Dale Earnhardt Jr. has gone to birthday parties and a concert in the past week, continuing to put himself in situations to help him rehabilitate from a concussion that will keep him out of a race car for at least the remainder of the 2016 season.Earnhardt will attend the NASCAR races Saturday and Sunday at Dover International Speedway as part of the rehab process. Jeff Gordon will drive the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 car this weekend and again at Martinsville next month while Alex Bowman will do the six other races this year as Earnhardt remains sidelined.Not having raced since July 9, Earnhardt has battled vision and balance issues that doctors believe were caused by a concussion in a June 12 crash at Michigan International Speedway. Earnhardt, who has had a history of concussions, has said the crash wasnt severe enough that it should have caused a concussion. His doctors are working with him to get to a point where impacts such as that one dont trigger symptoms.My eyes are really, really good, Earnhardt said Monday during his The Dale Jr. Download podcast that is produced by his JR Motorsports. I had some issues with them for a while that were pretty frustrating and those have really gotten better. ... Basically, when I get in these environments, the symptoms I have now are balance.The environments Earnhardt put himself in during the past week included birthday parties for a friends 1-year-old and his nieces 16th birthday. He also stood -- unnoticed -- in the fourth row at a Lord Huron concert.The only thing that triggers the symptoms is going somewhere Im unfamiliar with, going somewhere Ive never been, where it is busy, a lot of people talking, a lot of movement, a lot of visual stimulation, Earnhardt said.The next step in the rehab, Earnhardt said, was to do exercises that would cause anyone to lose balance. He has to stand on a foam block, close his eyes and turn his head doing the exercises.Were almost back to being where Im a normal functioning person with no issues, he said. But to become that guy that I need to be inside the car, weve got to really train my senses to be really perfect.Im going to be doing a lot of stuff thats really hard for anybody to do to try to continue to improve the balance and my response time and how quick Im reacting to things and so forth. [Im] still working on it and I enjoy the work. Andrew MacDonald Jersey . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Robert Hagg Jersey . 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- After each of the U.S. field hockey teams first four games here, all of which ended in a win and two of which resulted in upsets, striker Michelle Vittese fielded questions about what sparked her squads Olympic turnaround after finishing last overall at the 2012 London Games.I love the question, Vittese said Saturday, after scoring the lone goal for the Americans in their first loss of the tournament, 2-1 to Great Britain.Its the type of positions we put ourselves in, the uncomfortable places we go to in training, in the weight room, during conditioning and game training. We go to the ugliest places and figure out how to push through and get out of them. That shapes you as a person, makes you mentally fit and helps you get up for games like this. Were so resilient and gritty.That training will also help Vittese and her teammates pick themselves up after their first defeat and refocus for Mondays quarterfinal match against No. 9 Germany. If the Americans want to be defined by their 2016 grittiness rather than their 2012 meltdown, Monday is their moment to prove themselves.Were so process oriented, U.S. captain Lauren Crandall said. Weve been through so many scenarios in tournament play that nothing is a surprise. Theres no panic. Thats the mental preparation weve done to get out of whatever place weve gotten ourselves into.If it sounds like Crandall and Vittese are quoting the same philosopher, thats because they are. To a woman, the members of the U.S. team have bought in to a team philosophy and culture they began creating 3? years ago, after the hiring of their head coach Craig Parnham, a former assistant coach for Great Britain.When our new coaching staff came in, we recommitted to the program, defined our culture and values and started building a family, Crandall said. We pride ourselves on our hard work, persistence, perseverance and family.Three years ago, Parnham wrote a lofty goal on a board at the teams practice facility and asked the women if they were ready to buy in to the idea that they could become the best in the world. He didnt care that they hadnt won an Olympic medal since 1984. He wasnt interested in who they were before his arrival; he wanted to know how good they believed they could be now that he was there.The coaches can push it on you all they want, but unless the players buy in and want to do the work,, you wont get there, Vittese said.dddddddddddd The player buy-in is huge.It meant a complete overhaul of the way they were doing everything from lifting in the weight room to practicing technical drills on the field. It meant transforming themselves from a defensive-minded squad into the most physically fit attacking team in the world. Parnham told his players that with complete commitment, they could push the boundaries of womens field hockey, but they, not him, needed to lead the change.The players drive the culture here, Crandall said. Our coachs philosophy is [for Parnham] to be useless. He wants independent thinkers on his team.But of all the changes to their program, it is their geographical move that has received the most attention. For years, the womens team trained at the U.S. Olympic training center in Chula Vista, California, an idyllic, culturally diverse San Diego suburb located close to the beach but far from home for most of the women, the majority of whom are from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. So Parnham relocated the program from Chula Vista to the field hockey hub of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where players could train year-round in a world-class indoor facility with fewer distractions than they had in Southern California.Theres no party or night life, so its a great place to train and focus on what we need to get done, U.S. goalie Jaclyn Briggs said. It takes the stress off of feeling like Im in my 20s and should be living it up or Im missing out on things.Lancaster is also located in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, where commitment and hard work, community and family are at the center of Amish values. The move to Lancaster allowed the women to slow down, simplify their lives and evaluate what was important.The Amish are community oriented, Crandall said. Its a family-oriented culture, and we are a family. We are so supported there.Now in Rio, 5,000 miles away from home, the women say they can still feel that support, and they believe it will carry them to the gold-medal game.We know you could put your head down for 3? years and still be the first out of the Olympics, Crandall said. That knowledge is what makes us work so hard. Our goal is to stand on that podium. Our goal is to win it all. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys 2018 Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Authentic Jerseys ' ' '