DARLINGTON, S.C. – Corey LaJoie, the driver of the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford, has been named the Fourth Quarter NMPA Pocono Spirit Award recipient.

LaJoie received the honor for his generosity in donating a month’s salary this past August to charity.

LaJoie and his wife Kelly teamed up with Samaritan’s Feet, an organization founded in 2003, to provide shoes to children and individuals in need to inspire hope and encouragement.

With help from Go Fas Racing, $100,000 was raised through names placed on his car to support Samaritan’s Feet during the Cup race at Watkins Glen Int’l.

Also receiving votes were the Denny Hamlin Foundation and Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Motor Speedway.

Hamlin’s foundation raises awareness and funds for the specific needs of children with cystic fibrosis. Speedway Children’s Charities and Texas Motor Speedway held an online auction allowing fans to purchase special access passes during their November Cup Series race weekend, benefiting children in need across north Texas.

The NMPA Pocono Spirit Award is designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports. The NMPA membership selects quarterly recipients as well as an overall winner each year.

The award is sponsored by Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and has been presented annually since 1992.

The overall winner of the NMPA Pocono Spirit Award will be recognized on Feb. 1 during the NMPA Awards Ceremony.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's statue outside Malmo's stadium was set on fire on Wednesday in an apparent reaction to the former LA Galaxy striker becoming a part-owner of rivals Hammarby.

Ibrahimovic, who sources have told ESPN FC could yet play for Hammarby, began his career at Malmo and was honoured with a statue in October.

Video on social media showed the statue being torched on Wednesday evening in Sweden, while a racist message had reportedly been spray-painted next to it.

Earlier on Wednesday the monument was also vandalised with a toilet seat and a sheet to cover the former Sweden international's head, while supporters of Malmo began an online petition to have the statue removed.

Malmo fans are angry not just that Ibrahimovic wants to make another club better than his boyhood team, but that he also said he didn't think Malmo supporters would be disappointed by his choice.

"A betrayal became a betrayal and a provocation," Kaveh Hosseinpour, vice chairman of Malmo's official supporters' group, told The Associated Press. "So he basically stuck a knife in our backs, and then he came along with a sword and chopped off our heads."

Hosseinpour blasted Ibrahimovic for thinking he was "above criticism, that he is above Malmo FF and our feelings just because he is Zlatan.

"The statue is completely worthless now, just a piece of junk," Hosseinpour said. "The best way to solve that was if it was removed and put somewhere in Stockholm or something.

"Every game we go to, we are going to pass Zlatan knowing that there is a statue of an investor in Hammarby, not the statue of the football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic anymore."

The former Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player is a free agent after leaving the Galaxy this month.

During his time in MLS he scored 52 goals and assisted 17 more in 53 starts for the Galaxy and arguably became the marquee player of the league, winning MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2018 and twice being selected for the MLS Best XI.

Ibrahimovic earned $7.2 million this past season, according to the MLS players salary database. He made $1.5 million in 2018.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is a primary focus of fan frustration for the first time in his career, following a four-turnover performance in Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The heat is turned up to high in Philadelphia, and Wentz gets it.

"They have a right to be frustrated," Wentz said. "They pay money to sit in those seats. They pay money to cheer us on, and they're so passionate about it. And I'm the same way. So when they're frustrated, I'm frustrated, too."

There were plenty of issues outside of quarterback play in Sunday's 17-9 loss to Seattle. Wentz was without his top two linemen, Lane Johnson and Brandon Brooks; receivers Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor; and running back Jordan Howard.

With the offensive line struggling and his receiving corps not always in proper position, Wentz was in a precarious spot. But he misfired on several standard throws and fumbled three times -- losing two of them -- in what was arguably the worst outing of his professional career.

The offense has scored a total of 19 points in consecutive losses to the Seahawks and Patriots.

Wentz remains unshaken, he said, as the Eagles (5-6) set their sights on the Miami Dolphins.

"I have so much confidence in my ability to turn this around and do my best and get these things fixed," Wentz said, "that I don't get too high or too low going through these things."

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's statue outside Malmo's stadium was set on fire on Wednesday in an apparent reaction to the former LA Galaxy striker becoming a part-owner of rivals Hammarby.

Ibrahimovic, who sources have told ESPN FC could yet play for Hammarby, began his career at Malmo and was honoured with a statue in October.

Video on social media showed the statue being torched on Wednesday evening in Sweden, while a racist message had reportedly been spray-painted next to it.

Earlier on Wednesday the monument was also vandalised with a toilet seat and a sheet to cover the former Sweden international's head, while supporters of Malmo began an online petition to have the statue removed.

Malmo fans are angry not just that Ibrahimovic wants to make another club better than his boyhood team, but that he also said he didn't think Malmo supporters would be disappointed by his choice.

"A betrayal became a betrayal and a provocation," Kaveh Hosseinpour, vice chairman of Malmo's official supporters' group, told The Associated Press. "So he basically stuck a knife in our backs, and then he came along with a sword and chopped off our heads."

Hosseinpour blasted Ibrahimovic for thinking he was "above criticism, that he is above Malmo FF and our feelings just because he is Zlatan.

"The statue is completely worthless now, just a piece of junk," Hosseinpour said. "The best way to solve that was if it was removed and put somewhere in Stockholm or something.

"Every game we go to, we are going to pass Zlatan knowing that there is a statue of an investor in Hammarby, not the statue of the football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic anymore."

The former Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player is a free agent after leaving the Galaxy this month.

During his time in MLS he scored 52 goals and assisted 17 more in 53 starts for the Galaxy and arguably became the marquee player of the league, winning MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2018 and twice being selected for the MLS Best XI.

Ibrahimovic earned $7.2 million this past season, according to the MLS players salary database. He made $1.5 million in 2018.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco is rehabilitating from arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle and is expected to be fully recovered in plenty of time for spring training.

The Twins announced Wednesday that Polanco underwent a debridement procedure Friday in Los Angeles with Dr. Richard Ferkel to address a chronic impingement injury stemming from repetitive stress. Polanco will be able to resume baseball activities in about six weeks, the team said.

Polanco had a breakout season in 2019 for the American League Central champion Twins, making the All-Star team for the first time and hitting .295 with 22 homers, 107 runs, 79 RBIs, 40 doubles and an .841 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

‘First shot is always the most important’
By TONY GRIFFIN – Squash Mad Correspondent

Stephen Hawking once said: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to changes.” Maybe he was thinking of players like Nick Matthew and Laura Massaro, whose ability to adapt their techniques later in their careers led to them winning World Championship titles, Matthew doing so on three occasions.

In a previous article I introduced Wolfgang Schollhorn’s (University of Mainz) Differential Learning. His sports science research has proved in a wide variety of tests with different sports that repetition is the LEAST effective path to improvement or change.

Since this article I have continued to work on court with low repetitions with all the different shots and now I understand better why doing fewer reps can improve the road to change.

First, it is very important you understand this does not mean by training less you can get better.

You do the same training routine and just change more often. For example, if you normally do boast and drive for six minutes (three minutes at the front of the court and three in the back), with differential learning this could convert to two times one and a half minutes in the front of the court and the same at the back.

Wolfgang talks about doing just three to five repetitions and then changing the exercise. It has become clear to me that it is not the low number of repetitions in itself that leads to the change, it is what happens in our bodies each time we start the new exercise that is important.

It is the process of self-organisation that comes with each change that it important. Each time we start a new activity we are consciously or often subconsciously more focused because we want to get this new activity right.

We make more effort to get our bodies in the right position, we aim to hit the ball to the new target, and this often leads us to watch the ball closer in this start-up moment. All positive measures.

In match play, the process of self organisation is vital and often the difference between winning and losing. We are constantly hitting the ball from different positions, occasionally from similar positions and never the same position as a previous shot (in sports science they say that no two movements are ever exactly the same).

The fact that we never hit the same shot 10 times in a row in a rally also leads me to question the value of continuous repetitions in training.

Doing fewer repetitions in turn creates a higher focus on the quality of the shots. Knowing that the duration of the exercise is limited leads the players to be more focused on their targets.

A few months ago I was working on cross court drops to the nick with a top European junior. I would hit a high boast to just in front of the T so that she could hit the shot. After five shots I asked her to change sides and she gave me a surprised look as if to say “we can’t change now! I’ve only hit five drop shots……”.

After reassuring her that we would shortly return to the forehand to do more, we made the change. After changing sides six times we saw that the one shot she occasionally missed or didn’t hit so well was the first one after each change.

In a match, which of these five drop shots she had practiced is the most important?

Here’s the answer: It’s the first one!

Should we be training to hit the first shot well or doing lots of repetitions in the hope that a good shot appears when we need it?

This is one example of how fewer repetitions and changes have led me to see things from a different perspective.

More frequent changes also makes the sessions more dynamic for players and coaches.

In the next article I will share some ideas about muscle memory and the retention of skills in relation to Differential Learning.

Picture courtesy of Gevolution Academy

BARCELONA, Spain – With his most successful MotoGP season to date complete, six-time premier class champion Marc Marquez elected to undergo surgery at the Hospital Universitari Dexeus-Quiron on Wednesday.

The operation was performed by Dr. Xavier Mir, Dr. Victor Marlet and Dr. Teresa Marlet, all part of ICATME (the Catalan Institute of Traumatology and Sports Medicine).

After experiencing some discomfort with his right shoulder, and after his Monday crash at the Jerez open test, the Repsol Honda Team rider elected to have the operation as a preventative measure after medical consultation.

The operation is similar to the one performed on his left shoulder at the end of 2018, but less aggressive in nature.

Marquez will be discharged within the next 48 hours. He will then begin his recovery and winter training in preparation for the Sepang test at home in Cervera.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR competition officials slammed four teams with major penalties on Wednesday for manipulation of the results of the recent Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Premium Motorsports Nos. 15 and 27, as well as the Rick Ware Racing No. 52 and the Spire Motorsports No. 77, were all docked 50 owner points for their roles in altering the finish. Team owners Jay Robinson, Rick Ware and T.J. Puchyr were each fined $50,000.

In addition, competition directors Scott Eggleston (Premium) and Kenneth Evans (Rick Ware Racing) have been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR and fined $25,000 apiece.

“Following a thorough review of race data and driverand team communication from the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as well as interviews with several competitors, NASCAR has determined that the Nos. 15, 27, 52 and 77 teams have violated Sections 12.8.g and 12.8.1 of the NASCAR rule book, which addresses manipulating the outcome of a race,” Miller said in a prepared statement. “As a result, those teams in violation of the rule book have been penalized as listed in the penalty report.”

Held Nov. 17, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finale saw the Premium No. 15 of Joe Nemechek, the Spire No. 77 of Reed Sorenson and the Rick Ware Racing No. 52 of Josh Bilicki all fall out of the event within 15 laps of one another.

As a result, the 35th-finishing Premium No. 27 driven by Ross Chastain secured a one-point advantage in the final season standings over the Gaunt Bros. Racing No. 96, making the No. 27 the top-ranked Open, non-chartered team for the year in the NASCAR Cup Series.

That distinction carries with it half of the unclaimed purse money in the event of a short field, making for a sizable monetary jump for the highest Open team in the final points.

The assessed penalties now make the Gaunt Bros. No. 96 the top Open team in 2019.

Spire Motorsports confirmed quickly on Wednesday they would not be appealing the penalties issued by NASCAR’s competition department.

“Following the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway, NASCAR assessed a penalty against Spire Motorsports for the actions of an individual who made a judgment call on behalf of our team. While the ultimate outcome of that decision can be interpreted from different perspectives, we regret any appearance of operating outside the spirit of the rule book,” said Spire Motorsports co-owners Jeff Dickerson and Puchyr in a joint statement. “We accept the penalty and will not appeal.

“We’re proud of all we accomplished with this team in our first season and look forward to getting back to the business of racing at Daytona in February.”

Prior to Homestead, the most recent high-profile case of race manipulation was in September of 2013, when Michael Waltrip Racing altered the results of the regular-season finale at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in an effort to get Martin Truex Jr. into the playoffs.

Waltrip’s team was fined $300,000 and Truex was removed from the playoffs in the fallout.