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Kids in sports: how you can protect them and still let them have fun

Brandon Foster on January 9, 2023

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Kids: Participating in sports can be an excellent way for kids under 13 to stay physically active, develop new skills, and make friends.

It can also help them build confidence and self-esteem and teach them valuable lessons about teamwork and sportsmanship.

However, parents and caregivers need to ensure that young children are appropriately supervised and participating in age-appropriate and safe activities.

Importance of sports for kids

There are many benefits for kids to participate in sports.

Some of the physical benefits include improved cardiovascular health, increased muscle strength and flexibility, and better coordination and balance.

Participating in sports can also help young children maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of obesity.

In addition to the physical benefits, sports have numerous mental and emotional benefits.

It can also teach them essential life skills such as teamwork, discipline, and goal-setting.

Participating in sports can also be an excellent way for young children to make new friends and socialize with their peers.

Participating in sports can be a valuable and rewarding experience for kids under 13, both in terms of their physical and mental health.

Parents and caregivers must encourage and support young children in their sports activities while ensuring they participate in safe and appropriate activities for their age.

Kids getting injured playing sports

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission released recent data showing that overall injuries from youth participation in football have declined since 2013.

Although it plateaued in 2020, injuries spiked back up in 2021.

The commission reports that more than a million kids were injured in sports bad enough to require a trip to the ER.

The data covers sports and other significant injuries from playground equipment and skateboards.

In 2021, children aged 5 to 14 were likely to get football injuries; there were 110,171 reported injuries in 2021 compared to 92,802 in young adults aged 15 to 24.

Meanwhile, soccer had 59,000 injured kids, while basketball had 79,207 injuries.

Concussion rates

Boys’ football has the highest concussion rates, with 10.4 concussions per 10,000 athlete exposures.

Girls’ soccer follows with 8.19 per 10,000 athlete exposures, while boys’ ice hockey had 7.69.

Although high-contact sports have a higher risk of severe injuries, even safe sports like swimming and track have a risk for overuse injuries.

Screening

Dr. Stuart Berger, the division head of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, warned that cardiac events could occur whether people play sports.

According to Berger, it’s crucial to screen cardiac events.

While kids are safe to play sports and exercise without worrying about cardiac events, it’s still important to do a physical, especially with family history, to find out who could be at risk.

“The concerns are that maybe there is somebody with an underlying abnormality,” explained Berger.

“The screening is designed to bring that out, and that we can identify, if possible, who those kids are.”

Families often cite head injuries as their major concern when their children enter sports.

Dr. Andrew Peterson, the clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa, revealed that the bulk of kids’ concussions is sports-related.

However, he said there is no substantial evidence that a few concussions in childhood have any long-term impact on adulthood.

Peterson stressed that it is important to avoid reinjuring the head before the concussion fully heals.

“The thing we worry about most are these second impact events where people have a concussion on top of a concussion,” he explained.

Symptoms

Dr. Erin Grieb, the pediatric primary care sports medicine physician at Stanford Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, agreed with Peterson’s sentiments.

She said that coaches, referees, and families should learn to identify concussions to ensure the kids are cared for.

Grieb said the signs and symptoms could include:

Headaches
Sensitivity to light
Mental problems like confusion or difficulty paying attention
Sadness
Anxiety

Concussions can be present in many ways, and some symptoms may manifest in one trauma but others in a different concussion.

Prevention

Injuries are inevitable in sports, but there are ways to minimize the damage.

Ensure they wear appropriate protective gear, such as helmets, pads, and mouthguards, as needed for the specific sport.
Ensure they are properly conditioned and trained for the sport and do not overexert themselves.
Please make sure they are playing on properly maintained equipment and playing surfaces.
Follow the rules and guidelines for the specific sport to help reduce the risk of injury.
Encourage kids to speak up if they feel sick, tired, or in pain and seek medical attention.
Have an emergency action plan in place in case of injury.
Encourage kids to respect their opponents and follow good sportsmanship.
Consider the level of competition and the child’s age and skill level when choosing a sport or league.
Make sure the child is supervised by a responsible adult who is trained in first aid and CPR.

In almost every sport available, kids should be given time to rest to avoid injuries from overuse.

According to Grieb, athletes with head injuries need to take considerable time off to recover.

“You break a bone, I can put you in a cast and not let you use that arm. When you have a head injury, I can’t put your head in a cast,” said Grieb.

“You get one brain, so it’s really important that we let your brain heal.”

Continuing play

Despite the risks that sports pose for kids, it’s still an essential physical activity and habit.

Peterson says that regular movement is part of growing up.

Grieb added that it gives children leadership skills, life lessons, and, most importantly, fun, saying:

“If you’re focused on using proper techniques, you’re focused on following the rules of the game, and you have coaches and referees who are also engaged in that, then I think particularly risky sports can be safer than they have in the past.”

Reference:

How to protect your kids when they play sports, according to doctors

Mehran Rowshan Shaping Thousands of Youth through Sports

Jerry Cooper on March 19, 2021

Football remains one of the world’s most popular sports. Beyond the forty-five minutes, grass-laden fields, and lightweight weather ball, the game is a symbol of camaraderie, hope, perseverance, and hard work that is helping many people—young and old—find a renewed spark of life amid today’s challenges. Leading the charge in the City of Gold, also known as Dubai, is Mehran Rowshan, who excellently personifies impact and change in people’s lives through football.

It’s easy to see that founder, pioneer, and football coach Mehran Rowshan does more than teach young people football from the onset. More than anything, the sport is a medium for him to positively impact people’s lives by sharing his unmatched passion for football and the many character-building and work-ethic-forming regimens and training programs.

Mehran is the founder of Alliance Football Club, one of the elite institutions that pave the way for football coaching and training among young enthusiasts and amateur players. But more than teaching kids how to kick a ball, Mehran and his team train students how to face life’s trials with a competitive spirit that doesn’t easily get quenched.

A fighter in every sense, Mehran Rowshan has the fire of a competitor. The football coach took the time to sharpen and retool when everything else came to a pause, building and revamping his methods to take on a more scientific approach. Today, even as the world opens up post-coronavirus, the coach has introduced a more refined version of Alliance Football that looks to exponentially grow its efforts to train the next batch of elite football players.

Football surrounded every aspect of Mehran Rowshan’s life as he grew up. He belongs to a family of influential football players and professional sportsmen, prompting him to take the same life course. However, an injury would cut all chances at a career-level journey into football halls of fame. So Mehran, refusing to shut down the aspiration of a legacy in the game he loves, would turn to a coach.

Since then, the football coach has become one of the best in the field, creating over 300 drills and programs that have helped form the gameplay and strategy of thousands of football players in Dubai, the Middle East, and beyond. Mehran does more than condition players physically. He also takes a calculated approach to the game by inserting aspects like brain training, mindset conditioning, and strategic thinking to help football players build their on-field IQ.

Consequently, Mehran Rowshan has molded over ten thousand of the most elite players that student-level football has ever seen. With his decades of experience and many certifications and licenses under his belt, he’s more than qualified to train some of the best clubs and teams from all over the world. Despite being extremely competitive, Mehran still holds a calm and considerate demeanor, which sharpens the player in a unique and almost zen-like way.

More than being a terrific coach, Mehran is an active advocate for youth development and sees his work as crucial to helping students develop necessary life skills to help them through some of the biggest hurdles in life. He’s also a man of excellent business acumen and high integrity, always doing things that will benefit his students, the community, and any circle of influence he commands.

Learn more about Mehran Rowshan and Alliance Football Club by visiting their website and Instagram profile.

Charlsey Zyne: Empowering Women in a World of Men

Jerry Cooper on October 15, 2020

Being a woman in a man’s world is extremely frustrating, and many women have to do twice the work to gain the credibility that men already have for being men. Any STEM industry would be an example of such a male dominated-field, but an industry where bias against women is most prominent is the sports industry. Charlsey Zyne is a strong woman with big dreams of success in the sports industry despite adversity.

While gender equality in today’s time is becoming more normal, and society is beginning to accept that women are creatures capable of independence and self-sustainability, there are still industries having trouble removing ancient cultures and practices.

Charlsey Zyne considers adversity to be a common theme in her life. Adversity came to her in the form of injuries, as a former student-athlete, or the exasperating notion that women cannot be successful as sports agents, particularly in football, which is a “sport for men.” Still, like a spring, all these forces pushing her back only serves to launch her even further, and her desire to prove that women are just as competent as men is a fire that burns ever brighter.

There are so many preconceived notions that Charlsey Zyne has heard about herself and her gender repeatedly—women cannot be tough, they are too emotional, and women cannot be taken seriously in football. Charlsey is not one to be deterred by empty words from people who refuse to see the problem and who have no interest in changing the status quo. She will take her place among the ranks of influential figures in the sports industry by her own merit.

Her drive to become a sports agent comes from her days as a student-athlete at the University of Miami. She witnessed the hardships of college football players and the rough areas some players came from. For many of those players, making it to the NFL is their ticket into a better life, and it is what drives them forward.

Becoming a sports agent would allow her to help these athletes see their dreams come to reality. With the best interest of the athletes in mind, she hopes to become a trustworthy figure for these athletes.

Charlsey Zyne is currently working with the Dynamic Sports Group, an athletic representation firm whose primary goal is to guide their clients to professional and financial success in professional football, baseball, soccer, and hockey. Being with DSG has shown her the inner workings of how a sports agency works, and she is looking forward to continuing to take in as much as she can from some of the top agents in the industry.

A former student-athlete, current law student, future sports agent, and an entrepreneur, Charlsey Zyne has big dreams that she will bring to fruition by her own hard work and determination. She reminds people that there is no limitation to a person’s dreams, and dreams will come to reality only if you pursue it despite obstacles.

Charlsey Zyne has a list of goals, and she is setting out to achieve them one by one. Find out more about her by following her on Instagram and visiting the website for her clothing brand, Cultured Classics.

Suicide Survivor Finds Life Purpose in Coaching Athletes through Post-Sports Transition

Jerry Cooper on September 9, 2020

Many people still struggle with mental illness and depression. As anxiety and burnout rise as one of today’s most prevalent problems, there is now a greater need for professionals who can provide support. The World Health Organization determined in 2019 that one person dies from suicide every forty seconds. And while we understand mental illness more and more by the year, the battle continues for many.

This reality is what has driven ex-athlete, Darryll Stinson, to pursue a new direction in life. As a suicide survivor himself, the pastor, speaker, and coach knows the struggle of fighting depression. Life has not been easy for Darryll, but through life’s most significant challenges, he has come out triumphant. Today, he looks to help others find the same path.

Darryll is an ex-football player. He played for Central Michigan University as one of the team’s best defensive ends. However, his dreams of making it big in the sport all came crashing down when he suffered a career-ending back injury. After the incident, he struggled with depression and grief. His loss made him lose a big part of him and caused an enormous gap in his identity. He spent the next few years on a journey of self-discovery and reflection.

After facing many battles with himself, he found hope and purpose in what would be his life’s work – being a life coach for athletes. “What did Michael Jordan, Princess Diana, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey all have in common? They all used coaches.” Darryll explains. “Even at the peak of their careers, great leaders continue to use coaches to help them achieve more.” The sportsman discovered his gift in guiding athletes who looked to transition out of the sport. What was his most significant loss became an opportunity for him to journey with athletes who were in a similar position.

Darryll started a program called Second Chance Athletes, a program bent on helping current, retiring, and retired athletes plan a life outside of professional sports. Many pro athletes go down a steady decline after sports. After obtaining their dream jobs as star players, they struggle to find new dreams to pursue. Through his program, Darryll helps coach players through that process.

Darryll’s program provides an after sports game plan for athletes who need a blueprint for their lives after their sports career. He does this through one-on-one coaching sessions, personalized coaching curriculum for clients, specific action-oriented life game plans, direct email access, and accountability group work. His programs answer some of a sports players’ most significant transition pain points, such as finding a career after retirement, creating revenue streams, and reestablishing purpose and identity past sports.

On top of his coaching work, Darryll also serves as an executive pastor for Growth Ministries with Life Church International in Duluth, Georgia. The pastor serves as the head of small group ministry, outreach, and attendee experiences. Darryll also takes time to help in character development and faith-based guidance for athletes through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

One of his other causes is fighting against racial profiling. The life coach is in an interracial marriage with his wife, Brittany. He has appeared on channels such as Seven Fox and ABC to speak on their relationship and fight many racial stigmas. Together the two have three wonderful daughters- Ava, Ari, and Amaya.

To learn more about Darryll Stinson and Second Chance Athletes, visit his website and Instagram.

Tag: Sports