Too much basketball too young?

[Dokey]

There is an interesting article in Washington Post asking if youngsters are risking injuries from essentially playing year round. While this is obviously true--the more chances the more opportunities for injuries--part of the blame could be the lack of proper training given young athletes. Local youth teams are lucky to have quality coaches let alone adequate trainers.

 

[SVCBeercats]

There is an interesting article in Washington Post asking if youngsters are risking injuries from essentially playing year round. While this is obviously true--the more chances the more opportunities for injuries--part of the blame could be the lack of proper training given young athletes. Local youth teams are lucky to have quality coaches let alone adequate trainers.

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

 

[Jeff H]

Running hills helps build speed also.

 

[Dokey]

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

In my day it was the same and playing more than one sport might be the key. But the players we talk about on the Boneyard are elite players, attempting to do things, to play at a level we only dreamed of. Perhaps the more you are asked to do might also contribute to problem. I played sports for years in the 1950s snd 1960s and never saw an acl injury. Of course we also saw very, very few victories. Coaching competitive travel club softball in the 1980s to present, I saw plenty of over use injuries among young athletes far better than anyone I played with, especially rotary cuffs.

 

[Monte]

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

Just what I was thinking! We were outside running around or playing pickup games from sunrise to sunset.....Throw away the phones and I Pads, and throw some sports equipment out in the yard....they will figure out what to do with it.

 

[Dokey]

As softball coach, I knew dozens of those parents. It wasn't always pretty.

 

[Dokey]

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

Walking five miles barefoot through three feet snow to get to gym helped too.

 

[BroadwayVa]

There is an interesting article in Washington Post asking if youngsters are risking injuries from essentially playing year round. While this is obviously true--the more chances the more opportunities for injuries--part of the blame could be the lack of proper training given young athletes. Local youth teams are lucky to have quality coaches let alone adequate trainers.

At half time of one of the AAC games a UConn Med Center Ortho Md spoke about the issues. He stated that playing long time, year around, and more was certain to cause injuries. It was IF it was WHEN.
Others spoke of intensity of play and that is true. Even pick up game take on a life and death like issue. Winning isn't all it is everything.
I played games to win but for enjoyment. A loss never destroyed my inner me.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Walking five miles barefoot through three feet snow to get to gym helped too.

No not bare foot but that 3 miles in and 3 miles home on foot was accurate, the snow was often plowed, but not always, our Gym was the Town Hall -hall. Listening to the telephone pole hum at 60 cycle in that cold as I passed by--
we did however shovel the snow in front of "Tinkies" garage to play after school and weekends to play basketball skins against shirts.

 

[Dokey]

Here in Colorado, where Naismith moved the year or so after inventing basketball, small high schools won or played for national championships when enrollment wasn't an issue. Joes, Colorado, finished third in the nation playing schools with student bodies in the thousands. Joes High School had a couple of dozen students but it had six boys who played basketball together from six on, shooting baskets against barns, playing high school ball in gyms so low that they had to shoot over rafters on jump shots. Their "coach" had never seen a basketball game. They couldn't play other sports, not having enough for baseball or even 8 man football. So, practicing year round, just for fun, they turned the basketball world on its ear in Chicago, prompting Grantland Rice's "Where the hell is Joes?" column. Colorado towns with four times their enrollment, still very small, actually won it all, but tiny Joes caught the imagination of the country. They had a pretty good girls team as well.

 

[Dokey]

No not bare foot but that 3 miles in and 3 miles home on foot was accurate, the snow was often plowed, but not always, our Gym was the Town Hall -hall. Listening to the telephone pole hum at 60 cycle in that cold as I passed by--
we did however shovel the snow in front of "Tinkies" garage to play after school and weekends to play basketball skins against shirts.

Just joking but I can relate to your story. I especially remember the no pads tackle football we played at each other's birthday, the birthday boy getting to be captain. Not a single broken bone but plenty of bruises. Our parents never said a word and fixed burgers and hot dogs. It didn't translate. As seniors in high school, we lost every football and basketball game, admittedly the smallest high school playing in the state's highest division.

 

[UcMiami]

I think a few Uconn players have blown out there knees playing soccer so it isn't 'single sport' necessarily. And specific to the ACL it is one of those evolutionary mistakes with the human body that allows the bones of the knee to act like a scissors on the ligament. It is not typically a wear and tear injury, just a bad luck one. That is why so many people spend so much time trying to develop a training regime to prevent it with so little success.

 

[Dokey]

I think a few Uconn players have blown out there knees playing soccer so it isn't 'single sport' necessarily. And specific to the ACL it is one of those evolutionary mistakes with the human body that allows the bones of the knee to act like a scissors on the ligament. It is not typically a wear and tear injury, just a bad luck one. That is why so many people spend so much time trying to develop a training regime to prevent it with so little success.

Soccer is far harder on knees, I think. And it probably is more about bad luck. The more you play the bigger the chances of an injury. Like we say in business, it's the cost of...

 

[Ozimoto]

I remember reading an article where Buck Showalter said that the Orioles looked for multi sport athletes in their minor league prospects. The thought at the time was that multi sport players were overall better conditioned "balanced" athletes and that they weren't as jaded as the kids that played baseball exclusively.

Of course, looking at the Orioles' results the last few seasons may not be an endorsement for that approach...

 

[nwhoopfan]

Walking five miles barefoot through three feet snow to get to gym helped too.

Don't forget uphill both ways.

 

[Dokey]

Don't forget uphill both ways.

I thought that was taken for granted.

 

[Charliebball]

I can name eight basketball players on my daughter's basketball team that have had serious ACL injuries over the past three seasons...............as orthopedic doctors have explained to us the female knee has several design flaws that make women far more likely to suffer this kind of injury while playing..............there is no question that playing basketball twelve months out of the year is unnecessary and somewhat risky...............playing on hard surfaces especially outdoors is also cause for additional wear and tear injuries....................I've read articles that claim stretching is helpful while other recent studies claim otherwise....................actually the latest news is kind of strange................it's now claimed that female athlete's taking the contraceptive pill are less likely to have ACL issues...........here's one of the many articles on this

Oral contraceptives may protect against serious knee injuries in women

BTW I've been reading threads where posters have said ACL tears take 12 to 18 months to fully heal..............that's not necessarily true any more as there are new techniques that have lowered recovery times to 6 to 9 months depending on the severity of the injury.........

 

[SVCBeercats]

Walking five miles barefoot through three feet snow to get to gym helped too.

No, but most school days weather permitting I jogged downhill to school and ran back up hill to our home. Run until gassed and then slowly jogged until second wind and then run again. We lived on ridge and it was 2.5 miles to the high school. Going was easy after practice was hard and not some old man's fantasy. Most of us that played sports did the same. We wanted to earn real trophies, not participation trophies.

 

[Dokey]

No, but most school days weather permitting I jogged downhill to school and ran back up hill to our home. Run until gassed and then slowly jogged until second wind and then run again. We lived on ridge and it was 2.5 miles to the high school. Going was easy after practice was hard and not some old man's fantasy. Most of us that played sports did the same. We wanted to earn real trophies, not participation trophies.

My favorite participation story. My granddaughter pitched for a competitive 12U team but had been held back having broken her pitching arm in a skiing accident. Three days earlier, with her team in danger of losing, she told the coach to warm her up and she went in and blew them away. Next game she started, averaging 8 pitches an inning and fielding hot grounders. Coach took her out so as not to risk injury. After the relief pitcher walked three batters, the opposing coach rushed on the field, red-faced and screaming, "Put that first girl back in. I don't care if she strikes everyone out, my girls paid good money to play competitive ball, not win a participation trophy."

 

[arch]

Walking five miles barefoot through three feet snow to get to gym helped too.

Was going to respond in a similar manner but needed to chase some +=/%&$ kids off my lawn.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Let me see now, too much physical activity or too much text messaging etc etc. That's a tough one, but I'll go with the playing sports thing.

 

[JordyG]

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

Nothing but nothing beats cross training. Kids today would be better advised to diversify their training.

 

[uconnfan68]

Back in day we played sports year round but not the same sport. According to the season we played football. basketball, baseball and track. We did not have even good trainers and few of us were aware of free weights. We did not have cars (well a few) so we walked or most likely ran everywhere on the very steep terrain of westcentral Pennsylvania. When we weren't on foot; we rode our "one-speed" bicycles (AKA coasters). I don't recall a single knee issue for anyone. We developed strong legs the natural way, not from leg presses, leg extensions, or squats. There is a lot to be said for running hills. It worked for Walter Peyton and Jerry Rice. I think it is a natural way to build leg strength and endurance.

But it was the 20 miles to school, uphill, both ways, that made the big difference.