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Athletes Saving Athletes Program Gains NATA Support

The National Athletic Trainers' Association is now an official supporter of Advocates for Injured Athletes and its Athletes Saving AthletesTM program, which provides high school students with training and skills to recognize signs and symptoms of life-threatening injuries, with the aim of reducing the risk and incidence of injury and death among student-athletes.

Can The Adrenaline Rush From Sports Become An Addiction?

We have all met people with so-called “Type A” personalities: driven, competitive people who believe they can do a better job at work, coaches who believes that their way is the only way, and live to prove it on the field, the court, or the stadium, and, yes, sports parents who are determined to prove that their child is the next sports superstar.  What motivates such people is a need which can become addictive, so much so that there are those who suggest that adrenaline/epinephrine addiction should be considered in the DSM (the manual classifying mental disorders) as an addiction, alongside addiction to illegal drugs. 

Having pushed our children's need to compete and win -and the surge of adrenaline it creates - parents create a craving which makes it hard, when the season is over, for young athletes to slow down and relax. Worse, we may be raising children for an unhappy future, when the wins they achieved in sports are not an everyday occurrence, for a life in which they end up always searching to re-live their “glory days”, and kids who haven't developed an appreciation for small victories and the simple pleasure of relaxation.

Soccer Development Academies: Elite or Elitist?

Over the weekend I posted a link in the @MomsTeam Twitter account to an article in the New York Times titled "High School Players Forced to Choose in Soccer's New Way."  My tweet generated a lot of buzz, and, as I had commented in the past on the way sports talent is developed in this country, I thought it would be a great topic for a blog.

The United States Soccer Federation's (USSF) recent mandate that elite soccer players who play for Development Academy teams will not be allowed to play for their high school soccer teams after this season is wrong and misleading, says MomsTeam guest blogger, Emily Cohen.

Parenting for the Game of Life

March is a busy time of year as winter sports wind down and spring/summer sports wind up. This is a time of year where the demands on parents to get kids to their in-season activities and the early sessions of the next season is daunting. Being a parent is hard with all of the pressures that your kids place on you and the pressure to participate non-stop all year-round in almost every sport. 

A longtime youth hockey coach advises sports parents to just say no, to place limits on excessive sports, and have their kids spend more time on things that matter more in life in the long run.

Teaching Life Lessons As a Coach: Be Careful What You Teach

There seems to be a phrase that every coach has embraced of late which I think needs a closer look, and it is "teaching life lessons." It's phrase you have probably heard a lot lately, so much so that it seems to have taken on a life of its own, particularly in the context of middle and high school sports.

"Teaching life lessons" seems to be a phrase that every coach has embraced of late, so much so that it seems to
have taken on a life of its own, particularly in the context of middle
and high school sports. But the life lessons a coach teaches can be negative or positive. It's up to the coach.

Girls Can Be Baseball Catchers Now Too!

When my sisters and I were growing up, my father loved to spend time with us in the back yard (and later at the local school diamond) playing baseball. We never used a softballs, always baseballs. My dad had been a stand-out baseball pitcher and catcher for his high school during the World War II. He had hoped to play professional baseball but his dreams and elbow were shattered by a bullet while serving on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in the Pacific. Frankly, I also think the wear and tear of pitching also left him some serious rotator cuff issues, as he had a difficult time throwing very far as he got older.Riverdale School baseball team early 1940s

When I was a child I wanted to play baseball, like my dad, who was a catcher and pitcher in high school but whose dreams of playing professionally ended during World War II. I went on to be a softball catcher, and one of my sons was also a catcher. With spring arriving, the thoughts of boys - and now, girls - turn once again to baseball.

Baseball and Softball: Most Popular and Among The Safest Youth Sports

Baseball and softball are among the most popular and safest sports in which children and adolescents participate in the United States, says an updated policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Preventing Commotio Cordis in Youth Baseball

Young baseball and softball players who receive direct ball impact to the chest wall directly over the heart may develop sudden cardiac arrest, a condition called commotio cordis.  Teaching batters to turn away from an inside pitch, and pitchers to react as quickly as possible to a batted ball hit back at them can help reduce the risk, and an AED and a someone trained in CPR should be on site at all times to increase the chances of survival.

Parent's Buying Guide To Buying Catcher's Gear

There's a reason baseball catcher's gear have long been called the "tools of ignorance": its because most parents and players don't know very much about a catcher's armor! Here's a handy guide for baseball moms and dads to use when it's time to go shopping.

The Endless Hockey Season: Is It A Good Thing?

The off-season for hockey will start in a few weeks.

Or will it?

Apparently not. These days, it seems many hockey parents and players consider what used to be the traditional off-season, when kids played outdoors and changed sports until the next winter season, as the real season, because it is the time of year when AAA all-star teams are formed and tournaments are played, weekend after weekend. The off-season teams have cool jerseys, expensive jackets and warm-ups for players and parents. It's also a time for tournament organizers to rake in the big bucks. 

How to make $100,000 in 4 days of youth hockey or "Whatever Happened to the Off Season?"

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