Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

Boom!

She shoots!

She scores!

Welcome to “More childhood, please.™” A show for kids by kids.

It's part of the Akron Children's mission to help you make the most of your time as a kid, with fun ideas, challenges and ways to spend time with friends and family.

I'm Lily, and I'm Rhys.

Wow, Rhys, I wondered why your defense was a bit off today.

What happened?

Well, I was doing ballet and my doctor told me that I had a stress fracture.

So, it might have been a little bit too much ballet.

Well, hey, that's perfect.

How is this perfect?

Because today's episode is about sports.

We'll take a look at a few different sports and see why kids love them, the ups and downs of being an athlete and a whole lot more.

Plus, later on, we can ask a doctor about the best way to recover from an injury, like, let's say, a stress fracture.

See, I told you it was going to be perfect.

So you down to get sporty?

Totally.

As long as I don't have to sprint, jump, tackle somebody or rond de jambe or anything like that.

You got it.

This is “Sports.” Hey, Lily, do you ever play sports with the kids in your neighborhood and make up your own rules?

Yeah.

I go down to my cousin's house and we play kickball.

First base is the car, second base is the tree and third base is the neighbor's driveway.

And there are no steals whatsoever.

Perfect.

Some people think sports are too structured these days.

So, we're going to see what happens when a group of kids organizes their own touch football game the old-school way with no parents.

This is the “Pickup Game Challenge.” All right, guys, so what game are we going to play?

Football.

Football?

Let's do it.

All right, guys, let's do this.

Me and Anthony should be team captains.

Me and Bobby should be team captains.

All right, I think we should do rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first.

All right.

All right, I won.

All right.

I choose Rocco.

Maddie.

I pick Mikey.

Patrick.

I choose Annie.

Charlie.

I choose Sean.

Will.

I█ll take Maggie.

I'll take Claire.

This way or this way?

That way.

Put the cone down and then go that way.

Team name?

We should be “The Warriors.” All right, I'll be “The Warriors.” Yeah, Warriors sounds good.

“The Brilliant Team.” Okay.

“The Brilliant Team.” Since you got picks first, we get, we get ball first.

All right, that█s fair.

You kick.

Let’s do it.

In the last 40 years, the culture around youth sports has changed a lot.

Today, it's far less common to see a group of kids play a pickup game without adults organizing it.

All right, we need a team huddle.

Yeah, just look for the open person.

Just try to get open guys, we got this.

Hut.

Oh, what a catch.

Oh.

Oh.

Good job, Will.

You guys go mid and then you and you will go deep and then you just run short if I need you.

Sounds good.

OK.

Break.

Set hut.

I got Patrick.

He’s throwing it deep.

Oh no.

Watch out.

Yes!

Set hike.

Good play.

Yeah, Maggie.

Good play.

Hike.

Let█s go!

Touchdown!

Let█s go.

Let█s do this.

Let█s go.

All right, one more, we win.

Oh my bad.

Yes.

You█ve gotten an interception almost every possession.

Rocco’s cookin’ right now.

Ready set hike.

Oh, Oh, Oh.

Let█s go!

On two people!

What█s going on.

So, what were you guys█ thoughts on the teams?

Do you think they█re even?

We dominated.

Definitely not.

I think it was close, but Rocco had like eight interceptions.

Rocco had to be MVP.

Who do you think had like best play?

Rocco.

Rocco.

I think it was Rocco.

Rocco caught it.

I think it was Patrick's one hander.

No, I think it was Rocco.

It was Rocco's catch over two people.

Yeah.

That was, that was pretty good.

Patrick’s second.

So I think we should, get rid of blitzing.

It's just really annoying.

Leave blitzing.

No, no, blitzing.

Should we take a vote?

Yeah, let’s take a vote.

Sure let’s vote.

Who wants blitz?

I guess we won.

Who doesn█t want blitz?

Yeah.

Oh it█s a tie.

Oh, no, you guys won.

Oh.

Yeah.

No blitzing.

No blitzing.

All right, fine, no blitzing.

Do you guys think we should make the field bigger at all?

Yeah, yeah.

Just a little wider.

Yeah.

The length was pretty good.

Yeah.

Ready?

Yeah.

Let's go.

Let's do it.

Hi, everybody.

Hi guys.

We're the Golden Knights.

We're going to crush ‘em.

This’ll be an easy win.

Easy win.

One.

Two.

Three.

Golden Knights.

We're The Cooks.

I'm Will.

Charlie.

I'm Bobby.

I'm Rocco.

I'm Annie.

I'm Maggie.

And we█re The Cooks.

We could do something for everyone, not just dancing around the ball.

You hold the ball and then you fake juke, and then everyone falls over.

Yeah!

Oh.

One.

One.

Two.

Three.

Cooks.

Yeah.

Yeah, Claire!

Set hut.

Yeah, Pat.

Good defense.

Set hut.

Will.

Here Will!

Oh.

Anthony!

Yeah, Sean.

Yeah, good catch.

Yes.

Let's go.

Annie!

Maggie!

You scored!

Oh wait, I did?

Great job, Maggie.

Wooh.

Here, here, here.

Yes.

Hike.

Sean!

Oh.

Go, run run.

Oh.

Get him.

Set hut.

Oh he slung that.

Oh, yeah, Charlie.

Yeah.

That's you.

Good game.

Good game.

Great game.

Great game.

Good game.

Good game.

Good game.

I'm Maggie Chambers.

Quiet on set.

OK.

What was your favorite part of the game today?

I definitely liked my team█s touchdown, touchdown dance.

It was really fun.

Like, they, someone like juked someone out and then we all fell sideways.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What do you like about pickup sports?

Just like the freedom you get to have.

Probably just seeing friends and just getting to know people.

Just getting to play for fun.

And it doesn█t have to be competitive.

You can play in your free time instead of in a scheduled time.

There's no coaches.

There's no coaches.

There's no coaches involved, so you can kind of do whatever you want.

Pick your own teams, you know, have fun.

You don't have to be good at the sport to play them.

It█s just for fun.

Hanging out with other kids.

No pressure at all.

I just like pickup sports.

Yeah.

What's your favorite food to eat after, like, a basketball game or a pickup game?

That's a good question.

Probably chicken and rice.

Maybe like a smoothie.

Oh, yum.

Usually, like, fruit or something.

Some soup.

Pizza.

Pizza.

Yeah, yeah, I get that.

Chicken and cheese quesadilla.

Water.

Water, water is good to have after a game.

Yeah.

OK.

Thank you for your interview.

Of course.

Bye.

Bye, Maggie.

Bye.

“More childhood, please.™” If you have kids in sports, this segment is for you.

These are the do's and don'ts for sports parents.

Should I push my kid to try harder if I feel like they have more potential?

Do support your child and talk about effort.

Don't push your child if they are upset or disappointed about their performance.

How do I tell if my kid is just having a bad week, or if they need a break from sports?

Do talk to your child about their recent experiences, such as with their coaches, teammates or even at school with their teachers.

Don't push them to make decisions right in the moment.

Should I deny access to sports as discipline for misbehavior?

Don't take away sports as a form of punishment, that then penalizes their teammates, coaches and those around them.

Do set boundaries or limitations around sports, such as not allowing them to hang out with their friends after games or practices.

Our next segment is about a common problem: overspecialization.

Experts have said focusing too hard on just one sport can cause injuries.

Those injuries, like, you know, can happen from repeated movements.

Now, we're going to see a local team mix up their practice to avoid these kind of problems.

This is “The Sports Switch-Up.” Hi, I'm Cassie, I'm an athletic trainer with Akron Children's.

I work with Nordonia High School and I help out with the football team.

Today, I'm here with Coach Jeffrey Fox, and we're here to talk about overspecialization in sports.

Welcome to “The Sports Switch-Up.” Tilt pistol Oklahoma blue ball ball.

All right, men, today we're going to talk about something that's built into our program year-round to care for you both physically and mentally.

But we think a lot about overspecialization and varying things up, so we're doing different things at different times.

Cassie, you want to explain what that is a little bit more?

Yeah.

Overspecialization is when a younger athlete focuses on one sport year-round.

It can cause overuse injuries, it can cause burnout, mental health issues.

So by focusing on multiple sports, it allows our body to work through those and try to prevent some of that stuff.

Yeah.

And it's built in year round.

You guys know we vary our warmup.

We play different games as part of our offseason.

So today, guys, we are going to do something we do about once a week anyways within quarterback individuals, we play ultimate football.

Today we're going to play ultimate Frisbee for a few minutes to change things up on your bodies.

It's just one part of how we prepare you every week.

And today is going to be a great practice in preparation for this Friday.

Let's go get after it today.

Let's go.

Yeah.

Kids today face a lot of pressure to play at a high level, specialize in one sport early and play year-round.

This focus on specialization has led to more overuse injuries, overtraining and burnout.

I've got Trent here.

He's a member of our football team.

Trent what position do you play on the football team?

I'm a linebacker and an O-lineman.

OK.

And how did you enjoy playing ultimate Frisbee for practice today?

It was really fun to come out here and do something different and take a load off me mentally and physically.

Besides football, do you do any other sports?

I wrestle and I run track.

You wrestle, run track and you play football.

Yeah.

How does it feel to be a three-sport athlete?

It's really fun to be around three different atmospheres year-round and enjoy different teammates at different times of the year.

And hone different parts of my athleticism as well.

Coach, besides mixing things up during practice, are there other things that people can do to prevent overspecialization?

We think about it all the time and we do a lot and it starts in the offseason within our weight room program that yeah, you got to get strong to be healthy.

But we incorporate a variety of different warmups and mobility exercises from the ankle through the neck.

And then the variety you saw with the ultimate today, we█ll play basketball, we'll go in the wrestling room and do different crawling things in addition to letting them roll around or play dodgeball.

So we try to incorporate a lot of variety.

One big part of it is what you see today.

Our varsity team is in a hat day or a no sweat Wednesday.

Where we're really backing off them physically, but it's a great mental day.

And I think that's been a lot of us trying to peak at the end of the season and be our best to make kids healthy, both physically and mentally at the end of the season.

Awesome.

Well, thanks for letting us take over practice today.

Go Akron Children's.

Go Knights.

Thanks again to the Nordonia Knights football team for switching up their practice for us.

I'm always up for trying different sports.

How about you?

For sure.

I just wish it was easier to get the hang of new things right away.

I remember when I first got my Rollerblades and I was falling a lot.

Figuring out a sport can take a while.

And even when you get good at it, you can still drop the ball, trip over first base or lose a shoe when you go to kick a ball.

Those would be called sports bloopers.

And we've got some good ones that parents caught on camera.

Let's check them out.

Oh!

Get up!

Run!

Ready, George?

There were some pretty funny tumbles and falls in those bloopers.

I just hope nobody got hurt.

Me too.

Injuries can be scary.

Do you know anyone who's gotten a concussion playing sports?

Those can happen when you hit your head really hard, right?

Yeah.

I heard you had to miss school for a few days if you get one and you might not feel right for weeks after.

I don't know much about concussions other than I don't want to get one.

Let's have an Akron Children's sports medicine doctor teach us more about concussions and how to avoid them.

This is “All About Concussions” Hi, I'm Doctor Aaron Sweeney.

I'm a sports medicine physician with Akron Children's.

We're here at the Akron Children's Sports Health facility at the University of Akron.

I'm here with Andrew.

He's a collegiate soccer player, played soccer most of his life.

And we're going to be talking about concussions, a serious but common injury seen in the world of sports.

Hi, Andrew.

How's it going?

Good, I█m good.

Are you familiar with what the symptoms of concussion are?

Yeah, so a lot of my teammates have said they had, headache or loss of balance.

Headache is by far and away the most common concussion symptom.

But it's not the only symptom we see.

And there are some concussions that don't have headache.

Other symptoms that we often see are light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, trouble sleeping, mood changes.

But sometimes it's just a feeling of just not being yourself.

And so it can make diagnosis difficult.

So what sports would concussions be most common?

Yeah.

So American football definitely gets the most attention.

And it is the sport that has the highest incidence of concussion, meaning it happens most frequently.

However, a close second is actually women's soccer, slightly above men's soccer, but also other sports like lacrosse and basketball.

No sport really that involves any sort of high level activity is immune to concussion.

And we see it all across the board.

So how would you know when you have a concussion?

Is there a test?

Yeah.

So we always start with a basic symptom score, just asking how they feel going through some of the symptoms that we talked about earlier.

And that kind of leads us down a road of further evaluation.

But you can't diagnose concussion solely based on symptoms.

So we also like to look at balance.

There's some standardized balance tests that we go through.

And we also like to look at cognitive function.

So assessing memory, reaction time so we can put the whole picture together rather than using any one tool or test on its own.

Are there scans that you can do to figure out if there is a concussion?

Yeah, so that's a common question that comes up.

So imaging studies are sometimes used in the evaluation of head injuries.

But it's important to note that imaging studies, whether that be a CT scan or MRI, can't diagnose concussion.

They're really implemented when we need to rule out other things that happen sometimes in association with severe head injuries, things like fractures and bleeding.

But overall, most concussions can be diagnosed without any sort of imaging study.

So what would one of those images look like?

Yeah.

So, we can actually go up to the imaging suite if you'd like to take a look at a CT scan to show you what we're looking for when we're evaluating a head injury.

Yeah.

Let's go.

All right, so we're here in the imaging suite, and I have a CT scan pulled up on a patient that was recently diagnosed with concussion.

Again, I want to emphasize that we don't need imaging to diagnose concussion.

However, if the trauma is significant or there's something concerning on exam for things like a structural brain injury, bleeding, fracture, things along those lines, sometimes a CT scan is needed in the acute setting to rule out those other conditions that can happen.

So, here we're kind of scrolling through the images.

And really what we're looking for is any disruption, first of all in the skull itself.

So the bright white that you're seeing is the skull that surrounds the brain.

If there was a fracture, you would see disruption in that bright white barrier that we're seeing.

So that's one of the first things we're looking for as we scroll up and down.

Structurally things were normal, so there was no skull fracture identified.

And you can see that continuous white barrier remains throughout the entirety of the scans.

In addition to that, we're also looking at the brain itself.

Now, CT scans don't give the same kind of detail of the brain that an MRI would, but they allow us to look for any abnormalities, in particular dark black fluid collections that would be concerning for bleeding.

On this scan, you can see that the brain pretty much encompasses the entirety of the skull or fills up the entirety of the skull.

And there's no dark black spot, particularly around the edge of where the skull and brain meet, to indicate any sort of bleeding.

When we're looking at these type of injuries, we can put all the scans together to get a good 360 view of the skull, just again, to make sure that all of the pieces are coming together appropriately and that there's no fracture.

So if you do have a concussion, how would you go about treating that?

Yeah.

Those first 24 to 48 hours or so are really important.

And there's a lot of common misconceptions we get about what to do during that period.

So historically people were told just to do nothing.

Sit in a dark room, quiet, no electronics, no TV, nothing for as long as it takes to feel better.

But we really try to encourage not doing that.

So we encourage people to do as much normal stuff as they can, even during that first 24- to 48-hour period.

And definitely beyond it.

And that includes things like computer, TV, video games, but then ultimately even exercise.

We don't recommend getting right back to sport.

There's a gradual process we follow for getting back to competitive sport, especially competitive contact sport, but things like aerobic physical activity and just weightlifting and things along those lines should be based on symptoms.

And if they're not making your symptoms worse, they're encouraged even early on, even with mild symptoms.

So how would you go about preventing another one once you're healed?

Yeah.

And that comes up a lot.

And there's been a lot of work done in a variety of different sports on trying to prevent concussions.

Equipment gets brought up a lot.

The one equipment intervention that we've seen reduce concussions in a significant way has been the use of mouthpieces.

So this was initially shown in ice hockey, but it's been translated to other sports.

And so we strongly recommend the use of mouthpieces across the board.

Because of the data that we've seen in the world of hockey.

Otherwise, outside of equipment, really the most positive change we've seen in reducing concussions have been rule changes and policy changes.

So reducing checking in youth hockey, for example, has significantly reduced concussion rates, as well as a variety of other rule changes in other sports.

Outside of that, it's really more about neuromuscular training, particularly neck strength and balance training that have been shown to reduce concussion rates the most.

So it's really less about equipment and more about preparation in terms of those kind of things.

Any other thing that parents or athletes should keep in mind?

Yeah.

When it comes to concussions, I think the one thing we need to emphasize is that it is a part of sport, and it's not unique to any one sport, but the most important thing is identifying the symptoms early and removing from play so that another injury isn't sustained on top of an initial injury.

We know the biggest long-term risk with concussions comes when you sustain a second injury prior to recovery from the first, and that's the main thing we want to prevent.

Well, I appreciate you walking me through all this.

Yeah.

Thanks for being here.

Ready, set, go!

Touchdown.

Touchdown.

How much time do you think you spend on sports each week?

Well, when I'm not in a boot, I have practice five days a week, and they're usually four hours long each.

But it's 45 minutes away, so it kind of adds extra time.

And then sometimes we have weekend rehearsals.

So a lot.

Managing sports, schoolwork, chores and downtime can be a real challenge for kids and their parents.

Let's hear from some viewers about life as a busy student athlete.

This is “Confessions of a Busy Athlete.” Hi, I'm Zoey Green.

I'm 16 years old and I play volleyball at the varsity competitive level for my high school.

And I also play club, making it so I play all year round.

I'm a libero and I'm an outside.

So I just want to show you a week in my life as a busy high school athlete.

Hi, I'm Joanne, Zoey's mom, and this is a week in the life of our family.

During August through October, I normally forget how long and stressful the weeks can be.

We practice almost five times a week with weightlifting and then we have games two to three times a week.

School on top of that all can be very stressful when it comes to going to two different schools like I do.

It's just a whole load of work.

OK, so it's about 11:45 a.m.

and I just got back from my career program, and I just went on my break, and now I'm going to head back to my home school.

Right after my home school, I have practice, weightlifting and team dinner tonight.

So, that's how my day is looking so far.

I have to bring both my school bag and my volleyball bag and a change of clothes with me alongside of all that.

And just going to be a little bit of a busy day today.

OK, so it's about 7:30 p.m.

right now.

And I just got done with my practice, my weightlifting and my team dinner.

So I'm going from 6 a.m.

to 7:30 p.m.

nonstop on Wednesdays.

But team dinner was amazing.

I love getting to have team dinner with my teammates because every single time it's nonstop laughter.

We're always having a good time.

The dinner is always delicious and we always share our highs and lows.

Good day.

Okay.

So it's, I don't know, around 5:30, I think.

And I just got to a game.

Zoey was at school all day, stopped home between her career program and her home school, picked up all her gear and stayed until now.

I brought her dinner, because she wasn't allowed to leave today so they could do a mini practice before the game.

We're excited about tonight, we'll see you in there.

So I'm currently in our locker room right now.

JV's playing out there and I'm just getting ready.

I'm getting dressed, getting my warmup and everything on, and I'm getting ready to play in this game.

We're playing Highland today and I'm hoping for a really good game.

I think it'll be good.

‘Bout to get some digs and all that fun stuff.

Here's a little tour of the locker room.

We all have so much fun in here, and I think we're gonna have a great game tonight.

And now the Falls starters, number one, Zoey Green.

I█m making spaghetti and meatballs.

It's what she asked for.

It's going to carb load her, give her some protein so she can have that extra boost and get her through the day.

Once she leaves here, she'll be gone from probably about 4:30 until maybe 9:30, maybe even 10:00, depending on how long the games go.

So that's what I'm going to finish doing here, is finish making her dinner, and she should be home soon so I can check in with her, see how her day's going, how she's feeling about the game.

And then she'll be heading right back out and I'll be following shortly after.

OK, so we're finally about at the end of the week, and I have a long weekend this weekend, and the quarter's coming to a close next weekend.

This week has definitely been stressful.

I've had three games, I've had “big sis, little sis” and then I've had a bunch of schooling on top of it.

It's definitely one after another when it comes to being in school and in season at the same time, but it's all worth it.

Just a little bit more stressful than normal this week.

Now that the house is quiet and we're settled in for the evening, I took some time to just check in with Zoey about how school is going and how her mental health is right now.

During this time of year, we don't get as much time together because she's so busy with volleyball.

And although we have a fantastic relationship and very open communication, it can be tough, sometimes we're almost like passing in the night.

So, I, it's really important to me that we have open communication, regular communication, and that she feels like she can come to me if she's having any issues or needs any help with anything, or even just to talk.

OK, so today I finally have a free day and I'm on a break from all volleyball stuff.

And I'm downtown Akron right now with my family, and I just like to come out here because it really helps support the community a lot.

And I just like being out.

It's always fun to have a day where, like, I can be out and about and not on the court 24/7 just worrying about what's happening over there.

it was a great week.

It really was.

And it's a beautiful day out today, so Zoey's out hanging out with friends and enjoying a wonderful, perfectly normal teenage day.

And I love that for her.

I love to give her those opportunities, because during this time of year, it's, it's rare.

It's pretty rare.

And I'm just at home relaxing, cleaning, doing the usual mom stuff, when I don't have to be anywhere.

I couldn't ask for a better kid.

She's an incredible young woman.

I'm always very proud of her.

So that's what a week in my life looks like, as I am still a high school student and a busy athlete.

Despite all the stress that comes with my weeks and all the busyness, at the end of the day, I still love this sport wholeheartedly and I love going to school every day.

I just love it all.

Thank you so much for watching a week with me in my life as a busy high school student and athlete.

Here are more do's and dont’s for sports parents.

When should I talk to my kid after losing a big game?

Don't talk to them if they seem quiet.

Do talk to them If they bring it up.

Should parents yell tips to kids when they're playing?

Don't yell at a kid when they're in the game.

Do offer them advice after the game if they didn't receive it from the coach.

Do I need to attend all of my kid’s away games?

Do go to the games that they want you to go to or games that they feel are important.

Don't go to the games if they just want to travel with the team, or if they want a sense of independence.

Our next segment is about a fun sport called squash.

If you don't know about the sport, it does not involve squash, the vegetable, or squashing bugs.

It's a sport that you may not be familiar with, but we're going to learn more about it from the people at Urban Squash Cleveland.

Right.

They're going to tell us about their mission to keep kids healthy and promote education through sport.

This is serving up opportunity.

Squash has taught me perseverance.

Squash has taught me discipline, respect and to also be humble.

I feel like it's taught me how to control my feelings.

Squash taught me that community is better than being alone.

So our mission at Urban Squash is pretty simple.

It's just to make our young people as amazing as they can be.

So every day they come here, they're reminded of what they're capable of and they work hard.

And we're here to support them and to love them through the process.

Here at Urban Squash we focus on the entire student.

We focus on fitness.

We focus on academics and we focus on nutrition.

Our goal is to make sure that students are equipped to make the best choices for their life.

Our program is meant to be a long-term program.

We get students in fifth grade, and our goal is to stay with them through post-secondary options.

And so because students meet in fifth grade, they are able to form relationships with students from other schools, from within their schools.

that transcend beyond the squash court and beyond the classroom.

They hang out with each other on weekends.

They travel together.

Even when they are alumni, they come back and they are really excited to help the new students and see where they were kind of at that same point when they were in the program.

When an athlete, takes up the sport for the first time, they probably have never heard of squash before.

But once they get into it, it opens up a whole new world to them.

The first time I played, I thought, like I was terrible at this, you know?

And it was just.

Yeah, I was very nervous.

And, and then I met people to help me and it was very easy getting used to the game.

We usually spend the first couple sessions teaching them the rules, teaching them the basics, from the grip to the basic swings.

And then we slowly integrate them into learning how to serve, return the serve, so that they get to a point where they can then rally.

And then we build on that foundation.

My name is Josh.

My name is Gabby.

And we're going to teach you squash.

This is the squash racket.

And this is a squash ball.

You always got to wear your goggles.

The squash court has four walls, two side walls, a front wall and a back wall.

And you can play the ball off any side of the wall.

The ball can only bounce once off the floor.

If it bounces twice, then you lose the point.

And what are all these lines?

This is the T you want to return here after every shot you hit.

This is the service line.

During your serve, you have to hit above this line.

Any shot after that, you can hit anywhere on this wall except for the tin.

This is the tin line.

If you hit anywhere under it, you lose the point.

This is a service box.

You want to have at least one foot in the box when you serve.

When you're serving, you want to hit it in the opposite quarter of the court.

After that, you can hit anywhere on the floor of the court.

To determine who serves first, you spin the racket.

Left or right, Josh?

Left.

My serve.

First to 11 wins the game.

A match is best of five games.

At the end of every match, make sure you shake your opponent's hand.

Good game.

Let's play So, why squash?

I’d point to four things.

So the first thing is squash is a college sport and there are scholarships.

So if you get really serious about squash and you're a really good student, you eventually could go to college and be part of a college team.

The second thing is squash, it’s a lifetime sport.

And ideally, our young people who are playing, they're going to be playing for another 50 years.

The life lessons of eating well, of being fit and the social aspect is something they'll carry on throughout their entire life.

The third thing that is really unique about squash is you walk in to a court, you close the door, and it's just you and your opponent.

You can't play a match and then say, well, the goalie had a bad day.

You know, defense did this.

Offense did something.

It's all on you.

And that's a huge life lesson.

You are accountable for your behavior, your kindness and the outcome of your match when you're on that squash court.

And then the fourth thing is through squash you meet so many amazing people.

Our young people travel and they'll go to New Haven, Buffalo, Chicago.

And they meet kids that are just like them because they work hard and they love the game of squash.

Our program is meant to produce the most successful student athletes possible.

And so the first part of being a student athlete is being a student.

A big reason that I come to squash every day is because I think they're definitely preparing me to go out and play college squash.

Here at Urban Squash, when students arrive after school, we split them into two groups.

Half of the group is on the court working on their squash game.

The other group is in here in the classroom with me working on academics.

The academic portion was incorporated into the squash program to make sure that students have an opportunity to complete their homework, and to receive tutoring if needed.

Growing up, I was playing around a lot, I wasn’t taking my grades seriously And when I came to squash, it really made me stick to it.

Sometimes I may be helping a student with a specific homework problem, but I also might be helping them to solve a bigger problem at their school or in their personal lives.

And my job is to be a mentor and to help facilitate that.

The way you can lean on all the staff here is so helpful because like I feel really comfortable here.

And I really, like, want someone to talk to, which is something I definitely, it helped me a lot going through middle school.

I’d see Miss Erica, I'd be like, Miss Erica, I'm not feeling that well.

Like, I'm like, I don't know if I can do my best today.

Play my best, like, be my best.

And Miss Erica would be like, that's all right.

Like, if you want to talk, I'm like, right here.

If you don’t want to talk, there’s a quiet room you can work by yourself.

Sometimes students might have, a day where they need to rest a little bit, and we have a great selection of board games and academic games that can kind of help take the edge off of the day.

And they're able to enjoy our literacy lounge, which was carefully curated to help students to fall in love with leisure reading again.

Miss Erica, sometimes if we don't have homework.

She█ll assign you little projects to do, maybe a coloring sheet, or if you're in high school, something more advanced.

Maybe, research paper or a very deep question for you to answer.

A measure of success for me is when students come in and tell me about their successes.

You know, Miss Erica, I got an A, or I won the competition or I got this opportunity.

That's a success for me, and that's why I come back and do what I do every day.

I was planning to go to college for squash, and I'm still planning to do it.

But if that doesn't work out and I can't go pro, I was thinking of being a mechanical engineer.

Fitness is very important to us here at Urban Squash Cleveland.

We like to keep it into our routine a lot throughout the week Sprints all the time, lunges, we were doing a whole bunch of workouts that, like, like, really surprised me.

At first, like, I was like, oh, I don’t want to work out.

But then like, slowly getting into it, I was like, this is like actually really helping me.

Like, I definitely feel like I’ve gained a lot, I’m not gonna say, like, muscle or athleticism, but like kind of both, actually.

You start slow.

You█ll do a little sprint.

You'll start like jogging a little bit.

You'll do some lunges to like really get you into the workout.

And then as you move up a bit, you start realizing this is getting harder in a good way.

You're feeling that, you're feeling a little bit more competitiveness, like, a little bit more pressure.

There's not that type of pressure where it█s like, oh, you have to be better, like, you, you need to be.

It's like, we believe in you, like you feel that they actually really care about you, which I really enjoy here.

Our new coach, Coach Ray, he leads the warmups, workouts.

The reason I think the kids like is because it█s so explosive.

They like the, the fact that they can come and crack that ball against the wall as hard as they want.

It█s a really good stress reliever.

We train for about an hour and a half.

And then after we get off the court, we do our team circle.

We have this tradition called the closing circle at the end of every practice or just like any day you come into squash.

We’ll come together at the front of the building and we talk about this thing called “REACH,” which is kind of like our motto.

R is for respect.

E is for exposure.

A is for accountability.

C is for community.

H is for healthy choices.

And we expect all of our student athletes to live up to these core values.

We'll, like, shout somebody out for representing one or another of these, like, values.

So if you notice somebody being respectful to one of their helpers, you can shout them out to give them a little validation in just a great way to like, spark that positivity in our community.

Closing that circle, as well, we do a chant and every day we choose a new participant to kind of say that chant.

It's just like a great way to end the day.

For healthy choices.

I want to shout out Gabby.

Because in fitness, like, we were pushing each other, like, without words.

We were, like, pushing each other to go faster.

She showed a lot of respect because like when she lost a point, she kept her composure.

I want to shout out everybody for coming and working hard.

USC on me.

USC on three.

One.

Two.

Three.

USC.

The people here have really made me grow, not just as a squash player but as a person.

They are always there when I need them, even if they’re not at their best.

And I really just enjoy coming every day because I know that I will always have a community that supports me.

I love my sport.

Looks like we have a challenge here.

“Under this black sheet will be a piece of equipment related to a sport.

We have to guess what the piece of equipment is and what sport it's from.

The twist is, the sport may be out of the ordinary.

Good luck.” You ready?

Yeah.

OK, let's do it.

Oh, oh, I think I know.

Oh.

It's shuffle board or shuffle?

Is this like a weight?

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

Is this a weight?

Because no that can't be a shuffle board.

Ugh.

No, not the shuffle board, but they do it on ice.

Right, and they like, sweep it.

Oh.

Oh, there's our time.

What is it?

It’s very heavy.

Oh.

Oh yeah.

It's curling.

Oh.

I think that's what you meant.

Yeah.

Curling is played on ice, but players don't wear skates.

They slide on special shoes across the ice while pushing heavy stones towards a target.

Yeah.

Players use brooms to sweep the ice.

Sweeping the ice in front of the stone helps it go farther and straighter.

Teams take turns sliding stones towards a big target called “the house” The team with the stone closest to the center scores a point.

Oh.

What is it?

I think it's a rugby ball.

Ah, dang, I, I honestly think that too, because it has the shape and.

Yeah, but it doesn't have the.

Like a football, you know.

Yeah, and it's big.

It's.

Yeah.

It's way bigger than a football would be.

Yeah.

Honestly.

And the shape and the texture, because.

Oh.

Time's up, OK.

Sport is rugby!

Yes!

Rugby is a team sport where two groups of players try to score points by carrying, passing or kicking an oval-shaped ball down the field.

The goal is to try to touch the ball down in the other team's end zone.

In rugby, you can only pass the ball backwards or sideways, never forward.

To move forward, players run with the ball or kick it.

The opposing team tries to tackle the player with the ball, but no one is wearing helmets or pads.

Oh my gosh.

What is this?

I feel like.

Wait.

I feel like I know what it is.

I want to say these are drumsticks.

I feel like you hold them.

Like that?

Or like.

I don't know, I have.

Like you put something in there, you put something in the bottom because the bottom is empty.

And you have to.

Oh, no, it's like, it's, I think it's a twirling baton.

Oh like a twirling baton.

OK, wait.

Well, we'll find out.

Yeah, juggling.

Sport is rhythmic gymnastics.

Oh.

So.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport where athletes perform routines using equipment like ribbons, balls and clubs, all while dancing and doing gymnastic moves to music.

Gymnasts swing, toss and catch the clubs, sometimes even while doing flips or spins.

Judges score routines based on how well the gymnast moves, how creative the routine is, and how smoothly they handle the equipment.

What do we have here?

Oh, Oh.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, oh, oh oh!

I know what this is.

I know this is.

Oh.

This is a cricket bat.

And I think it's like.

Oh, I think you take it and you swing it.

Yeah, this is a cricket bat.

What do you think the red part on the end is for?

Maybe because it feels like rubber, sort of.

So just in case you hit.

Oh.

There goes time, just in case you hit somebody with it.

Oh, yep.

We're right.

It's cricket.

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world.

It's especially popular in countries like India, England and Australia.

In cricket, the pitcher is called a bowler.

Bowlers must keep their arms straight when they deliver the ball.

It's more like a windmill motion.

Batters hit the ball with cricket bats that look more like a paddle than a bat.

Cricket players score by running between two sets of sticks called wickets.

That was fun.

I'd like to try some of those sports.

Well maybe you'll like one of the sports in this next segment even better.

We asked kids who participate in uncommon sports to share why they love what they do.

Let's check it out.

Hi, my name is Izzy Scott.

I'm 16 years old and I've been surfing for 12 years.

I love surfing because I just love being in the ocean.

It's super nice, like refreshing.

It frees your mind from everything and gets you off your phone.

And I just love getting a good wave and riding it all the way down and just having fun with my friends.

Hi, my name is Ava Zahler.

I am 17 years old.

I started figure skating when I was just a little baby.

And then my love for it has just continued over the years.

Competitions, oh my goodness.

They are the best thing ever!

Who else loves good music?

You are able to pick whatever song you want to, practice your program and perform it in front of your family and friends.

It is so much fun.

Now for the juicy details.

So we're gonna go through what I have in my bag First, I have my sticker book that I use for my little kids that I teach for learn to skate.

A spinner board for practicing doing jumps and spins on here.

My hard guards.

They're really cute.

They’re pink.

I love pink.

My soakers, which help us keep our skates dry.

These are my ice skates.

They are very well-loved.

Three sets of gloves.

Because it, it gets cold.

You get cold.

My ice skating socks.

These are a must have.

You don't want something really thick in your skate, because it's kind of very uncomfortable.

I also have our skating cards.

We█re able to punch in and out of, like, ice time.

That's all what’s in my bag.

I'm going to be showing you guys our serpentine pattern.

This is a good way for us to warm up when we're first starting to get our bodies moving and so that we don't hurt ourselves.

It works on our knees, our core and our ankles just so we're all loosened up and we're not, not in any pain.

Now that I finished my serpentine pattern, we're going to warm up some singles jumps.

And in my program, I have harder jumps.

So that means I’ve got to not fall Now that I'm all warmed up, I'm going to be doing a axel, which is one of my harder jumps in my program, and I'm so excited.

I love axels.

Axels are one of my favorites.

Now that I'm done warming up for my jumps, I'm going to be doing my combo spin.

So you guys can see.

While your young athlete may feel pressure to participate in more common sports, there are plenty of other options that could be a better match for your child's interests and skills.

The ice rink is literally my second home.

It's so much fun to just be able to dance and just be able to have fun.

Hello, my name is Quentin Duffield and I am 13 years old and in the eighth grade.

I am Ryker Duffield.

I am 12 and I am in the seventh grade.

And we are black belts.

The reasons we take martial arts are to help us focus, help us respect, help us to get more stamina and help us defend ourselves.

We stretch because it helps loosen us up and get our kicks higher.

We do forms to protect ourselves.

Sijak.

A fun fact is that martial arts has many variations in the Olympics.

Thanks for watching.

Welcome back.

We're in our final segment, where experts at Akron Children's answer questions for us.

Rhys is a bit busy honing his squash game, the sport, not the vegetable.

So I'll be soloing this interview.

Today we're joined by Doctor Liebig and Kyle Harper.

Welcome.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and what you do?

Sure.

Yeah, I'm Doctor Liebig.

I'm a sports medicine physician at Akron Children's.

I'm Kyle Harper, I'm one of the athletic trainers at Akron Children's.

For this episode, we've reached out to viewers for sports questions they want to ask our providers.

So let's start with our first question.

How much sleep should a young athlete get?

Oh, I'll take this one, because this is my favorite.

I mean, I think in general, none of us get enough sleep.

A good number to shoot for is probably around nine.

A little bit less is OK.

A little bit more would be even better.

But I think in general, if you're looking at a young athlete who needs to recover, who wants to be the best at school and who wants to be the best in sports, getting more, this is a one thing where more is better, and I can't, I can't stress that enough that getting close to nine is what I would shoot for.

Yeah, I agree with that.

And I feel like we invest so much in coaches and lessons and all that.

But sleep is free, This is when your brain and your body rebuilds and protects itself.

And if you're looking for that edge, sleep very may, it very well may be the edge.

I mean, when you look at some of the college athletes, pro athletes, they will record and even compete with how much sleep they get at night.

And coaches love that, because now you've got a well-rested, recharged, recovered athlete.

Ready.

Who's ready to go?

That's right.

That's right.

Now, I'll read this next one.

OK.

When a kid suffers from a stress fracture, how long should they wait before starting to train or practice again?

I'm asking for a friend who may or may not host the show with me.

Wink, wink.

Yeah.

So that depends a lot on where that stress fracture is.

There are obviously high-risk stress fractures, depending on what part of the body they're in.

And there are certain bones that really have a hard time healing.

But in general, if it's not one of these high-risk ones, you can generally get people back six, eight weeks, you know, to get them back to their previous baseline.

I think that's a fair number, you know, six to eight weeks.

Sure.

Unless it's one of those riskier ones.

OK.

Tell your friend.

I'll let him know.

Yeah.

I'll let him know.

Let's see what our next viewer asked.

What do you think of kids taking protein powders?

So what I try and tell my athletes is if you can get your nutrients from your food, that is the best thing your body could ask for.

Right.

So these supplements that, you know, we don't really know what's in them, we don't really know where they're coming from, in order for your body to break it down, you, it needs so much water and energy.

So when you're using supplements, your body has to work harder.

So you're going to affect like your kidneys.

It might give you some, GI upset.

So if you can get the food that you need and the nutrients that you need from actual food, that's going to be ideal.

And that might be something kids don't realize that this little creatine supplement you actually get from whole foods.

It is naturally occurring already.

You can get everything you need protein, creatine, and then certainly all the recovery nutrients you need just through simple foods.

And so, I like to say food first and then you can start bringing in other things if you talk to a nutritionist and to your physician and you feel like you need some of those supplements.

But otherwise, sticking with just whole foods, so like whole chicken breasts, peanut butter sandwich is a favorite, right?

That's getting you everything that you need to recover and to have the energy that you need to go perform.

Let's see where our next viewer said.

I signed my six-year-old up for soccer, but she just kind of stands there.

Should I push her to do more?

I feel this question on a very deep level.

You relate to this.

You’ve experienced this.

Personally, I have kids that have done the same thing.

My mom has a picture of me picking flowers out in the field.

And I ended up playing college sports, so yeah, it'll be OK.

The most important thing when they're that young is what you're really trying to get out of sports.

And that's being a good teammate, being coachable.

And that means being able to take instruction, listen.

It's going to take you so much farther.

As you get older.

The X's and O's will come.

But in the meantime, celebrate those wins.

Celebrate that, you know, they they high-fived their teammate when they scored.

They helped the kid off the field, right, if they fell down.

Those are the things that matter.

So, you know, let them enjoy their orange slices.

Get ice cream after the game, win or lose, flower picking or not.

It's all success as long as they're coachable, making friends and enjoying themselves.

That was good.

That's kind of good.

Here's another video question for you guys.

At what age should young athletes start lifting weights?

Oh that's a good question I get that a lot.

I work with mostly high school kids, but I have a 13-year-old and, you know, his friends, his, his teammates, you know, they want to get bigger, faster, stronger.

Right.

But.

Right.

Yep.

Get in there.

Pump some iron, move it around, throw it around.

Right.

But before 14, you really don't want to start moving heavy weights, But, when you're like 10 to 13, if you can focus on your form, maybe using some bands, you're going to be so much better off by the time you get, yeah, to like late middle school, early high school, when you start getting in the weight rooms with your sports teams.

When you have good form, your body's moving in the most ideal way.

So you're going to avoid injury.

You're going to be able to be stronger, more functional and just have a better experience overall.

You know, this idea that you have to look strong to be strong isn't necessarily the case when you're, when you're a young athlete.

You know, we talk about, in my office, a lot about muscle recruitment.

And muscle recruitment doesn't equal muscle bulk.

So you can get plenty strong by just recruiting muscles, by doing resistance bands, having that proper form, which is very important.

And then ultimately making sure you have a proper recovery afterwards.

And then don't also discount just doing Mother Earth gravity type of exercises, you know, the pushups, the pullups, the situps, the wall sits.

Everybody loves wall sits.

Oh yeah, everybody loves those.

You can do plenty of these.

Your chance of getting injured doing these things is much less than if you're trying to put up a bunch of weight that you have no business putting up.

So it's important for form.

And then I think just to, just to remember that it's just about muscle recruitment and not necessarily about muscle size or muscle bulk.

Thank you both for taking the time to answer these questions and help us learn more about sports.

Of course.

Thank you.

Our pleasure.

We'll be right back after a break for one more Moment of Childhood.

Get ready.

This is “The Big Kick.” All right.

All right.

You're back far enough, Bud.

All right.

OK.

All right, Bud.

All right.

You're good.

Kick it.

Yeah!

That's the end of our show.

It was great to see so many kids enjoying all these different sports.

I hope everyone has the chance to go out and play something today.

I know I'm ready.

Me too.

Especially now that I've learned how playing sports is an important part of growing up.

And hopefully our parents learned a few things too.

Thanks for tuning in.

I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of “More childhood, please.™” If you have any ideas about topics you’d like to see covered on an upcoming show, message us on Facebook or Instagram.

Until next time, bye!

Want to go find that cricket bat?

As long as I don't have to hit the curling stone with it.

No promises.