One of the things that contribute to the spring season being such an incredibly busy time of year, are the tryouts for fall sports that take place now….. on top of the spring sports season itself. Keeping up with the schedules for tryouts, regular team practices and games can be especially tricky- and I am constantly checking my calendar to see the times and locations to drop off and pick up my kids…. not to mention coordinating the efforts between other Moms when tryouts and practice times for various kids overlap. It’s enough to send a Mom running for the hills….

Add to this the pressure that the kids feel to try to make the team of their choice, to try to continue to play the sport that they enjoy with their friends, to come up with a “Plan B” just in case they don’t make their first-choice team. And it feels really crazy because the kids involved in all of this are only 9, 11 and 12 years old.

And since this has been going on in our life lately, it’s really made me think quite a bit about the role that team sports play in my kids lives and in their personal development. While I may not like every aspect of team sports, including this whole tryout process (understanding that it is a necessary evil on playing or higher-level travel teams), I do appreciate so many of the other aspects that team sports bring to my kids lives. First of all, I love how this gives them the opportunity for friendships outside of the school environment, and with kids that may not even go to the same school. If someone having a bad day at school, perhaps didn’t get to sit with the person they wanted to at lunch, or maybe isn’t getting along with their current “best friend”, it’s nice that they have another group of kids that they connect with in a team environment that support one another, and play together -and that it has nothing to do with the politics and social status of friendships at school.

I also love what team sports teach kids about working together as teammates. I like how they get instruction from a coach that includes not only skills that they need on the playing fields, but skills such as working in collaboration that they really need in their lives.

And let’s not forget the all-important exercise factor that team sports bring to them. I think that my kids would spend far too much time sitting on the couch looking at an iDevice and not nearly as much time outside running around if they weren’t involved in an active team sport that practices three times a week plus a game or two. I think team sports helps them to have healthy bodies.

But on the flip side of team sports helping my kids stay healthy, is the issue of sports injuries. One of my sons who plays soccer seems to be prone to ankle injuries. This kid rolls his foot sometimes when he runs or connects with the ball, and manages to twist his ankle time and time again, so we are constantly icing it, wrapping it, and taking care of it with him. And when I watch my boys head the ball in a game, especially when the ball is coming at them with such force, I cringe. Is this going to be the play that gives him a concussion? And when one of my boys goes down on the field and gets hurt in the game- how do I know if the coach is going to make the right decision about whether or not to return him to play? There’s a whole lot of trust involved here….

Last week, I was fortunate to be invited to attend a multi-sports round table at the NFL headquarters where we talked about issues surrounding player safety in youth sports. I wanted to understand -across these different sports (basketball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, football) – how these organizations paid attention to the issue of player safety. Because it’s not only about having the right sports equipment on your child, it’s also about having coaches that are trained to recognize whether or not a player has been injured in a game, and how to handle the issue of return to play. Are coaches aware that the “new way of thinking” is “When in doubt, take them out”?

What I learned this meeting is that these organizations are paying a lot of attention to injuries in kids sports. And they’re doing it in a very analytical and data-driven manner. They’re looking to understand what types of injuries are occurring and what situations the players are in when these injuries are occurring, and they’re making decisions to modify the game or modify equipment in order to prevent these types of injuries from re-occurring.

As a parent we put a lot of faith in the coaches and the organizations where we allow our children to play sports, and I find it very encouraging to know that they take this responsibility very seriously.

Will your kids and playing sports the fall? Do you feel the team sports are important to their personal development and growth as a person? Are you concerned about injuries when it comes to kids sports? I would love to hear what you think!

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