Many coaches tell stories of how they played sports when they were younger, how they experienced an injury and how brutal the recovery was, but they don't tell these stories for the reasons we think they do. They tell these stories to instill fear in us so that we don't get hurt. They never guide us on what we should be doing to prevent these injuries. Instead, when an injury during practice or a game occurs, they do not take the time to help.
As an athlete, an injury that can take me away from my sport can be one of the scariest things. For most athletes, their sports are their outlet or an escape, so when you no longer can have that, you feel lost.
If you ask a female athlete what their biggest injury fear would be in their sport, most would say tearing their ACL.
The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament and is one of the main ligaments in the knee. Its purpose is to connect the thigh bone to the leg bone. The ACL controls abnormal motion during cutting, turning, and pivoting, all actions that are required while playing a sport.
As a female athlete who has torn their ACL before, I believe that ACL or knee injuries are the worst injury a female athlete can experience. I also believe that coaches do not take proper precautions to help their players protect themselves from injuries like this.
Aside from the injury taking away your ability to play, there are other things in day-to-day life that you can no longer do properly. For example: walking, showering and sleeping.
The percentage for each sport, and the risk they have of suffering this type of injury varies due to the athletes sex and type of sport they play. According to dr.sterrett.com, for females who participate in basketball, the percentage of them tearing their ACL is 26.5% and for those who play soccer it is 53.2%. If you have already injured yourself like this before, the risk of it happening again is increased by 30%. However, for males who play basketball, it is 5.5% and for those who play soccer it is 7.2%.
Based on these statistics, athletic coaches should become better educated on how to help their players prevent an injury like this.
Coaches believe that every minute of practice is crucial. However, not many coaches want to cut into their practice time for stretching. Most just want to play instead of taking responsibility for injuries that happen to their players.Â
The majority of injuries happen during the seasons down time and when teams are in the between period of seasons. For soccer players, if they are in high school, they play for their high school team which starts at the end of August and can go all the way to mid November.
Most high school coaches are teachers stepping into the position just because it is needed, not because they want to (in some cases- not all). For high school soccer, the coaches don't have the proper training for keeping their players healthy, or the correct stretches to do.
Players who go three months without intense soccer, enter their higher intensity winter season with their proper club coaches to prepare for the spring season, making them more likely to endure a serious knee injury.Â
As an athlete who has experienced a knee injury due to a coach who is not educated on women's soccer, I know I am not the only one. I believe that if coaches want their athletes to remain healthy, they need to educate themselves better on how to help that. Training with athletic trainers or physical therapists is needed in order to further understand what moves, cuts and pivots are safe.