Bummed for My Daughter

[jlyoncc1]

My daughter plays soccer at a very competitive level. She made the National Olympic Devel. Team last year at 15 yrs old. She was invited to try out again this year. She was supposed to leave March 3 for Tampa. They invite the top 2% of the girls in her age bracket in the nation and then pick 14 girls for the team (which she made last year). Well, she was playing in a college showcase tournament yesterday and went down hard on her knee. It doesn't help that they were playing on frozen turf fields. Took her for xrays yesterday, nothing broken, but has MRI tomorrow to see if she tore anything. Her knee is a balloon. Needless to say, she can't try out now and is going to be out for a while. I don't know if anyone else is an extreme athlete, but this is a bummer of bummers! Ugh!!!!!! Just needed to vent.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Been there, done that, could write a book.

So sorry, hope she has only "minor" injury and heals right up.

After five competitive athlete experiences (1. soccer goalkeeping and swimming, 2. soccer and volleyball, 3. soccer goalkeeping and swimming, 4. soccer outside mid, 5. soccer and tennis) it is my sincere opinion, formed by experience and observation, that competitive sports are out of control. Kids have to specialize in one sport by the time they are 10, are compelled to practice three times a week or more from the age of 9, are not given opportunities to cross train, play other sports, or REST. I am just waiting for the Newsweek cover story on the explosion of serious injury to kids as young as 11 or 12, as well as a huge increase at the high school level (2 of the girls in the H.S. pool with Leslie have had recent back surgery due to longterm, chronic soccer injury).

I don't think this generation of kids are going to thank us when they need knee replacements by the time they're 40. The system needs dramatic change.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks Stephanie. She plays only soccer and does strength training and cross training. But I know what you are saying. It's a competitive world of sports out there but it is hard to hold them back when they want something so bad.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Hey, I just read your signature and realized you have 5 kids like me!

Have any of them been in a sport that does not have a high injury rate? I'm trying to encourage my youngest to try out for "different" stuff when he goes to high school next year.

 

[Candy]

Oh Dee I'm sorry about your daughter. I hope she will be alright and that her knee heals fine so she can play (maybe not now) but in the future. Keep us updated.

 

[terryo]

I've been there too Dee, with 5 sons. They know me by my first name at the emergency room here. Football was the worst of all of them. We traveled around with the Karate until one of them injured a lung (even with a chest plate). It's so hard for them (and us) when they get to go so far, and then something happens and they can't continue. My youngest was the easiest...he is a pool player, and now that he is older, has continued with it, and enters many competitions. No injuries here.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

My cousin tore something(s) in her knee about a year ago playing basket ball... she just had double surgery one it... Hope you don't have to go there!

 

[dreadyA]

Oh man, hope the mri comes back as something minor.
I myself, as a goalkeeper for a team, I do tend to get hurt quite often. My fingers get the worst of it ohhh and lets not forget cleats to the shin!

 

[Tom]

I played right full for 8 years. I know the injuries of which you all speak. Not fun. I have no ACL in my left knee, but that was from motocross.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks everyone! She has her MRI today at 3:45 and an ortho appt at 8 am tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed. Stephanie, all of the sports my kids do have always been contact sports. We are hockey and soccer people. I think I like Terry's idea of playing pool. That seems a lot less stressful!

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Hahah, that's funny because I used to play quite a bit of pool, and my dad has a pool table where we have tournaments at family gatherings all the time. I never associated it with a healthy pastime, since I was NOT engaging in "healthy" behavior when I used to hang out at bars beating the guys at 8-ball and 9-ball back in the day.

I guess it very much does not have to be an unhealthy sport...

Good luck on the MRI...may it just be a sprain!

 

[jlyoncc1]

UPDATE! Nothing is torn in my daughters knee! Severe bruise, crutches for another week and then physical therapy. So.....that's better than surgery. She still can't go to Florida for National ODP but it could be worse. Thanks for all your well wishes.

 

[Jacqui]

Just finally coming across this thread...first off so glad it turned out to be "minor" I know how much the trip (and team) means to her, but at least this is a minor delay in her future dreams, not a permanent sideline...she still has next year. Best to have this happen now, then in the future at a worst time... or in a more serious way.

From the little I know of her, she is taking this well. She (like all your children) is such a well rounded and great kid who has a life beyond the soccer field.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks for your kind words as usual! She is taking it better than I expected so that is good. She had a good cry and then went on as usual. How are the boys doin?

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Congratulations! What a deep exhale that was for me--my middle daughter had a torn meniscus that we discovered just after she had been awarded JV goalkeeper at high school try-outs, and three surgeries later her knee is permanently damaged on the bone, and will hurt her until she has an eventual knee replacement.

Yes, she has other things and has moved on, but she still pines for that lost two years when she could neither play soccer nor swim for her school teams. Totally sucked.

So tell your daughter not to rush it, she is young, she'll come back 100%, she will live her dream...if she lets it heal completely. (I'm sure you've already told her all that, but maybe she needs to hear the same message from someone else's mom!)

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks Stephanie! It is such a scary thing to see your kid down. Especially when they are tough and don't stay down normally. But she's a trooper and can bend it half way now so it is getting better.

 

[Annieski]

Hey Dee sorry to hear about the accident--but glad to hear the prognosis. Just be sure she follows the PT to the letter. I know how kids bounce back. My 15 year old nephew[in Salt Lake] missed a year of skiing due to knee surgery for ACL repair [from skiing accident during competition]. Full year later, back to his old self and will be sent to Italy for downhill.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks Annieski!!!!