Does a champion make a sandwich or a sandwich make a champion?  Last weekend at the Honda Classic, the latter proved more accurate.  It was hard to miss Columbia’s Camilo Villegas eating his pre-packed sandwich on the 7^th hole during the final round.  Perhaps, we can contribute the victory to the resident chef at the PGA National Resort and Spa.

All kidding aside, this sandwich highlights the fact that – when it comes to preparation – PGA champions leave no stone unturned.  This begins with packing your bag.

Apart from golf balls, tees, gloves, rain gear, pitch fork and the other obligatory items, golfers consistently forget one item: healthy snacks and drinks to keep hydrated and focused for 18 holes.

As golf becomes increasingly more competitive at every level, good nutrition and hydration have assumed an important role. To fully maximize all the hours of hard work you put into developing your skills, your body also needs the right kind of fuel. Try to pack a high-protein low carbohydrate snack and remember to eat before you get hungry.  If you wait to get hungry on the course, it’s usually too late; your blood sugar is already dropping, causing subsequent difficulty in concentration. Julian Krinsky Master Golf Professional Grant Griffiths recommends that all his golfers, “pack healthy snacks in their bag such as fruit, nuts, chicken sandwiches, water and even protein shakes.”  He reminds them constantly, “Stay away from fast foods and always remember the saying from Gary Player ‘Eat Hamburger, Play Hamburger.’”

This weekend is the Puerto Rico Open at Trump International Golf Club in Puerto Rico.   Last year’s winner, Michael Bradley, won a purse of $630,000. Stay posted for highlights from the tournament and the lesson of the week.

AP Reuters reports that this could be the actual sandwich consumed.

Every year, Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs calls Haverford College a summertime home for its High School Enrichment, Tennis, Golf and Yesh Shabbat Summer programs. We consider ourselves blessed to have this annual opportunity.  The “digs” are amazing.  From single room dorms to one of the area’s most idyllic nature trails, the campus has an “old-world” feel in a Main Line setting.  “We could not be more proud to call Haverford College part of the Julian Krinsky family,” says owner Julian Krinsky.  Accordingly, we relish in all the accomplishments of their faculty and staff.

Recently, Haverford College Physics major Martin Blood-Forsythe ‘10 became a Churchill Scholar.   He is one of 14 students in prestigious programs nationwide to receive this honor.  He will travel to Cambridge University to study at the Department of Physics’ Cavendish Laboratory.  Working with Dr. Jacqueline Cole, he’ll pursue a one-year master’s degree in physics.

Haverford College has been on the Churchill nomination list for just three years, now.  Martin is the College’s second scholar.  I’m no physicist, but – to me, at least – it looks like they’re doing something right over there.

So, from everyone at Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs, congratulations!!

To read more about Martin and Haverford College, click on the following link.

This time of year, I’m usually busy prepping myself for a night of Clockwork Orange-like boredom.  Oscar fever has struck and usually engenders its symptomatic lethargy and nausea.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy the cinema, (on the contrary, I’m more than happy to sneak away from my kids for a night and lose myself in a theatre) rather that Award Shows just don’t have enough pizzazz to combat my short attention span.   This year, however, I’m going to get my competitive juices flowing and compete against friends and family in an Oscar pool.  It’s a nice way to give otherwise meaningless announcements an exciting relevance.  As always, though, I have an Ace up my sleeve.   I’ve consulted with the director of our WHYY Film Production Academy and several of our Film Studies and Video Production Instructors to put together an All-Star prediction list.  (I really hope my wife isn’t reading this).  So, without further ado, I’d love to share my (major) picks with you.

Best Picture

Avatar

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock for Blind Side

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Waltz for Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique for Precious

Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature

Up.

To get in on the Oscar action, download your own Oscar’s ballot right here.  Good luck!

These are some pretty useful tools, but it can be a lot of information in only three weeks; so, we’re giving our students access to this information until they graduate!  They will have access to the entire Kaplan library, Prep materials and Webinars for up to 4 years!  Additionally, they can use the unique ApplyWise system with online guidance and an interactive calendar to create a standout college application.

With Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs and Kaplan Test Prep we use a SmartPoints system to guarantee that our students prep smarter, score higher and build success.  After, class, however, they have some fun.  What else can you ask for?

Stay tuned for more information on the ApplyWise and the College Prep Advantage.

Pursuing the completion of their senior project on Chilean culture, the five students stayed with a host family in Santiago, but were vacationing in Santo Domingo when the earthquake struck.  All escaped the near tragedy with only relatively minor injuries.  So, despite a close call and major scare, the students are safe and scheduled to fly home on Saturday.  Along with all of our campus partners, we wish the students a safe and peaceful journey home.

To read more about the students, check out Kristin Holmes’ article in The Inquirer.

As the death toll rises above 700 people in the aftermath of the Chilean earthquake, our sincerest sympathies go out to those citizens struggling to survive.  Beginning in Haiti on January 12^th, the most recent earthquake is the largest in a series of three that shook our world.  At 8.8 on the Richter scale, it was – by far – the largest.  Scientifically, experts have confirmed that the catastrophes aren’t related.  Still, human nature dictates an impossibility to disassociate such frequent devastation.  Our hearts go out to all of our Chilean alumni and staff.  We wish them safety and health in these dark days to come.

As a rule, I don’t like to start my weeks on a somber note, but everyone at Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs felt obliged to express, again, their sincerest sympathies and encourage all of our readers to find ways –no matter how small –  to help.  Anyone can make charitable donations to the following organizations, should they wish to aid in Chilean recovery efforts.

Save the Children, an organization sending emergency assessment teams to aid in the Children’s Emergency Fund.

The American Red Cross has an International Response Fund to which anyone can contribute.

Americares and World Vision will send emergency relief supplies and staff to help injured survivors.  Readers can make a direct contribution to Americares’ Chilean Earthquake Fund or World Vision’s Disaster Response Fund .

Every penny helps, so please remember Chile in your charitable donations.

Despite the fact that lawmakers have allocated the proceeds of the campaign to the environmental renewal of the Anacostia River, there has been significant pushback from residents.  Going green, it seems, is never easy.  Still, everyone at Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs applauds this forward-thinking initiative and encourages the habitual employment of re-usable shopping bags.  “It’s an easy way to reduce our negative impact on the world around us,” says Julian Krinsky, founder or our green initiative.  So, take the opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint, now.  Your wallet will thank you, later.

For more information on the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Fund, please visit: http://www.trashfreeanacostia.com/

Photo info: Lawmakers garnered support for the program by publically displaying pictures of the Anacostia’s “trash islands.”

Jenni Farley (a.k.a J-Woww) from the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore attended a Bebe runway show featuring a collection designed by Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian.  It was a Reality TV extravaganza.  Seriously, this actually happened.

It’s easy to work yourself into a tizzy about the influx of “Z-list” celebrities invading the industry, but Eric Wilson of the New York Times highlights the fact that first rate designers are embracing the trend, taking the A-listers off the runway and designing wardrobes that are less red carpet and more user-friendly.  Designers like Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta and Narisco Rodriquez moved away from ball gowns and towards hoods, layers and leggings.

Among the number of trends emerging, a universal thread runs through them all: fashion for the common/man woman.  This is a theme we strive to embrace every summer at the Julian Krinsky School of Fashion.  “We aim to give our students the transformative skills necessary to turn the ordinary to extraordinary.  At our camps, we make fashion accessible,” says owner Julian Krinsky. This year, it looks like the industry agrees.

If you’ve been hanging around our office, you’re sure to have seen a new addition to our habitual décor.  Posted throughout the office are stickers reminding all of us that paper comes from trees.  In reality, I can’t conceive of an adult who does not understand this on a logical level.  Still, in our day-to-day comings and goings, it’s easy to ask for a receipt or print a statement for quick perusal without considering the environmental implications.  For both patrons and employees, these stickers posted around our office and tennis clubs serve as an incessant reminder of our carbon footprints.

For more information on how Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs stays green, please visit www.jkcpgoesgreen.com and check out the “These Come From Trees Initiative.”

]]> http://www.jkcp.com/blog/2010/02/these-come-from-trees/feed/ 0 http://www.jkcp.com/blog/2010/02/a-sweet-new-tax/ http://www.jkcp.com/blog/2010/02/a-sweet-new-tax/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:03:53 +0000 contributor http://www.jkcp.com/blog/?p=606 Articles published recently in both the New York Times and Philadelphia Daily News discussed the possibility of taxing sugary drinks as a way to narrow the staggering fiscal deficit that major cities across the country currently face.  “Thomas R. Friedman, the director of the C.D.C. and former New York City health commissioner, estimated that in New York State alone a penny-per-ounce soda tax would raise $1.2 billion annually,” writes Times reporter Mark Bittman.  His article explores the idea of treating soda like tobacco.  Why not?  Soda and other U.F.O’s (unidentifiable food-like objects) present significant health risks from Heart Disease to Type 2 diabetes.  According to the Daily News’ Catherine Lucy, Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter is toying with this idea, as well.  Mayor Nutter will hold Philadelphia’s budget address on March 4^th; so, until then, we won’t know for certain whether or not the city will impose this proposed tax for 2010.

I’m about as opposed to new taxes as one can be, but, as the director of a program that stresses a well-rounded approach to fitness and nutrition, this proposed levy is music to my ears.  At our Krinsky Fitness Camp, one of our main goals is to educate students on what they put into their bodies on a daily basis.  This potential tax could bring us one step closer to a universal recognition of the toxins that major corporations consistently encourage us to consume.  “I could not be happier that our elected officials have begun to treat junk food like the ‘junk’ it really is,” says owner Julian Krinsky.  Everyone at our camps and programs shares this sentiment, and would like to congratulate those officials who lobby for a meaningful way to shrink our deficits.