Long Term Repercussions of Sports

[coyotecreek]

Now 55 and played soccer from 8-18. Road raced motorcycles 93-02. Snowboarded from 87-05 For the most part my body is in good shape. My concern is head injuries. I can’t count my concussions on two hands. The last big one caused some long term damage to my math skills. Not all were sports related. Would I do it differently knowing what I know now? Not sure.

with that said, I would not have a kid play football. Maybe hockey even though I played rec league for a few years. Risk of head injury is high even with the improved equipment.

hunting and shooting sports have their own issues as well. Even today most people have a poor understanding of how impact noise is damaging to hearing and how to protect yourself. I see too many kids at the range with poor fitting hearing protection Or not enough protection. They are doing damage that won’t be undone. I also watch fellow hunters say, it’s just one shot, what’s the big deal, then shoot 3-12 shots per year. Then wonder why they can’t hear well.

I do think kids need to do something competitive. They need to learn there is one winner And if that’s not you, work harder. People who have competed understand what it takes to be better.

Yeah people don't understand how quickly you can damage your hearing. Recoil from shooting will damage your vision as well.

All things in moderation!

 

[307]

OP, I have the same feelings

I was a seriously late bloomer in terms of puberty so I chose sports where a small athletic kid could still compete. Ended up top 10 in state in 3 different individual sports my senior year and played one of them in college to 3 d2 NCAA national titles.

I also work in healthcare and see long term/permanent injuries associated with sports. I love sport, but at the same time, think of all the things I could have dedicated my time to that would have been more productive even though I have no significant injuries from my athletic career(s).

My kids are swimmers. One is good, the other (younger) is elite and will probably be headed to a big D1 school in a couple of years barring catastrophe. I'm glad they're in non contact sports. High speed contact sports have way too many single moments that can be permanently life altering. My youngest was also a stud soccer player but the #1 sport for head injuries for girls is... soccer. Glad we dodged that bullet.

A buddy of mine was a fullback for a power 5 school. I can't think of a worse thing to do to your body than be a fullback, or maybe middle linebacker... I love watching football but feel like a bit of a hypocrite as there's no way I'd want my kids to take such risks with their lives.

 

[Augie]

Someone once said, "livin's dangerous, ain't for the faint of heart."


I mean, I never played official organized sports, and I still got hurt.

Broken wrist, several sprained arms, dislocated ankle and torn ligaments, stitches in my forhead, punched a hole in my lower lip and got stitches, hurt back in high school, stitches in leg, list goes on.

I think there's a difference between knowingly and unknowingly living dangerous my friend. Riding a motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic at 100mph is a choice knowing the consequences. Playing a sport as a kid that your parents signed you up for and force/encourage you to play doesn't let you know the long term effects.

 

[KBaird]

Ten years of baseball and six each football/basketball for me. Was deciding whether to play small college baseball or not my senior year and took a line drive to the temple while pitching. Went straight up and the third baseman caught it for the third out of the inning. I was out cold for a few hours. That coupled with probably at least two undiagnosed football concussions and I no doubt have some significant affects mentally. Was primarily a catcher and at 36 am really starting to notice the knees talking to me a lot more than when I was younger. I’m positive they’ll need some attention sometime down the line. Also live with some pretty significant lower back pain, especially overnight, but unsure if that’s sports related or work. Do still have a highly physical occupation. Not sure I’d change much about my athletics days, because that’s just what we did, but certainly good to be aware and discuss with the kids these days. No one ever did with us.




Odd side note on the line drive to the head. As I was recouping walking around the school like a zombie the last couple weeks of my senior year I read a Sports Illustrated in the counselor’s office with a quick blurb about a kid in Montana who died from the same exact scenario. After the college pitchers really started getting beaten up near the same time they finally deadened the aluminum bats thankfully. Those things were nuts.

 

[kloppy]

3 years of youth football, 5 years of youth basketball, played baseball from age 4 to 21 and D1 in college. Also raced motocross from about 6-10 years old. In hindsight I could have done without the football and motocross. Hard to do either without repeated hits to the head, even at those young ages.

 

[ianpadron]

Football introduced me to the weight room and taught me the most in terms of discipline, hard work, dealing with adversity, etc. but man oh man does it beat the ever living hell out of the body.

3 nasty concussions were enough for me to have zero interest in playing after HS. For the last one, it was the first year that we were required to take a baseline cognitive test pre-season in case we got dinged in the head, and after getting my bell rung during practice, I still figured I was good to go...but ended up scoring less than 50% of my pre-season baseline...and all I remember is my coach thinking I needed to nut up LOL.

At 30 I wonder if there will be any long-term effects, and if I could go back in time, I would not have played football period.

I also think amateur athletics overall have taken a turn for the worse in recent years with kids specializing earlier and earlier, and playing basically year round.

There are fewer 3 sport athletes and almost none of them taking summers off.

I played 6-8 basketball games a weekend all summer long for AAU...and for what?! No way that was good for my knees.

For our future kids, competition, team-work, etc. will all be fundamental pillars...but we will be taking a drastically different approach to what that looks like.

Does a 16 year old need to experience 2 a days in 100 degree weather for 2 weeks pushed to his limits to build toughness? No. Does it do a 6'2" white kid from Wisconsin any good to play basketball year round while missing out on all the fishing he used to love? No.

I think parents need to stop living through their kids, realize that there is a 99.9% chance they never make a dime playing sports, and allow them to ditch the pressure and just enjoy competing without all the drama and expectations.

I hope my kids choose to run track and field, or cross country, or play golf...I hope they thoroughly enjoy it, absolutely dominate, AND build a skillset/passion that will benefit them the rest of their lives instead of crippling them.

Heck if I could go back in time I'd have just lifted and ran in my free time and spent all the normal practice/travel/game time hunting and fishing...

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

It's a balance, right? I want my kids to get hurt, feel pain, and sometimes learn to tough through things. But I don't want those things to impact them for the duration of their lives. I certainly don't want serious injury of any kind.

As an example, if my boy were playing baseball and he gets plunked in his lower back, I would prefer him to suck it up and take his base. Similar with other bruise/contusion type injuries. Structural injuries to muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones...those need to be fully healed (or damn near, understanding sometimes there is lingering soreness or tightness) before resuming activities.

As my wrestling coach used to say, "...you're gonna get owies, and you may get injured, and it's critical that you know what the difference is."

 

[hunt1up]

I played baseball from the age 5 through high school. Small school football for 4 years in high school where you played both sides of the ball every game. I'd play varsity defense as a sophmore on Friday then play both sides of the ball for JV on Monday. Then my junior and senior year it was every snap of every game. Talk about stupid. I was decent enough that I could have played college at the D2/D3 level. One night I was leaving my wife's house(then girlfriend) and one of the small college coaches called me to ask if I'd play. That's when I finally decided to be done and told him no. I knew that relationship would be toast if I went and played college ball and I'd miss all of hunting season for 4 years. And probably blow out my knees and for what? D3 football?

My 10 year old son plays baseball and my 12 year old daughter does volleyball and show choir. Good enough. I love going to their games and want them to succeed, but I won't push it on them. Fortunately they both like hunting more than any sport and they seem to excel at that.

 

[gabenzeke]

I grew up playing baseball. I was okay. May have been able to play college, but blew out my shoulder. Live with occasional pain now and can't lift that arm too far above my head. Personally, I don't regret it. My son plays hockey and has tried baseball. He plays hockey at a rather high level for our area. We've seen some injuries. Including one ten year old that got a concussion that now a year later he can't move faster than a walk without getting dizzy and getting a headache. That was an eye opener. But my boy is obsessed with hockey. We don't make him play. We only offer him opportunities. He spends a minimum of two hours a day shooting pucks or stick handling on his own. When he isn't doing that he's watching hockey or watching drills on YouTube. I think it's a healthy obsession. He's played at a high enough level to know that his dreams of making the NHL are far fetched. He's seen serious talent. So that's why I think it's a healthy obsession. Hard to get in trouble when you're spending 4 to 7 days a week at a rink or trainers place. The things I worry more about than injuries is the mental state of these kids. You can't casually play sports anymore. I mentioned my son tried baseball. This year, he ended the season with a .391 average and he got cut. We just finished hockey tryouts and he will likely make the A team again, which is great. But looking at some of the other kids that are talented in their own rite but just had a bad weekend or messed up one drill and might not make the team. Tears me up. These kids are ten, eleven years old. But they have to focus on this stuff like it's a full time job. Coaches, trainers, parents all expect excellence all the time. Just makes me worry that level of stress can't be good long term for someone that young. Time will tell I guess.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Small school football for 4 years in high school where you played both sides of the ball every game.

That happens in bigger schools too. My junior year at a 4A school (235 in my class) I rarely left the field. My senior year I never left the field, just turned in different directions with taped ankles and taped high top cleats, cowboy collar with foam collar on top. etc... Fun at the time, but in looking back, what a dumbass.

 

[Augie]

Football introduced me to the weight room and taught me the most in terms of discipline, hard work, dealing with adversity, etc. but man oh man does it beat the ever living hell out of the body.

3 nasty concussions were enough for me to have zero interest in playing after HS. For the last one, it was the first year that we were required to take a baseline cognitive test pre-season in case we got dinged in the head, and after getting my bell rung during practice, I still figured I was good to go...but ended up scoring less than 50% of my pre-season baseline...and all I remember is my coach thinking I needed to nut up LOL.

At 30 I wonder if there will be any long-term effects, and if I could go back in time, I would not have played football period.

I also think amateur athletics overall have taken a turn for the worse in recent years with kids specializing earlier and earlier, and playing basically year round.

There are fewer 3 sport athletes and almost none of them taking summers off.

I played 6-8 basketball games a weekend all summer long for AAU...and for what?! No way that was good for my knees.

For our future kids, competition, team-work, etc. will all be fundamental pillars...but we will be taking a drastically different approach to what that looks like.

Does a 16 year old need to experience 2 a days in 100 degree weather for 2 weeks pushed to his limits to build toughness? No. Does it do a 6'2" white kid from Wisconsin any good to play basketball year round while missing out on all the fishing he used to love? No.

I think parents need to stop living through their kids, realize that there is a 99.9% chance they never make a dime playing sports, and allow them to ditch the pressure and just enjoy competing without all the drama and expectations.

I hope my kids choose to run track and field, or cross country, or play golf...I hope they thoroughly enjoy it, absolutely dominate, AND build a skillset/passion that will benefit them the rest of their lives instead of crippling them.

Heck if I could go back in time I'd have just lifted and ran in my free time and spent all the normal practice/travel/game time hunting and fishing...

well said man, couldn't agree more

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

You can't casually play sports anymore.

^^^ This right here... If you play baseball, you better have that resume of club, rec league, camps, and everything in between polished up before you hit jr. high or you'll never get a look in high school. Goes for Volleyball and other sports too.

 

[Turkeytider]

My father was a terrific athlete in high school ( late `30`s until `41 when lots of things changed ). He was particularly good in football ( his local nickname was " The Galloping Ghost "). If any parent had a right to " expect " his kid to play football, it was him. God bless him, he never tried to force me in any way. Only thing he told me was that he would like me to do something involving a team because there`s something you get out of being in a group working together for a common goal that you can`t get anywhere else. It could have been tiddlywinks, debate, anything. Dad was right about that. So, basketball was my sport and I got half way decent at it because all my buddies were on the team and I loved it.

Today`s game of football, considering the mass and speed of the players, IMHO, is simply not compatible with the human body and how it is constructed. Something has to, and usually does, give.

 

[NCTrees]

I played sports through college. Still active with cross training type lifting. Turned 53 this year.

I played baseball, football and wrestled through high school. Could have wrestled or football in college. I chose football, played Div 1.

I have some injuries, aches and pains. So does every other 53 year old that I know. I have zero regrets and wouldn't change a thing. I have 4 boys. I actively encourage them to play multiple sports but don't force them. They all play baseball, wrestle and football currently.

There is hurt and there is injured. If your hurt you play. If your injured you don't. Pretty simple.

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Agreed on all this. I was a three sport athlete in HS. Loved it but simply not good enough to compete above the juco level after, so hung it up for lifting and non contact sports afterwords. I’m sure I’d have way less pain and perhaps a little better memory now than if I didn’t wrestle and play football. But, the discipline those sports thought me are part of who I am and I wouldn’t trade any of it. Also, I’m not sure what kind of knucklehead BS trouble I’d have been getting into without sports. Kids need outlets and at least for me part of those outlets needed to include contact.

I believe there is a smart way to approach contact sports and I believe society is heeding warnings. Watching my kids practice relative to what I went through is night and day. And his coaches do appear to understand pain vs injury.

So, if my kid loves football, his mom and I have his back and are going to foster that love. If the love goes away, we still have his back and will help him pursue whatever worthy endeavors he chooses.

 

[bigeyedfish]

I was fortunate to never have any of those big, scary injuries that we have all seen. A friend broke his leg in a baseball game. Another friend broke his leg two different times playing soccer. I saw a handful of "minor" concussions, and many other injuries that were a bit gnarly, but I was fortunate to not experience them myself.

My injuries have all been overuse or bad technique or both. During baseball seasons as a teen, my right arm was so shaky I couldn't drink a glass of water without spilling it. I quit playing halfway through high school, and it took a few years before I could even play catch without hurting. I'm unwilling to throw hard now. Maybe it would be fine, maybe not.

My right knee is so noisy it's hard to finish a stalk on a deer. Doc says surgery will fix that and the recovery is easy, but I haven't done it yet.

My kids are into soccer, baseball, and cycling. The exact same things I was into. I don't think I'll discourage them from playing or racing, but I will definitely be paying attention to identify if they're hurt and need recovery time. In hindsight, my parents and coaches shouldn't have let me play through some of that crap. It has had so much more negative effect on my life than missing a few games or even a whole season would have had.

 

[PlumberED]

Now 55 and played soccer from 8-18. Road raced motorcycles 93-02. Snowboarded from 87-05 For the most part my body is in good shape. My concern is head injuries. I can’t count my concussions on two hands. The last big one caused some long term damage to my math skills. Not all were sports related. Would I do it differently knowing what I know now? Not sure.

with that said, I would not have a kid play football. Maybe hockey even though I played rec league for a few years. Risk of head injury is high even with the improved equipment.

hunting and shooting sports have their own issues as well. Even today most people have a poor understanding of how impact noise is damaging to hearing and how to protect yourself. I see too many kids at the range with poor fitting hearing protection Or not enough protection. They are doing damage that won’t be undone. I also watch fellow hunters say, it’s just one shot, what’s the big deal, then shoot 3-12 shots per year. Then wonder why they can’t hear well.

I do think kids need to do something competitive. They need to learn there is one winner And if that’s not you, work harder. People who have competed understand what it takes to be better.

I

Now 55 and played soccer from 8-18. Road raced motorcycles 93-02. Snowboarded from 87-05 For the most part my body is in good shape. My concern is head injuries. I can’t count my concussions on two hands. The last big one caused some long term damage to my math skills. Not all were sports related. Would I do it differently knowing what I know now? Not sure.

with that said, I would not have a kid play football. Maybe hockey even though I played rec league for a few years. Risk of head injury is high even with the improved equipment.

hunting and shooting sports have their own issues as well. Even today most people have a poor understanding of how impact noise is damaging to hearing and how to protect yourself. I see too many kids at the range with poor fitting hearing protection Or not enough protection. They are doing damage that won’t be undone. I also watch fellow hunters say, it’s just one shot, what’s the big deal, then shoot 3-12 shots per year. Then wonder why they can’t hear well.

I do think kids need to do something competitive. They need to learn there is one winner And if that’s not you, work harder. People who have competed understand what it takes to be better.

Yeah people don't understand how quickly you can damage your hearing. Recoil from shooting will damage your vision as well.

All things in moderation!

You guys are right about the dangers of hearing damage from hunting and shooting. I’m living proof. Probably the first thing we should teach a new shooter is the proper use of hearing protection and the importance of using a combination ear plugs and muffs in some instances.

 

[gabenzeke]

^^^ This right here... If you play baseball, you better have that resume of club, rec league, camps, and everything in between polished up before you hit jr. high or you'll never get a look in high school. Goes for Volleyball and other sports too.

The worst part about it is the fact that youth sports is a business now. I know of plenty of people that get cut not because they aren't good enough, but because they didn't attend enough of the camps that cost more money. They're literally cutting kids from sports as a business decision. Makes me sick. If you're a youth coach, I think it's a mortal sin to do anything that would prevent that kid from being a lifelong fan of the game. That's objective number one in my eyes.

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[spur60]

Only sports injuries I had were a fractured growth plate in my heel in 7th grade and a partially torn meniscus in my left knee halfway through my junior football season. Had an MRI but no surgery, just wore a brace the remainder of the season. We didn't have very good coaching when it came to weight lifting in high school so I'm sure I added some knee and shoulder damage as well via bad lifting form.
The heel injury did keep me from going out for basketball in 7th grade and from then on I didn't play any winter sports. Which was great in high school as I could work, hunt, or ice fish after school instead of going to practice.

2 concussions but neither was sports related. 1 from a car accident when I was 15 and one from hitting my head on a tank support at work in my mid 20's.

Aggressive ATV and snowmobile riding along with all of the wear and tear as a low voltage installer is what likely caused the daily knee pain I have now in my early 40's.

 

[Laramie]

I umpire a lot of upper level baseball every summer. It amazes me what parents spend for their kids to be a part of "elite" level teams. I think it ties in to the injury potential later in life as well because many of these kids never get a break to let their body heal as it develops.

 

[yfarm]

Worked rather than played sports in high school, cross country coach tried to get me to run and said you will work the rest of your life. Started to run about age 30 for weight and blood pressure control, ran 3 miles daily@ 7 minute pace for 30 years without injury. Running to catch a plane in DFW caused my first injury at 65 with a torn medial meniscus. Middle son played soccer in middle school and a freshman in high school, didnt like the jv coach and switched to cross country. Ran the rest of high school, now age 38 runs marathons and is training for a triathalon, is a great mountain hunter, outclimbed our guide last october. Only injury was a partial tear of the achilles jumping out of a upper bunk in college. Youngest son was a soccer player from age 3 thru hs then club soccer in college. Still plays club soccer as an adult. Only injuries were deliberate injuries by other players in college. Wishes he had played golf instead, is a natural self trained golfer hitting 300 yds. As others have said let them do what they like and something they can do for the rest of their life. Old football players and wrestlers seem to have regrets. Constant unremitting pain for life is not worth it.