CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVVA) – Athletes around the mountain state will now be able to receive payments for their name and likeness.

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission first approved this NIL policy back in July and it went into effect this past Friday.

NIL has swept through college athletics since 2021 however there are caveats for players to get paid.

If a player uses their likeness for a commercial, for example, there can be no references to their school and cannot be wearing a school logo or uniform in order to protect their eligibility as an amateur athlete.

No school employees, including coaches, can be involved in a student’s use of their NIL.

Athletes and parents are encouraged to reach out to the WVSSAC Director of Compliance for questions to ensure no issues arise with eligibility.

Questions can be emails to jason.bankston@wvssac.org.

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SALEM, Va. (WFXR) — School is right around the corner, and so is the fall sports season.

Sunday afternoon, Salem High School hosted licensed clinical psychologist and Spartan alum Dr. Rachel Turk for a conversation on mental health among student-athletes.

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“Big transitions like coming to school or a new school year or a new school in general, starting a new sports season are all things that build up levels of stress,” said Turk, who was a standout volleyball and lacrosse player at Salem High School before going on to play college volleyball at nearby University of Lynchburg.

On Sunday, Turk spoke not only to student-athletes but also to coaches and parents about how to identify when their athlete or child may be struggling.

“It’s something that’s happening so often,” she said. “But not everybody has the resources or knows what they need to be looking for.”

Universities focus on athletes’ mental health after crises

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According to Turk, as many as 35% of elite athletes experience a mental health crisis at some point in their careers.

Because emotional development is still in its early stages among high school students, those athletes can be at heightened risk of struggling emotionally.

“That is why we kind of target this group, get them the information as early as we can because if we can make a difference now, it’s going to help them be more successful the rest of their life,” said Turk.

Turk says professional athletes speaking out more often about mental health has lessened the stigma for college and high school athletes, but she knows there is still more work to be done.

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“I think one of the ways we can really improve is seeing it like we see different physical stuff going on,” she said. “Seeing it like something we need to do maintenance of, not just do things in crisis or emergency situations.”

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ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – In this day in age, smartphones are everywhere.

Now, local health professionals are encouraging parents to create a family media plan, setting screen-use boundaries and priorities.

A recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows increased screen time among children under 13 is linked to suicidal behaviors.

For many families, smartphones are a part of everyday life.

Children use them to communicate with parents, for entertainment, and to study, but health professionals say smartphones also come with a lot of risk, especially for a developing brain.

With 4,285 children averaging around the age of 10, the study showed that one-third of the participants are addicted to social media or smartphones beginning at age 11.

The study findings also indicate that increased smartphone addiction is associated with a higher risk of suicide-related outcomes compared to those who have less screen time.

Dr. Joshua Stein, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Prairie Care in Rochester, said he sees a number of ways phones and social media affect kids.

“One is the craving to use it, the loss of engagement and time…One is developing negative viewpoints of oneself. We see kids who are preyed upon,” Dr. Stein said.

Dr. Stein agrees parents shouldn’t consider children under age 13 to use a smart phone.

Dr. Stein suggests families limit their kids’ time on devices to minimal use.

“By offering phones for boredom, offering phones for distraction constantly, we undermine their ability to develop those skills and that will carry with them into adulthood and beyond.”

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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — In a small corner of the Youth and Sports Ministry, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the Bike And Bean café greets visitors, yet behind the pleasant scent lies the story of former cycling hero Mohamad Firdaus Mohd Zonis, once hailed as a great hope in Malaysia’s track cycling arena.

His name began to make waves among local sports fans in 2014 when he delivered a bronze medal at the World Junior Track Cycling Championships, an achievement that established him as one of the nation’s most promising prospects.

That triumph at a young age made him the first Malaysian since Adiq Husainie (2008) to step onto the podium in the men’s 1-kilometre time trial, earning him a place among the successors to national cycling legend Datuk Azizulhasni Awang.

The achievement was further cemented by the national junior record in the 200-metre sprint, which still stands to this day, a silent testament to his prowess on the track.

However, behind the cheers and podium finishes lay a story seldom told — the physical exhaustion, mental pressure, and injuries that gradually eroded his fighting spirit.

“Moving up to the senior level, the training got heavier. I felt I wasn’t good enough even though I gave my best. Small recurring injuries eventually became a big burden,” said Firdaus, recalling the period when his passion began to fade.

Everything came to a head when he was diagnosed with L4 and L5 slip disc injuries, forcing him to make the painful decision to end a career he had dreamed of since childhood far earlier than expected.

Although he once sank into disappointment, Firdaus found his own way to rise again after hanging up his bike — by shifting his path to bicycle repairs.

For Firdaus, success does not necessarily come in the form of medals hanging around the neck, but in the ability to get back up, find life’s meaning after sport, and most importantly, heal oneself.

“I hope there will be more awareness about burnout among young athletes, so they know they are not alone and that there is support if they need it,” he said.

Firdaus’ experience is not an isolated case, as former national junior tennis player Wan Abdul Muiz Wan Aziz went through a similar phase.

Once ranked sixth in Malaysia at the age of 16, Wan Abdul Muiz admitted that early success came with extraordinary pressure.

The Kelantan-born athlete, who started playing tennis at the age of 10, was once considered one of the country’s brightest talents, but the glitter came at a heavy price.

“People think kids just enjoy playing. But the pressure from coaches, parents, or even oneself is very heavy.

“At one point I felt lazy to train and started to question what all this meant,” he said.

Training for eight to 10 hours a day while juggling academic responsibilities and high expectations caused Muiz to lose interest in the sport he once loved. What made it worse was that requests for help were often met with stigma.

“Our culture sometimes assumes that if you can’t take it, you’re weak. Mental health support for young athletes is very limited. Many don’t understand the emotional burden we carry,” he said.

The stories of Firdaus and Muiz are a reminder that behind the roaring cheers lies the silent side of sports — a challenge that demands more than just physical strength, but also resilience of the heart and mental well-being. — Bernama

Erika Thompson would like to see cervical cancer become a disease of the past.

“If we can get a high enough threshold for HPV vaccination, we have the opportunity not only to reduce those HPV related cancers, but there are now goals around cervical cancer elimination, which I think is achievable in our lifetime,” Thompson said. “But HPV vaccination is a critical component to that.”

Thompson is an associate professor in the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio, and the chair of the Texas Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Coalition. She leads a community-based intervention program of HPV vaccination for South Texas teens, which was recently included in a $3.4 million grant award for UT Health San Antonio from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

Rodger Mallison/UNT Health Science Center

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UNT Health Science Center

The human papillomavirus is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Vaccinating girls against HPV dramatically reduces their risk of developing that cancer. Thompson said scientists have isolated HPV as the cause of five other types of cancer, including oropharyngeal cancer, a kind of throat cancer, which is much more common in men.

“So collectively, there are about 37,000 cancers a year that are caused by HPV,” Thompson said.

That’s why the HPV vaccine is recommended for girls and boys between the ages of 13 and 15. In that age group, it is a two-dose vaccine series. In older teens and adults, it is a three-dose series.

To eliminate cervical cancer in Thompson’s lifetime, many more teens will need to get vaccinated against HPV, Thompson said. The latest data show that less than 60% of 13 to 15-year-olds have had both doses of the vaccine. Her goal is to increase that number to 80%.

“Kids in Texas are required to get vaccinated for MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) when they’re adolescents, and they need that in order to go to school,” Thompson noted. “HPV is treated as this ‘other,’ even though it should be happening at the same time.”

Thompson acknowledged that it’s a challenging time for parents who are being bombarded with misinformation about vaccines. When talking with concerned parents, her objective is to listen and try to understand their points of view. She then tries to address their concerns with evidence-based information, if they’re open to hearing it.

“No one wants to be told what to do,” Thompson said. “How do we find ways to communicate in a manner that meets people’s needs? How do we learn from one another with the collective goal of preventing HPV-related cancers?”

These are the questions she’s trying to answer as she works in underserved communities to offer community-wide vaccination services in accessible ways, including in settings like after-school programs.

Science & Medicine is a collaboration between TPR and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, about how scientific discovery in San Antonio advances the way medicine is practiced everywhere.