Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is a clustering of metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of MetSyn risk factors in high school (HS) and college (College) football players and to examine if the prevalence varied according to body fat percent (%Fat). One hundred twenty-three males (height 179.0 ± 6.7 cm; weight 89.4 ± 19.6 kg) from 7 different high schools and 82 males (height 186.2 ± 6.8 cm; weight 99.6 ± 16.8 kg) from one university participated. All testing occurred in the early morning after an overnight fast. %Fat, waist circumference, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and blood glucose were determined using standard testing procedures. The MetSyn risk factor levels were determined using American Heart Association criteria. Subjects were grouped by position and playing level (HS, College). Independent t-tests, chi-square analysis, 2-way analysis of variance, and path analytic models were used in the statistical analysis. Significance was set at p < 0.05. 6.8% (n = 14) of the sample met the American Heart Association criteria for MetSyn. Offensive and defensive linemen accounted for 92.3% of the players meeting MetSyn criteria with each playing level (HS, College) having 7 subjects. The MetSyn criteria differed significantly across %Fat. Obese players were more likely to meet the criteria for MetSyn. %Fat was a statistically significant predictor of mean arterial blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, and waist circumference. The MetSyn exists in both HS- and College-level football players, with almost all cases occurring in the athletes with the highest levels of %Fat (offensive/defensive lineman). Strength and conditioning coaches should be aware of the prevalence of MetSyn risk factors in offensive and defensive linemen and take appropriate actions to ensure athlete safety.

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Moberly Area Community College faced a crisis in healthcare coverage that eventually lead to enhanced benefits, greater control, plan stability, and increased flexibility through a self-insured program. Presented here is how Moberly Area Community College overcame the health care coverage crisis and how other institutions can benefit from the lessons we learned from the process.For years, Moberly Area Community College coped with group health insurance premium increases by reducing benefits and changing insurance carriers and networks. These ''solutions'' resulted in heavy burdens placed on our human resources' staff and a general sense of employee dissatisfaction with the college's health insurance program. Finally, in the fall of 1999, the college was hit with a 60-70% increase in renewal rates after one year with a state-wide insurance program. Once again, the college began the process of completing a request for proposals. Unfortunately, we had a history of changing insurance carriers every 2-3 years coupled with an inability to obtain adequate historical claims-paid data from our last two insurance carriers. As a result, our request for proposal yielded only one firm bid, which exceeded our existing high renewal premium. Our standard solutions were inadequate for our current health insurance dilemma, and time was running out. Just two months from our renewal date, we decided to look at self-insurance.It was early November 1999 and we were faced with a December 31 termination date of our existing coverage. We learned about third party administrators, reinsurers, provider networks, and prescription