Update of
May 7, 1999
 
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Athletics, medicine,
humanities focus of 'Limits of Performance' symposium
Stanford, May 7 -- Author George Plimpton,
Congressman Jim Ryun, Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug and
former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh will be
among the panelists at a two-day symposium beginning
Friday evening at Arrillaga Family Sports Center.
The "Limits of
Performance" will be the focus of the Humanities,
Medicine and Athletics symposium sponsored by the
Presidential Lectures and Symposia in the Humanities and
Arts.
The event, which will
feature invited speakers and Stanford faculty, is free
and open to the public
Related
Information:
Panelists will discuss how
performance is applied in various academic disciplines,
medicine and athletics. Questions that will be addressed
include the following:
- Why do we never talk
about the physical aspects of performing
classical music?
- Why are the
mental/psychic aspects of performance
marginalized in the images of certain sports?
- When do individual
acts of performance go "beyond belief"?
- How do genetic
predisposition and active conditioning work
together in preparing/producing performance?
- What are the
differences between rehearsing a play in sports
and rehearsing a play for the stage?
- Can conditioning push
the limits of (potential) performance too far?
The schedule for the
symposium follows:
Friday, May 7, 7 to 10:30
p.m.: Moderator Brian Hoffman, professor of medicine at
Stanford University and a former Canadian hockey player,
will explore the "Concept of Performance" with
six panelists: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of
human development and education in the department of
psychology at the University of Chicago; George Plimpton,
founding editor of The Paris Review and occasional
player of professional baseball, football and hockey;
Congressman Jim Ryun, a silver medalist in track at the
1968 Olympics; Norman Shumway, professor emeritus of
cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford and a pioneer in the
development of cardiac transplantation; Bobby Clark, head
coach of soccer at Stanford; and Kerri Strug, bronze
medalist in gymnastics at the 1992 Olympics.
Saturday, May 8, 9 a.m. to
noon: Moderator Rick Schavone, men's and women's diving
coach at Stanford, will explore "Acts of
Performance" with five panelists: Laurence Dreyfus,
music scholar and performer; Franz Grehn, chair of the
department of ophthalmology at the University Hospital at
Würzburg, Germany; Martin Seel, professor of philosophy
at the University of Giessen, Germany; Troy Walters, wide
receiver on the Stanford football team; and possibly Debi
Thomas, bronze medalist in figure skating at the 1988
Olympics.
Saturday, May 8, 2 to 6
p.m.: Moderator Hans Ulricht Gumbrecht, professor of
comparative literature at Stanford and director of the
Presidential Lectures, will explore the "Conditions
of Performance" with eight panelists: Herbert Blau,
theater director and playwright and professor of English
and modern studies at the University of Wisconsin; Harry
Edwards, professor of sociology at the University of
California-Berkeley and a specialist in sports sociology;
Tim Noakes, chair of exercise and sports science in the
department of physiology at the University of Cape Town;
George Poste, chief science and technology officer at
SmithKline Beecham; Ted Leland, director of Stanford
athletics; Mike Montgomery, head coach of men's
basketball at Stanford; Erin Sones, member of the
Stanford diving team; and Bill Walsh, former head coach
of the San Francisco 49ers.
For more information,
visit the website at http://prelectur.stanford.edu or
call (650) 723-7532. SR
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