Impact of Injuries

            Having injuries can really affect your entire season and your ability to run and compete. Injuries not only effect the injured athlete but can also effect the entire team. Some injuries may not last very long and before you know it you are back running but some injuries can last a really long time and you may never get to see the track before the end of the season.

            I have been really lucky in my running career to have been able to avoid any injuries. I have yet to be seriously injured or even to just have something like shin splits. But a lot of my teammates have faced injuries in their running careers and I always feel bad for them when they have to sit out.

            Really serious injuries can put a runner out for the whole season and the whole team can be affected. In track if that runner is who is injured normally runs on relays they have to find someone to fill in for that person and even if the athlete normally only runs individual events it still impacts a team because it can cause the team to lose some of the points that they might normally gain in a meet.

            Other smaller, not as serious injuries can be very bothersome to a team as well. If someone has shin splits, which can be painful but still isn’t too serious of an injury, they can still normally run in meets but a lot of times they might sit out of practice to ice their shins or to bike or some other activity that won’t affect their shins as much as running. When they sit out of practice it seems like the runner is normally more behind all their teammates and behind the place where they could be if they were practicing with the rest of the team. It can also be frustrating if a teammate is injured so they are normally never at practice but you still have to go to practice every day and work hard while the other teammate may automatically just run in varsity races anyway.

            If an athlete is injured whether it is with very serious injuries or ones that still allows them to run it can still be very frustrating for the whole team. If you have relay that is normally dependent on an athlete who is injured it can be hard to find a replacement that can fill in for that athlete. It can also be very frustrating for the injured athlete to be unable to practice and run with their team and instead they are forced to just sit on the bench and watch. (445)