I read this long piece, and the research is worth archiving. I’ve covered a lot of girls teams and seen more than my share of serious injuries. Our local school utilizes the PEP warm-ups and plyometrics.

Glad you brought this to our attention; I just haven’t much time to be here lately.

I’m also an advocate of head gear for both boys and girls soccer in addition to a changing of the season from early January.

That was one of the best sports pieces I’ve read in a long time – thinks for passing it along. Even more than the injury problems, which might be fixable with proper training, the perspective on youth sports culture and its almost complete disrespect for kids and their future was most disturbing. When will parents ever stop living vicariously through their kids and allow them to do things that will leave them in need of knee and hip replacements in their 30’s and 40’s?