It is very common for many athletes to want to continue playing even when they have either a minor or major injury. This is a very common problem that many coaches have to deal with. Athletes have so much love and passion for the sport they are involved in, that it makes their rationale to get better by continuing to play even when they are injured.

Although many athletes tend to continue playing while being injured, what most of them don’t seem to understand are the long term consequences they might get from playing while being injured. Even having a minor injury like a sprained ankle can soon lead to a long term injury if you don’t rest up.

Taking a break from the sport athletes love playing is definitely one of the hardest things they can go through. Telling an athlete to stop playing the sport they have an extreme passion for is like telling someone to stop eating for a week straight. It is extremely hard for them to do because they love doing it! I have seen many athletes go from having a minor injury, to having a major injury because they did not take the time to rest their minor injury. Instead, they continued playing while being injured and later on got worse and had to take a longer amount of time off than they would have needed if they had decided to rest up their minor injury.

Although taking a break from their favorite sport is almost an impossible task to do as an athlete, they need to understand that it is extremely important to rest up and take care of themselves whether they have a minor or major injury. As an athlete myself, I had to learn to understand that taking a break from doing what I love is only going to benefit me in the long run. Although it is something I do not want to do, I have to do it in order to prevent the injury from getting worse and affecting me in the future if I plan on continuing to be an athlete.