Do you worry about injuries?
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Anonymous
| I guess I don’t worry about injuries during soccer any more than I worry about them getting into an accident driving, or riding their bike, or lifting weights, or doing any other normal activities. You need to live your life because freak injuries can happen anywhere |
Anonymous
| One GK kid amd one Striker. Both have had multiple injuries (including one concussion each, not from soccer), but that's part of being a kid and taking chances and learning boundaries. Do I worry about it? A little bit, but I don't let my anxiety affect their fun! |
Anonymous
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There are acute injuries which can be hard to avoid in a contact sport, especially when some referees and coaches can be lenient about hard tackles and the kids are more aggressive/faster as they grow.
A few things that we've done to address and prevent chronic pain/overuse issues (daughter is 11): - Strength training, especially body weight-based core and lower body exercises to build muscle (routine part of another sport's practices but hopeful it will help with preventing soccer injuries too) - Turf shoes (post-game ankle pain was generally resolved after switching from cleats to turf shoes when playing on synthetic turf) - Post-game stretching (hard to remember to do this when everyone is ready to get in the car, but trying to encourage 5-10 minutes of cool down) |
Anonymous
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PP is spot on. Risks of the game, but precautions can be taken.
At some point kids are kids and will get hurt, heal, and life goes on. That said, I personally had numerous concussions in my playing days and wish I would have been coached to be less reckless. They get worse each time. No chance I was going to be stopped from playing because of it though, at least at that time. |
Anonymous
I worry about it to the same extent that I worry about my kids getting injured doing other activities. I do think soccer is a little more dangerous than the average person may think. However, I draw the line at American football and hockey, where I think the risk/reward ratio is skewed enough to not make it worth it, and thankfully my kids have never shown the least amount of interest in either. Honestly I think just biking around town is way more dangerous than soccer, youth sports, and probably even driving. |
Anonymous
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We’re dealing with a bad concussion right now, and it’s no fun. It sucks to see your kid hurt, and is especially scary when it’s their brain. Obviously, all the attention paid to CTE and American Football has everyone on edge.
That said, I did a lot of reading, and learned that for normal athletes (not boxers, NFL players, MMA fighters, etc), even after numerous concussions, they still have better long-term cognitive outcomes than non-athletes. Basically, the negative impacts of concussions are outweighed by the overall health benefits of being physically active (cardiovascular health, etc). I think I worry about bad knee or ankle injuries even more. As mentioned upthread, ACL tears are really tough. I’m hoping we can avoid that, although I know the treatment has gotten much better. |
Anonymous
I make a real effort to search for and purchase Artificial Grass (AG) cleats because my kids play mostly on artificial grass fields. Apparently, there is some evidence to support the idea that cleats made for Firm Ground (FG) (i.e., grass) have stud shapes that may provide TOO MUCH grip when used on artificial grass fields. Many of the major brands have tried to create hybrid "FG/AG" cleats, which is what you usually find the most of; the theory is that it supposedly has stud shapes made for both (and also apparently due to the higher heat generated on artificial grass fields, there is also some tweak they make to account for that in terms of durability). But when you think about it, this FG/AG cleat does not really address the potential increased injury risk that comes with using FG boots on AG fields, because the FG/AG cleats still have at least some of the stud patterns that work well on FG but are potentially more dangerous on AG. So you really want to try to find a dedicated pair of pure "AG" cleats for your kid. Sometimes I can find them here, sometimes I've had to order them from Europe. But I have opted for the "less grippy" pure AG cleats in the hopes that it reduces the injury risk. This video explains it better than I did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkmcg7ET8j4 Turf shoes, which have even less grip than AG cleats, might be good for some very worn-down artificial grass fields around here. I suppose there's a point where the lack of grip/traction could itself create increased risk of injury, so I wouldn't recommend everyone use turf shoes on all artificial grass fields (and definitely not on real grass fields), but when in doubt I think erring on the side of "less grippy" is probably a good rule of thumb to reduce the risk of some injuries. |
Anonymous
| I do but not day to day. My sons a GK. It’s an injury prone position. Because refs don’t call dangerous play as often as they should, I have heard of some horrific injuries to GK. When these happen to other kids, I find myself worrying. For this reason, it’s imperative that GKs have proper training and learn to protect themselves. My son so far has been really fortunate but I expect that he won’t always be. However, the alternative is to stop him from playing and that’s not a good solution since soccer is the one thing that he really cares about. However, if he gets more than one concussion, I will probably draw the line. |
Anonymous
This. For the love of god, call the dangerous plays. Ok so you get unfairly harassed cause you keep giving the ball to the wrong team when it goes out of bounds. Reffing is a hard job and for a safety standpoint, those calls are trivial and I agree parents should calm the ffff down. But the cleats-up slide tackles? And kicking the ball out of the goalie’s hands when it’s clearly in their possession ? ( I’m not a GK parent but that second one makes me cringe every time and it *never* gets called, even when the goalie has the ball trapped under him on the ground.) Infairness to refs, calling out dangerous play is even more important for the coaches, and I have special ire reserved for the coaches and even parents who actually encourage the dirty play! |
Anonymous
LOL. Define "very high". I know ACL tears, particularly for girls, aren't unusual, but "very high likelihood" seems like a gross exaggeration. |
Anonymous
| I played soccer from elementary through colleges and am adamant that my kids never play soccer. I suffered a sprained ankle AND a broken leg playing, and saw so many concussions. |
Anonymous
The PP is clearly dealing with a child with an ACL injury so why are you laughing. What’s wrong with you ? And google is your friend. Give that sad little brain a workout. Oh, and apologize to PP. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22784194/ https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/acl-tears-in-girls-and-women.html#:~:text=Women%2520and%2520girls%E2%80%94especially%2520those,and%2520requires%2520surgery%2520to%2520heal. https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/acl-tears-in-girls-and-women.html#:~:text=In%20almost%20every%20age%20group,%2DSinai%20Kerlan%2DJobe%20Institute. The rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is three times higher in female athletes than in male athletes. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23281470/ |
Anonymous
100000% agree |
Anonymous
One of these geniuses trying to protect their permanent newborn from the realities of life |
Anonymous
You're right. I skimmed over the fact that the poster's daughter had an ACL tear and was too flippant. But to say there is a high likelihood that your daughter will tear her ACL playing soccer is overly alarmist, regardless of the poster's personal experience. Apologies to the poster for my lack of sensitivity, but I stand by opinion that "high likelihood" is an exagerration. |