High School’s Safest Sports
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We all know that it’s important for our children to be physically active and play sports in their teens. The question is what is the Safest Sports? Not only does it ensure that they’re fit and healthy now, but it sets them up for life as active adults too. However, in recent years, there have been a lot of concerns about sports injuries and their impact on young people especially.
The good new is, researchers have looked into this issue and come up with a list of the safest high school sports. Here are some of the safest and most popular for you, and your teen’s consideration:
Swimming
Not only is swimming a fantastic low-impact, full-body exercise, but it is the safest high school sport for both sexes with the rise of injury being .17 for every 1,000 sessions for boys and .38 per session for girls. So, if you’re looking for a good way to keep your teen active that probably won’t result in an injury, swimming is a good way to go.
Cheerleading
Love it or hate it, cheerleading is pretty popular with a lot of students, and it’s also an extremely safe option with only a .58 chance of being injured per 1,000 practice sessions. Should your teen enter a cheerleading competition, like the ones here, that will rise to around .67. However, it’s still the second safest high school sport out there!
Volleyball
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Third on the list is volleyball, which has a 1.07 per 1000 risk of injury for girls and only a .53 risk of injury for high school boys.
Running Track
You might think running track with all of the potential pitfalls of jumping, throwing shot puts and clearing hurdles would make it a minefield for injuries, but actually there’s only a .93 and .74 risk rate for boys and girls respectively.
Baseball
Perhaps because of all the padding, baseball has only a .87 percent rate of injuries per 1000 plays, which means that it’s a good choice all round.
Gymnastics for Girls
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Girl’s gymnastics poses a 1.09 risk rate per 1000 exposures to the game. Unfortunately, it is not known what the risk rate is for boys as those stats were not collected, but it’s safe to assume that they will be pretty similar.
Basketball for Boys
For boys, the risk of playing basketball is only 1.37 in 1000, whereas, for girls, it’s much higher at 1.78. This is somewhat super signs because basketball has a reputation for causing twisted ankles, head injuries and knee issues!
Soccer for Boys
Boys who play soccer have a 1.71 chance of being injured, which means it’s a great team sports choice, which you can click here to find out more about. However, girls who play the sport have a 2.46 per 1000 sessions chance of being injured, which means it’s much less safe for them.
Lacrosse for Girls
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Lacrosse is much safer for girls than boys with an injury rate of only 1.23. This is probably because the boys’ game tends to involve a lot more rough-housing than the girl’s one. In fact, it’s more injury prone than even ice hockey!
I hope this helps you and your teen make a more informed choice when it comes to sports-based extra-curriculars.
