Overuse,earlysport specialization leading to more injuries according to WNBA trainer

Jul. 31—Her thoughts also always go to UConn's athletic training staff, like the program's athletic trainer, Janelle Francisco, and the stress they're likely under.

"It's hard to watch," Alexander told CT Insider Saturday. "You know, as an athletic trainer, I have such empathy for Janelle, right, because I know she's getting hit hard. ... You have to develop the rehab programs, implement the rehab programs, and then still have the mindset to be at practice and in games and ready for the emergency side of things. ... I know it affects the game, I'll probably get a lot of flak for this, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that the player is OK and that the person taking care of them is OK because it is an added strain."

There's no one exact reason to blame for all of UConn's injuries over the past two seasons. Some were from contact, like concussions or Aaliyah Edwards' broken nose, but others were simply bad luck and random.

No one could have prevented Bueckers from hyper-extending her knee while dribbling unguard upcourt in December 2021. Or most recently, nothing could have warned Jana El Alfy that she'd rupture her Achilles tendon from pushing off her back leg in a motion she's done countless times before.

Last year, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma blamed it all on athletes coming to college already banged up from high school and AAU teams because of specializing in one sport too early.

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"It's gotta be something that I think we've all been trying to address, it's what happens when these kids are in high school and how much they train and overtrain and lack of playing other sports," he said in October. "We've all talked about it with doctors and specialists and people who do this stuff, and never in history have this many kids been so sheltered in terms of one sport and that's it, all year round. It's almost like there's no offseason. I don't like it but that's the world that they live in."

Alexander agrees.

The players who come to UConn are often the best in their class. They play on highly competitive and well-known club and AAU teams. They're at the biggest and most notable tournaments during the summer and spring. During the school year, they're also bringing just as much energy and skill to their high school teams. Plus, the majority will have represented the United States, or their home country, at the youth national level before they even step foot in Storrs.

That's a lot of basketball. Especially for someone not even fully grown yet. And often the first thing out the door and ignored when an athlete is playing year-round is rest.

Without proper rest, an athlete is more at risk for injury as they don't have time to prepare their bodies for their upcoming season.

When an athlete prioritizes rest, it not only reduces their risk of injury but also improves their mental and emotional health as well.

"Are they coming back (from their other team commitments) and jumping back into their team practices? Or are they getting a week or two to recover?" Alexander said. "Are they getting more than a couple of days to recover from jetlag and things like that? That's why I'm saying, as a whole, yes, incorporate more rest, but listen to your body, listen to your athletes, right? ... I guess it really comes down to treating everybody as individuals, allowing them the space to speak up for themselves and rest when they need to rest and be humans."

Alexander sees this lack of rest with her WNBA athletes.

Most WNBA players play year-round. They're competing domestically in the W from when training camp starts in late April all the way through to the end of playoffs in October. Those that aren't chosen to compete in All-Star get a weekend off in the middle of the season, but that's about it in terms of scheduled-in-off time.

After the WNBA season, those that want to, will pack up their lives and move overseas to play on the international circuit from the fall to early spring right in time for WNBA training camp.

"They're in that cycle for another however many years," Alexander said. "... I think until we are able to get them proper rest and a proper offseason, we're gonna continue to see these types of things (injuries)."

Once the WNBA season starts, it's rare that a team has room in its schedule for a complete off day for players. Because the schedule is so condensed (the 2023 season is 40 games in about 16 weeks), most rest days turn into recovery days to keep athletes moving instead of completely staying out of the gym between games.

"There isn't a scheduled day off every week," Alexander said. "We may go two, two-and-a-half weeks without a true day off, where we're not traveling or anything. ... I think there's a lot of work to be done on the W side as far as rest and recovery."

However, it's not just a lack of rest, Alexander says. Going back to Auriemma's take on sports specialization, kids are focusing on one sport earlier than ever before and that also leads to increase injuries.

Most kids who dream of playing basketball in college, in the WNBA, pick up the sport in elementary school. And while they may try out a different sport here and there, more often than not by freshman year of high school they're solely focused on basketball.

"But if you're doing the same thing, for let's say, on average of 10 months of the year, from eight to (18), that's 10 years ... if you look at mileage-wise, you now have 18-year-olds, that their muscles and their body is more similar to (older athletes) because they're playing so much," Alexander said. "Athlete wear and tear is real. So, I believe that they're coming to college broken. I've seen it."

Alexander recommends high school athletes, no matter their focused sport, pick up a second sport, particularly one that works the opposite parts of the body than their preferred one. One example she suggests is swimming since it requires less pounding on your joints but is still an intense cardiovascular workout.

"Play more than one sport for as long as you possibly can so you're getting different wear and tear on your body," she said. "And then also, as a young kid, (as) parents make sure you incorporate rest, right? You know your kid, if they are exhausted and they're cranky on their way to practice; what do you think is gonna happen when they go run around for two hours, right? Be an advocate for them to listen to their bodies so that's already instilled in them, and they don't think that rest is a bad thing."