[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n recent years, sports have become more competitive. More athletes are playing on traveling teams than ever before. Many risks come along with the competitive nature of high school sports, including injuries, and being overworked. At what point is it too much?

In recent years, sports injuries have become more and more common, and in some sports, are getting more severe. With football season in action, more light is being shed on head injuries. New studies are being conducted to determine the seriousness of head collisions, and the effects of concussions, both short term and long term. Although the majority of media attention has gone to football injuries, many other athletes experience them too, and they are just as severe.

While traveling on competitive teams, athletes often have little time for school and friends. When is it considered too much? Out of the 854,200 student-athletes in the United States, only 44,000 will be drafted onto a professional team. Many of these teams are out of the United States, and thousands of these athletes will never get into a professional game. Is it worth the time, money, and dedication to work so hard for something that you may never use after high school? Many athletes could not imagine their life without practices every night, and tournaments each weekend.

“I play sports for the love of the game,” captain of the varsity soccer team Will Skoog said.

Not only does it take time, money, and dedication but, playing sports poses other risks such as Injuries. Recently, injuries have become more and more common.

“I tore all the ligaments in my bicep,” senior pitcher Lake Morgan said.

In many cases, baseball injuries go by unnoticed. Unlike some other sports, baseball injuries are often caused by repetition. According to Driveline Baseball, single pitches do not rupture ligaments, instead, the UCL is torn microscopically over time by a flawed pitching delivering. For pitchers, mastering perfect mechanics is easier said than done. Even one the most elite pitchers in the game of baseball, Stephen Strasburg, tore his UCL in 2011, and needed Tommy John’s (former major league pitcher) surgery before returning to play.

Another sport with a raising concern for injuries is football. More funding has gone into concussion and head trauma research than ever before. In recent years, professional football players have blamed the NFL for hiding knowledge of concussions. Multiple football players, including Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau have committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest. After he died, it was discovered that he had Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy, more commonly known as CTE. He left a suicide note asking that his body would be researched in order to prevent brain damage in the future.

“I don’t think injuries have become more severe. In football, all the rules have made it a much safer game. It has probably minimized the injuries. I don’t think they are getting worse necessarily, we are just becoming more aware of them,” Athletic Director John Johnson said.

Football and baseball aren’t the only sports facing challenges.

“I know the statistics, and they say cheerleading, girls soccer, and girls basketball are prone to the most injuries,” Johnson said.

This brings up another question. Are boys or girls more susceptible to injuries? One would think guys are getting injured more, most likely because the intensity of their sports, such as football and wrestling. According to one study though, girls are more prone to ACL tears, one of the most serious injuries in sports. ACL tears can take anywhere from 7 to 9 months to recover, and in severe cases, longer.

Another serious injury is concussions. Last year, our school made athletes participate in a concussion test, which measures your reaction time and memory before you begin playing. If you happen to get a concussion, you will take the test again, and you won’t be cleared to play unless you have certain scores indicating you are ready to return. Football is the sport getting the most attention for concussions, and new helmets are being developed in order to stop concussion from ever occurring.

In some cases, injuries are so severe that an athlete is forced to quit playing the sport that they love. One of the most famous cases of an athlete’s career ending injury occurred in the year 1985, on Monday Night Football. Joe Theismann, Pro Bowl quarterback for the Washington Redskins was sacked by Lawrence Taylor. Looking at the replay, you can see Theismann’s leg snap under Taylor. He never played another down of football again.

In the end, it is up to the athlete to decide whether or not sports are worth the time, money and risk, of injury. If you ask any athlete, you would most likely hear they couldn’t imagine living without it.