Say your son is a linebacker on the high school football team or your daughter is the star goalie on the soccer team.
He or she suffers a concussion after a brutal hit on the field. What happens next? Does he go to practice the next day? Play the next week? Actually, he should stay off the field for a month because of the risk of developing a brain hemorrhage, but how many parents know that? And what about how to prepare a teenager for competition or what types of foods they need or how much fluid they should drink before, during and after a game?
Often parents and teens just aren’t equipped with the information a student-athlete needs to be healthy and successful, says John Ross, M.D., a UF professor emeritus of pediatrics. That’s why the UF College of Medicine department of pediatrics and the Children’s Miracle Network are holding a free information seminar for parents, athletes and coaches on Aug. 29.
The session will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hilton UF Conference Center and will feature talks on sports issues such as training and conditioning, injury prevention, overuse and orthopedic injuries, head and spine injuries, nutritional requirements for athletes and more, as well as a free lunch for participants.
Speakers include experts from the UF College of Medicine, the UF College of Pharmacy, the UF College of Health and Human Performance and the Florida Athletic Association.