Introduction
During school time, the involvement of a child in extracurricular activities, such as sports and other forms of physical exercises can be a bit exhausting for the child. As a parent of a child who's constantly involved in playing sports, it is necessary to make sure that the child is not getting overtrained.
Rest is as important as physical training as it allows the body to take a break and get ready for the next day. Consistent overtraining and not taking necessary preventive measures to avoid injury may lead to sustained bodily problems. While playing on the field, the susceptibility of getting on-field injury is also always there. Hence, parents need to be extremely careful regarding sport-related risks and injuries when it comes to their children.
Tips To Avoid Overtraining Among Kids
Here is a look at some preventive tips that parents can adopt to keep injuries at a distance and avoid overtraining.
Get a Physician
A trained medical practitioner can guide your kid on how to play a certain sport without encountering many injuries. There are a lot of preventive measures and techniques that a good physician can suggest to your kid. Also, regular checkups from a physician help in detecting early signs of an injury and prevent the problem from developing into something serious.
Talking With Your Kid
It may happen that your kid might be facing a prolonged medical issue but may hesitate to tell you. This is why parents must encourage healthy conversations with their kids and allow them to express their concerns and problems freely. Acknowledge all their concerns and fears. Knowing what's happening with your child is a great way to prevent injuries and take the needed action timely. Discuss their practice routine and the time that they're spending towards training. Educate them about the importance of taking proper rest and avoiding over-training.
Promote Warmups
Warm-up exercises like stretching and light jumping can help the body get ready for the vigorous physical exercise ahead. A good warmup is a mixture of exercises that promote the flexibility of muscles as well. Doing a warmup just before playing a sport helps the body get ready and prevent injuries. However, parents must ensure that the child is not indulging in a strenuous warmup exercise as it can be draining and have negative implications on the overall performance of a child.
Ensuring Rest
Rest is a foundational requisite for an athlete of any age to perform well. Young kids specifically should have proper sleep for muscle recovery and higher attention levels. A common reason for injuries among kids can be excessive workout and training. Consistent training for seven days a week harms the body and promotes injuries. This is when a parent must make sure that the child is getting enough time to sleep and recreate to be able to get back to the field the next day.
Follow Training Rules
Every sport comes with a specific rulebook for doing things the right way. For instance, basketball requires a kid to know the proper way of throwing and catching the basketball to avoid any kind of bone injuries. Football players also learn how to deal with an opponent while trying to get the ball in control without any concussion. Learning and following these rules is a must. Instead of training relentlessly throughout the day, the kid must focus on perfecting the craft by learning techniques and proper rules. This way the child will not need to overtrain and yet the performance would improve.
Have A Proper Schedule
The life of a sportsman requires discipline and time management. As a parent, you must encourage your child to develop a timetable that encompasses all the necessary duties that they have to fulfill throughout the day. A child's regime should be very holistic, and the time must be devoted to all the activities including rest, training, studies, and spending time with friends and family. This way, a child is always conscious of the other tasks that they must do and does not spend the whole time on the field which may lead to exhaustion and injuries.
Don't Pressurize the Child
Sometimes too many expectations and performance pressure may push the child to spend more hours on the field and better their performance. Parents have to make sure that the child is not going through any silent turmoil and has developed an innate pressure to perform well and prove their worth. The priority while playing a sport should be for the child to have fun and not focus on the outcomes. You will see that with such a perception, your child will start enjoying the process and focus on quality rather than quantity.
Conclusion
Parents must be the ultimate companions of their children. Understanding your child's pain and dilemma is important to enhance their performance in a certain sports activity and also keep their body in its best form. Try to be spontaneous with your actions and do not overlook things like injury and overtraining as they might become a future obstruction.
The views expressed are that of the expert alone.
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