Sports injuries impact on academic performance

Jasper Winterton
Feature/Video Editor

“My injuries specifically made it impossible for me to spend a whole day at school for almost nine months,” Luca Tetreault, senior, said.

Tetreault has been involved in sports for the majority of her high school career, and she is involved in both softball and wrestling. She has gotten three concussions, a cervical spine ligament injury, a high ankle sprain and a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) through her athletic involvement.

Rachel Winingham, school nurse, said via email “Sports injuries can definitely affect students’ academic performance as well as mental health. Sports injury management should always include academic and mental health support.”

According to a Cureus article, “High school students are highly active and often experience sports-related injuries, particularly during school activities. These injuries can profoundly affect students’ academic performance and mental health.” A study cited in the article found that 65% of students involved experienced a sports related injury in their high school years, and 56% reported obtaining three sports related injuries.

“My concussions made it difficult to read because my eyes were damaged … I wasn’t allowed to use technology too much because it hurt my head. The concussions also gave me headaches whenever it was too bright in the classroom or too loud,” Tetreaut said.

Tetreaut added coaches need to understand that if someone gets hit in the head, even slightly hard, they should still sit out until they are checked out. She added that she has gotten a lot of support from her teachers and wrestling coaches.

“The hardest part about being injured in school is that if nobody can see that you’re injured then it’s almost like they just don’t believe you. When I had the neck brace people treated me like I was seriously injured, but when I stopped wearing it that was when everybody expected me to go back to normal, like nothing ever happened even though I was still hurting,” Tetreaut said.

Winingham said teachers, coaches, and administrators “Can be empathetic and validate feelings, ensure academic and appropriate team inclusion and provide practical support to combat isolation and frustration that are common with sports-related injuries” to support students dealing with injuries.

Jasper Winterton-Feature Editor This will be Jasper Winterton’s first year on ECHO staff. He made several contributions while taking journalism class his freshman year.

Support our Sponsors