Sports are super important to teenagers mental and physical health, but unfortunately with sports comes injuries.

Many athletes have experienced the pain of injuries and it affects everyone differently.

Boston Children’s Hospital has shown that injuries affect athletes more psychologically than physically and mental health can affect recovery. Read more here.

Mental health contributes to your physical health as well and affects how your body performs.

Unfortunately for many athletes even though they are experiencing a physical injury, they often feel the mental affects more.

Logan Kiser, senior, said, “Overall, I think that the mental toll that injuries have on you is way more important than the physical toll, because at the end of the day, your body will heal, but, it’s a mental battle to get back to playing sports again.”

Kiser has faced many injury setbacks throughout high school, such as a broken hand, broken fibula (three times), broken ankle, torn mcl, a broken humorous and a pulled hamstring and every time has faced more of a mental setback than physical setback.

Although injuries test athletes, the reward of getting back to what you love is so worth it.

Kiser said, “I’d say the biggest reward is proving yourself right and the fact that you were able to overcome something, like an injury. Also, just to get you ahead in that mental space, knowing that you can do it again. I think it is the biggest, biggest thing.”

For some, injuries fall at the absolute worst time.

Read Morton, baseball player and senior, recently suffered a bad ankle injury in the second round of playoffs and is out for the remainder of the season.

The baseball team has had a really successful post season run and has advanced to the fourth round.

The final moments of him getting to play baseball have been taken from him and has to watch from the sidelines.

Morton said, “Most of the time it’s more mental, because you can’t play anymore. It’s my senior season, so I’m basically done with baseball, and it was one play that changed it.”

Morton also said that he has struggled more mentally with his injury knowing that he won’t get to step on the field to play for the Pride again.

Getting to stay around the team and cheer them on is a distraction from what is happening and makes you still feel a part of the team.

Morton said, “Just stay up in the dugout, try and encourage my teammates and stuff.

Like many athletes, being able to stay with the team and support them helps them. Morton said, “Oh, yeah, definitely [it helps me].” 

Many times when athletes get hurt, the pain of knowing they may not be able to play for a while is worse than the actual pain of the injury.

Sportsmed.org indicates that poor mental health while recovering from injury can lead to prolonged recovery time and additional medical issues. Read more here.

Many athletes feel that getting to stay around the sport and with the team keeps their mental health stable as they get to hang with their friends and around the sport that brings them so much joy.

Even though injuries vary in severity, any type of injury can affect people and everyone deals with them differently. 

Although many injuries technically affect athletes physically, many athletes feel it takes a larger toll on their mental health because something they love so deeply is taken from them.