Growing up I thought I was gonna be a basketball player because that's one sport I've grown to love despite the physical contact that is associated with it. So you might be wondering why I didn't pursue that passion I had. Well, something happened that made me change my mind.
Little background story: Back then in high school, we had this basketball team everyone was eager to join "including me" So what was my reason for wanting to be on the team "I loved the fact that whenever they go to competition with other school, they'd always come out victorious " what a reason (I know right), I wanted to be among the winning team, I mean who doesn't like winning.
So one faithful day, I decided to go to the basketball court where they train to see the coach, gladly the coach was my favorite teacher, so I spoke to him about my intentions to join the team, and then he looked at me with some sort of bombastic side eye like "are you kidding me" he didn't say it out loud but then from his facial expression I can tell "that's what he was saying" but I didn't let that stop me.
After a few minutes of making my intentions known, he asked me to come for training the following day, At that moment "excitement became my middle name" got home that day and shared the goodness with my family but my family's reaction was like that of my favorite teacher's when I first told him about my intentions. I felt like my family didn't believe I had such potential in me, and I was ready to surprise them.
The following day came, and I was ready for the training; during our lunch break, I went to the basketball court and saw them training; I sat down somewhere and was just observing every move the players were making till I saw something that tarnished my basketball dreams. What was that? In the process of training, two persons accidentally used their elbows on each other, and one started bleeding instantly.
Seeing that alone built a level of fear inside of me, and since that day, my passion for basketball drained slowly out of me.
I strongly believe all sports revolve around the word "Risk". The risk of having injuries is often unpredictable, but then when we look at the level of injuries that are associated with sports, we also realize that the risk of injury in some sports is slightly higher than in others.
I love watching sports because of their entertaining nature and how these sports bring people together in harmony and love, my friend will always say "Sports is the only thing that unites us in my nation".
Talking about the subject matter "contact sports." These involve physical contact between competitors. I've heard stories of great people who have sustained severe injuries due to contact sports and have put their careers on hold. These players of contact sports had experienced a series of life-threatening injuries.
Every sport has rules and regulations governing them, and I don't think contact sport is an exception to that. Because such sports have to do with the physical body, you can't predict how the outcome of events will be.
I think the only way such contact sports can be regulated is by providing competitors with enough education on the rules and guidelines, coaches or those who possess higher authority should ensure every player abides by the rules and complies with each of them. And then there should be a constant review of rules and regulations, if one rule isn't working perfectly, then there should be some adjustments to make it suitable for the players to abide by.
I believe injuries can't be prevented totally when it comes to contact sports but then there should be some modifications to increase the level of protection.
Thanks for reading 🧡