I love sports because I love to play. I love to physically join in on the fun rather than watch at the sidelines. I have always exerted my best and played my heart out at every game. And since the type of sports that I play all involve physical contacts, accidents do happen at times. Sports medicine, in my experience, has always been shrugged off and passed over by most players. I have had broken fingers and banged shoulders and knees but didn’t pay too much attention because of the adrenaline rush that I feel at every play. After years of ignoring pain, this resulted to fingers that can’t be curled completely, hurting knee caps, and a nagging shoulder pain. I had to undergo therapy to alleviate most of the pain and get me in better playing condition than before.

It is always advisable that a player knows basic treatment for possible injuries. A player should know when to use hot or cold compress, what to do with sprained ankles, how to tape injured fingers, and how to stop cuts from bleeding. Accidents happen during physical play and not knowing what to do at a certain situation may cause further harm. Coaches should know these too.

I have coached a basketball team for kids. I had lots of fun because my team was all about having fun and teamwork. Winning was just an added bonus. We didn’t care whether we won or lost. Our foremost goal was to always enjoy and have the best time of our lives. I couldn’t say this to be true for other teams and coaches. Some of them are so fixated in winning that they’d do anything to win… even if it’s just a kiddie basketball tournament! This is a great reason why we invited professionals to conduct pre-tournament, mid-tournament, and post-tournament seminars about sportsmanship in youth sports. Organizers, mostly composed of parents, wanted to instill the value of sportsmanship and fair play to their little ones. They wanted to develop their kids on this at an early stage so that they grow up to be better players and individuals. I have had no questions about that for I am an advocate of sportsmanship. Rough play grew less but the competitive spirit was still maintained at a high level. And since rough play became less frequent, accidents and injuries were also lessened. Truly a perfect sports experience for any kid… even those that are still kids at heart.

For more tips and information about sportsmanship in youth sports, check out http://www.weplay.com.

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