How to produce a Effective Youth Fitness and Conditioning Program

Developing sports training programs for youths requires more profound knowledge, a more involved mind-set and different tools than creating programs for adults. The demand for services that teach young people sports skills - particularly those that help develop motor abilities and basic athletic techniques - is increasing steadily in the United States. Countless performance facilities and fitness centers are running programs for 7- to 16-year-olds, with the main emphasis on speed and agility programs for youths playing baseball, football, soccer and basketball.

Kids' lack of recreational activity and the alarming trend of early specialization in sports are two of the reasons why sports training programs for youths can be beneficial in terms of movement skill development, weight management and general fitness. However, the quality of the services and the child's interest are at risk if proper guidelines and specific approaches are neglected in the heat of a profitable moment. It is a fact that creating sports training programs for youths requires more profound knowledge, a more involved mind-set and different tools than creating programs for adults.

With that in mind, the following eight concepts should make up the core philosophy of any successful sports training program for youths:

1. Children Are Not Small Adults

Coaches often are not educated enough in children's and youth exercise physiology - added to which, they are pressured to always win. Too many of them design training programs according to the goals and abilities of adults. The intensity and duration of the drills, and the drills themselves, often resemble a training session for mature athletes.

I sometimes watch a football team of 10- to 12-year-olds conditioning in the field by my house. When I see the team running sprints in the heat in full gear, running lap after lap and falling to the ground, I begin to ponder the objective of the drill. My guess is that the goals are metabolic development and, possibly, mental toughness. Yet, because of the young body's inability to respond to the given training modality, it is not clear whether the goal of this training will translate to success on the gridiron. In other words, even if those young athletes develop physically and mentally through that drill, the lack of running technique and poor movement skills under fatigue won't likely translate in a positive way to the actual playing of the sport. The same drill might be excellent for the athletes who are able to utilize their advanced motor skills and reap the benefits metabolically, but not their younger counterparts. This example demonstrates only one situation in one sport, but it can be seen in one shape or form throughout youth sports.

2. Athletes First, Players Second

Coaches are often tempted to teach and practice game-specific skills more than general athletic skills, since game-specific skills are the ones that eventually determine which team wins and which loses. Limited training time and people's high expectations of success can also lead to this exaggerated emphasis on developing sport-specific skills. Development of general athletic skills, such as jumping, landing, skipping, lunging, twisting and hopping lay the foundation for game-specific skills and is vital to becoming a healthy and successful athlete. Narrowing the variety of movement skills before the athletic foundation has been laid can risk a child's long-term development and suffocate his or her true potential.

Injuries - particularly overuse injuries - at an early age are often a sign of excessive game-specific training at the expense of general fitness and motor skills. Learning how to incorporate the components of athletic development in the training program is key to the creation of a successful, child-oriented sports program. It is good to remember that athletes practice these skills throughout their career to improve their game-specific performance and to prevent injuries.

3. An Age-Sensitive Approach

Coordination, balance, speed, flexibility, agility, strength and endurance are all important components of human movement and sport performance. The different stages of a child's growth and development determine which motor skills should be emphasized in training programs. For example, speed and agility progress optimally during the "skill hungry" years of 8 to 12, whereas strength and endurance become important in subsequent years. A 10-year-old boy is at his peak period to enhance acceleration speed and change of direction through games like tag or short shuttle runs. Drills that incorporate multidirectional hops on a single leg are well absorbed by children age 8 to 12.

During puberty, on the other hand, some of the fine motor skills regress as the body adapts to huge changes in height and muscle mass. A primary objective during this awkward time should therefore be learning basic movement patterns and exercises for dynamic flexibility and foundational strength. Exercises such as lunging or single-leg squat variations in all planes combine the objectives of strength, flexibility and coordination, and help the body maintain and enhance athleticism even during the clumsier periods of physical maturation.

The developmental stages before and during puberty should focus on children's strengths, not weaknesses. Later, during the high school years, will be the time for youngsters to refine their athletic skills by incorporating all the areas of movement training into the program. Flexibility becomes much more important, and strength and endurance abilities are better absorbed at this stage than earlier.

It is important to recognize, also, that each individual has a different developmental pace. The aggressive push to "peaking" in high school sports, and even earlier, often neglects the physiological needs of potentially great athletes. As a matter of fact, many internationally successful athletes found their specific sport in college or even later.

4. It Must Be Fun

The importance of fun is often neglected or misunderstood in youth sports. A persistent viewpoint in this country is that the only thing that brings results is hard work, even with respect to children and physical activity. Sometimes people's limited understanding is that fun means telling jokes between drills, or that everyone is laughing hysterically all the time. Often people want to separate result-oriented activity from fun because they cannot connect results and fun in their own minds. What is "fun" - and can it really be an important part of performance enhancement?

It is striking how much better one learns something if one has fun doing it. Emotions are a big part of multi-dimensional human systems. Emotions are tightly connected to physical performance and to the response generated by physical activity. Motivation or inspiration enhances learning on a cognitive as well as on a physiological level, and that is why fun is so important.

"Fun" can be defined as a balanced combination of skill and challenge. A positive, fun experience can be created if the task is challenging enough but rewarding, as well. Sometimes fun is expressed by laughter, but it can also take the form of a deep feeling of inner satisfaction. How do you know if the program you are running is fun? Are the children coming back for more, week after week and month after month? Fun is really the only thing that is going to keep children coming back to practice.

Evaluate your program by the number of children who start and finish it. In addition, see how many come back, and how many refer others to future programs.

5. Long-Term Development, Not Short-Term Success

Are you sure that your coaching philosophy will help the athletes in their careers beyond high school and college? Does your training approach as a coach of a young athlete vary depending on the planned age of peaking? Are your coaching and training methods an important part of the progressive development to athletic maturity? And if so, why?

Coaches might not always realize that the decisions they make in their training programs could be determining when the athletes reach the peak of their competitive careers. Youth coaches tend to look at success early in the athlete's career as the best measurement of their own efforts. The real challenge, ethically and professionally, is to acknowledge that the coach's actions today can decide the long-term future of the athlete, and to evaluate the training methods according to the years following high school and possibly college.

A youth coach should always choose training methods with the long-term career in mind, which sometimes might mean compromising short-term success. Are you ready to do this for the good of the child, or is it too important to win today at the expense of tomorrow? Obviously, one can be a successful youth athlete and a successful master athlete - the optimal situation. The greatest dangers to long-term development are premature specialization, high-intensity training or too many competitions. Lack of foundational athletic skills or training at too high an intensity can stunt the development of a young athlete as well.

6. Safety and Productivity

A safe atmosphere is a prerequisite for learning, success and fun - and indeed, everyone says they make safety a priority in their youth programs. While acknowledging that accidents can happen even when risk management is properly handled, planning and running well structured and instructed programs is what secures a program's physical safety.

Beyond that, mental and social safety are just as important to a program's success. Mental safety thrives in an atmosphere where there is freedom within boundaries and discipline through caring. A productive mental atmosphere is created by clear rules and instructions, and a "lead by example" attitude. Children need to know and understand the rules, and see that instructors take the rules seriously, too. If a coach tells players to respect their teammates and then proceeds to mock a particular player, the concepts of mutual respect and adherence to rules disappear. More than any other group, young people require that their coaches exhibit a great deal of character and maturity.

The coach is also responsible for the social safety of the group, and each child needs opportunities to express him or herself without negative peer pressure. Bullying cannot be part of a successful children's program or team. Little "tough guys" on the team cannot be allowed to step up and take charge. The coach has to make the rules clear and follow them, too.

7. Do What You Can Do

How do you teach a new skill? Are you able to demonstrate an exercise or drill with the attitude and technique that you demand from your athletes? The rule of thumb with children is: Only teach what you can do and show yourself. You can explain the drill in great detail, but the demonstration will decide how the drill will be executed. It's a physically demanding task, but coaches should always prepare to demonstrate the exercise as well as they possibly can.

Work on one area of emphasis at a time and give specific cues such as "lift knees higher" or "hold it for the count of three." Always initiate the corrective feedback with a positive comment and search for strengths in the performance to accelerate the development in those areas: "Alex, excellent footwork on the shuffle - show me if you can keep the toes pointing forward on the next round."

The attention span in new learning is short. In teaching, you can move past this potential stumbling block by giving the same exercise repeatedly while modifying it a bit each time. For example, a single leg balance can be practiced as a timed balance test, a passing drill on one leg and a tag game on one leg. After the basic movement skill is taught, it is time to practice it in the more randomized setting of a game. The game will show you whether the skill was really learned, and whether you can expect it to be transferred to the sport situation.

8. Keep It Simple

Rarely does a practice session allow enough time to accomplish everything from athletic development to sport-specific skills. If practice takes place one to three times per week, it is a good idea to give simple tasks as homework. The short bursts of independent exercise will accumulate little by little and show results over the long term. The homework also teaches accountability and the importance of daily physical activity.

It is a great idea to always start the training the same way and create an opening and warm-up protocol so that children can eventually do it without instruction. A combination of exercises done in a logical order will not only prepare the body for the practice, but also switch on the mind so that it is ready to respond and absorb. If you decide to give homework, leave time at practice to observe the learning results, and encourage the most active home students.

Non-programmed recreational play is the most important time to develop motor skills and to help ensure an athletic and healthy future. Youth sports coaches need to accept that playtime with friends might be more beneficial for children than any organized activity offered, including the sport practice that they coach. The culture of free play is vanishing, and youth sports enthusiasts should be in the trenches fighting to preserve it. It is the most important of nature's athletic reserves, and the best homework coaches can give.

Operational Tips for Youth Sports Training Programs

• Create solid core values for the program. A successful children's program needs to have a solid foundation of values and guidelines. Everyone affiliated with the program must be able to communicate its core values and objectives. A set of values or a mission statement is the foundation on which all the program variables are based. The ethical foundation gives validity to the program and will enhance its longevity.

• Educate parents and the public. Another role of a successful youth program is to educate the people involved. Every youth sports program looks the same on the advertisement poster or flyer, but the contents vary dramatically. How can parents make educated decisions for their kids if they rely on marketing materials? Administrators and coaches need to arrange situations to meet with the parents to share important knowledge that can benefit their children. Demos and workshops for teachers and other coaches are also an effective way of sharing information. Practical, hands-on situations will make a lasting impression and transfer learning into teaching.

• Choose great role models as instructors. Why do we think that basically anyone without a criminal record can teach children? Does that reflect how we value the future of our children, or just our ignorance? Coaching and teaching children is a far more influential responsibility than instructing adults, and should be taken very seriously. Coaching children does not require a Ph.D., but rather a genuine caring for children and a desire to learn more about coaching, teaching and instructing youths. Who does not remember the elementary school physical education teacher or the coach whose influence still carries over in our lives? Every youth coach is a role model, and hopefully is aware of it.

• Envision the purpose beyond the score. We need to acknowledge that we are in the business of improving children's quality of life and creating a lifetime interest in health and fitness. We have a crucial role in helping children obtain the physical, mental and social tools and abilities that will help them be successful in the future. Children learn most effectively by doing and moving instead of just sitting and thinking, and the sports field is the classroom where they learn about life. Emotions such as satisfaction and joy, as well as disappointment and frustration, are all part of sports. Youth coaches are in the optimal position to mentor young people with their words of encouragement and correction and, even more so, through their example. Every child benefits from physical activity, athletic or not, and our job is to help them stick to it over time. For some, it means the Olympics. For others, it means simply staying happy and healthy.

Conflict Training and Management For Present day Youth

Our children are our future. Stop and think about children over the last several decades and how their roles have changed and evolved over the years. How did a child in the 60s or 70s differ from a child in the 80s or 90s? Here we are today, almost 10 years into the new millennium, an era of incredible technology advances, strong competition for achievement and material gain, changes in gender roles and most importantly, changes in family dynamics. Life is continuously changing and this is expected. We are an ever growing, ever changing society. But with such dramatic shifts in social norms and behaviors over the last 30 years or so, can we still expect to raise and teach our children as we were taught when we were young, which was predominately in authoritarian households? We will look at three individual scenarios which have been taken from a recent family dynamics study. All three cases are families in the new millennium brought up in the United States.

Three Family Dynamic Case Studies

Sheila is an 18 year old teenage girl beginning her freshman year of college. She has two younger siblings and lives in a middle class home with both her parents. Sheila's father is an insurance adjuster and her mother works as a secretary. Growing up, Sheila was predominately a straight A student, with a limited social group of friends. From the family perspective she would appear to be a child product from the typical middle class family. Sheila is also a drug addict.

Mark is a 20 year old young man and a sophomore in college. He has a younger brother and is a product of a broken home. His mother divorced his father when he was three years old. She was the primary sole provider for her family and attended school in the evenings. Mark was an average student during high school, was active in sports and had a wide variety of friends. He is active in local Christian youth programs and is majoring in elementary education.

Maria, 16, and Luis, 17, are brother and sister and live in the Bronx. Their mother is on welfare and their father left them when they were toddlers. They attend the local high school which is patrolled by security and covered in iron bars. Drugs and violence are rampant. Maria is a good student and finds protection in solitude, while Luis has been arrested on numerous occasions for drugs and theft and will barely graduate high school.

These are just a sampling of the differences in children, their family dynamics and how they deal with conflict. Of course, every child has their own story, their own accounts of their failures and their successes. Every child is a product of our family values and our society. We are now almost ten years into the millennium and as we review the past several decades we see how society has changed and how it has affected the family unit. One aspect of life that has never changed is conflict. Conflict is and always will be a part of life. However, how we handle conflict has changed and conflict awareness and education is at the forefront of this modern age.

Conflict Defined

In her article, Conflict...A New Perspective, Julie Fauimano, MBA, BSN, RN, Success Coach, defined conflict as "two or more people seeing things from different perspectives, given their education, background, upbringing, knowledge of the issue, beliefs, time of day, mood, etc...". Simply put conflict is diversity of thought. From this brief definition we see that conflict is more than just a disagreement, but rather a combination of sources ranging from our education to our mood. Most hear the term conflict and automatically associate it as a negative behavior. Many times when someone disagrees with our position we take it as a personal attack and we jump to the defense. However, conflict can be positive if we allow ourselves to be open to new ideas and different perspectives to an issue.

History has shown that we often don't think about conflict until we need third party assistance to help us sort out our issues. Counseling, mediation and litigation are all methods of conflict resolution. However, in the past decade, more attention is being put on the psychology aspect conflict by studying family dynamics, parenting styles, social interactions and conflict resolution education. In the past, we have always associated disputes with litigation, or in the judicial sense. Now, we are looking at conflict and conflict management proactively by attempting to understand what drives individuals personally, and how we can educate society, beginning with our children in addressing issues in a positive, productive manner.

Parental Influence and Behavior

As we think about our three cases at the introduction of this paper. All of these children are teenagers struggling to survive and find their way in today's world. Each child is from a different ethnic and religious background, each representative of a unique family unit. Add to this the varying parenting styles, social influences, their predetermined personality traits, personal goals and life experiences and you can understand how each individual approaches conflict in a different way.

With all the various influences on our children today, parents are the #1 influence. We are our children's role models. Parenting styles and their effects on children have been studied over the years and have been broken down into three categories: Authoritarian, Permissive and Authoritative. Understanding the three styles of parenting in relation to conflict resolution is the first step in understanding how children think, behave and react within their environment.

The Authoritarian Parent. Authoritarian parents expect their children to obey their rules exactly and often use reward and punishment to keep their children in line. With authoritarian style parenting, some children strive to please their parents to avoid punishment and do not feel comfortable communicating with the parent their feelings for fear of disappointing their parent or punishment. Some children may resent their parents or even rebel against their strict rules.

The Permissive Parent. This is a permissive form of parenting which provides little or no structure to the children. The no limits and guidelines are often few or fuzzy. Without limits, children are likely to have a difficult time getting along with peers and learning how to behave in society. Permissive parenting is a very free and open form of parenting, one that is typical of a single parent home or a home where both parents work and do not make family time a priority.

The Authoritative Parent. Authoritative is a democratic style of parenting which balances rights with responsibilities. This form of parenting allows limits to be set for children while providing them with choices within those limits. By giving choices to your children you are expressing to them that their opinions are important and their choices may carry an undesired outcome and consequence. Authoritative parenting better prepares the child for independence in society. It provides teaches them compromise and instills the understanding that we learn by our choices and consequences of those choices.

Family Dynamics

Back in the 50's and 60's the family unit typically consisted of the Father/Provider and Mother/Caregiver. The father was the decision maker and provided financially for the family while the mother took care of the home and the children. This is also referred as the "nuclear family". Through the years the changes in our society with gender roles changing, women desiring careers outside the home, pushing for equality with men, desiring their own financial independence, the family unit has changed drastically. Children of divorce are more prevalent than ever before with the divorce rate being at 50% as compared to 22% back in 1960. (DivorceRate.com, 2008). Now we have a more diverse family unit made up of single parent homes, children being raised by grandparents and blended families resulting from remarriage. Vast changes in the family core have opened the door to many other life challenges within the family unit, especially pertaining to the children.

Divorce not only affects the parent but the child as well. Studies have shown that children demonstrate their anxiety over the divorce of their parents in varying ways many times dependent upon the age at which the divorce occurs. The pain children experience from divorce can consist of vulnerability, insecurity, grief, loss, anger and powerlessness. Additionally, the relationship between the parent and child changes as the custodial parent may experience disorganization, anger, decreased expectations of their children for appropriate social behavior or aka, diminished parenting. Furthermore, studies have shown that a child's post-divorce quality of life can have a major impact on their long term adjustment outcomes. Most frequent concerns of children are that of repeating the cycle of a broken marriage.

For many parents, life continues after divorce and they move onto new relationships which leads them to re-marriage and blended families. Today's typical family unit consists of step-parents, step children and step-siblings. Our children are thrown into "instant" families which have already begun to establish their own set of beliefs, standards, ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs and parenting styles. New personalities, customs, and memories are all added to the blended family household. However, a child is still the child; and the adult is still the adult and we must still remember that even through the tumultuous changes in the family dynamics, we must remember that children still need a balance of love, attention and discipline.

Social Influences

As children grow and attend school, they are highly influenced by their peers. They will become leaders or followers. They will find a specific peer group with which they can identify and form friendships. Peer groups offer children the opportunity to develop various social skills, such as leadership, sharing or teamwork, and empathy. Peer groups also offer the opportunity to experiment with new roles and interactions which is typically the reason that adolescents drift from one group to another as they are in search to "find themselves," or work toward the formation of their identity.

Children need acceptance and they are also highly influenced by their peers. Peer groups can have either a negative or a positive influence over a child. When a child is lacks self confidence or self-worth, they will turn to whatever groups that are most accepting, regardless of the groups social and ethical behaviors. However, peer groups can also provide a very positive outlet for a child that can promote positive behaviors and promote academic excellence along with healthy emotional support.

A teen that has been taught appropriate conflict management skills will have an easier time when it comes to peer pressure and social acceptance by learning to balance the value of going along with the crowd against the importance of making their own decisions.

Conflict Management & Resolution Styles of Teenagers

There are three basic approaches by which teenagers handle conflict: the passive approach, the aggressive approach and the assertive approach. The approach the child takes can have a huge impact on the outcome of the disagreement. The Passive Approach. The passive approach is associated with lack of communication, low self worth and fear of confrontation. Passive children are likely to be pushed around with little to no repercussion. Additionally, these children may have a hard time forming friendships and often find friendships are unfulfilling due to the fact that these children are easily taken advantage of.

The Aggressive Approach. This approach uses intimidation and confrontation as its primary source resolving conflict. These children will do whatever necessary to reach their desired outcome, not matter the consequences. They look at conflict as a win/lose situation and take criticisms personally, instead of looking at it as a way to learn and grow. Aggressive children are often labeled as bullies and are either avoided or make friends with other similarly behaved children.

The Assertive Approach. A democratic style of conflict resolution, children take an approach which combines respect with cooperation and compromise. These children have learned how to effectively communicate to convey their opinions while taking into consideration the needs of others. The assertive approach is the most successful approach as it can typically result in a win-win solution for all parties involved. It minimizes the negative feelings of anger and resentment as with the passive and aggressive approaches and replaces it with positive feelings of self-fulfillment. (Carney, 2008).

Teaching Life Skills

Teaching our children important life skills is essential in assisting them with handling conflicts as children and carrying these skills into their adult years. Up until the past decade or so, most of our focus has been on conflict resolution for adults. However, with the increase of disruptive behaviors by adolescents, increased divorce rate and the communication breakdown between parent and child, practitioners are now looking at assisting children in finding a more productive way to handle conflict. In a recent study, 6th and 7th grade children were examined as to how each gender handled conflict. Girls were found to typically rely on verbal assertion where boys showed more aggressive tendencies. Self-efficacy and self-control were found to be significant predictors of conflict resolution styles. Additionally, it is found that by promoting social competencies in our youth, psychosocial problems such as delinquency and drug abuse is reduced and academic achievement increased. (Vera, et. al. 2004)

In recent years, schools, churches and youth programs are implementing conflict resolution programs such as conflict coaching, conflict management workshops, peace building workshops and mediation programs. Evidence is showing that by providing our youth with the appropriate skills early on, we will be teaching them habits they can take with them for a lifetime. Teaching the appropriate social and conflict management behaviors has become just as essential as teaching our children skills in math, science, social studies and english. We can no longer wait until we are adults to begin to figure out how to manage conflict. Children will deal with conflict from their infancy, so why not begin developing the appropriate skills early on.

In sports and athletic events, we have coaches and these coaches support, implement athletic skills for the game, promote team play, character and team unity. In life, we need coaches on a daily basis to keep us on track, accountable, to promote teamwork, family unity, and teach life skills. Life coaches are just as valuable for guiding our youth, as coaches are in guiding our team sports. Counselors or counseling is implemented to fix something that is wrong, but we need to be looking at behavior from the prospective of facilitating and implementing the appropriate skills in our youth for managing their daily conflicts and social issues.

A valuable tool we have is the internet. The birth of the internet has opened a door to endless resources at a touch of a finger tip. Teenagers are one of the most proficient at using the internet, with 55% of all online teens belonging to some sort of social networking site (Lynch 2007). A good outlet for any teen who is facing an issue and wants to communicate their feelings confidentially is by creating an online avenue for teenagers to post their concerns and receive feedback, without revealing their identities. A good example may be a child being pushed around by a bully. Children do not like to appear "weak" or "afraid" so they do not report or communicate when another is harassing them. By having an outlet to discuss and seek help anonymously keeps the child feeling empowered, and reduces any possibility of retaliation by the bully.

Our youth need outlets for conflict resolution and education and coaching for conflict management. We are seeing a growth and slow acknowledgment of this in society, but we most become more proactive and start focusing on providing and offering programs to our youth now. We are seeing more and more problems in our society and we have to stop looking at just a fix to the problem, but rather we have to look at proactive ways to educate and communicate with our youth. It is like our health. We can go to the doctor and get a prescription to control high blood pressure, or we can implement a healthy diet and exercise in an effort to keep our blood pressure within normal limits and remain healthy.

Conclusion

Addressing conflict with our children has become a major concern due to our societal changes over the past couple decades. As we have seen there are a variety of factors that contribute to how our children handle conflict, parental influence and social influences being strong factor in a child's perception of conflict and how to form a resolution. In conclusion, let's briefly look at our three cases and see if we can determine the factors that contribute to how these children deal with conflict.

First, there was Sheila who was the straight A student, product of what was once considered a "nuclear" family unit. In Sheila's situation we can gather that her parent's had an authoritarian style of parenting, strict rules with no input from their children. Sheila had a small social network and probably had a hard time making friends, so she many times settled for those who would accept her for who she was regardless what the peer group's beliefs were. As a result, Sheila was not strong enough to weigh the difference between doing her own thing and doing the wrong thing, i.e. drugs, and she found herself lost and unable to appropriately function in society. Sheila's conflict resolution style would probably be the passive approach as her self-confidence and self esteem levels are probably low and because of the attitudes at home, she may try to avoid confrontation. If Sheila had an outlet, she may have found support and directives that could have lead her to understand why she struggled to fit in and how she could practice confidence building techniques that would help her to walk on her own, instead with individuals who would lead her in the wrong direction.

Next we had Mark, the 20 year old college sophomore. He was the product of divorced parents and his mother worked and attended school. It would appear her time with her children was limited. Although, Mark's high school grades were not always up to par, he did manage to have a strong social network and was active in school sport activities. From this situation we may observe that Mark's mother chose the authoritarian style of parenting. She allowed input from her children and gave them choices. For example, Mark's grades, if he chose not to take his studies seriously he had to deal with the consequences such as not getting to play in the basketball game. His type of conflict resolution style would appear to be that of the assertive approach. He appeared confident enough to know that his needs were just as important as the next person's and looked for a win-win solution for everyone. Even though his mother was a single parent, she was able to instill the skills necessary for him to cope socially and carry those habits onward into college and beyond. While Mark's mother, being single mother, was notably busy with work and school, she was still able to teach Mark some important life skills. Mark however, could still have benefitted from a form of life coaching that may have better directed him with his education and life goals.

Finally, we have Maria and Luis. It would appear that Maria has taken over the role of her mother and Luis has decided to rebel. From this situation, it would appear that Maria and Luis' mother uses the permissive parenting style with her children. She is divorced and living on limited means and probably was never taught the social skills while growing up to help her own children. As a result, Maria keeps to herself and does not associate with others at school as a means of protecting herself from what she perceives as a socially diverse and unsafe atmosphere. She probably feels very insecure and unsure of herself and her role amongst her peers. Maria's conflict resolution style would be similar to that of Sheila's, passive. Luis on the other hand, being male and more prone to aggression has taken the aggressive route. He is angry with his social and economic situation. He does not have the guidance from home and he is rebelling. He has not been taught the social skills and therefore cannot handle conflict in a productive manner. His style of conflict resolution is easily diagnosed as aggressive. This entire family would benefit from conflict resolution skills training or coaching - the mother to develop her skills in raising and communicating with her children and the children with developing the positive social skills and conflict resolution skills necessary to carry them throughout the remainder of their lives.

As we can see conflict is a part of life. Whether young or old, there will be issues that need addressing in our marriages, families, businesses, churches, schools and communities. Understanding the psychology of conflict will assist us in being able to better assist our children in developing the skills necessary to successfully manage conflict in their lives. Think about how much the world has changed over the past 30 years or so. Now try to imagine how much more it will change in the next 30 or more years. Investing in conflict resolution coaching and training now with our children will help them to develop the skills that will lead to a more productive, confident individual in the future.

Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing is the trend towards increasingly ubiquitous (another name for the movement is ubiquitous computing), connected computing devices in the environment, a trend being brought about by a convergence of advanced electronic - and particularly, wireless - technologies and the Internet. Pervasive computing devices are not personal computers as we tend to think of them, but very tiny - even invisible - devices, either mobile or embedded in almost any type of object imaginable, including cars, tools, appliances, clothing and various consumer goods - all communicating through increasingly interconnected networks.

Modern devices that may serve the ubiquitous computing model include mobile phones, digital audio players, radio-frequency identification tags and interactive whiteboards. Other terms for ubiquitous computing include pervasive computing, calm technology, things that think, everyware, and more recently, pervasive Internet.

Ubiquitous computing encompasses a wide range of research topics, including distributed computing, mobile computing, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.

HISTORY

Pervasive computing is the third wave of computing technologies to emerge since computers first appeared:

o First Wave - Mainframe computing era: one computer shared by many people, via

workstations.

o Second Wave - Personal computing era: one computer used by one person, requiring a

conscious interaction. Users largely bound to desktop.

o Third Wave - Pervasive (initially called ubiquitous) computing era: one person, many

computers. Millions of computers embedded in the environment, allowing technology

to recede into the background.

BACKGROUND

Eight billion embedded microprocessors are produced each year. This number is expected to rise dramatically over the next decade, making electronic devices ever more pervasive. These devices will range from a few millimeters in size (small sensors) to several meters (displays and surfaces). They may be interconnected via wired and wireless technologies into broader, more capable, networks. Pervasive computing systems and services may lead to a greater degree of user knowledge of, or control over, the surrounding environment, whether at home, or in an office or car.There have been calls for more widespread debate on the implications of pervasive computing while it is still at an early stage of development.

PERVASIVE COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES

Pervasive computing technologies classified in to four converging areas

- Mobile Computing

- Embedded and Applied computing

- RFID and Sensors

- Mobile and sensor networking

Mobile Computing

The widespread use of mobile computing devices has changed the way people compute and vastly expanded research areas in distributed computing and networking. In fact, traditional distributed computing is actually a subset of the broad area of mobile computing. Many topics in "mature" areas like distributed databases, distributed fault tolerance, and resource management now require much additional study, because many traditional assumptions are challenged. Mobile computers operate in more hostile environments, are resource-constrained (limited power, frequent disconnection), and are peripheral-poor.

Mobile computing is changing the way we live and work, as profoundly as the introduction of the automobile did almost a century ago. Key advances in mobile networking, wireless connectivity, mobile information access, content adaptation, data synchronization, technology for notebook and wearable computers, and innovative mobile e-business solutions have come from worldwide research laboratories..

Some of the recent research in mobile computing includes:

WEARABLE DISPLAY OF ATHLETES' STATISTICS

TeamAwear is a basketball jersey that displays real-time information about its wearer's statistics such as their fouls, points, and scores and alerts players when the game is nearly over or when time is running out to shoot. Mitchell Page and Andrew Vande Moere at the Centre of Design Computing and Cognition of the University of Sydney developed the system, which consists of numerous colored electroluminescent panels. A small computer attached to the player's body controls the panels and communicates wirelessly with a server that tracks relevant game statistics. For example, panels on the jersey's side light up to show how many goals the wearer has scored, with each panel representing 10 goals Although the inventors developed the TeamAwear jersey originally for basketball, they claim that it could also work in other fast-paced sports in which player-specific data changes rapidly, such as soccer, volleyball, cricket, and baseball. It could also support emergency teams working in noisy environments where verbal communication is inefficient.

SKYSCOUT

If you've ever looked at the night sky and wondered what stars you were observing, Celestron's SkyScout might be for you. Especially useful for novice astronomers, this handheld device combines GPS technology with a map of the sky to identify, locate, and provide information about celestial bodies. To identify an object of interest, you simply view it through the SkyScout and press the Identify button. SkyScout's technology identifies the object and tells you what it is. To locate a celestial body, you select it from a reasonably easy-touse menu of objects and press the Locate button. SkyScout uses red directional arrows around the eyepiece to guide you to the object in the sky. A nice feature is that the menu shows only objects that should be visible. (Unfortunately, Sky- Scout has no way to know which of those objects are blocked by trees). Finally, the device can educate you about many of the more popular celestial bodies. The information is available both through audio and text and includes facts about the object and its history and mythology. SkyScout's release was delayed in 2006 because of manufacturing problems in one of the components.

NOKIA NSERIES PHONES

Nokia has announced three new mobile phones in its multimedia Nseries, each targeting a different market segment. The N71, N80, and N92 offer a long list of features. The N71, from the Nokia XpressMusic family, offers an FM stereo tuner, a five-band equalizer, and support for audio and video formats including MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA, JPEG, and MPEG-4. It offers a 240 _ 320-pixel display and two cameras, one 2-megapixel (1600 _ 1200 pixel) and the other VGA (640 _ 480 pixel). It operates on dual-mode wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)/GSM and triband GSM. The N80 offers a 352 _ 416-pixel display and a 3-megapixel camera with features including four flash modes, 10 scene modes, manual exposure correction, and four color tones.

Embedded and Applied Computing

Embedded and ubiquitous computing is an exciting new paradigm that provides computing and communication services all the time and everywhere. Its systems are now affecting every aspect of our life to the point that they are hidden inside various appliances. This emergence is a natural outcome of research and technological advances in embedded systems. An Embedded Pervasive Computing Environment is equipped with hardware and software components that autonomously respond to the needs of its occupants. Embedded system is the core part of pervasive computing and it deals with various applications like wearable computer architecture and applications, sensor networks, real-time embedded operating systems, embedded servers, embedded system networking, address-free routing, smart spaces, dynamic service discovery, mobility and case studies. Some of the on-going researches in embedded systems include:

ROLLABLE DISPLAY

Who hasn't dreamt of a display that rolls up when not in use? Phillips took one step toward this dream on a commercial scale when it formed venture company Polymer Vision in January 2004. Polymer Vision recently reported that it can make a flexible display with a 2 cm bending radius. The display is an organics-based, QVGA (320 240 pixels) active-matrix display, 5 in. on the diagonal and 85 dpi. The display layers a 200-micron thick, reflective Electronic-Ink display from E Ink Corporation (www.eink.com) on top of a 25-micron thick, active-matrix plane.

USING LANDLINES FOR CELLULAR CALLS

Xcelis (www.xcelis.com) has developed an innovative product for coupling cell phones and landline handsets. The Pantheon (see Figure 3) plugs into a landline phone line and, using a Bluetooth connection, routes incoming and outgoing voice calls and data from users' cell phones to their landline handsets. The Pantheon indicates incoming mobile calls with a distinctive ring. While the mobile call is in progress, it doesn't tie up the landline, meaning you can still receive landline calls through your other telephones.
You need one device for each landline telephone that you want to multiplex. When making calls from your landline, you can choose whether to use your cell phone or landline account. The Pantheon provides additional features, including conferencing a landline call and a mobile call, accessing a user's mobile phonebook from a landline phone, and switching mid-call from a landline phone to a mobile phone. The Pantheon is also compatible with voice over IP handsets.

BIONIC ARM

Todd Kuiken at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine has developed a thought-powered bionic arm. The arm is based on a pioneering muscle reinnervation procedure that takes an amputee's nerves and connects them to a healthy muscle. Doctors take nerves that used to go to the arm and connect them to chest muscles. The nerves grow into the chest muscles and can contract the muscle when the patient thinks, for example, "Close hand." Electrical signals from the chest muscles drive the arm. Surface electrodes sense these impulses from the pectoral muscle and carry them through to the arm, causing it to move. Jesse Sullivan, a high-power lineman who had both of his arms amputated after being severely electrocuted, is the first patient to be outfitted with bionic arms. The arms have enabled him to do daily activities such as put on socks, shave, eat dinner, take out the garbage, carry groceries, and vacuum. Future generations of the arm will incorporate the sense of touch and feeling.

Mobile and Sensor networking

Sensor mobility allows better coverage in areas where events occur frequently in many sensor networks, considerably more units are available than necessary for simple coverage of the space. Augmenting sensor networks with motion can exploit this surplus to enhance sensing while also improving the network's lifetime and reliability. When a major incident such as a fire or chemical spill occurs, several sensors can cluster around that incident. This ensures good coverage of the event and provides immediate redundancy in case of failure another use of mobility comes about if the specific area of interest (within a larger area) is unknown during deployment. For example, if a network is deployed to monitor the migration of a herd of animals, the herd's exact path through an area will be unknown beforehand. But as the herd moves, the sensors could converge on it to get the maximum amount of data. In addition, the sensors could move such that they also maintain complete coverage of their environment while reacting to the events in that environment. In this way, at least one sensor still detects any events that occur in isolation, while several sensors more carefully observe dense clusters of events. On going researches in sensor networking includes:

WORLDWIDE BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS

Option is offering a PC data card that can access wireless broadband worldwide. You can use the GlobeTrotter GT Max on the 850, 1900, or 2100 MHz HSDPA/UMTS (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks and the 850, 900, 1800, or 1900 MHz EDGE/ GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) bands. The card can support data speeds up to 1.8 megabits per second on HSDPA networks, 384 kilobits per second on UMTS networks, 247 Kbps on EDGE networks, and 85 Kbps on GPRS networks. It's a Type II PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association)-compliant 3.3-V PC card and includes a novel "Butterfly" retractable antenna that doesn't require users to remove the card when it's not in use. Numerous wireless carriers offer the card, including Cingular, which recently announced that it would offer it under two plans. One plan will cost users 0 per month and includes unlimited data use in the US and 100 Mbytes of downloads in Canada and Mexico. The other plan will cost 0 and will include unlimited use in the US and 100 Mbytes of downloads in 24 countries including Australia, China, France, Italy, and Germany.

THE SELF-CLEANING HOUSE OF THE FUTURE

The house of the future won't need cleaning. Not by humans, leastways. Every surface will be dirt-repellent and antibacterial; and on the floors the vacuum cleaner is buzzing around - all on its own. The outer walls are all glass which can be screened off entirely and the interior surface used as TV screen. The scenario of the self-cleaning house belongs in the distant future, maybe 20 years from now. With the rapidly increasing development of nanotechnology we have seen for the past few years, it is not easy to predict a specific time span and it will be not only self-cleaning but also self-sufficient, energy wise. Today, the Australians are already experimenting with nanoglass-houses where the glass can be treated with a pigmented coating rendering the entire house non-transparent - the roof included.

WALL SENSORS

The house of the future will be capable of alerting its owner if it's in need of repair. The building materials will, of course, be susceptible to wear and tear due to wind and weather, and they will therefore have built-in sensors. When these sensors appear, the house computer will receive a message that this particular section needs repair. A variety of conditions are similarly monitored. This way, house owners can cheaply repair worn materials and avoid major, expensive repairs after the damage has been done.

THE INTELLIGENT HOUSE

The intelligent house of the future will alert the fire brigade in case of fire when you're at work. Or, if you've got a leaky water pipe, it will get hold of the plumber. Multifunctional sensors throughout the house will keep an eye on heating, lights, indoor climate etc. The house of the future will comprise two major digital gateways. One gateway will be the media server which comprises the complete collection of the family's music, films, photos etc. Another feature will be the highly secure homegateway - a server communicating with the many sensors distributed all over the house to monitor heating, indoor climate etc. The two gateways are separate entities, as the security on the homegateway needs to be exceedingly tight. This gateway should not be exposed to hacking, which could have fatal consequences with respect to security. If, for instance, the motion detectors are tampered with, the burglar alarm might be disabled. Likewise, it would be an unpleasant experience to come home to a room temperature of 40 degrees Celcisus, because someone is mad at you and has hacked into your system to change the temperature settings Thus, each room in the house of the future will be equipped with small sensors. - Larger rooms may have several. They will measure the physical conditions in the room and communicate with the homegateway which will then take care of the Internet-based communication out of the house.

RFID and Sensors

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology uses radiofrequency waves to transfer data between readers and movable tagged objects without line of sight. RFID holds the promise of real-time identifying, locating, tracking and monitoring physical objects, and can be used for a wide range of pervasive computing applications. To achieve these goals, RFID data have to be collected, transformed and expressively modeled as their virtual counterparts in the virtual world. RFID data, however, have their own unique characteristics - including aggregation, location, temporal and history-oriented - which have to be fully considered and integrated into the data model. The diversity of RFID applications pose further challenges to a generalized framework for RFID data modeling. Today, Radio Frequency Identification enjoys an enormous interest as the first widely deployed pervasive technology as not only from the standpoint of research
but also from Corporate practices future. Some of the recent researches in RFID technologies include:

TAGS EVERYWHERE

The Ubiquitous ID Center provides the infrastructure for managing electronic tags embedded in or attached to objects in a ubiquitous environment. The center developed the ucode, a multicode tag that automatically identifies information stored in bar codes, RFID chips, smart cards, and electronic tags embedded in virtual entities such as software and electronic money. Comparable to the ISBN (International Standard Book Numbering) code used in the publishing industry, the UID Center assigns unique numbers to each tag and stores data relating to the object in database servers. The ucode tags use a 128-bit code that can be extended in 128-bit units, creating a virtually limitless string of numbers. To navigate this tagged environment, the UID Center developed the Ubiquitous Communicator, a PDA-like device that reads ucode tags and retrieves the relevant data from the UID Center's server database. The standard UC has a host of features, including wireless LAN, Voice over Internet Protocol, infrared data communication, and a biometric reader. Apart from the PDA-like version, the UID Center developed a cell phone model and a watch style. At home, it will serve as the remote control for home entertainment systems and appliances. In the office, it will read a printer's tag and order a replacement cartridge as needed

FROM UPC TO RFID

Smart packaging became a possibility with the introduction of small battery-free microprocessors called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) tags. Though these have been commercially available for a number of years, they have been too clunky and too expensive for use in packaging. This situation is changing rapidly: industry experts predict that the price per tag will fall to under 10 cents each in the course of five years or so. The new generation of RFID tags can take the form of a sticker like the classic bar codes, or they can be directly integrated into the packaging material itself. They consist of a silicon microprocessor and some form of radio antenna--conductive carbon ink is replacing the more expensive metal coil of earlier tag types. This radio antenna functions as both input/output channel and power source. Electricity is generated in the antenna by either a magnetic field or a radio signal; the tag responds by sending out a radio signal in turn. This reply signal contains metadata stored on the chip, typically an ID number .With the help of RFID readers--in our cell phones, in supermarket freezers and check-outs, in our private fridges--we will be able to retrieve information about a particular item based on its ID number. In fact, the first cell phones with built-in readers, based on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, are already on the market.

NEXT-GENERATION TAGS

The smart tags which will soon begin replacing bar codes in our supermarkets are actually pretty dumb: their only ability is reciting their ID code on command. With the next generation of MEMS tags, the epithet 'smart' will be more fitting. MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) tags are able to perform measurements and calculations. MEMS tags are especially interesting in connection with extremely perishable goods like milk and meat. Studies have shown that the 'sell by' date on such products is dubious at best: milk only stays fresh until the given date as long as it is stored at the right temperature. Storage is the key term here; for example, that the temperature in around one-fifth of the meat and dairy cases in American supermarkets is three or four degrees too high. And what happens when we leave the milk out on the kitchen counter all morning? MEMS tags in smart packages will be able to take the milk's temperature every fifteen minutes. The measurements are then sent to a small microprocessor which calculates the milk's estimated freshness.

FOOD SAFETY

The fridge of the future will have a door with a built-in scanner for reading the digital tags on food packages. This way the refrigerator will always keep abreast of what is put into it; and the screen on the door can supply an overview of what's behind the door. By scanning all foodstuffs, you will always have an updated listing of your current supplies - canned and frozen food included. In other words: the refrigerator comes to play the part of digital administrator of the kitchen. Should you e.g. keep food approaching its expiry date, the fridge will alert you. The product can then be used at once, and you avoid having to throw away food. The screen is connected to the Internet, and each and every chip tagged to the packaging will represent a Web site which can be visited by the fridge as the food products are stowed away. Thus it can check for any warnings issued for this particular product. We all remember instances of contaminated food which, undetected by producers, have ended up in supermarkets and, consequently, household fridge or freezer. In such cases, an alert from the refrigerator could reduce the risks considerably. Since the fridge frequently runs automatic checks on the net, users are no longer dependent on radio and TV alerts.

Editor:

Mr.S.Vijayakumar

Research Associate - TIFAC-CORE

Velammal Engineering College

Chennai - 600 066

Email: Vijayece2002@yahoo.co.in

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• Fits 3.5" in-ground round Pole system
• Cement required for installation
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