This is the fifth and final week in the series Top Youth Sports Injuries series sponsored by the UHealth Sports Medicine Institute, part of the University of Miami health system. UHealth is paying me for these posts because they believe strongly in the importance of a safe youth sports experience for every young athlete. This week, the focus is on smart habits that will help athletes recover after playing.
Born in Miami, raised in Florida, and following in the footsteps of two big brothers who were avid Miami Hurricane fans, I’m glad to finally have a year where the Canes have made me proud. You can attribute their good season to Coach Mark Richt, or to the infamous U turnover chain, but I have a feeling that their success as a football team includes some pretty basic habits.
In fact, success can be traced to basic habits for all champions. Dr. Lee Kaplan, director of University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute and medical director for both the University of Miami Athletic Department and the Miami Marlins shares that perhaps one of the most important habits is paying attention to proper recovery after each game.
How is it young athletes can push themselves to exhaustion game after game after game, and still be ready to do it again for the next one? And what can we learn from them that will up our own game?
Basically, it’s about the proper care and feeding of your beat up, tuckered out, strained, stretched, and stressed body. And it doesn’t matter if you did it in the gym, on the links, the tennis court, Zumba class – or stretching for a game-winning end zone pass and getting clobbered by a 235-pound linebacker.
Do you know the best way to help your child recover properly after giving 100% in a game? Read Up Your Game: Recover Like a Hurricane and learn Dr. Kaplan’s advice for athlete recovery.