Player_Trainer
A student trainer assists a Timber Creek football player on the sidelines. (File photo)

Injury is hard to avoid, especially if you play sports. Players in all sports risk injury when they step up to hit, run, swing, shoot, or throw.

Whether the injury is big or small, every player on the team is bound to get at least one injury during the season. It’s the middle of soccer season and the girls’ varsity team get new scratches and bruises everyday from practice and especially from games.

Senior varsity player Kristin Talbot knows what its like to be out for a game because of injury.  “Common soccer injuries include muscle pulls or tears and concussions.” She says. “A minor injury will usually take a week and a half to two to recover, but it totally depends on the injury.”

During the weeks a player is injured they still go to practice and work with the trainers to try and speed up the healing process. The get ice, heat or have physical therapy sessions to get them back on the field as soon as possible.

The team makes an effort to be in the best condition possible to play but sometimes its impossible to avoid injury. Because everyone gets injured at different times and from different things there is almost always an injured player. “This season we have had a range of people out per game. We usually have two or three, but we’ve had as many as five or six during pre season tournaments.” Talbot continues.

Injuries not only effect the player injured but the team as well. Talbot says, “When players are injured, we have to change our game plan a bit. A new formation is written for the games and some people play in different positions. As a team we have to adapt to the situation and remain focused on the game ahead of us.”

Soccer is very much a team sport. Everyone has to do there part and do it to the best of there ability all the time. The girls have to trust each other and rely on each other when one of them gets injured.  Payton Chronister, a junior, elaborates, “We are lucky this year to have some depth on the bench and that we can trust everyone on the team to put forth 100 percent effort.”

While every player will likely be injured at some point during the season all of the players work hard to make sure they have a successful season.