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Tips For Coaches To Help Keep Athletes Healthy

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Linda Crum (@Lg_Crum) played volleyball at University of Iowa and coached at both Iowa State and Ohio State. After a stint as Colorado State University’s Student-Athlete Learning Center Coordinator, she became Positive Coaching Alliance's Chapter Executive Director in Colorado.

Here, Crum talks about steps to keep athletes healthy. One way is to be aware of common overuse injuries in their sport. Another is to cross train athletes so they use different patterns of muscle memory, and ultimately develop a practice plan that is both sensitive to overuse injuries and includes exercises to help prevent these injuries altogether.

Although repetition is important in any sport, it is equally important for the health of the athlete to avoid extreme repetition and use other muscle groups to give the overused muscle groups a break. This way, athletes will stay healthy enough to continue developing without having to stop completely due to an overuse injury.