Columns

During my coaching career I initiated drug testing student- athletes at Ft. Scott Community College and a 6A high school in Texas. Having our student-athletes drug tested received mixed reviews. Both times, this was new procedures for the institutions.

Summer camps for athletes are in full swing.Although, school has recently let out for the summer, students are already off to sports camps. Sport camps are very advantageous for student-athletes.

A House Committee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service May 31 received a statement from the National Newspaper Association and others in a broad coalition of mailing and package shipping groups that criticizes the twice-yearly postage increases implemented by USPS. The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service (C21), a group to which NNA has belonged since C21’s founding, issued a statement for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in response to a May oversight hearing in which only Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was invited to testify. C21 represents organizations that amass more than $1.6 trillion in annual sales from mailing-related activities, which amounts to about five percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product. The Postal Service’s Delivering for America plan has driven total increases in Periodicals postage of around 35 percent since January 2021. Any good news from the plan has been overshadowed, C21 told Congress, by “relentless, twice-yearly, postage rate increases endangering the Postal Service’s mail business and destructive to small and medium-sized businesses and consumers often considered the backbone of American employment.”

Last week I wrote about the new spring football leagues; XFL, USFL, and the IFA. When the International Football League (IFA) begins play next year then there will be traditional professional football year around. I also need to mention another professional football league, the Arena Football League. Although it is not the traditional game, it has become a viable game of professional football.

Relationships help bring connection and purpose to our lives. Having a strong network of family, friends or neighbors not only provides us with meaningful connections but can also help reduce social isolation that can lead to loneliness. It is imperative to focus on social wellness as much as physical health, and July provides the perfect opportunity during Social Wellness Month.