How to prepare your children for the spring sports season? Here are several advice from young sportsmen, their parents, and professional trainers.
Thomas Dougherty is leaving Glen Rock Middle School and heading straight to baseball tryouts. The 13 year old plays a football in the fall and baseball in the spring. In order to be his best, this lineman turned pitcher knows it's important to stay in shape and avoid getting injured. So he makes it a point to work different muscle groups in between seasons.
“I do, I'm weightlifting and stuff like that. We can't do too much because you don't want to have your muscles tight for the season”.
Mom, Rachelle, says both her sons are athletes, and as a former college athlete herself, she goes to great lengths to ensure they avoid injuries when transitioning from their fall and winter sports to their spring and summer ones. Starting with the basics.
“I am a little strict on bedtime. I think that the proper rest, the right amount of sleep, and eating good meals is very helpful. And they want to be successful when they're competing. I can't control a lot of it so the little bit that I can control, I do try to control”.
Michael Prybicien is an athletic trainer with Sports Safety International. He says proper rest is crucial and that includes a prolonged break before the spring sport begins.
“Make sure they have about a 7 to 14 day and D training period where their body has a chance to recover. It will help prevent injuries as well as also increase their performance. It's important to do something called the health history update, so if you had any injuries or special circumstances during that time frame of doing that other sport, that again your coach or athletic trainer, your support staff, understands that you had an injury”.
Prybicien says you also want to make sure your child warms up properly, has the proper footwear and other equipment, and that the coaches of your child's team are properly trained in first aid, CPR, preventing concussions, and heat exhaustion. He goes on to say: don't push your child too hard, let them ease into the sport and have fun. He says that goes a long way toward preventing injuries.
Bergen County, Elise Finch CBS 2 News
