My kid has two injuries at two different times and went to some practices. Both times he went to as many as possible but legitimately felt bad or had a bunch of doctor and pt appointments. We did not stress over missing practice when he couldn’t play and coaches understood. Injuries were a torn ACL and a concussion.

My daughter attended shortened practices and did conditioning that she could do safely. It helped her feel connected with the team, without making her feel too bored. When she got frustrated with that much, we talked to the coach and cut down the number of practices as well. I would bet that different coaches/sports have different expectations on this.

My daughter was injured during volleyball season this fall. I don’t know if it was a coach expectation or her commitment to the team, but she still attended practices and games. During the games she helped keep stats and cheered from the bench and during huddles. Toward the end of recovery, She was even able to participate and hit balls to her team for warmups.

Bluntly, it depends on how long the drive it. I'm not driving 45 minutes one-way for them to sit.

depends on the sport and how much practice can be modified. My son play squash, which is an individual sport. When he injured his knee (minor injury), he was able to do solo practice or private lessons with the coach without movement (practicing his swing, volleys, serves, ...). When he injured his shoulder, his coach had him work on his movement without any swinging. A good coach will modify your child's training routine, assuming he's cleared medically to do so.

I’m sure it depends on the team, how competitive it is to get a spot and the coach. We have never skipped practice due to injury in any sport my kids did and it would have negatively affected them if they had. But you didn’t name the sport so we really can’t give you relevant experiences.

I’d talk to the coach and find out what he could work on (with doctor approval) on his own. Then, see if he can go watch practice a couple times a week and do his individual training on the other days.

We’ve only had one extended injury and my son was only out about a month. The coach said he didn’t have to come to practice but he went and watched 2 of 3 a week anyway. It kept him engaged with the team and gave him something to do. Practice was like 10 minutes away though, so easy for me.

My kid didn't go to practices. He was out his entire junior year (growth-related injury). He did not travel to games that were in other states during that time. His coach was fine with that--this was the highest level Club.

Junior year with tons of AP courses---figured at least he might as well be a straight A student and take advantage of that extra time. He ended up getting into an Ivy--so it worked out. lol Still playing the sport.

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on are we talking broken finger or torn acl.

I think it actually depends more on if he wants to return to this team after his injury has healed.

I think it depends on are we talking broken finger or torn acl.

My son had a sprained ankle in HS and still attended daily HS practices and every single game. I think he only played one game at the very end of the season. For his travel team, he attended most practices and all games. It’s expected. His current travel team is an hour commute each way late at night so if he were injured this season I might be resentful of that expectation but we would fulfill the commitment unless the coach specifically told him to stay home.

Ask the coach.

My own kids have never had an injury to that extent, but from what I've seen/heard of other kids on their teams, yes they still attend every practice. I know of one kid that was injured the entire season, and still attended every single practice.

Go to some. That's the happy medium.

My teen travels an hour each day, 5 days a week to play a relatively uncommon sport on a high level. He hopes to play in college.

He has an injury, one that will probably prevent him from participating at all for a while.

Do parents really continue to drive their kid to practice every day when they can’t practice? Is there a happy medium? I have to admit I would love a few family dinners as a silver lining to this!