Injuries in Sports

There is a lot of controversy these days about whether or not sports are safe. You can argue either way, but here’s what I think the bottom line is; if you play sports, especially contact sports, you are going to get injured. I’m glad to see that parents are worried about their kids getting injured, but there is only so much you can do to stop it. I love that they are now working on teaching kids the correct way to tackle, and how to protect yourself from a hit (in hockey). These are great things that need to be emphasized by coaches, parents, and even the athletes themselves.

 There has been work to equipment (especially helmets) to help prevent injuries like concussions. But really, if you fall hard on your head, you will get injured. Helmets are mainly made to keep from getting major lacerations. Concussions are caused by your brain ramming against the skull. Even with a great helmet, the jolt of a fall onto the ground could give you a concussion. If they want to make equipment improvements, that is fine by me. I guess stopping just a few concussions is better than stopping none.

In addition to equipment changes, the rules of the games are changing. For example, they have taken hitting out of peewee hockey and moved it into the bantam level. This really bothers me though. They are ruining the way the game is played. Taking out a few things like hits to the knees or the head, that’s fine, but you can’t take away the integrity of the game. Most people watch sports like football and hockey because they love seeing the bone crushing hits. I know they sometimes might get injured. I’m not saying they need to toughen up and deal with it, but it’s part of the game. The players know what they got themselves into when they signed up to play tackle football and professional hockey. They didn’t sign-up for flag football or peewee hockey. Professional games have been played this way for a hundred years or so… and now they want to change those rules?

Sports aren’t meant for everyone. Some people don’t like contact or are scared of getting injured. That’s why only the tough ones choose to play. They don’t really want to get injured, but I think they are willing to take that risk to earn the reward of money, the joy of the game, or whatever it is to them. That is part of what keeps them going.