Sporting Scholars

Run by an athletic trainer, Sporting Scholars empowers youth athletes and their families through education, mentorship, & educational tools. *Website 7.1.26*

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Your adolescent athlete has weaker growth plates than ligaments. Fractures and growth plate injuries are more likely than a sprain at their age. Lingering soreness isn’t always just ‘part of the game’ or from ‘working hard’.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

@TheS_Resource Without a doubt we are, and on the flip side I would ask are the volunteer coaches feeling undue pressure from selfish/winning driven parents?

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

This somehow just came across my timeline and I can be honest in saying I wish I had never seen this, because THIS is the problem in youth sports and adults. Injuries are 100% a "thing" and explosive has nothing to do with being only exposure to injuries. Overuse matters, overuse has injury exposure, and feedback such as what you have given is leading youth athletes of today to the operating table more and more....

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Parents, please open your eyes and see that pushing your youth athlete for scholarships, NIL, extra training, multiple leagues, sport specialization, and toughness is fueling overuse injuries, burnout & surgeries before high school. Does anyone disagree?

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

@dailydirtnap A fully subjective comment and also completely tripped all over your own words. Sad looking for attention knowing this would get engagement during the World Cup.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

They have not always been, this is an issue over the past 10-15 years. The parents out there fighting are the same ones who were playing and their parents sat in the stands or in lawn chairs and supported. Youth parents have changed with the dawn of internet, social media, personal training facilities, travel ball, and across the board big business influence in youth sports. Do I think youth parents today (as a whole) are poorly behaved, ego driven, self serving, and poor examples.....100%. Do I think it has always been this way, no I do not because we know it hasn't. We as parents need to do better, to demand better, to hold each other accountable better, and understand the actions of today carry consequences tomorrow for the scars and poor memories left upon our children.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

@RcsSports For majority (not all!) they are demanding of time and of others, and truly giving nothing back

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Sport comes with risk, we as parents know this! But is it time to finally say that the sport isn't the always main issue? The year round play, the ramp up to competition, early specialization, and not enough rest. Is sport taking the blame for lack of parent proactivity?

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

@coachbyrd6 Take all the credit and post online when somebody does get an offer, but don’t post or take any responsibility when all the promises that they made to the vast majority fall apart and are not fulfilled. It’s a very one sided venture.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Parents, let's not downplay ankle injuries! That quick cut or awkward landing can injure the key ligaments stabilizing your young athlete’s ankle. Mild sprains typically heal in 1–3 weeks while moderate ones might need 4–6 weeks. Don’t rush their return to play!

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Society as a whole needs to revisit the poem "Children Learn what they Live". Basically it speaks to how a child's character, emotional state, and overall worldview are shaped by their everyday upbringing and exposure. Now, take unhinged parents (their own and teammates)....bossy/know it all coaches....and an internet age where perceived competition is a 24/7 adventure and we need to see how adults have changed the entire landscape of youth sports. The days of sitting in the stands and forging friendships, cheers for EVERYONE, and supporting volunteer coaches are long gone. If we could hit a reset button right now, I would jump on it full body weight and passionately

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Agree fully!! Research is far from useless, we all believe and have learned from it....but what is useless is the person/individual who is applying a blanket research outcome without ability to adjust beyond black and white levels of evidence. The coach/athletic trainer/strength coach who can work with each athlete and within their limitations and needs is the unicorn that today's youth sports industry (and health related industry) needs more than ever

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

The tribal nature of College Divisions and poor advice from parents and "trusted advisors" has sadly created an emotional tug on youth athletes and their perception of what these calls mean, and they lose the honor in having the opportunity to continue to play and make lifelong memories on top of educational opportunities thanks to their hard work and care along the way

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Unless that parent was walking over to console them if they felt bad and tell them he was doing well and to keep doing his best, that parent should be banned from attending games for at minimum 1 year if not longer. To approach a child, a minor, a developing child (mentally and physically) and say something to them about a HBP that happens at all levels of play (amateur to Major Leagues) should come with punishment and setting an example. This is nothing but an example of a youth sports parent setting a poor example of what sports is about, and being able to beat their chest without punishment or ramifications or an example being set. Parents, do better! Leagues, do better! Coaches, do better! Youth athletes, keep having fun!

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Parents, remember.....your child didn't get tight hamstrings because they don't stretch enough. They got tight hamstrings because their femur grew two inches and the muscle didn't get the memo to hurry up and grow as well. You can't out stretch a bone that's still growing.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

How hard was that?!? Simply stated and without demands upon "do this drill" or "wake up at 6am and work on your backside load in the mirror". This is about getting a child moving and enjoying something they love to do. Catch play for 30 minutes, shooting hoops before dinner, rolling ground balls and talking about the day with them....this isn't about making the "work" intense, but about finding something that they love and helping them enjoy that passion, not drilling it into them and dreading an hour lesson at a "top notch facility" where the outcome isn't subjectively draining your bank account. Skills can be worked on simply and without feeling intimidation while the passion and joy grows.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Agree, and the foundation behind why you would ever schedule 3 games in a single day isn't evidence based in the health and well being of anyone who is playing. The demands upon pitching, playing, and coverage of injuries coupled with potential heat/environment leaves not a single reason as to why (other than money) that 3 games would even be considered. Double-Headers are not common at the professional level for a reason, they are demanding and scheduling is done as a necessary and not a want. Parents need to do better for their children in saying no, and league directors/coaches need to stop treating youth athletes like they are machines and remember they are children....developing children who need proper management for their developing bodies

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

What you are missing is that you are "assuming". With assumptions you are putting a lot of faith that 21-27 innings in a single day has proper coverage as is safe, because if it was safe....playing double headers wouldn't be seen as difficult at the ML or MILB level. The pitching coverage, the physical demands on position players, the heat/cold/environment, and then the injuries sustained and how you properly cover the remaining innings. I understand what you are saying when you say "good coach", I know that comes from a good place.....but 3 games in a single day isn't a "good plan" or a "good idea", it is a bad plan and a bad idea and comes with no evidence of health and well being for the youth athlete at all.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

Travel Ball used to be an exclusive opportunity that allowed for increased travel and opportunity for the elite/advanced player. It was a 1-2 team in a region opportunity that created exposure, saw travel from state to state increase, and wasn't something that was bought but instead earned. "Travel Ball" is now a business model where a name and an opportunity is sold instead of earned and multiple teams exist within a organization and there are 10's of organizations within close proximity taking what was once exclusive and with purpose and drowning that out to create a business model that charges parents and has smothered the rec ball model by convincing parents (and sadly youth athletes) that this is the path they need to take.

[Sporting Scholars @SportingScholar]

It’s the age of single sport specialization and the fear placed into parents. The professionals of today are paying a price for the wear and tear of yesterday that we never lived through as kids, and I feel safe to say the next generation of professionals is going to have been highly surgical by the time they even get to that level. Sure, injuries have always been a part of sports and Dr Jobe revolutionized the baseball industry in 1974 performing the first Tommy John surgery, so we know it is not a new injury. That being said, the training of today, the stresses of today, the year-round training of today, and just the way in which we are asking (and close to demanding) kids train and specialize today is sending injury rates through the roof and only continuing to grow.