I was motivated to write this as I was at the hospital emergency room last night. No, nothing happened to me and everyone is ok but it made me think about injuries.
Although hockey is a sport where you wear protective equipment head to toe, while propelling yourself on a sheet of ice while standing on 2 thin steel blades may on the surface seem dangerous, it is no more dangerous than the next sport.
I've broken my finger (twice) playing softball. Recently, I broke my wrist in a collision playing hockey. This accident was just that...an accident. A weird collision between 2 players.
I've also seen several others get injured as well. Sticks to the face (see what happens when you don't wear a mask), broken legs, sore tailbones, etc. I believe most athletes know what they are getting into when playing a sport. Again, these are not limited to hockey, but occur in every sport or activity. Natalia even hurt herself just walking from a rink to our van.
With kids, the decision is always to keep them safe and to protect them. There needs to be a balance with this as well. Kids will be kids and can get hurt playing in their own backyard. Playing sports do have greater risks, but with the right training, equipment, coaching, etc. these can be minimized. Even with the injuries I have had, we still do not use these instances to restrict our son (Antonio) to play hockey. He gets his size from his dad, so seeing him out there with the big kids could look intimidating, but as long as he loves to play, we'll keep taking him.
So as I waited in the ER for the doctor to come in last night and give me the words regarding my other son, Nicholas, I didn't want to hear..."Yes Mr. Bafia ..it's broken", I realized that even his chosen sport, FLAG FOOTBALL could cause injury. He broke his arm yesterday at practice on a routine practice play where he collided with another kid. Even after the tears & pain, he still asked, "when will I play again?"
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