By Jordan Bell
Photo courtesy of SVC’s athletic department.
Having a passion for sports is shared commonly throughout the world. Whether that be soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, or more, people join together as a community and find mutual love through a game and it is one way to enjoy moments you create. Alongside of sports unfortunately follows injuries. There is a lot of high schoolers throughout the nation who are talented athletes and rely on scholarships. Athletes who get injured may never fully recover, which can lead to the loss of scholarship, which is a life changing event.
Some sports may give you a better chance of potentially putting yourself in a position to get injured. Football is a prime example on how to injure yourself if not properly practicing fundamentals of the game. Many aspects come into play with fundamentals but inevitably if you practice proper safety you can’t escape injuries. Other sports with low contact levels such as baseball and volleyball give you a better chance on not injuring yourself as high contact sports do. Types of common injuries include sprains, strains, breaks, and concussions. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 8.1 athletes out of 1000 were exposed to a serious injury in football. As of volleyball, 4.3 athletes out of 1000 were exposed to acute injuries. There are ways to prevent injuries and techniques to improve recovery times.
Skagit Valley College (SVC) is a multisport campus where sports are all year round whether that be offseason practice or in season competitions. Injury prevention is a point of focus by recommended guidelines from places like Healthline and the CDC. Athletes can spend upwards of six hours at practices according to Trevor Pyle from GoSkagit news source. Grace Shaddle, a student athlete from Skagit, said that she could be at golf practice for three hours and then have to go to a basketball practice for another hour and a half. To prevent herself from injuries she follows proper ways to eliminate the chance of that happening by using proper techniques and using proper equipment. Another student athlete named Tamarik Passmore said “I always stretch before and after practices, so my muscles don’t tighten and cause injuries.” Even though there are proper ways to prevent injuries it will not eliminate the chance of getting injured entirely.
Injuries are more likely to happen in men than in women. According to Healthline magazine it stated that “A 2016 study (CDC study) found that 8.6 million people, ages 5 to 24, have a sports injury every year in the United States. Researchers note males ages 5 to 24 make up more than half of all sports injury episodes.”. Even though sports injuries are typically temporary, severity of the injury could make it a lifetime problem. A Skagit alumnus turned actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan went to SVC for basketball. He later then injured his knee and no longer could even play the sport ever again. Fortunately for him he ended being a Hollywood star, but his story is a great ordeal how serious injury can be. In recent studies some injuries could be fatal down the line. Constant head trauma is one of the main causes in death by injury. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a factor of repeated blows to the head. In an ESPN article, it claimed that 202 deceased NFL players who donated their brains to research had links to CTE which causes behavior changes, depression, short term memory loss, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. CTE wasn’t the direct cause of most deaths of athletes but is some speculation of uncharacterized acts of athletes who took their own life due to the disease.
In conclusion, injuries aren’t anything to play with or to be taken lightly. Following guidelines can only prevent injuries but not eliminate them. At the same time, if you are an aspiring athlete injury shouldn’t be a point of focus or concern, as that’s not what the sport is about. Players and coaching staff should take it upon their self to educate on how to prevent and recover from injuries so athletes can live their dream and be healthy. With Skagit Valley College being an active participant in sports, players and coaches should be aware of the risks that come with sports at all levels of contact, skill, and participation.
