08-09-2012, 06:20 PM
Knee injuries are the scariest thing in sports. I coach middle school basketball, and last year my best player -- a girl who was the best athlete in the city (Long Beach) and a guaranteed Division I volleyball scholarship, tore her ACL and meniscus. She's had two surgeries in seven months, and I fear she might never play again.
My own daughter is entering the seventh grade, and she's developing into an excellent player as well, and every time she plays I think about her knee and hope it remains sound.
There's been an awful lot of research done on this recently, and it's revealed the one negative development from Title IX. Female athletes are far more likely to have severe knee injuries than their male counterparts, an increased tendency which is attributed equally to physiology (wider hips create more stress on the knee) and over-scheduling, especially when girls specialize in a single sport.
My own daughter is entering the seventh grade, and she's developing into an excellent player as well, and every time she plays I think about her knee and hope it remains sound.
There's been an awful lot of research done on this recently, and it's revealed the one negative development from Title IX. Female athletes are far more likely to have severe knee injuries than their male counterparts, an increased tendency which is attributed equally to physiology (wider hips create more stress on the knee) and over-scheduling, especially when girls specialize in a single sport.
Please clear the field! The game is not over!