How to Stay Safe While Playing Sports: Tips for Your Kids

Playing sports is an essential part of being a kid. Sports help kids stay physically active, teach valuable life skills like teamwork and discipline, and provide children an outlet for social interaction. Still, sports also come with their own set of risks. For example, kids are generally pretty clumsy, especially younger ones. Older children are less so, but they are also more heedless and thrill-seeking than is usually good for them. That’s why it is important for kids to learn how to stay safe while enjoying their favorite sports activities.

As adults, it’s our job to make safety a priority. Parents, coaches, and guardians must all work together to ensure that the children in their charge are self-aware and knowledgeable about the potential risk of injury on the sports field. In this article, we’ll cover key safety tips and strategies to help keep young athletes safe while they play sports.

Why Is Safety in Sports Important?

Sports, while incredibly beneficial for physical and mental well-being, are not without risk. Many sports intrinsically carry risks of minor and severe injuries. By emphasizing safety, parents and guarduans can help minimize those risks and ensure that every child has a fun, injury-free experience.

• Physical Health: Even minor injuries can affect a child’s long-term physical development. From sprains to fractures, injuries such as these can render them unable to play for days, weeks, or even months at a time. More importantly, they can negatively affect their physical growth as well.
• Mental Health: More serious injuries can do more than just affect physical health. Injured children can often experience feelings of frustration or discouragement following an injury, which can impact their self-esteem and potentially sour their entire outlook with regards to sports.
• Continued Participation: In the same vein, injuries or unsafe conditions can lead to a lack of interest on the part of the child. Why would they want to continue playing if they don’t feel safe or if they might seriously hurt themselves? Keeping children safe on the sports field ensures they can continue participating in the sports they love.

Common Sports Injuries in Kids

There are a myriad of injuries that young athletes might experience while playing, but understanding the most common types of sports injuries can help parents take preventive steps. Some of the most frequent injuries in children include:

• Sprains and Strains: The most common injuries kids experience are sprains and strains. These occur when muscles or ligaments are overstretched or torn.
• Fractures: Broken bones are also a risk to young athletes, especially if those kids are engaged in contact sports such as football or basketball.
• Concussions: Kids have pretty hard heads, but even they can get bonked a bit too hard now and then. Head injuries like concussions are common in children’s sports, especially with high impact sports like football, soccer, and hockey. When it comes to concussions, it’s crucial to recognize the symptoms and take them seriously.
• Overuse Injuries: Performing the same action over and over again can create a repetitive stress injury, otherwise known as an overuse injury. These injuries result from repetitive motions, such as pitching in baseball or serving in tennis. Such injuries stress the muscles and joints over time, rendering that same action quite painful.
• Knee Injuries: Kids have better knees than we do, but that doesn’t make them immune to the occasional accidental injury. Children who play ports that involve running, jumping, and changing directions sometimes develop knee injuries such as ACL tears.

How to Prevent Sports Injuries in Kids

The truth is that it is impossible to prevent injury 100% of the time. Sports injuries are something of an inevitability, though there are many ways to reduce the risk of injury and keep young athletes safe.

Proper Warm-Up and Cool-Down

One of the most effective ways to prevent injuries is to ensure that children warm up and cools down before and after playing sports. A proper warm-up routine increases blood flow to the muscles, making them more flexible and reducing the risk of strains and sprains.

• Warm-Up Routine: Have your kid do some light jogging, jumping jacks, and/or dynamic stretches prior to the game. Try to design some warm-up motions or exercises that mimic the movements of the sport.
• Cool-Down Routine: Cool-downs are just as important to the muscles as warm-ups! After playing, children should engage in light stretching to help relax the muscles and prevent stiffness.

Wear the Right Gear

This should probably go without saying, but parents need to ensure that their kids are wearing the right safety gear when they play sports. They should also make sure that their children are wearing it properly. Wearing the appropriate safety gear and wearing it correctly are both crucial for protecting against injuries. Different sports have specific equipment designed to protect various parts of the body.

• Helmets: Sports like hockey, football, and cycling require helmets to protect young athletes against head injuries. Parents and coaches should make sure that the helmet fits the child’s head properly and meets necessary safety standards.
• Mouthguards: Kids are losing teeth all the time, but that doesn’t mean you want to make it a habit. Mouthguards protect a child’s teeth, mouth, and jaw, especially in contact sports like football, hockey, and basketball. Investing in mouthguards is a pretty good financial decision too, since dental work might cost you an actual arm and a leg.
• Shin Guards: speaking of legs, sports like soccer require kids to play with shin guards to help protect the lower legs from kicks and falls.
• Protective Pads: Some sports require a bit more than just a simple plastic shin guard. Sports like rollerblading, skateboarding, and hockey require significant padding in addition to a helmet. Elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist guards are all designed to prevent scrapes, bruises, and fractures.
• Proper Footwear: Shoes are an important part of athletic play and it’s important that parents ensure their child is wearing the right shoes for the right sport. For example, cleats provide traction on grass, and are needed for soccer or baseball, while basketball shoes offer ankle support for jumping.

Stay Hydrated

If modern medical science has taught us anything at all, it’s that people don’t drink enough water. Kids are especially notorious in this regard, because they lack the knowledge or attention span to remind them to drink even when they are thirst! Dehydration can lead to fatigue, dizziness, and heat-related illnesses like heat stroke, and all of these conditions can increase the risk of injury. One of the best things you can do for your child is to ensure they drink enough water before, during, and after playing sports.

• Before Sports: Ensure your child is drinking water about 30 minutes before the activity.
• During Sports: Encourage kids to take water breaks every 15-20 minutes, especially during intense play or hot weather.
• After Sports: Drinking water or a sports drinks can help replace fluids and electrolytes that have been lost during the game.

Teach Proper Techniques

This section is more for coaches than anyone else, but parents can learn a thing or two also. Young athletes are less likely to get injured when they learn and practicing the proper techniques for a sport. This can go a long way in stopping injuries and in improving overall performance. Kids who use improper form while running, jumping, or throwing can place undue stress on their body, leading to strains or overuse injuries.

• Work with Coaches: The best and most qualified coaches will ensure that the young athletes in their charge usee the correct techniques for their sport, from swinging a bat to tackling in football. There are many ways to skin a cat, but learning the proper ways to dribble a soccer ball will prevent kids from tripping up while trying to do something flashy.
• Avoid Specialization Too Early: Parents should encourage kids to play a variety of sports rather than specializing in one too early. Not only does this give the child the chance to try a number of different sports, it also reduces the risk of overuse injuries and helps them develop a wide array of skills.

Encourage Rest and Recovery

Kids can play from dawn til disk if we let them, but there comes a point where a parent needs to step in and tell them to take a break. Kids can burn out or become injured if they overtrain or push themselves too hard. It’s important that children have rest days so that their bodies can recover.

• Rest Days: Children should be given at least one or two rest days per week from sports to allow their bodies to recover.
• Adequate Sleep: They may not always want it, but kids need sleep. A good night’s rest is essential for recovery, so ensure your child gets enough sleep each night to allow their body to heal and recharge.
• Address Injuries Promptly: If your child is injured or complains of pain or discomfort, get them to the proper authority on the subject. It’s important that they rest and receive appropriate medical care before returning to play.

Know the Rules of the Game

The rules are there for a reason! Each sport has specific rules designed to keep young athletes safe on the field of play. Make sure that your child understands and follows these rules so that they can stay safe during game time.

• Play Fair: It’s important to teach your kid the importance of sportsmanship and following the rules. Playing recklessly or ignoring those rules can lead to injuries, fouls, or even suspensions.
• Follow Safety Guidelines: Some sports have specific safety guidelines, such as weight limits in youth football or height restrictions for certain types of gymnastics equipment. By adhering to these guidelines, you can reduce the risk of accidental injury.

Supervision and Proper Coaching

As adults, it’s our job to oversee the safety of the young athletes in our care. Having responsible adults, such as coaches, referees, and parents to keep watch at games and practices can make a big difference. Much of this oversight starts at practice, with the coaches themselves. The best coaches teach children the right techniques, enforce safety rules, and know when to intervene if a child looks like they are overexerting themselves.

• Certified Coaches: Parents should look for programs where the coaches are certified in the sport and trained in first aid or CPR.
• Adult Supervision: Be present! Whether it’s a pick-up game or an organized league, having adults present at a game ensures that things stay under control. It also ensures that any unforeseen injuries are dealt with quickly by qualified adults.

Recognize and Address Injuries Early

Kids are stubborn and they don’t always know what’s good for them. Injured kids may try to “play through the pain” in order to finish out the game. Unfortunately, ignoring injuries can lead to more serious problems. As parents, it’s important for us to recognize the signs of injury in our children and act quickly.

• Signs of an Injury: Swelling, pain, or limited range of motion are clear signs that something’s not right. If your child is limping or has trouble moving a body part, they might need medical attention. This is doubly important if your kid is not evincing anything directly, but complains of persistent pain.
• Treat Injuries Promptly: Experts suggest applying the R.I.C.E. method (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for minor injuries like sprains or strains, but you should always be ready to consult a doctor if symptoms persist.

Be Aware of Concussion Symptoms

Concussions are one of the most serious sports-related injuries. Fortunately, the symptoms are easy to spot and most coaches are aware of what they look like. If you or the coach suspect that your child has a concussion, they should stop playing immediately and get medical attention.

• Symptoms of a Concussion: Concussion symptoms include: headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, memory loss, and sensitivity to light. A concussed child might also exhibit mood changes, irritability, or difficulty concentrating.
• Recovery: Concussed kids need both physical and cognitive rest. This means avoiding sports, schoolwork, and screen time until they are cleared by a doctor.

Cultured Athlete Says…

Sports are a wonderful way for children to stay active, build friendships, and develop important life skills, but they aren’t always safe. Accidents happen, but we, as parents, can help to ensure that our children know how to play safely, follow rules, and attend to wounds when they suspect that they have been injured. By prioritizing safety, parents and coaches can ensure that young athletes have a positive and healthy experience while playing sports.