Youth Soccer Growing In Popularity and Injury

Today the Yakima City Council is holding a study session on the new SOZO soccer complex.  It’s already awesome but it is going to be that and so much more when its fully developed and the road work is complete.

One thing to keep in mind amidst all the fun, competition and economic success is the safety of the players.

Youth soccer injuries have skyrocketed in the United States. Between 1990 and 2014, emergency rooms across the U.S. saw a 111-percent increase in the annual injury rate for young soccer players.

CNN says more than 70 percent of those injuries were in older children, ages 12 to 17. Kids in this age group also were more than three times as likely to be injured. Sprains or strains were the most common injuries, accounting for 34.6 percent of all injuries, followed by fractures at 23.2 percent. Soft tissue injuries like lacerations and abrasions accounted for 21.9 percent of injuries.