A dangerous game
Visual
Reporter in a news room setting
Transcript
Reporter – “We want our kids to be active. We want them to enjoy, even excel in their sports. But are we, parents and coaches, pushing them too far, too hard?”
Reporter – “New research says yes and it’s doing damage physically and mentally. Kids are turning up with sports injuries you’d expect from professional players. As Melissa Stokes discovers, the field of dreams, can be risky.”
Visual
Kids playing football in a park
Text appears: “Mava Enoke” – “Louisa Cleave” – “Producers”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “They love the game”
Kid 1 – “Yeah I’ve always loved it”
Visual
Kid at a park
Transcript
Kid 1 – “can’t stop playing it”
Visual
Kids playing at the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “So they play”
Kid 2 – “yeah like an adrenaline feeling like”
Visual
Couple of kids sitting at a park
Transcript
Kid 2 – “if you do something good or score a goal you just”
Visual
Kids dribbling football at the park
Transcript
Melissa – “Keep playing”
Kid 1 – “Wanna play professionally at a big club.”
Visual
Kids playing football at the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “and play some more”
Visual
Kids sitting at the park
Transcript
Kid 3 – “professional I guess”
Kid 2 – “yeah”
Kid 3 – “I don’t know”
Kid 2 – “Sign a contract”
Visual
Kids kicking the ball
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “But the way some of our kids are training and over training is proving to be a dangerous game.”
Visual
Man 1 conversing with Melissa stokes in a gym setting
Transcript
Man 1 – “There is those of us out there that are quite driven and we want our child to become the next All Black or next All White”
Visual
Kid Juggling the ball
Transcript
Man 2 – “It’s a harsh way to say it”
Visual
Man 2 conversing with Melissa Stoke in a hall
Transcript
Man 2 – “But if you are over training your child and you are scheduling too many uh activities for them in their day, that is definitely a form of child abuse.”
Visual
Kid with a ball in backyard setting
Transcript
Woman – “And three, two, one, go”
Visual
Kid kicks the ball inside the goal
Transcript
Woman – “He’s just had a passion for it”
Visual
Kid juggling the ball
Transcript
Woman – “and um from a really young age”
Visual
Keagan Thompson putting socks and shoes on in a backyard setting
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Keagan Thompson is one of 250,000 kiwi kids who play sports”
Visual
Focus on the ball with Keagan Thompson in the background
Transcript
Woman – “He is happy on the field”
Visual
Woman sitting in an outdoor setting
Transcript
Woman – “And with his mates and training”
Visual
Keagan Thompson juggling football
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “For 14 year old Keagan, it’s football and it’s hard to keep him off the pitch”
Visual
Keagan Thompson at the park
Text appears: “Keagan Thompson”
Transcript
Keagan Thompson – “About six hours of training on average a week, maybe a bit more.”
Visual
Kegan Thompson playing with football
Transcript
Keagan Thomson – “And then I played for Saint Johns on the Saturday and then I’m in the maverill under 14 team”
Visual
Keagan Thompson at the park
Transcript
Keagan Thompson – “On the Sunday”
Visual
Kids playing indoor football match
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Add futsal to the mix and Keagan’s life revolves around the round ball. Clocking up hours of practice, some week spending more than 10 training and playing. Three years ago, his passion led to a huge opportunity”
Visual
Professional football match
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “A week at premiere club, Westham in the UK”
Visual
Still photo of Keagan Thompson
Transcript
Melissa Thompson – “It doesn’t get much better for a football mad kid”
Visual
Still photo of Keagan Thompson under Westham football club board
Transcript
Melissa Thompson – “And in the short term, it didn’t”
Woman – “He came back all fired up”
Visual
Woman sitting outdoors
Transcript
Melissa Thompson – “First tournament”
Visual
Keagan Thompson at the park
Transcript
Keagan Thompson – “I think I just collided with the goalie and then I was out”
Visual
Woman sitting outdoors
Transcript
Woman – “That’s where it all went downhill from there”
Visual
Keagan and Woman sitting together
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “A knee injury”
Woman – “He would be in the playground”
Visual
Keagan and Woman sitting outdoors
Transcript
Woman – “School and come home and crying or I’d get a phone call and he’d collapsed or out in the”
Visual
Text appears: “Sandra Thompson”
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “garden with the other kids and they’d come running in, Keagan’s in the heap crying”
Keagan Thompson – “Yeah so like my knee would normally buckle in and it would just hurt and it would make me just fall down and start crying cause it would hurt real bad.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson lying down in a medical room
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Doctors first thought it was just a sprain, rest was the best medicine”
Visual
Keagan Thompson sitting down
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “But finally, a few months later an MRI revealed the true diagnosis”
Visual
Keagan and Sandra Thompson sitting outdoors
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “That would just give way and that’s because the whole ligament was gone but no once had actually said that was what had happened.”
Visual
Melissa Stokes sitting outdoors
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “was that because nobody had thought to look for that in an 11 year old?”
Visual
Sandra Thompson sitting outdoors
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “Yeah, cause it just doesn’t happen in such a young kid at that age.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson playing with football
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “At just 11 years old, Keagan’s playing days looked numbered.”
Visual
Animated photo of leg bones and ACL
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “His ACL, a major ligament in the knee had ruptured.”
Visual
Sandra Thomson sitting outdoors
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “Man, I thought oh my god how is he going to sit still and have an injury and not play any sport. As a kid that’s been playing 6 days a week, do nothing”
Visual
Footage of a rugby match
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “These kinds of knee injuries topple many of sports most famous faces.”
Visual
Netball player been handled by medical staff
Transcript
Player – “Really distressing to see something like this.”
Visual
Footage of a netball match
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “They most commonly occur during sports that involve sudden stops or changes in direction like netball and football.”
Visual
Man 1 holding up an ACL prototype
Transcript
Man 1 – “Just a thick piece of tissue. Its like a super strong grissle in steak.”
Visual
Man 1 guiding Keagan Thompson in a gym setting
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Mike Lovell was Keagan’s physio”
Visual
Mike Lovell sitting with Melissa Stokes in a gym
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “So his ACL ruptured at 11, unusual?”
Visual
Text appears: “Mike Lovell” – “Physiotherapist”
Transcript
Mike Lovell – “No, not anymore. Keagan’s my second, I’d seen an 11 year old probably a year prior but now you are getting them as young as 8.”
Visual
Kids playing rugby at the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “He sees some kids being overloaded with training.”
Visual
Mike Lovell sitting in the gym
Transcript
Mike Lovell – “You are getting some of the first of teams, they are doing more trainings sometimes than some of the super sides.”
Visual
Kids playing ruby at the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “And ACC has new stats to back up what Mike is dealing with.”
Visual
Isaac Carlson in a gym setting
Text appear: “Isaac Carlson” – “ACC head of Injury Prevention”
Transcript
Isaac Carlson – “So 10 years ago we look at anterior cruciate ligament injuries uhm only about 2 injuries uhm fast forward to last year that number has increased to nearly 70 and those are the injuries that are uhm typically you’d see in a professional level athlete and not in a young developing child.”
Visual
Kids playing on astroturf
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “ACC’s Isaac Carlson says there has been a 60 percent jump in all injuries among 10 to 14 years old. More than double the rate suffered by the next age group of 15 to 19.”
Visual
Isaac Carlson sitting in the gym
Transcript
Isaac Carlson – “We know in many sports, participation numbers are increasing, however, we are seeing injury numbers increasing more than the participation rates.”
Visual
Kids playing basketball on a court
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Look at basketball, one of the fast growing both in participation and in injury. The 10 to 14 age group has a”
Visual
Text Appear: “173%” and “Source ACC, 2008 – 2017”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “173% more injuries”
Visual
Girl performing gymnastics in a gym setting
Text appear: “98%”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “For gymnastics its 98 percent.”
Visual
Kids playing rugby at the park
Text appear: “19%”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Rugby is up 19 percent.”
Visual
Kids playing netball
Text appears: “74%”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Netball too, rising 74 percent.”
Visual
Isaac Carlson sitting with Melissa Stokes in the gym
Transcript
Isaac Carlson – “Yeah, I’ve seen more young people pushed into higher intensity, higher volume training programs all in the pursuit of professional careers in sport”
Melissa Stokes – “So they are being pushed earlier than they were maybe 10 years ago?”
Isaac Carlson – “Yeah, it appears to be that concepts like early specialization so we are seeing a lot more young people picked up as potential professional athletes.”
Visual
Kids playing rugby at the park
Transcript
Isaac Carlson – “These are young children with developing bodies and don’t yet have the physical resilience to cope with the volume and intensity of training that a professional athlete would do.”
Visual
Melissa Stokes at a park as kids play rugby
Text appears: “Melissa Stokes”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “There are ACC guidelines for how much a child should do in a week, an hour of structured training or sport per year of age. That means an 11 year old should be doing no more than 11 hours training, P.E and game time.”
Isaac Carlson – “That’s the mental burnout as well as physical burnout. It is something to be very mindful of if we pushing young people too hard too soon, leading to a burnout, leading to a drop-off in participation.”
Visual
Tiger woods playing golf in a golf setting
Text appears: “Tiger Woods”
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “And yes, well we all know the back stories of some star athletes like Tiger, golf clubbing hand at two. Early specialization according to the research doesn’t guarantee greatness.”
Visual
Isaac Carlson sitting in the gym with Melissa Stokes
Transcript
Isaac Carlson – “Most of the evidence would aah suggest that children that aah maintain varied background of different activity and don’t specialise early go on to have a longer life of participation in sports and also go on to greater levels of achievement.”
Visual
Close-up of sport shoes and Man 2 conversing with Melissa Stokes in a room
Transcript
Man 2 – “It follows the trajectory of the 8 year old New Zealand player all the way to the age of 26.”
Melissa Stokes – “Being siblers in the business of keeping kids in sport.”
Visual
Man 2 conversing with Melissa Stokes in the hall
Transcript
Man 2 – “We are looking at the kids psychologically, physiologically and emotionally.”
Visual
Man 2 encouraging kids on field
Transcript
Man 2 – “Hey, I have been watching you lately, you’ve been doing great, bit time.”
Visual
Kids passing footballs to each other
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “He is not so worried about specialization but thinks coaches and parents need to be looking at the wider picture and”
Visual
Sign on a caged gate outside the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Monitor a child’s training load.”
Visual
Text appears: “Ben Sippola” – “Ole Football Academy”
Ben Sippola sitting in the hall
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “I think a lotta kids get caught in this fold where they are training at multiple environments”
Visual
People kicking football around in the park
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “which isn’t necessarily a problem but if you have a kid training too much and too often during a week, that might lead to”
Visual
Ben Sippola in the hall
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “burnout or chronic injury or fatigue.”
Visual
Ben Sippola explaining to a bunch of players
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “So train lots but rest lots as well.”
Melissa Stokes – “At Ole Academy in Wellington, he is developing young footballers that were lapping up the Ole way.”
Visual
Couple of kids sitting at the park
Transcript
Kid 2 – “He had a process, it doesn’t matter if you win, it’s just about the training, you gotta work hard”
Kid 3 – “Yeah”
Visual
Kid 1 at the park
Transcript
Kid 1 – “yeah, I had one friend who got injured like every week”
Visual
Kid 1 playing football
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “and why do you think that was?”
Kid 1 – “He like trained too much and like he trained like”
Visual
Kid 1 sitting at the park
Transcript
Kid 1 – “5 times a week and also like extra training at home like he is very good but it’s just that they train too much.”
Visual
Exterior of Ole Football Academy
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “If you play here”
Visual
Player tying his shoes
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “You don’t play for anyone else and this may raise some eyebrows, not even your school team”
Visual
Ben Sippola sitting in the hall
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “We are experts in football development whereas schools expert and academic setting.”
Visual
Kids football training on the field
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “another thing, at training, no parents allowed on the side line.”
Visual
Melissa Stokes conversing with Ben Sippola
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “But are some parent pushing too hard?”
Ben Sippola – “For sure there are some parents that are pushing too hard and you might see some parents that are literally standing on the football pitch. They are trying to play and live like”
Visual
Kids playing football
Transcript
Ben Sippola - “carelessly through their children. Where the best parents are the ones that take a step back uhm literally and figuratively”
Visual
Clears up on a sign hanging outside the field
Transcript
Ben Sippola – “and they are allowing the child to go and express themselves.”
Visual
Melissa Stokes conversing with Sandra Thompson
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “at the time, did you think he was over training and did you think he was doing too much?”
Sandra Thompson – “uhm”
Visual
Keagan Thompson juggling football
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “No, not at the time no, he was just normal, all the other kids were doing, all the other kids. And even now, all his other mates are doing the same.”
Visual
Sandra Thompson conversing with Melissa Stokes
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “But yeah, it’s just about how you manage it.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson dribbling the ball
Transcript
Melissa Thompson – “Keagan with his ruptured ACL was out for 18 months.”
Visual
Sandra Thompson at the park with Keagan Thompson
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “Just depressed, put it under depressed. He was terrible, terrible.”
Visual
Mike Lovell conversing with Melissa Thompson at the gym
Transcript
Mike Lovell – “I picked up on that and it was really hard. It was a case of uhm trying to think up different ways to keep him engaged.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson at the park
Transcript
Kegan Thompson – “Like go watch the game and I just wanna play.”
Visual
Mike Lovell explaining instructions to Keagan Thompson
Transcript
Mike Lovell – “Single hop, three times in each leg.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson jumps around
Transcript
Melissa Thompson – “Having to swap his boots for rehab.”
Mike Lovell – “When I was with the chiefs, we would say to the players, if you gonna get injured, you need to keep rehabbing for your whole professional career. So if you say to somebody who is 12, you got to rehab until you are 30, you don’t want to say that because it’s going to blow their minds.”
Visual
Keagan Thompson playing futsal
Transcript
Keagan Thompson – “Keagan, now a teenager, is back”
Melissa Stokes – “I guess you have talked about the training”
Visual
Melissa conversing with Keagan and Sandra Thompson
Transcript
Melissa Stokes– “do you feel like you are doing a good amount?”
Keagan Thompson – “aah yeah I think I’m doing a good amount”
Melissa Stokes – “Does mum?”
Keagan Thompson – “nah she thinks I’m doing much still.”
Sandra Thompson – “Because it’s the same repetitive movements and”
Visual
Keagan dribbling football past other players
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “same football skills, rules, games, everything. I say they need to do more uhm variation”
Visual
Melissa Stokes talking with Sandra Thompson at the park
Transcript
Melissa Stokes – “Do you worry every time he walks out on to the pitch?”
Sandra Thompson – “Oh yeah, I ah definitely”
Visual
Keagan Thompson stretching beside a desk
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “Few weeks ago, he rang me early from training and first thought was oh my god what’s happened, what’s happened”
Visual
Sandra Thompson at the park
Transcript
Sandra Thompson – “but the lights just went out at training so he needed to get picked up.”
Visual
Reporter at the news studio
Transcript
Reporter – “And this week the Head of Sport NZ and five of the biggest codes of the country will announce a joint stand against early specialization and over emphasis on winning and other factors that are driving kids away from sport. The announcement will be on breakfast on Tuesday morning.”