12 year old Tyler Kopp was hit in the chest by a lacrosse ball.  He then collapsed and stopped breathing. Kopp never regained his consciousness and passed away five days later due to his injuries.

Some high school sports are too intense for kids.

According to Stop Sports Injuries, high school athletes account for 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations every year. Nearly 8 million kids participate in high school sports in the United States. That means that about 25% of kids get injured playing their sport. More than 3.5 million kids under the age of 14 receive medical treatments for sports injury. On average the rate and severity of injuries increases with age.

The longer a student plays a sport, the more intense it tends to get.  The possibility of college scholarships, the pressure to win, and a school’s tradition of winning can all help to ramp up the intensity of a sport. With that increase in intensity, overuse injuries often become the most common injuries for high school athletes. According to the Iowa State Daily, only 1% of high school athletes earn a Division 1 scholarship.

A lot of high school teams have practice early in the morning. For example, the HHS Swim Team as weights at 6am every other day, meaning they have to wake up around 5 a.m. They also have swim practice after school from 7-9 p.m. Similarly some HHS cross country runners run up to ten miles a day. No matter the sport this very busy schedule adds lots of stress.

In the United States, the average teen has rated their stress level to be a 5.3 out of 10, according to the American Psychological Association. A healthy stress level is just 3.9. If high school athletes have practice in the morning and have it at night, there is no time for homework or projects. Not getting your work done can lead to a bad grade, which is why high schoolers are always so stressed, especially the ones who play high school sports.  

High school sports should not be banned in total. There should be stronger safety requirements for sports involving tackling or any physical fight that could happen. Schools should also cut back on how many days and how long each practice is. Contact the DTSD Superintendent, Joe McFarland, and tell him about what you think should be changed.