It's A Personal Decision

"YOU LET YOUR SON PLAY FOOTBALL???"

Uh...yeah.  I seem to be getting that more and more these days.  It is often followed by the question/statement--"well what about concussions?"  Well, OK, that's an issue.  A big issue.  In all of sport.  Not just football.

As far as I know (and I should know), my son never had a concussion playing football.  I did.  There is one high school game that I don't remember.  At all.

I remember showing up in Dayton, Tennessee for the game and remember lining up across from an All State tackle.  I sort of remember him slapping me on the head and then it all fades. I never came out of the game.

 The next thing I remember is arriving back at my high school.  In film review, I actually played pretty well.  But I sure don't remember it.  This is from a person that can still tell you scores and individual plays some 45 years later.

So I obviously didn't suffer any cognitive damage from concussions from years of playing football (my cognitive insufficiencies are strictly my own).  That was also my only concussion.

So how do I answer the question of how can I possibly allow my child to play a sport where concussions happen?  That's a good question.

Medical science and research has taught how serious concussions can be. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they require our full attention and our best efforts. 

That same medical science and research has taught us how to better deal with concussions.  No longer do we put athletes back in the game once it "appears" that they are OK. 

We treat every blow to the head that results in any symptoms (headache, dizziness, blurred vision...those sorts of things) as a concussion.  And we don't wait until an athlete tells us that they are having a problem. 

If you ever watch one of our athletic trainers watching a game, you will likely see us watching intently.  I want to see how a player reacts to a collision.  Do they stagger away?  Does it seem like they are a bit disoriented?  Does something just not seem right about the way they move?

In the NFL, they even have a staff of athletic trainers whose job is to watch the game on video monitors, replaying possible injury scenarios.  They have the power to pull a player from a game based on all this. 

Once we have decided that something is up, that player must complete a battery of tests that includes balance and cognitive testing.  If there is anything (anything!) that indicates a problem, that game is over for that player. 

Then, for that player to return to sports they must pass a formal and extensive cognitive test, perform a variety of balance activities, and get medical clearance.  No exceptions. 

So what's the bottom line here?  We are better at recognizing possible concussions.  We are better at managing those concussions.  We are better at making sure that it is safe for an athlete to return to their sport. 

But it's still a personal decision.

Live in the Moment

A friend recently sent me a book entitled The Precious Present, written by Spencer Johnson.  Dr. Johnson is widely known for his book The One Minute Manager.

Without spoiling the book for you, let me tell you that it is basically about living in the moment, about enjoying life as you live it.

Let me back up a bit.  Confession time.  I don't do that very well.  I am very task oriented.  I get great satisfaction from completing a task.  The "doing" of the task...eh...not so much.

If you could see my desk, you would see a countertop littered with post-it notes with specific tasks on each one.  Even my computer has an application where another set of post-it notes can be found on the screen in digital form.

I take great pride in tossing those post-it notes in the trash or deleting them from my screen.  That is the final step to completing a task. 

My approach does seem to get a lot of things done.  I will tackle work projects and won't let up until I'm done.  I will work around my yard and will work feverishly just to get to the finish.  I will take a list of chores and go full speed until everything is checked off.

Even on the bicycle sometimes I'm that way.  I just want to get to the finish of the ride.  To accomplish the ride.  It's just the way I'm wired.  Or so I thought. 

A couple of weekends ago, I was trimming some bushes at home.   In typical fashion, I was trying to get finished with that project and get on to the next one.  More check-offs on my list of things to do that day-that's the goal.

But then I stopped and thought about why my friend sent me this book and what Dr. Johnson was trying to tell me.  It was a gorgeous day.  I felt great.  Life was (is) good.  I was doing something productive.  And I thought, what's wrong with being here, being in the now. 

I thought about a message that I've heard former Maryville High football coach George Quarles tell his players many times--about enjoying the moment.  I've heard him tell his players "you're only guaranteed 10 opportunities to play this game.  Don't take this one for granted.  You'll never get it back."

That is so true.  When preseason is in full swing and you're tired and it seems like the first game will never get here, it's easy to wish it would all be over.  But then the games start and the next thing you know, you're in the last game of the season, maybe the last game of your life.

I knew Coach Quarles was a super coach and a great builder of young men but I never realized that some of his lessons could include me.  I probably thought I was too old to listen or something. 

Goodness knows I'm an old dog and we've all heard you can't teach old dogs new tricks. But maybe, just maybe, I should have been listening all along.  Maybe life wouldn't be speeding by so fast if I would take the time to stop and smell the roses.

So here's the advice of the day:  Whatever you're doing, enjoy the moment.  Enjoy the journey.  Enjoy the game.

Sports Injuries Summarized

I've been on a bit of a theme lately.  What I would consider to be the pillars for success at sports and life.  Hard work.  Integrity.  Focus.

So before my Favorite Person tells me I should get back to writing about athletic injuries and stuff like that, I'm going to go there on my own.  I mean, that is what I do and probably what I know best.

Let's talk about concussions (everyone else is...we might as well join them). Concussions are a real concern.  They simply cannot be taken lightly.  The long term effects are too serious.

For high school athletes here, we do ImPACT testing pre-season on as many as we can.  That gives us a baseline on brain function and helps us make better decisions.  Beyond that, we treat every blow to the head that results in symptoms as a concussion until convinced otherwise. 

Before anybody can go back to their sport after having had what appears to have been a concussion, they must first have medical clearance, pass cognitive testing, pass balance testing, and then go through a series of activities and exercises, basically simulating their sport in a monitored environment.  And they have to do that without any of their symptoms coming back.

And knee injuries.  If your knee hurts, you really need a proper diagnosis.  I've seen too many cases of self-diagnosis where delay in getting proper treatment was a big mistake.   See the experts.

Ankle injuries?  Ice and protection.  Ankle injuries are easily the most common sports injury.  Usually the foot goes in and the ankle hurts on the outside. 

Shoulder problems?  A big part of it is probably your posture.  Every single day, I see patients with shoulder injuries.  And almost every one of them has some postural component.  We call it "inturned" shoulders.

When you stand up, are your hands in front of your body?  That comes from your shoulders.  A big part of it is the world we live in.  Everything we do is in front of us.  Computers.  Driving.  On and on.

Neck hurts? Again, heavily influenced by posture.  I saw a photo of myself from the side this week.  Oh my...I've got to work on my posture.

TMJ problems?  Go to a soft diet and see a dentist or oral surgeon that knows something about the TMJ.

Shin splints?  It's probably your feet.  Really.  Foot problems that increase the impact forces of running are the most likely culprit.  Correct the way the foot hits the ground and you fix the problem.

Hip pain?  Again, you need a good diagnostic workup.  It can be so many things.  See your orthopedist.  Don't wait too long on this one.

Elbow hurts when you throw?  You need an athletic trainer to look at your throwing motion.

Hand or fingers numb or tingly?  Could be coming out of your neck.  Get it checked.

Wheezing when you exercise?  Asthma.  Very treatable.   I do seem to see too many athletes with bronchodilators (inhalers), claiming asthma.  Those things should not be used for performance enhancement.  I'm afraid that's what's happening too often.

Above all else, trust your body, seek professional help, don't ignore warning signs, and don't turn to the internet for medical advice. 

FOCUS!

I had the good fortune to reconnect with a friend from the past recently (I'll not call him an "old" friend--we're not there yet, at least in our own minds).

Bart Iddins and I grew up in the same hometown, in the same church, and we were in Boy Scouts together.  Both of us attended UT where neither of us started college with a bang.  That's where the story begins.

Bart went on to veterinarian school, set up a practice, joined the Air Force, then went to medical school.  I went to physical therapy school, ended up starting a practice in Maryville, and have lived most of my life here (so far).

Dr. Iddins has literally traveled the globe, having served multiple deployments and enjoyed a rather spectacular career in military service.

I have found a community that has embraced me; a place where I was allowed to grow a career that has taken me places that I never even dreamed of.

Dr. Iddins is now a Major General (a 2 star general) based at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, in direct command of 8000 troops and indirect command of another 14,000.  I was in San Antonio last week for a meeting and quite by chance reconnected with him.

And then we discovered that we both loved bicycles and so we set up a bike ride on a gorgeous Saturday morning.  While cruising the Texas countryside, we went from catching up with where our lives had taken us to talking about how we got there. 

What we discovered is that we had similar stories.  Average kids from a small town, no one ever really thought either of us was destined for the incredible lives we have both led. 

No one except our mothers.  Blessed with strong mothers, Bart and I were given positive affirmations from an early age.  I remember my mom telling me "now you tell those girls at that school how good looking you are" when I knew it wasn't true but it was probably what I needed to hear at the time.  Early on, I lacked confidence in a lot of arenas.

We both learned a lot about leadership from our Boy Scout days.  Adult leaders that placed us in positions of increasing responsibility--it was a microcosm of leadership development. 

Even growing up, we both had a whole lot of focus.  As teenagers, we were into strength training.  Some of our workouts were positively brutal.  Both of us are Eagle Scouts. 

We agreed that neither of us ever tired of learning.  Both avid readers, when we get beyond the technical aspects of our jobs we love good books. 

For the past few weeks, I've addressed a lot of things that might form the pillars for success in life and athletics.  Hard work.  Integrity.  Dedication.

Today, the message is the importance of focus.  I've seen it time and time again.  The ability to focus on the task at hand gives you the absolute best chance of success regardless of the arena. 

I'm notorious for over-promising and multi-tasking.  But what I've discovered is that when something becomes a priority, laser-sharp focus gets it done.

Keeping Score

I hear the comment from time to time "I wish I knew then what I know now."  I don't know so much about that.  What we know  about life, we've had to live.  There isn't a guidebook.


I've said many times that sports are life lessons but just what does that mean?  It means (in my opinion) that sports participation provides with opportunities to learn about life, about who we are, and about how to deal with the rest of the world.


It's about setting goals and reaching them.  About working hard and seeing the fruits of your labor.  We probably don't realize it at the time (as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure of this) but we are learning about how to be successful adults all the time during this phase of our life.


When I was growing up, it seemed to be all about keeping score.  About everything.  And usually not about the stuff that really mattered. 


Stuff like what kind of car you drove.  Or who stayed home on Saturday night.  Which girl liked you and which one you liked.  What to wear to impress the girls.


(If there seems to be a common theme here, well...there is.  Girls, football, and gas money were about all we cared about back then.)


I can remember one time that my best friend and I bought the latest and greatest athletic shoes--the running shoes of the day.  I remember them well-white Adidas with red stripes.  We went to school the next day and thought we were hot stuff.  Except that we were semi-embarrassed that both of us were wearing the exact same shoes. 


Things haven't changed much.  It's always the latest and greatest.


Later on it became questions about what were you going to do with the rest of your life.  Or how many friends you might have.  You might always wonder if you were popular or good looking. 


Deeper questions should have been things like were you trustworthy.  Did you make good decisions.  Were you a good person.  We didn't really think about that stuff but it drove a lot of what we did and who we were to become.


You see, we were oblivious to these things while actually growing up.  But our experiences were molding us along the way, changing us, slowly forming the person that we were to become. 


A lot of people I grew up with didn't really figure it out.  Or didn't figure it out for a very long time.  It's sad really.  Some of those aren't with us anymore.  Some were never able to take those lessons that they learned on the playing field or court and apply them to real life.


Do you think things are different today?  Oh heavens no.  The same issues, the same problems, the same dramas are still with us.  They might look differently but they're the same thing.


Same song, different verse.


Just remember--life is about how you treat people.  Life is about doing your homework.  It's about doing what you say and saying what you mean.  It's about building a life and being happy with who you are.

SUCCESSS WITHOUT INTEGRITY IS ALSO WITHOUT VALUE

Last week I wrote about how work was essential to success and that it wasn't always going to be easy.  I'd like to add this week that success without integrity is  also without value.

Some of the best stories out there about integrity in sports can be found on social media.  Like the special needs kid in New Mexico that was inserted at the end of a basketball game and allowed to score a basket. 

Or another that scored a touchdown for his football team and his teammates and opponents celebrated together. 

You may remember several years ago about a college softball player that was injured while running out a home run.  The opposing team carried her around the bases.  Her own team couldn't touch her or it would have negated the run. 

Think about that....the OPPOSING team carried her.  Call it sportsmanship, character, compassion--whatever.  It certainly reflects integrity.

If you follow football around here at all, you've heard about T.D. Blackman.  All State linebacker.  Signed to play football at the Air Force Academy. 

It's been my pleasure to be around this young man for the past four years.  His perpetual smile exceeds only his uncanny ability to always be in the right place at the right time on the football field as my favorite traits of T.D.

But someone mentioned to me this week an episode where the character of the young man was on display.  He performed an act of kindness with no chance of anything in return.  That's T.D.  That's integriy.

This year, I watched several of my student trainers perform random acts of kindness toward others.  I was more proud of them doing that than pretty much anything else they could have done.

And there's one really special soccer player that really didn't know what an incredible deed she was doing when she simply treated someone with incredible kindness.

I was examining her ankle at football practice when a young man that falls under that category of "special needs" came up.  Obviously quite enamored of this pretty girl, he really was uncomfortably close.  He just really didn't know any better.  His behavior was not inappropriate, just awkward.

Most teenage girls would have withdrawn, at least shunned the invasion of their space. Some would have visibly demonstrated their displeasure.  Not this one.  She was  nice to him, even tried to make him comfortable.

I'll not embarrass either party by mentioning names but some mom and dad have every reason to be proud.  It was a brief, minor episode but revealed SO much about her character.  I will be a fan forever.

I happen to firmly believe that our best deeds are done without anyone knowing who did them.  Or not doing them on a stage where our actions or our intentions are obvious.

When we do things without any expectations of return, our true character is revealed--the depth of our integrity is revealed. 

And success in any arena, sports or life, without integrity is not worthy of us.

It's Supposed to be Hard

You've heard all the clichés.  "No pain, no gain."  I guess that means that if it doesn't hurt, it isn't good for you.  Not sure I agree with that.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."   Well...maybe most of the time.  Although Randall Cobb could take a decade off and still beat me at anything, at any age, at any time.

"Nothing worth having comes easy."   I can't completely agree with that one either.  Maybe this one is a lot deeper than I'm willing to go while sitting at my keyboard this morning.

"Success isn't given.  It's earned with blood, sweat, and tears."   Ahhh, getting closer.  I suppose you could argue that the son or daughter that inherits their parent's successful company didn't really earn it.  Maybe it becomes their job not to mess it up.

"Nothing works unless you do."  Oh yeah, now we're getting there.  You gotta put in the work.  Whatever arena you happen to be in. 

School?   I didn't really know what work was.  School was always easy for me.  I could make B's with little effort.  I sort of floated along.  But then B's wouldn't cut it anymore and it had to be all A's or I wasn't going to be able to pursue my dream to become a physical therapist. 

That's when I learned to work. 

Career?  You might get your dream job for all the right reasons but there is a whole lot of separation between doing your job and being excellent.   When they're getting started, nobody aspires to be mediocre.

But then "stuff" gets in the way and you find yourself clocking in, putting in the hours, then clocking out and going home.  You do the work but so does everyone else.

If you want to be the best, you've got to put in the work.  Reach for the stars and even if you don't quite make it, you will like where you land.

Sports?  This is where I learned what work was all about.  You've heard me quote my high school coach.  "If he works at it, he can be a good one."

After watching literally thousands of athletes grow up in this community, I can tell you that a lot of the time, the ones that I admire the most are those that might not have all the talent in the world but had great successes on the courts and playing fields because they worked hard.

I'll not embarrass anybody by calling names.  But I've seen a lot of undersized football linemen with tons of heart and huge work ethics win championships.

The best of those then take that on to real life and become champions at life too.

Sports reward hard work.  You can't do anything about your talent level, that came from your gene pool.  But you can do something about your work habits.

So if you want to be good, here's my advice.  Show up on time.  Work hard every time.  Don't take any shortcuts. Work hardest on what you don't like.  Stay coachable.  Finish what you do.