C3PO wrote:My 14 year old son has had what seems to me an insane amount of injuries during soccer over the past year. He has broken a bone, got a concussion, fractured a growth plate, and had some horrible bruises. Is this just what soccer is? Or is something wrong? My sport growing up was baseball, so I don't really know.

Is your son small for a 14 year old? Did he get the injuries from practice or in games? If he's smaller obviously more injuries can occur especially as it gets more physical in U14/U15. Some players like to pull and shove other players and if the ref isn't calling this, then someone is bound to get hurt. My daughter is on the smaller side and some players just throw their body into her to take the ball away. Most of the time the ref calls a foul, but sometimes the ref's won't call anything. She got a concussion from hitting the back of her head on the turf after a player bulldozed her. That's the thing, if ref's don't call the pulling and arm use early in the game someone's gonna get hurt.

I would say that most kids that are constantly injured are either under-recovered or did not prepare properly for their sport. For male athletes between the ages of 12-14 they are more susceptible for injury due to puperty this is why it is highly recommend that they participate in a injury prevention/strenght training program to help with strengthening of the core, muscles, tendons/ligaments etc. it is very important for the physical development and the demand that they put on their bodies from so much practice and games.

Boys soccer becomes much more physical around age 14-15 as puberty does its thing. Kids get stronger, faster, more aggressive and it's uneven for a couple years as not all boys mature at the same time. If your son is later to mature that could explain some of the injuries. Some kids are definitely more willing to sacrifice their body which could lead to more collisions and injuries. They'll need to learn how to choose when to sacrifice and how to protect their body.

Sorry to hear that. I am curious - how long has he been playing soccer, and what kind of team is he playing for (high school? travel club? rec?).

Thanks, I appreciate it. He plays travel for a club and has been playing since U9.

C3PO wrote:My 14 year old son has had what seems to me an insane amount of injuries during soccer over the past year. He has broken a bone, got a concussion, fractured a growth plate, and had some horrible bruises. Is this just what soccer is? Or is something wrong? My sport growing up was baseball, so I don't really know.

Sorry to hear that. I am curious - how long has he been playing soccer, and what kind of team is he playing for (high school? travel club? rec?). I suppose a broken bone and a concussion are incidents of bad luck (I broke my wrist playing football in high school; and I don't think folks were as tuned-in to the issue of concussions back then, I may have had one of those as well). The fractured growth plate thing I am not familiar with. Bruises do seem to come with the game.

My oldest soccer playing kid is 15 and has had the bruises but that's about it. I'm curious what other people's experience has been.

My 14 year old son has had what seems to me an insane amount of injuries during soccer over the past year. He has broken a bone, got a concussion, fractured a growth plate, and had some horrible bruises. Is this just what soccer is? Or is something wrong? My sport growing up was baseball, so I don't really know.