HBO Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel Sharing iSport360’s Message

Ian Goldberg is a sports dad, coach and the Founder of iSport360.  100,000 coaches, players and parents depend on iSport360 to foster healthy team communication and culture by setting goals, sharing player feedback, instructional videos and sticker rewards, all in a safe and social team environment.  Try iSport360 for free here.

Bryant Gumbel’s timing could not have been more perfect.  At a time when I am struggling to convince my U10G travel soccer team parents that we should take the winter season off, HBO Real Sports is covering the epidemic of overuse injuries.

To be fair, it seems a bit counterintuitive to tell your young athlete to take a break from their favorite sport.  And so the reasons that parents want their kids to play their favorite sport year round make sense:

• My kid loves that sport
• All of my child’s friends are playing during the “off-season”
• I don’t want my kid to be inactive/sedentary
• I don’t want my kid to miss out on training that other kids are getting
• I don’t want my child to lose momentum in their sport

But the warnings doctors are providing about playing a sports year round are terrifying:

• Kids are getting injuries once only seen in 60 year olds
• Doctors are saying that joint surgeries have skyrocketed in young athletes
• There is an epidemic of career-ending injuries in youth sports
• Rest is an invaluable part of an athletes development cycle
• Training multiple sports results in a healthier athlete with less injuries

Bottom line:  Make sure your team and your child have an “off-season”.  Use the off season to rest injuries and try new sports.  The medical evidence is overwhelming that rest and cross-training during the off season will help your athlete.  So let’s heed this valuable advice.