Tall. Blonde. Gorgeous. And puking her guts out. Streams of sweat run down her perfectly tied -back, naturally golden hair that shines bright against her pale green skin like melted mint ice-cream. Her roars of agony. Her whines of pain. Her long winding legs buckling under her as she holds a death grip on the dark plastic garbage can forming a bond only a trashcan would love.
“We’ve got blood over here!” And boy did they. Another girl with rivers of red running down her face and on to the floor stood in complete awe of what happened. Exhausted. She couldn’t talk. Stunned. She couldn’t move. Blood pooled on the shining wood floors coagulating where she stood. Welcome to summer sports camp. The happiest place on Earth.
It’s the not just the thundering roar of a ball hitting the glossy polyurethane floors. It’s not just the squeaks of sneakers sliding across the wax. It’s not the heart stopping moment after the last serve. It is the 8 full hours of grueling practice a day. It is the coaches screaming at girls to dive, jump, stretch, and bend in ways they just can’t. It is a summer camp.
It’s also a place where people like Dr. Albers, the leading physician at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln work to help the people who obtain injuries while participating in sports. . It is merely “setting you up for a successful future!” of pain and illness. Albers believes that injuries, especially concussions that young adults get during these crucial years can highly affect them into their future.
A recent development in sports medicine shows a relationship between Lou Gehrig‘s Disease and concussions received while playing the sport. During a concussion, proteins from your brain break off and form a deposit in your spine that mimics Lou Gehrig’s disease to a T. Sports scientist up to this day were perplexed with the idea that athletes were more prone to the disease than any another type of person. Little did they know until the recent autopsy on a deceased athlete did they find the connection, proving the point that these sports injuries can stay with you into your adult life and eventually cause your early demise.
Awake at the break of dawn. Running miles upon miles of the downtown Lincoln area. Conditioning and fine tuning the athlete within. Pushing themselves to the limits to keep up with the pressure that is applied on them from outside sources. Coaches. Parents. Teammates.
Then 8 hours of grueling practice where they are pushed to the brink of exhaustion and back.
Fatigued.
Fatigue is being pushed past the point of no return. Dr. Albers says that this is a crucial moment in any athlete’s psychological battle with the sport, they begin to compromise their judgment for the sake of the came and this is when a game become more than a game. It becomes dangerous.
At this point athletes are more prone to make the wrong decision and cause themselves serious harm. Players doing reckless things for the sake of pleasing the people around them instead of focusing on their own body. Dr. Albers says that being fatigued not only causes players to be reckless with their decisions, but it’s more likely to cause a much more serious concussion, especially in patients with previous concussions.
The last serve has been set. The last push up has been pushed. The last mile has been ran. Teams of girls huddle up and give a final shout in the face of the day past. They have succeeded in completing the next step to reaching their final goal. As the last light shuts off and the last girl leaves the court the relief almost fills the gymnasium with a sigh of relief. That is until tomorrow morning when it starts back up again. Blood. Sweat. Vomit. And all.
Welcome to summer camp. The happiest place on Earth.
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