[Tight End]

Had this conversation with an orthopedic surgeon friend awhile back. He said parents in virtually every sport were pushing their children to excess in pursuit of college scholarships or the dream of a professional sports career. He said: "The volume of training has increased anymore beyond the maturing young body's ability to handle it".

We also talked about the loss of what has become a cultural artifact: the playground athlete. Two decades ago, sports for children were often unorganized, with pick-up games common in schoolyards and community parks. It developed these kids ever muscle, joint and tendon perfectly, because they were using them all.

Lots of kids used to play baseball, basketball and football all in the same day, and he said actually that was good for their bodies, because it caused their bodies to develop in balance. Now young athletes play sports supervised by adults who have them doing the very same techniques, the same drills, over and over and over not processing every movement they need to help the whole skeletal system mature properly. When kids are playing one sport year-round, there is no rest and recovery for the overused parts of their body, or other body muscles, tendons, used when playing other things. Made sense!