Anonymous
Post 04/01/2014 10:37     Subject: Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
I have a cousin who got a concussion in middle school playing football (he's very large and is being actively recruited by the high school coaches). It was a severe concussion, unconscious, vomiting, out of school for a week and not allowed to play for months afterward.

His schoolwork has not recovered. He has lost interest in school, is failing several classes, and no longer does homework. The concussion seems to have made his existing ADHD much much worse. His parents were worried about the football before, and now they are quietly panicking.

I hope our sons choose a different sport. If they like football, too bad. They will not be allowed to play it.
Anonymous
Post 03/31/2014 21:46     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
running
Anonymous
Post 03/31/2014 17:40     Subject: Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:More injuries in soccer than football.


It isn't about "more" but about severity -- football gets the head injury prize, and probably the paralysis one, too. That said, soccer is definitely and without a doubt a contact sport./quote]

That's not necessarily true. Football is definitely more violent with a greater risk of concussion and serious physical trauma. However, as research into CTE advances, they're finding that the repetitive use of the head in soccer may be causing CTE at a rate equal to if not greater than football. No big head trauma but the proteins that they believe causes CTE builds up over time because of how often the brain hits the inside of the skull.

As others have said, I don't think there is any sport without true risk of injury.

So to the OP- I would start with tball and go from there. Its about as fun as watching paint dry but its a good place to start. Unless you have the cash for fencing, yachting, and tournaments on Martha's Vineyard...
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 15:19     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:....My youngest was in the pool much younger and competing by age 4...


Holy cow!


That's young. Most kids can barely get from one of the pool to the other at 4.

Most kids start swimming before 8, and nearly all before 10, but I've known some kids who started at 12-14 and got good really fast.
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 15:17     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Swimming is a great choice and there are a lot of great summer and year around teams in the area. No impact so that lessons the risk of injury but of course there are shoulder issues, etc.

My kids love swimming and it is working out great because they love swimming.

They have tried almost everything. In the end I believe it will not stick unless they love it. I can understand excluding football and other true contact sports. Other than that I think you need to expose them to a lot of things at a young age so they can figure out what THEY want to do.

Good luck.


My DD friend, a senior in HS, recently got a concussion from swimming from hitting the ward hard on entry. She's been competing since age 6.


I have never heard of this. I was a swimmer for years and still swim open water as a masters' swimmer. The only people that I've even seen get a concussion during swim team practice hit their head on the wall (screwing around and doing flips off the wall) or on the bottom (slipped when going off a starting block).

I'm skeptical of this story.
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 15:15     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Our goal for our kids has to been encourage sports that can be sports for life. We want them to have skills that they can use to stay healthy and have fun later. That means basketball would be cool, because lots of middle age people play ball at the local gym, but football and lacrosse are out because we don't see a lot of middle age guys participating in these sports.

At our house that means karate and running. We started karate with them when they were 5. They went to class 2X per week. We started running kids' fun runs with them when they were 5 or 6. Cross-country and track started in middle school.

I would have loved from them to take up swim team or dance, but neither one of them was into it.
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 14:22     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Could you explain the crew shoulder injury? Now DS is doing crew, and given his track record with broken bones and concussions, we're probably facing a crew injury next.


She has Infraspinatus Tendinitis in addition to hyperlaxisity in her shoulder. We took her out of crew and did P.T., got the all clear to return, and then she tore her rotator cuff. She is (was) an extremely competitive rower. She had already been offered a couple of scholarships and she didn't tell anyone she was hurting. Unfortunately, she may not ever row again.

Last year she got MRSA. She shaved her legs before practice and dirty water from the river splashed into the tiny little marks left by shaving. That was actually really scary.



wow, DD just started doing crew and seems addicted. Is this what I have to look forward to?


I was a competitive rower for 10 years: there are a lot of overuse injuries, shoulders and intracostals mostly. It really, really helps to build strength through motions not often used in rowing, such as bench press. One of my college teammates got blood poisoning when water from the Chicago River got into a cut on his leg. My teammates and I used to pour hydrogen peroxide on any open cuts after practice, which hurt like hell.

All that said, it's an amazing, amazing sport. So worth it for so many reasons. I hope I can get back on the water some day (not the easiest thing with a toddler and an infant).
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 14:02     Subject: Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:DH and I are debating which sports we would consider "off limits" for our kids to play. Obviously we want them to choose what they enjoy, but we also want to encourage sports that have less physical danger (football and concussion rates), less negative culture in HS (lacrosse and drugs), and reasonable schedules (I don't want them in middle school playing games at 9pm).

What do your kids play, and what has been your experience?
What age did they start, was it too early/late?

Let me emphasize again that our kids will get to pick their activities, but we will definitely be overseeing their choices.
Thx!


Do you let your kids ride bikes and go to the playground?
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2014 14:01     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We did martial arts at a young age to teach discipline, self confidence and balance.

We did soccer starting at 5 yo since their school had a program that helped kids from their class meet each other this way.

One of my sons wrestled for 2 years because his friends did.

My kids did not do Tball/baseball because it is painful (2 hour games) and not enough exercise....


my kids combined have played five seasons of tball/baseball with total of ~70 games played, and there had been ZERO game where it reached NEAR one hour. Most were done within 45 minutes.


My boys both did t-ball and coach pitch baseball and same here, no 2hr games. More like 1hr.
Anonymous
Post 03/26/2014 22:11     Subject: Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Our kids fell into ice hockey and martial arts year around. They do basketball, swimming, and baseball seasonally. They've never been injured (bumps & bruises of course)

I firmly believe any sport is safer than allowing kids to watch TV and become couch potatoes.
Anonymous
Post 03/26/2014 21:58     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:
Could you explain the crew shoulder injury? Now DS is doing crew, and given his track record with broken bones and concussions, we're probably facing a crew injury next.


She has Infraspinatus Tendinitis in addition to hyperlaxisity in her shoulder. We took her out of crew and did P.T., got the all clear to return, and then she tore her rotator cuff. She is (was) an extremely competitive rower. She had already been offered a couple of scholarships and she didn't tell anyone she was hurting. Unfortunately, she may not ever row again.

Last year she got MRSA. She shaved her legs before practice and dirty water from the river splashed into the tiny little marks left by shaving. That was actually really scary.



wow, DD just started doing crew and seems addicted. Is this what I have to look forward to?
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2012 16:23     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:Curling
Table tennis
Bowling


Tennis elbow..lol
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2012 21:34     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Curling
Table tennis
Bowling
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2012 21:31     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
PP - My daughter, the swimmer, has broken her wrist twice - once falling off the monkey bars and once falling off her bike. I've had a concussion from falling off my bike even though I was wearing a helmet. Shit happens. Are we suggesting that our kids don't do any sports? Nothing in life is risk free. Absolutely nothing.
Anonymous
Post 12/18/2012 10:25     Subject: Re:Which are the "safer" sports, and what age do you start?
Anonymous wrote:Swimming is a great choice and there are a lot of great summer and year around teams in the area. No impact so that lessons the risk of injury but of course there are shoulder issues, etc.

My kids love swimming and it is working out great because they love swimming.

They have tried almost everything. In the end I believe it will not stick unless they love it. I can understand excluding football and other true contact sports. Other than that I think you need to expose them to a lot of things at a young age so they can figure out what THEY want to do.

Good luck.


My DD friend, a senior in HS, recently got a concussion from swimming from hitting the ward hard on entry. She's been competing since age 6.