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Youth contact sports come with many benefits such as teamwork, friendship, and extra physical activity. However, there’s a lot that many parents don’t consider when signing up their kids. While there are tons of advantages, there are also some things parents must be aware of. From pre-season health checks to professional coaching quality, here are some common examples.
Checking the Protective Gear
Every sport relies on quality equipment that helps protect participants from serious injury. From protective varsity football helmets to shin pads, there are many different parts to consider. However, not all are made equally, and the cheaper items (especially from sites like Temu) are usually not going to cut it. Of course, any equipment that doesn’t fit your child properly is putting them at risk, so alongside quality, it also helps to ensure the fit is perfect to cushion any impact during a game. So, always read fitting instructions and ask for help if you feel like you need it.
Pre-Season Physical Health Checks
Most people assume that playing a contact sport is one of the healthiest things a child can do, and for the most part, it is. However, there are countless tragic stories of children succumbing to a serious condition they had no idea they had, leading to heart failure or brain aneurysms. So before signing your child up for a sport, it is a good idea to have them visit a family doctor for a checkup each season. A simple ten-minute visit could highlight an underlying condition.
Concussion Awareness Around Youth Contact Sports
One of the biggest risks to children playing contact sports is concussion. You can go out of your way to design custom football uniforms with well-fitting protective gear, but you still need to understand how concussions happen, the signs, and treatment to truly be safe. Some of the warning signs of concussion include headaches, imbalance, and feeling dizzy. Just by keeping an eye out for these small signals, you can help prevent a concussion from getting worse.
The Professionalism of Coaching
Not all sports leagues for children are the same. In fact, there are some that hire coaches and other staff members who aren’t very well trained in the rules and safety of the game. It can help to check the best leagues in your area before making a commitment. For example, there are some leagues that allow children to take part in dangerous physical contact drills, no matter their experience level, or even allow smaller children to play against older and/or larger kids.
Mental Health and Added Pressure
There are many benefits to playing sports for children, both physical and mental. In a sports-crazy world, all we ever hear about are the positives to children taking part in a sport. However, no one ever mentions what competition does to your child’s mental health on a negative level. In the US alone, anxiety affects 30% of adolescents, which can be made worse by the pressure to perform, resulting in burnout and stress that no child should ever experience.
Summary
Checking the gear your child uses is up to standard when they play youth contact sports is one of the biggest considerations to make as a parent. It also helps to educate yourself about concussions and to observe if the pressure to perform is affecting your child’s mental health.