In the United States, the culture surrounding sports from a young age has led to an increase in injuries at younger ages. The age at which sports are being played competitively in the United States has continued to decrease, having the player getting injured at a younger age leading to them possibly having more injuries in the long term. As stated by Nationwide Children’s Hospital, “Youth athletes often begin their competitive sports careers as early as age seven … This is why sports injuries are the second leading cause of emergency room visits for children and adolescents, and the second leading cause of injuries in school”(Kid’s Sports Injuries). This tells us that coaches and athletes need to consider how much stress the players have and for how long they have been playing. Because, if they have been playing for over a decade before they graduate high school then it is a good idea to consider how much stress is on the player's body.

Another issue with sports culture is rushing players back from injury as a result of rushing athletes, back from injury too soon it can, “become a long-term issue that needs extensive care or surgery if the initial recovery recommendations are rushed”(Post-Injury 101). The section above continues to prove how rushing players back from injuries can lead to long-term issues such as surgeries that can alter players' lives throughout their lives. It also shows how coaches cannot over value winning in order to not cause life long injuries for the athletes that they are supposed to keep safe and mentor.

Another is the pressure put onto these young players to succeed from a young age leading to mental stress and overuse of ligaments and bones. In an address to the University of Baltimore Dr. James Andrews says “Overuse injuries account for half of all sports injuries in middle school and high school; about 60% are all overuse. The reason that's important is if 60% of those are overuse, then most of those are preventable with common sense"(Keystone Address). If these athletes play from a young age the body parts they use the most in their sport can wear down faster leading to an increase in injuries caused by overuse. Leading to a possibility of injuries caused by the overuse in the future during their adult life. Showing the need to remove the pressure on these young athletes and have them play less so less injuries occur.

A good example of a cultural issue in sports is baseball where it is played year round from fall to winter to spring to summer. As a result of the constant play, the body will experience large amounts of damage. As said by Dr. James Andrews, “Some young throwers also have unbelievable extensive damage to the shoulder associated with year-round and seasonal overuse. This is a nineteen-year-old scholarship kid at a junior college in Alabama …  If you look at the top of his shoulder, there is a labral tear. This is a Type 3 SLAP tear, which usually doesn't occur until you're thirty-five or forty years of age”(Keystone Address). The passage above clearly shows how playing baseball year-round and overplaying athletes leads to disastrous consequences. If the increasing number of injuries is going to stop then there must be a solution for overworking these athletes and possibly causing life-changing injuries.

There is even more data that supports the claim in the previous paragraph. The author explained the growing need for UCL surgery in the MLB with the following, “ Nowadays, kids specialize in a sport. If a kid is specializing in baseball, that means that they will be more likely to throw year-round and never give their arm a break. The kids are throwing through fatigue and the arm never gets a chance to recover properly. If a player does this year after year, it puts too much stress on the arm and causes injury.”(The Tommy John Surgery Explosion) This again supports the idea that the increasing specialization of sports and in particular baseball has led to athletes getting life-altering surgery that could have been prevented by having the athletes play multiple sports.

Another idea that relates to the idea of sports culture is burnout for student-athletes and the issues caused by it. Burnout has resulted in a loss of athletes year after year as written by former Samford University softball player Hannah Trombley who writes, “Burnout is typically defined as physical/emotional exhaustion and reduces athletic ability. The dropout rate involving young athletes in sports has increased yearly.” This shows how there needs to be care for athletes who already deal with stress and try not to put them through any more stress to the point where it decreases their ability to perform as an athlete and also their academic performance. If injuries are going to decrease then there needs to be a way to decrease burnout experienced by athletes, especially for student athletes.

This is also an issue in many other sports as well, not only baseball. This is proven by Dr. Kristopher J. Jones, who is a surgeon at UCLA who specializes in repairing musculoskeletal of the knee, shoulder, and elbow. He is also the head physician for the Los Angeles Lakers and a physician for UCLA Athletics. He said, “ In basketball, many players get “jumper’s knee,” or tendinopathy. Common football-related injuries include shoulder and knee ailments, and cross-country and track-and-field athletes may end up with bone-stress injuries from the constant heel strike on the pavement or from jumping.”(Injuries Among Young Athletes). This passage shows how the specialization of sports continues to prevent athletes from living good, healthy lives after their playing days, making them feel their injuries long after they have stopped playing. Not only do injuries need to slow down for the present person but also for the person who may experience the injury’s future.

However, there are many possible ways to solve these very simple issues. Dr. Kristopher J. Jones says ways to prevent the issues seen from specialization, recommending, “ limiting overall weekly and yearly sports participation time, staying away from repetitive movement and providing scheduled rest periods”(Injuries Among Young Athletes). This passage gives examples of how to reduce the harm caused by the specialization of sports and how it is very important and simple to do. If injuries are going to decrease then there needs to be at least some of the mentioned solutions implemented to stop the problems that are increasing injuries and increasing specialization of sports.