Sports Injury

Poor Will has sustained his very first sports injury (other than your fair share of bumps, bruises, cuts and hits). During one of his tournament games today (he played four games in total today and two yesterday) he took a big hit to the head. He was playing on defense (in a lacrosse game) and he was struck in the back of the helmet and was knocked off his feet. He is a big kid and a really, really tough kid so for him to be knocked off his feet it was a huge hit. He was able to shake off the hit pretty quickly but after the game he wasn't feeling that great. His coaches chocked it up to hours of playing in the warm weather and being a little gassed.

After the game he was fine. He played, he ate, he was his normal pain in the butt self... until about 9 o'clock tonight. He started complaining of a bad headache and eventually throwing up. As parents of a kid who is immersed in sport my Mom and Dad knew to take him to the ER for a concussion. They are still there now getting him checked out to make sure he is okay.

It sucks that in order to do what he loves injuries will be a part of the package. I know that some parents look down their nose at parents who let their kids play rough sports. I get it. Our first instinct is to protect our kids. But what do you do when your child's God given gift if being an incredible athlete? Do you hold them back to avoid injury? Do you let them play and know that getting hurt is part of the package? I know to some it seems like an easy answer but for those people they have never known a kid like Will. He lives for the game. He is one of those kids who WILL undoubtedly play college ball. They have a shot at the big time. They get invited to special leagues and amazing training camps. How do you hold them back?

About a million years ago I was an athlete. A pretty decent one. I made many, many sacrifices in order to further my game. If my parents would have held me back because of a concussion I would have hated them for stifling me... for holding me back. I am thankful they let me play. Let me do what I was good at. So every time I question our decisions to let Will play games where getting hurt is part and parcel I have to remember that it is all part of the game.

You'll probably read about this kid someday. He's pretty damned amazing.