We see increasing amounts of teens and pre-teens in our clinic with travel sports becoming more popular and the training more vigorous. Soccer, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, football and cheer can be full of injury and, increasingly, conflict.
We regularly hear of issues from many of our pre-teen and teen patients regarding conflict on their sports teams. Some of the tales are downright scary!
The injury, its prevention, healing and avoidance of relapse – we can help your child in a myriad of ways. The conflict is a tad more unsettling. We’ve heard stories of even grandparents fist fighting!
Having access to all the convo has us gathering these thoughts based on common themes that may be helpful for your family:
1) Don’t let ‘winning’ drown out the value of building teamwork and increasing physical fitness.
2) Work with your coaches and other parents to create a positive – and safe – athletic environment. Learn what your coach’s goals are, and his/her values.
3) Understand that some coaches in youth sports are not professionally trained. Your travel teams should have certified coaches that are professionally trained – double check! You need your child to be instructed with excellent form and safety in mind!
4) Balance out your own goals for your child with that of the coach and the team. You don’t want to overwhelm your kid or pull them in different directions.
5) Remember to control your emotions at games and events. Don’t coach your child from the sidelines or yell at refs, coaches or players. (Seems obvious right? But have you been to a ______________(insert sport here)________game recently? ☺)
6) If you disagree with a coach, speak about it with other parents respectfully to not spread negativity – if you must speak about it at all. Employ the 24-hour rule: Don’t contact the coach or organization to discuss an incident or major concern until 24 hours have passed for all facts to be made known and for the emotions to settle.
7) Don’t let your child continue to work out through pain – that’s where you bring them to us. Remember the old adage: Are you hurt or are you injured? Well, let us decide so that irreparable damage is not done. Even if your child does not become a professional athlete, they still will need that body to be strong and healthy for many years to come!
If you know us, you know that Miller PT strongly believes in participating and contributing to our community. It’s what we’ve always done since I opened my practice. We currently sponsor a coed soccer league with 4 and 5 year olds through the Boca Raton JCC, as well as adult teams, AVDA runs, non-profit athletic events and so on.
As a father myself, we certainly care about your kids being all-round healthy and well. If you’ve got concerns for any injury or nagging complaint that they have, bring them to us for our complimentary consultation and we will be happy to check them out completely.
Keep pushing to stay healthy -
Scott
& the Miller PT Team
