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| The last column discussed what sports injuries are and how to assess their severity. This column will tell you what to do when you have an acute sports injury. The three main goals... read more |
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| Acute Sports Injuries are traumatic in nature. Some are very dramatic such as when Mike Foligno broke his leg at centre ice the season before last. Although his was a bone injury m... read more |
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Ira
Smith |
Dr. Ira Smith is a Sports Medicine physician and a graduate of the Sport Medicine Fellowship from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicin... read more |
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P.L.A.Y. | Tuesday, April 11, 2006 |
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 How would you feel as a parent if this happened to one of your kids playing sports?........How would you feel as a kid who is told to play the way these kids were told to play?.........
Last season I was at a local arena to watch a group of eight year olds play a game of house league hockey. As I watched the game I soon realized that something was wrong. One of the coaches had instructed his defenceman to STAND about 3 feet above the crease. I asked a parent what was going on. The parent was obviously seething mad and explained that it was the coaches decision to have the defenceman play a stationary game as the way to win. The parent was incensed by the policy of the coach, but felt a bit helpless by not wanting to be an interfeering parent. Albeit the team was in fact winning more games than before this strategy was implemented, but what are the reasons for playing house league hockey and what message was this for the kids.
It appears to me and this is certainly one of the big issues that I am personally concerned with is childrens fitness. The level of childrens fitness has no doubt decreased in our society. Even with the bigger emphasis on fitness the children are watching more TV and living a sedentary life. The physical education programs at the school level are in trouble. It seems that the support for daily phys-ed and good structured programs is diminishing. This is the reason for Q.D.P.E. This stands for quality daily physical education which will be the topic of a future article to discuss the issues and the work of the Q.D.P.E. group. When I was young we would be out playing all day. We would leave for the local outdoor rink and barely get back for meals. We would play a variety of different sports and games. We would constantly keep our minds and bodies active by constantly inventing games and keeping moving.
What is the benefit to this young eight year old who is told to stand vitually stationary for his three minute shifts every six minutes where he or she sits on the bench. As far as I am concerned the purpose of these kids is to get exercise, learn skills, and have fun. Although there is some fun as being part of a team, I do not see these children developing skills, getting exercise(let alone break a sweat), and mainly developing life long exercise habits. Beyond that; this coach is teaching these kids a game that I do not recognize. I do respect the time committement by these volunteer coaches, but should they not be teaching the game they are supposed to be demonstrating ot these kids. I have never seen hockey played that way and I do not think it will ever be played that way. I sure hope Booby Orr was not watching.
My other concern and one in which I will not get into in this article, is what message is this to the players both on this team and the other teams. Is winning a house league game above denying the children the opportunity to get exercise and to develop skills?
How are these "" less skilled"" players going to get any better? Is it fun enough to win for these kids? They actually lost this game. Is the coaches ego above the reality of the situation? What does this teach them about life in general?
We need to be promoting positive attitudes toward exercise in children. Is that child who is told to stand stationary for every shift going to want to play the next year. We have to expose our children to aerobic activities which are fun and that they can continue into adult life.
Maybe we are placing our kids into programs that are too structured. There seems to be an emphasis on kids specializing in one sport at an early age. They often do not play a variety of sports to develop other skills and interests. This can lead to injury and burn out and not many life long interests. We have to remember that it is very few who have a career in sport and the main emphasis should not be on directing their whole life on a dream which is very unlikely to come true.
SO, how did this scenario make you feel. Lanny McDonald who is an assisstant coach with his son's team says,""Everyone wants what is best for their son or daughter. We try to improve and continue on that path. We encourage kids to be the best they can be, but not necessarily the best. There's a real difference."" We know that they will live happier and healthier lives if we can get them and keep them involved. Let us not lose sight of the reason kids play sports. Active motion is inate. Let us adults not discourage the childrens need to move.
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