Injuries: One week or one month?

About 10 days ago one of my daughters got a horrible gash on her leg that required an emergency room visit and five stitches.  She is fine but her experience since then has caused her a lot grief.  Because of her injury and the stitches, she has been unable to start up her new dance classes.  She’s had to just sit and watch the other girls.  She also has been unable to participate in gym class like the other kids in her class.  She is not happy to say the least, especially with mom and dad.  Before each missed event, she practically begged us to let her participate.  We tried to tell her that it is doctor’s orders until she gets the clearances to participate.

My daughter’s anguish is similar to what we coaches and parents face all the time when a player of ours gets hurt.  They often want to come back earlier than they should.  This is another case of their best trait becoming, in this situation, their worst trait.  Their desire to play, improve, and help the team is probably why they excel at the sport they are playing.  But that passion to play can also get them into trouble when they try to come back too soon after an injury.

What I have continually stressed to my daughter and all the other athletes I’ve worked with is the simple truth that it is better to miss a week than a month.  I ask the kid to imagine what it would be like to miss an entire month or even an entire year.  They always say it would be horrible.  I then tell them that if they take a week off, they should be back to playing after that.  On the other hand, start playing now and you are likely to injure yourself more which could put you out for a month or even more.  Finally, I ask them which one they would rather pick?  It’s always the former.

Everyone leals differently but the main point is, when you are hurt the body needs the time to get better and no amount of passion is going to change that.

Tomorrow’s Post: How can that not be a hit?