Get more kids out to play — safely
Children play at Morgan Park in Glen Cove. Credit: Timothy Fadek
Are sports killing and maiming our kids? A sports safety summit held by a trade group for athletic trainers suggests as much, but the picture is more complicated.
The trainers note that 48 youths died from sports injuries this year. Of course, that's 48 too many - even among the roughly 16,000 Americans between the ages of 12 and 19 who die from all causes each year.
The larger problem is that so many of our kids don't engage in sports at all. Instead of playing outside, they spend too much time glued to screens indoors. Nearly one in three American kids are overweight or obese. A study out this year tracked American Indian children through adulthood and found that the heaviest were much likelier than the thinnest to die early.
Yet student athletes do contend with injuries, and recent research into the long-term effect of concussions is especially alarming. So is the seeming professionalization of youth sports - instead of playing different games seasonally, some kids overuse tender muscles and joints by playing one thing all year.
It's time to moderate the unhealthy dichotomy between an elite that plays too single-mindedly, and the many that hardly play at all. Let's pay more attention to student-athlete safety. More important, let's get the rest of the kids outdoors. hN
