hit back at accusations from Andres Iniesta that he damaged Spanish football by claiming that he was made to suffer for being the coach who "ended Barcelona's dominance" during his time at Real Madrid. The Portuguese's controversial three-year reign at the Bernabeu came to a close at the end of the season and the Spain star suggested that the 50-year-old left behind an unsavoury legacy in Spain. But Mourinho reflected on his time at Madrid with fondness, having successfully halted Barca's grip on La Liga in record-breaking fashion just a year ago.

French winger Florent Malouda has said he is proud of his achievements during his time at Chelsea, and he is leaving the club with his head held high. The France international is among eight players who have been released by the Blues after their contracts were not renewed.
Rafael Nadal smiled back from the front pages of Spanish newspapers today, after he lifted his record eighth French Open title with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over compatriot David Ferrer. The 27-year-old Spaniard's triumph made him the first man to ever win the same Grand Slam title on eight different occasions.

local report

Former Black Stars deputy skipper Hamza Mohammed has stated that he has not quit football, and will be coming back this September to continue his career. The midfield enforcer has been out of action since 2009 when he played for Kumasi King Faisal. According to him, he is making a comeback in three months time so his fans and Ghanaians should watch out. Mohammed, 32, has played for Real Tamale United, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, King Faisal and also had stints outside with Romanian Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt and New Zealand based Knights FC. He captained the Black Satellites in the 1999 U20 world youth championship in Nigeria where Ghana reached the quarter-finals and has so far played 28 times for the Black Stars scoring once.

muscle pull

In the field of sports, what is sad and worrying, is to see your favorite player pull out of a game at a point where expectations are high and the competition is tougher. It is not uncommon to see most athletes look helpless as the wail and hold onto their legs in the midst of a game whiles they watch their competitors continue in their quest to out play them. What is usually associated with this suffering is a strain in the muscle called muscle pull. One may wonder what this muscle pull is? Is it a form of sickness or just a form of injury? A medical doctor-Dr. Prince Pambo educates us on muscle pull.

He adds that, muscle pull is believe to happen when sports men and women do not get enough pre- exercise before their activities, get dehydrated or lack certain nutrients.

Some footballers who have been experiencing the strain emphasize that muscles pull usually occurs to a player from 76 to 90 minutes in a football game when muscles are very tired. They lament that the defect can be painful and may even require a carol therapy for treatment.  

Save yourself from this pain and somewhat embarrassing by paying heed to the prescription and advise of Dr. Prince Pambo

Reporting for Pravda sports, I am Abigail Opoku.

arshavin

photo and story credit:Arsenal fc

Former Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin is reportedly set to return to his former club Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The 32-year-old Russian has been released by Arsenal and The Sport Express Daily says Zenit Saint Petersburg's owners, the gas giant Gazprom, have approved his acquisition.
Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller said: "We have to remember that Arshavin is a product of Zenit and I think it right that a product of Zenit finishes his career at his native club.
"Arshavin is a great Russian footballer and a great Petersburg sportsman."
Arshavin played a starring role in Zenit's 2008 UEFA Cup success and then performed superbly for Russia in the 2008 European Championships.
However, he failed to build on a promising start to his career with Arsenal and spent time on loan with Zenit during the 2011/12 season.
The Sport Express says the main conditions of his new Zenit contract have been agreed, following a meeting with Miller and Zenit manager Luciano Spalletti.
Zenit are looking to strengthen their side following the departure of Russian star Igor Denisov, who is to join big-spending Anzhi Makhachkala.