With the most recent relaxing of restrictions for COVID we enter a new era for youth sports. The kids are stoked and soccer season has begun in Northern California. We’ve been under strict regulations for the past year with no games, and with the latest release from the governor the kids can enter contact play. The clubs are warming up and starting scrimmages to get the kids prepared for Norcal competitive play.
“Before we talk about how the game went… let me first ask if anyone got hurt. It’s our first game back and you all can see it is a different pace than practices!”
SRU Coach RG checking in with the team after their first contact scrimmage highlighting the concern for injuries (luckily there were none)
As a physical therapist, it is this time of the season that is most nerve-racking, especially after a year off due to COVID. This is the time that will highlight how well the coach and club have prepared the kids for play. If the kids are not physically ready we will start to see a series of injuries start right at the beginning of the year. This is the worst timing because the kids will never get truly set for the rest of the season and be chasing an injury throughout the whole season.
How do we know that the kids are ready? How do we know if the coach did everything in their power to prepare the kids physically? If this was a professional team the kids would have had a preseason physical for movement assessment along with ongoing seasonal screens to prepare them through targeted training with a strength and conditioning coach. This has never been an option for our kids.
Until now!
PreventPT is here to announce that professional level pre-participation physicals are available to youth sports. PreventPT uses big data coupled with individualized screenings to aggregate data in a format the coach can digest. This will give the coach, the player, and the parents a good understanding of the athletes readiness to play physically and show patterns of the teams physical deficits. This information in turn can be utilized to alter training sessions to address the concerns identified, ultimately decreasing the injury incidence on the team.
Want to find out more information of how your team can benefit from this service? You can learn more about the injury screening program that PreventPT offers here or click below to request a consultation to learn more.