What's the safest sport for kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equestrian (which is an olympic sport), riflery (a local varsity high school sport and also an olympic sport), miniature golf, duck pin bowling (a varsity high school sport in Montgomery County).

All these are pretty safe.

I don't know what planet you are reporting in from but neither equestrian nor riflery are considered "safe" here on Earth.

Equestrian involves jumping over little two foot fences. It’s not the Preakness. Rifle is either air rifle or small bore, and it involves target shooting in controlled environments. It’s considered a safe high school sport in this area.

Your gauge of equestrian risk does not align with reality:

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/19

[Anonymous]

Archery and fencing are both very safe and some high schools and boarding schools do offer these as competitive sports. Of course the proper coaching, equipment and safety procedures are required.

The link PP posted says equestrian is relatively safe. But there are risks with any sport. Even hiking can be dangerous, if not properly prepared.

[Anonymous]

It depends what injury you are trying to avoid. My friends' DD has a solo kidney. They don't let her do horseback riding and gymnastics, basically anything where they could fall from a height. They probably could do football because of the padding from a kidney perspective but that obviously has a risk of head injury.

[Anonymous]

Everything pales in comparison to tackle football and boxing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, just steer clear of football, hockey, and lacrosse and you'll be fine. Driving in a car to sports practice is the worst thing you can do.

My kid plays this exactly trifecta. The only injuries he's had so far have been from hobby sports - freestyle skiing and mountain biking. I never intended to allow any of these sports (started out with figure skating, tennis and swimming), but kids end up wanting to play the sports their friends play and they stick with the sports they are good at. It's not as easy to engineer their childhood as I thought when I was a younger parent.

my kid is the opposite! I was thinking I'd love for my kids to play lax, they do downhill and mountain bike and it's terrifying! Freestyle skiing I can't even watch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, just steer clear of football, hockey, and lacrosse and you'll be fine. Driving in a car to sports practice is the worst thing you can do.

+1. We are choosy about which sports and activities we sign our kids up for and take into account safety, the culture of the support, the cost of playing long enough to know if you like it (anything at a high level gets pricier, but we wanted sports that were really accessible at lower levels so our kids could do it for years before deciding if they wanted to really commit to it). But that still leaves TONS of sports and activities.

We ruled out football, hockey, gymnastics, and baseball due to injury risk, specifically risk of head injury. Our kids still do tons of sports -- soccer, tennis, cross-country, dance, swimming, basketball, tae kwon do. They all carry some risk of injury, but so does going hiking, playing in the park, or riding a bike. But it's lower than for the sports we ruled out, and the injuries that do crop up are more likely to be from overuse (which is controllable) than from impact (which is not). That's not a big deal. Teach your kids to take care of their bodies, stretch, rest, and remind them that no game or practice is more important than their overall well being.

You ruled out baseball but kept soccer?

That’s what I was thinking too! My son plays travel baseball and Little League and has never been hit on the head. Not saying it doesn’t happen but I’d imagine concussions from soccer are a lot more frequent than getting beaned in baseball.

For sure.

In fact, girls soccer faces almost the same risk as boys football re: concussions.

Soccer should be lumped in with football, lacrosse, hockey, etc.

The biggest risk for baseball is elbow injury from overuse, but that can mitigated by having the right coach

The bigger issue with football is CTE’s, which aren’t necessarily due to concussions, just constant low level hits, jostling the head & neck, but not even to the point of concussions. Concussions and CTE’s are two similar but different issues that make American football more dangerous. Unless they play flag football!

[Anonymous]

This post offers a really good rundown of the top 10 safest sports! https://debpreston.com/safest-sport/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equestrian (which is an olympic sport), riflery (a local varsity high school sport and also an olympic sport), miniature golf, duck pin bowling (a varsity high school sport in Montgomery County).

All these are pretty safe.

I don't know what planet you are reporting in from but neither equestrian nor riflery are considered "safe" here on Earth.

Equestrian involves jumping over little two foot fences. It’s not the Preakness. Rifle is either air rifle or small bore, and it involves target shooting in controlled environments. It’s considered a safe high school sport in this area.

We have football players, basketball, soccer, swimmers, baseball, and lots of other sports players in our family. The only sport where we have multiple family members end up with serious damage is equestrian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equestrian (which is an olympic sport), riflery (a local varsity high school sport and also an olympic sport), miniature golf, duck pin bowling (a varsity high school sport in Montgomery County).

All these are pretty safe.

I don't know what planet you are reporting in from but neither equestrian nor riflery are considered "safe" here on Earth.

Equestrian involves jumping over little two foot fences. It’s not the Preakness. Rifle is either air rifle or small bore, and it involves target shooting in controlled environments. It’s considered a safe high school sport in this area.

Your gauge of equestrian risk does not align with reality:

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/19

I would be interested to see catastrophic injury in horseback riding vs other sports. I’m guessing, for example, basketball would drop…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post makes me sad

Why does this question make you sad? My parents couldn't afford signing me up for sports as a kid. Now that's sad.

It's sad because there is a child that will miss out on some life experiences because their parent is unable to assess risk, where safety (or the illusion of safety) has become the most sacred value.

Imagine not getting a hit in little league, or kicking a soccer ball, or shooting a free throw, because your parents are too focused on "safety"

Safety wasn’t a sacred value years ago when kids played basketball, football, hockey without adult interference. From there the committed kids with the innate talent would go on to play varsity, college, and a fraction of them on to professional.

But who are you kidding. The big business of kids sports have so many rules and regulations they practically have bubble wrap around them.

Recreational sports for elementary school for any sport at the Y or Town Park and Rec is the best choice. Kids get to sample different sports and find one they like or hate them all.

Big business has parents thinking that if they don’t get them on a traveling team by 7 years old then all hope is lost. That’s how they make money. True talent will rise without paying these sharks. Others who love the sport will find a way to play and hopefully have fun with it.

LOL.

Why do people who know nothing about sports post this nonsense?

[Anonymous]

There is actually analysis of this:

https://healthysportindex.com/report/safety-analysis-report/

We have seven kids, six older, one little surprise straggler. All play/played many sports but with a focus on very competitive soccer. We had many injuries. I actually don’t like that my husband is pushing the littlest into soccer. It’s more dangerous than you’d think and the science proves this. Husband was a coach and acknowledges serious head injuries and lots of contact.

I played tennis as a kid. I loved it. It’s considered one of the safest sports and definitely it is sooooo fun. You are always moving and after a few lessons it costs nothing to play on a free court with your friends. My littlest is starting tennis this summer and I’m hoping to phase out soccer if it captures his interest. Tennis can be enjoyed all through life too.

[Anonymous]

Life’s better on Saturn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, just steer clear of football, hockey, and lacrosse and you'll be fine. Driving in a car to sports practice is the worst thing you can do.

The most fun sports are football, hockey and lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

My mom wouldn’t let me play basketball because she said it would kill my knees but she forced me into ballet which destroyed my feet and allowed me to downhill ski race which did ruin my knees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Equestrian (which is an olympic sport), riflery (a local varsity high school sport and also an olympic sport), miniature golf, duck pin bowling (a varsity high school sport in Montgomery County).

All these are pretty safe.

I am an equestrian and it is a given that you will fall off. My first lessons at 10 included how to fall off. My sport is eventing, which involves jumping solid obstacles at speed. I've had multiple injuries, but wouldn't give it up for anything.

My parents gave me the option to do either equestrian or downhill skiing and I wish I could have done both.

Speed walking is probably the safest sport out there.