Outdoor sports are enjoyed year round in East Polk County. As the new school season begins, most sports are recruiting and rookies will be joining the ranks of football, basketball, baseball and soccer, along with those teams returning more experienced players.
So, it seems a good time to prepare the youth and their parents with safety tips and information offered on an assortment of traditional and extreme sports in outdoor recreation.
"Some of the best safety tips have to do with the facility you are playing in," says Terrence McGriff, the boys basketball coach at Bartow High School. "Make sure the facility has pads on the walls if the walls are close to the courts. That is the biggest thing. The pads are needed to protect players when they are running so they can brace themselves if they run out of bounds and into the walls. Most facilities have those now. That is something you can control.
"Five to 10 minutes of stretching at every practice and stretching legs and arms and lower back in preparation for practice is performed (by his players)," McGriff says. "Sometimes we do an additional warm-up drill to get their heart rate up."
McGriff says physicals are needed to participate in high school sports and parental consent forms give the student permission to play.
"Few kids wear knee or elbow pads in high school, but they might if they are treating a pre-existing injury," McGriff says. "The ankle sprain is the most common injury in basketball. That comes from jumping up and down, and sometimes you land on another player's foot or take an awkward jump."
Outdoor basketball has a safety hazard in the asphalt courts when the player runs from asphalt to grass. That can create a condition for a tumble, McGriff says.
McGriff cautions that in the summer in youth basketball, many children having several games are sharing one facility's space at the same time. More than one ball is in play. Although there is nothing anyone can do about it, he suggests that players be aware of their surroundings.
"This time of year with the heat, the heat and dehydration have to be concerns because the heat can wear somebody down, causing heat stroke and exhaustion," says Charley Tate, Winter Haven High School's football coach. "Making sure the kids are hydrated and have fluids is important and that they have enough breaks and make it through the workout without any kind of mishap."
Safety tips Tate suggests include knowing the football equipment and how it is supposed to fit the body.
"The next tip is understanding the equipment the kids have to wear, making sure it is fitted properly in the shoulder pads and the helmet is the right size," Tate says.
He adds that properly matching players also is important.
"Match like bodies up with like bodies," Tate says. "Match a pair of returners (children who have played football before) with the returners and rookies with rookies. Don't match a big kid with a little kid. There is an age and weight (grouping) for the older boys. There is safety in pairing them up the right way."
Tate suggests teaching the children "how to correctly play with your head. The helmets are so good that kids are not fearful of their heads. When the helmets were leather years ago, they didn't hit with their helmets like they do now. We teach that you do not initiate contact with your head. When running and tackling, the head is going to be involved in some of the contact. We teach them how to use their head and place it in block and tackle situations."
Ankle sprains and knee injuries happen, but in football it is more contusions and bruises from contact that you treat with ice, rest and elevation, Tate says. "You teach them the best you can."
Protecting the face and heart areas and making sure players are wearing sunscreen are concerns for Bill Bullock, the athletic director and baseball coach at Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake.
"Baseball injuries come from getting hit with balls, either from the batting perspective or the field, or in learning to catch," Bullock says. "There are certain procedures to teach them to catch so they don't get hit in the face. Half of the kids drop out of baseball because they got hit in the wrong place.
"If they learn the properly hitting fundamentals, then they have a chance to read the pitch a little bit better," Bullock says. "You must teach them how to avoid the ball. Many players have never been taught how to get out of the way of the ball by turning away from the ball instead of opening up (facing the pitcher with their chest unprotected). Child players can wear a light pad to protect the heart that takes the shock (of a ball hitting the chest).
"The biggest problems are the parents buy a glove that is too big for the child," Bullock says. "With a big glove they can't throw properly. They need a small glove and to learn to catch with both hands. In some counties, kids wear mouthpieces to protect their teeth.
"When we teach throwing mechanics, our varsity and junior varsity players are taught to use their glove properly to pull it out and pull it in toward the body and to use the glove to block the face and heart from the balls," Bullock says.
Bullock urges any parent with safety or equipment questions concerning baseball to call him at 863-297-6751. He says he will be glad to help.
