Over 30 million children play organized sports today. Competitive sports used to mean varsity and JV teams in high school and college, but now there is a wide range of recreational and competitive teams for younger and younger children--there are now select travel teams for seven year olds! How can parents help their children balance the stress that comes with long practices, long road trips, and full academic schedules? What is the impact of prolonged physical and strength training on growing bodies? How can parents recognize and prevent fractures, torn ligaments, and repetitive stress injuries? THE YOUNG ATHLETE, by America's premier pediatric sports medicine specialist, provides two kinds of guidelines. First, it will help parents keep perspective when it comes to helping their children reap the benefits of organized sports and avoid the extremes of win-at-all-costs types of play. Addressing the concerns of mothers who have no experience in the sports arena, Metzl shows how they can encourage their daughters to achieve their utmost potential. Second, this book focuses on strategies--like strength training and sports nutrition--that can help prevent injuries. Dr. Metzl shows parents how to diagnose the most common injuries and determine their level of seriousness, as well as an outline of the nutritional needs of the developing athlete. Dr.

Jordan D. Metzl is the founding medical director of the Sports Medicine Institute for Young Athletes, which opened in July 2001 in New York City, at the Hospital for Special Surgery. He is also is a former member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Medical Advisory Board, team physician for Fieldston and Trinity schools in NYC and Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, and the head physician for the Radio City Rockettes. A regular CBS medical contributor, Dr. Metzl appears bimonthly on the Saturday Early Show, and lectures and speaks regularly across the country.