Is The Time Right?
By Paul Ohanian
How much time does your family spend in activities related to youth lacrosse?
There are practices and games, of course; add in tournaments, camps and clinics. Some also have private lessons, skill training and conditioning.
How does your family’s lacrosse time commitment compare to other families? About the same, much more, or significantly less?
As we reported in this article, a recent US Lacrosse funded research study tried to find the answers to some of those questions. What is the current time commitment among youth lacrosse players, and how does that compare with recommendations from health & safety experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics?
This week, several of the investigators in the research study, titled, “Time Commitment in Youth Sports: A Survey of Youth Lacrosse Families” are presenting more of their findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in Boston, including an informational poster that summarizes the data.
Study results indicated that most youth athletes took some time away from lacrosse, but the number of athletes who took less than two months away (the recommended minimum) increased with age for both boys and girls.
“The results show that early specialization may not be major issue among most youth lacrosse players since they are playing many sports,” said Dr. Bruce Griffin, director of the Center for Sport Science at US Lacrosse. “But the data also indicates that a large number of athletes aren’t taking even a month off from sports to reduce the risk of overuse injuries.”
Got something to say?