Yep. My son had two years of misery from 11-13. Started with Osgood. Then hamstrings, then a hip flexor, then Achilles - and then round the cycle again. It seemed like he couldn't go two weeks after recovering from one injury before getting another. Spent well over half of two years in a row sitting on the bench watching his teammates. I'd never heard of anything like this happening to anyone else - but apparently it's not that uncommon. Oh and then there was a coach who ordered him to play with a hamstring which hadn't fully recovered. I wasn't at that game owing to MSKS (multiple soccer kid syndrome). Result was predictable. We're not at that club any longer. |
This sounds exactly like my son’s situation. Knees, hip flexor, groin all a result of rapid growth period. Only 1 other kid in his team had anything close and he was always like “why me?”. He has come out of it stronger, better and bigger. His game, skill and shot strength have improved immensely. And leg growth has him out pacing the previously larger players. |
What stretches did he do? |
He followed the routines he learned at physical therapy similar to the videos below. At least 3 times per day, but always first thing in the morning and before bedtime. He took Alive before practices and games and iced the knees after. Very painful times. The compensation, he's much taller, faster and stronger than a lot of his teammates now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw4K5kYoCiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-3h6ig3tkg |
| *auto correct, meant Aleve (medicine) |
I think soccer coaches should spend more time having all the kids do these stretches as a preventive measure and also do a better job with warm ups to prevent ACL injuries, etc. I know my son's team does the open and close the gates before practice and then touches their toes afterward, but it's just not enough. |
We have been at more than one top Club in the area with my boys. NONE of them did appropriate cool down, post-workout stretching. Truthfully, none of them did adequate conditioning or even provide a plan. This is much different than my team as a kid. We had serious pre-season conditioning and training. We had a person that worked with us on stretching and rehab, etc. This was ages ago and we were the #1 team in our age group in the Nation. Neither of my kids now U15 and U13 have ever had any of this in their $1,500-3,500/year teams. It's pathetic. They don't even teach the kids any of this, much less proper nutrition or what to eat between games, before or after practice, etc. My kids teams would go out for a huge lunch in between tournament games---wtf??? That's like having a cheeseburger, shake and fries in the middle of running a marathon. The kids are also running around like maniacs in between games. |
They can't. These Clubs are all factories. As soon as one practice winds down, the next team is right there waiting to start with Coach. They have too many teams and prioritize $$ making. |