When Youth Hockey Players get Injured

Every young hockey player’s worst fear is getting injured to the point where he can’t play for a while. Players especially fear this if they’re hoping to get recruited by a college or to play the sport professionally one day.   

Hopefully, this type of injury will never happen to the player in your life. But, if it does, there are some things you should know that may make the process a little bit easier to handle.

Take Adequate Downtime

First things first, young athletes are encouraged to take enough of a break when they find themselves injured. The body needs time to properly and fully heal. Ignoring an injury and/or getting back into the game too soon can make it much worse in the long run. Even worse yet, injuries that otherwise wouldn’t be serious could become lifelong and even end a career before it’s started. Sadly, this is what can happen when injuries aren’t allowed to heal.

While it may be hard on players to miss recruiting opportunities, they have to remind themselves that if they want any possibility of a future in hockey, they’ll just have to miss out until they’re healed.

Let Coaches Know What’s Going On

One of the worst things a hockey player could do is to simply “ghost” on a coach or a recruiter due to an injury. Some players are so embarrassed or upset after injuries, however, that they do just that.

Don’t allow this to be the case for the athlete in your life. Coaches and recruiters can often work something out or put offers on hold when an injury occurs. At the very least, open communication can keep players from ruining their reputation amongst coaches and recruiters who, trust us, do talk to one another about this sort of thing.

Keep Those Grades Up

While an injury is no picnic, hockey players can look at this ‘downtime” as a way to study and improve their grades as much as possible.

Good grades are necessary for going to college, with or without a hockey spot on the horizon. Plus, many schools require athletes to have and/or maintain good grades.

Thus, this downtime is the perfect time to keep working hard and to make sure everything is where it should be gradewise.

While no one wants to have to deal with an injury, dealing with it the right way, as you can see, can make all the difference in the world.