Tying into week 3’s talk about socialization, in week 4 we talked about youth sports. With the impressionable mind that children have and the social aspects and consumption of sports entertainment, they go hand and hand as children watch athletes compete and live their day-to-day lives. In class we discussed the various governments within sports and all the different interest and reasons why youth plays sports. Guys aim more towards getting better and winning, as girls tend to compete to stay in shape and be social. A common problem with youth sports though is lots of injuries occurring to the athletes early that could harm them into their adult lives. I had bad head injuries that have affected me personally and ending my sports career in high school, which made me become very interested in the studies over sport injuries. Also like in the article I have read I have shoulder and limb problems from playing baseball that happens to thousands of athletes each year from over use. Both are examples of the problem with injuries that happen in every sport to athletes who compete that this article New Youth Baseball Safety Recommendations touches upon preventing.
In 2007 over 110,000 baseball and softball athletes were cared for U.S. emergency rooms between the ages of 5 to 14. That’s a crazy number to think of coming from a non-contact sport but proves how careful coaches need to be working with their players. From the stress and repetitive motions of throwing a ball, pitchers are getting injuries they call “little league elbow” and “little league shoulder” from not knowing proper techniques for throwing. In doing so athletes in today’s game are playing more then one season where they sometimes overlap making them work more and cause over-use from throwing and conditioning. Coaches and parents need to be careful with players and use more then one pitcher throughout the season. Also needing to realize when rest is necessary has been a huge problem causing the injuries.
Using protection like helmets and pads are the safest ways to prevent injuries and as for stress injuries resting and learning proper techniques are critical. Since the beginning of baseball many rules and regulations have helped improve the game and protect athletes that insures us how in the future they will continue to add more.
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