BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio — With restrictions now lifted on some sports in Ohio, student athletes are starting to train for the first time in months but if they aren't careful it could come with a cost.
“Because of this COVID issue and the social distancing and the restrictions we’ve had, our kids have not had any structured athletic development,” explains Owner and Director of Cleveland Sport and Swim Institute John Collis.
“So now we’re asking our kids to go from this relatively sedentary lifestyle where they hadn’t been strength training, doing some speed agility work, and to be thrown onto the field that’s concerning in a number of ways because I think if we’re not ready we’re going to see a lot of injuries happen.”
According to Collis, trainers at the institute, which focuses solely on student athletes, are working to mitigate the issue by educating families and athletes to not only prevent injuries but to excel as well.
“We’re all under stresses due to the economy and trying to make a living during these restrictions and kids are in the same situation but in the athletic sense,” he says.
Trainers are getting assessments of where individual athletes are in terms of conditioning levels and then tailoring the workout.
Division Chief of Pediatric Sports Medicine at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Dr. Amanda Weiss Kelly says gradually reintroducing exercise can reduce risk.
“To go from one or two hours a week to five or six hours a week is an abrupt increase that would put us at increase risk for injury,” she explains.
“There may be increased risk in kids who feel like they have to impress a coach or impress their teammates, for overuse injury, because they may do things where they’re not feeling comfortable.”
Dr. Weiss Kelly suggests starting with foot skills and team strategy ideas before hard running.
“Particularly because it was snowing ten days ago and then it was 90 degrees yesterday so we’re not just at risk for injury, we’re at increased risk for heat illness and heat injury because were not acclimatized yet,” she says.
“We want everybody out there exercising because there have been study after study of both children and adults that show how good exercise is for combating anxiety and depression which have been a huge issue with COVID.”
She says exercise is important for young people even if they aren’t athletes.
For elementary and preschool aged children, Dr. Weiss Kelly suggests an hour to two hours of exercise a day including one hour of free play and another of parent or teacher guided exercise. For adolescents, at least an hour of moderate to vigorous activity every day is recommended.