According to Advent Health, there are over two million student athletes in the United States that get injured a year. Omaha North High School does not outrun the statistic.
The injuries that are highlighted in this statistic range in severity level with some only needing an ice pack and others needing surgery or, at worse, career ending.
According to the Training and Condition Statistics, one Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is torn per 15,000 practices. In the Omaha Public School District, the school year is around 185 days. Which is approximately 740 practices over 4 years, for 3 sport athletes. 740 practices does not include extra practice, private lessons, or weightlifting. Athletes who excel at their sport take as many extra reps as they can get, leading them to be more likely to tearing their ACL, medial collateral ligament (MCL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), or meniscus, all parts of their knee.
Not only do students play for the love of the game, but they also have the goal in sight of using their sport to take them to college. Every season matters for recruitment. Davyn Herard ,10, is a football player at Omaha North. Herard tore his ACL before the first official football game after his own teammate tackled him directly in his knee. His ACL was completely torn.
“Tearing my ACL has been hard because it limits what I can do. I cannot even bend my knee properly, so it is hard to imagine playing football right now when that is all I want to do. My journey is going to be harder than others, but God gives the hardest battle to his toughest soldiers,” said Herard.
According to Orthoperiodic and Sports Medicine, football has been proven to be one of the hardest sports on the body, generating the most injuries, followed by girls’ soccer. Football generates countless broken bones, torn ligaments, ankle sprains and many more injuries.
Eli Murray, 9, was the starting quarterback for Omaha North’s freshman football team until he broke both his radius and ulna in his left arm. Murray did this during a football game where he fell and tried to catch himself and broke both bones.
Breaking bones is not a new experience for Murray. Last year Murray broke his other arm during basketball season, falling and trying to catch himself. “When I felt it, I was just mad because I feel like this always happens, as soon as I get healed, I end up hurt again.” said Murray
“Do not hang your head, God has a plan for you even when you do not see the full vision.” said Murray.
Short recovery and long recoveries can also affect an athlete’s mental health. It is common for rolled ankles, casual knee, or wrist pain and much more due to overuse. While an ankle sprain seems like a small injury, it can be major.
Maya Jangulo, 10, was at volleyball practice before the first game and went up to block a ball. She landed on another teammate’s foot, spraining her ankle. Jangulo’s ankle swelled up to almost double the size leading her unable to walk.
After going to her private doctor, he said it was the worst sprain he had ever seen. Jangaulo had to go through several rehabilitation sessions with the trainer at Omaha North.
“It has been tough because I feel like I was already behind in volleyball since I did not play last year and now everyone is moving forward but I am still in the same spot. I also play select soccer and I am a caption, so it is hard to not feel like I am letting my team down by not playing,” said Jangaulo.
The mental struggle of an athlete is a challenging thing to comprehend. Sitting out of a sport makes athletes feel like they have let others down. Athletes often feel disconnected from their teammates while they go through the healing process.
To keep athletes healthy, they should not be practicing every day for 3 hours. This leads to athletes staying up late to finish homework. Then, they go to school the next day sleep deprived, making the process repeat until all their work piles up, making them more likely to be injured.
At Omaha North High School, there is always an athletic trainer here during practice. If something is in pain athletes must advocate for themselves to see the trainer and take some rest to improve themselves.
To avoid these injuries, athletes need to remember that they are not just athletes. They are not defined by their sport and how they perform and sometimes what is best is taking a step back and looking at it from a new perspective.