One of the biggest fears a student athlete faces is getting injured. The idea of not being able to play their sport causes some anxiety amongst athletes as that could greatly impact their future and physical or mental health. For example, according to “Psychological Well-Being from Sports Injuries in Adolescence: A Narrative Review” (2024) factors such as training, short-term, long-term mental health, and performance ability are all impacted by injuries. Here is a closer look about how student athletes could be impacted by injuries.
Katie Parry, senior, has been on the BHS varsity soccer team since freshman year. She is now one of the team captains for the BHS varsity girls soccer team and is also a member of the BHS varsity girls lacrosse team since freshmen year. Parry has had a rough year as she faces an number of injuries such as a concussion freshman year, continual knee issues, car accident leading to neck and spinal injury, concussion from a lacrosse game. The most serious injury has been her neck and spinal injury.
This injury has led her to be unable to play any sports for a three-month period and there was a blurry line on whether she would ever be able to play soccer or lacrosse again. Parry had to begin physical therapy sessions where doing simple activities would even become hard or hurt to do. Parry said, “While I was recovering and in rehabilitation, I lost a lot of my muscle and conditioning. Therefore, I had to basically restart with my lifting and cardio.”
Injuries can cause not just physical setbacks but also mental setbacks where student athletes can become somewhat worried or scared to play again because they don’t want to get another injury. When asked if she had any fears returning to playing sports, Parry said, “Returning to my sport was scary because a few times when I would try to play, I would get dizzy and get a headache. It always felt like I was two steps forward, one step back.” Whereas parry explained that she knew any day could be her last time to possibly play her sport since she could get hurt at any given moment, and this led her to now be very hesitant when doing something sports related.
Additionally, sitting on the sidelines can affect student athletes emotionally when they are watching their teammates do something they enjoy not being able to partake in that activity. Parry said, “The hardest part about being sidelined because of an injury was watching my team play without me knowing that I could help them but also that they didn’t need me … I know the bonds that teammates form through the pain and I was just sitting on the side watching them run and practice without me.”
Lastly, when student athletes get injured, it can impact how they see themselves as an athlete. Katie Parry stated how she lost part of herself when she was injured because she wasn’t able to do what she loved. “However, when I was able to play again, I fell in love with my sport all over again and I don’t take a minute for granted.”
Furthermore, when student athletes are injured, they just want to jump right back into what they love doing, however that comes with many risks of re-injuring and forming new injuries from overworking your body when it is trying to heal. Katie Parry advises student athletes who are going through an injury to “not to rush going back.” Parry also said, “I know how much everyone wants to just get right back to playing but if you don’t heal all of the way, then you will get hurt again but even worse.”