Welcome to the second installment of MVP PARENT, which has seen a slight delay in publication as the world is suddenly focused on basic hygiene. Sports teams of all sizes are broadening their traditional focus on injury prevention to include everyday infection prevention for both the players and the spectators.
By Richard B. Dubin
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is relatively new to the world, but has taken center stage in American life in a way that is unprecedented for many sports parents. Isolation and quarantine can be frightening, but many Baby Boomers may remember a time before the advent of vaccines when similar steps were taken to stem the spread of polio, diphtheria (whooping cough), and measles.
The Olympic motto is what many young athletes strive for. What if you could help your child achieve these goals with an exercise as simple as jumping off a box? A study published on PLOS ONE in January 2016 showed just that – but experts also advise caution when considering plyometrics for young athletes.
By Jill R. Dorson
Vaping—nearly 80% of adolescents are doing it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that’s 8 out of 10 teenagers, which means that student athletes are not immune. Vaping is defined as inhaling and exhaling the vapor (technically called aerosol) produced by an e-cigarette or similar battery-powered device. The devices are small, some as small as a USB drive.
By Nicole Wetsman and Janice T. Radak
It’s one of the key issues in youth sports today: an epidemic of overuse and repetitive motion injuries. It affects both lower and upper extremities, across the board, in all sports at all ages. As the world of youth sports has grown dramatically, so have these injury problems. Overuse injuries cause a significant loss of time off the field, but more importantly, they threaten future sport participation which could inadvertently lead to increased obesity.
By Robert A. Weil, DPM
Skin infections can be a major issue for high school athletes—wrestlers and football players in particular—that can cause them to miss practices or competitions, but schools often do little to educate youth athletes about skin infections and how to prevent them. Experts say parents can play a key role in filling that information gap.
By Chris Klingenberg
Checking” isn’t permitted in youth hockey, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t contact. Hockey, after all, is a collision sport. Kids skating full speed while chasing the puck can trip and hit the ice hard. They can fly into the boards, be slapped with a stick, take a puck to the head, slam into a goal or be illegally checked.
By Doug Williams
The purpose of exercise is pretty simple; yet it is misunderstood by almost everybody who performs it: Exercise is designed to efficiently load and fatigue the muscles congruent to joint function beyond what they are accustomed to in order to stimulate improvements in muscular strength in the form of an adaptive response. The key word is stimulate.
By Jay Vincent
Nutrition affects sports performance, for better or worse, regardless of age. In simplistic terms, nutrition matters for two primary reasons in athletes: fuel for performance, and fuel for recovery. In student athletes however, this list of reasons grows.
By Jill Lane
By Richard Dubin I am a father of four (two boys and two girls) and have been involved in youth sports for over 22 years. I have coached them all …
