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Benefits of Playing Basketball: Injury Prevention and Risks

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Injuries from playing basketball, injury prevention during basketball.

  • Bianchi, R., Mamo, C., Riva, D., & Rocca, F. (2016). Proprioceptive Training and Injury Prevention in a Professional Men's Basketball Team: A Six-Year Prospective Study. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 30(2), 461475.doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000001097.
  • Hagel, B., Meeuwisse, W. H., & Sellmer, R. E. (2003). Rates and Risks of Injury during Intercollegiate Basketball. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 31(3), 379–385.

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basketball injury essay

basketball injury essay

5 Common Basketball Injuries (and How to Treat Them)

basketball-injuries

Basketball is a physically demanding sport.

While it doesn't feature the pure violent contact that a sport such as football or ice hockey does, it's a sport that can be tough on a player's body.

In addition to there being physical contact between two players who are wearing no protective gear, basketball requires a lot of running, jumping, and many quick changes-of-direction.

That’s probably why some of the most common basketball injuries occur to a player's lower body.

Let's take a look at 5 common basketball injuries, and I’ll show you how to treat them AND how to prevent them.

Five Common Basketball Injuries:

1. hip and thigh injuries.

Because of all the sharp movement and shifting from side to side, basketball players oftentimes suffer injuries to their hip and thighs.

There is also a lot of extra pressure put on this area of the body from all the jumping that's required, and the subsequent pressure that radiates from the feet to the hips when a player lands on the hard court.

Hip bruises and hip strains are very common injuries that can occur when you overextend your ligaments or muscles.

You can also suffer deep thigh or hip bruises if you make contact with another player's elbow or knee.

The biggest challenge with hip and thigh injuries is that it's very hard to treat them with a procedure or medical device such as a cast or a splint.

The procedures that are done for hip and thigh injuries are major ones, too.

Hip and Thigh Injury Treatment

The best treatment for a hip or thigh injury is the common RICE tactic , where each letter in the word stands for a type of treatment -- Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

Basically, you just need to stay off your feet, ice down the injured area, put pressure on it, and keep your legs in an elevated position.

This will all help reduce the swelling on the area and eventually alleviate the injury altogether (hopefully).

Hip and Thigh Injury Prevention

The other big challenge with hip and thigh injuries is that they are fairly hard to prevent.

A lot of these injuries are wear-and-tear type injuries, meaning the normal motions of the game wear down the muscles and bones, causing swelling to occur.

And if you suffered a bruise, it's most likely because you caught an elbow or knee of a defender, which can be a fluke.

One thing you can do to help prevent injuries to your hip and thigh is make sure you use the right basketball stretches before practices and games.

You can also have a good weight training program that will build up your muscles and joints.

two men playing basketball outdoors

2. Knee Injuries

Knee injuries are another common type of injury in basketball.

The constant running, jumping/landing and shifting from side to side can do a number on your knees.

One of the more common injuries to the knee in basketball is known as patellofemoral pain syndrome. This is basically pain that is felt behind the kneecap, where the patella meets the femur, or the thigh bone.

It's often caused because of wear and tear that happens to the kneecap, which can become misaligned, which eventually causes excessive pressure on the joint.

Some of the most serious injuries suffered in basketball happen to the knee or knee region. Major ligaments run through the knee, such as the ACL, LCL and PCL.

Injuries to the patellar tendon as well as meniscus can also occur.

Knee Injury Treatment

For the less serious versions of injuries to the knee, the treatment will again consist of the RICE method.

Once the pain and swelling have subsided, then further treatment will be to strengthen and stretch out the area to prevent future injury.

The more serious versions of these injuries, though, can require major medical procedures.

Tears of any of the ligaments or a dislocation of the kneecap can occur, and these all most likely require surgery to re-attach or re-align.

These injuries take quite a while to recover from -- upward of a year or more between recovery, rest, rehab and strengthening.

Knee Injury  Prevention

The best way to prevent knee injuries in basketball is to have a stretch routine before and after practices and games.

This will keep your muscles and ligaments nimble and able to withstand the rigors of the sport.

You also can commit to a strengthening routine through weight training.

As for supportive devices, you can wear a knee brace to provide some extra protection and support to the area. These braces can be soft and slide on.

If you've suffered an injury, there are harder, more stable braces, too.

3. Foot and Ankle Injuries

Sticking to the theme of lower-body injuries, basketball can also be a rough sport for foot and ankle injuries.

Perhaps the most common injury to this part of the body are ankle sprains.

They are so common, again, because of the back and forth shifting the sport requires, as well as the jumping and landing.

It is very easy for a basketball player to turn, roll or twist their ankle awkwardly, which can result in either stretching or, in the worst cases, tearing of one of the ligaments that are in your ankle.

A sprained ankle can also range from minor to severe, meaning that the recovery time can be anywhere from a few days to a few months.

Ankle injuries have a tendency to linger as well. It's no surprise why, either, as it's tough to fully heal an ankle injury without completely staying off your feet.

Obviously, that's no easy feat to accomplish.

In addition to ankle sprains or tears of ligaments in the ankle, stress fractures are another basketball injury that's unfortunately common.

These occur most often to either the lower leg or foot, and happen when you either land hard from a jump, or if someone steps and/or falls on your foot or lower leg.

Some of these injuries can be deep bruises, and some can even involve broken bones.

Foot and Ankle Injury Treatment

The less severe type of foot and ankle injuries will often require just the RICE method.

Again, though, that may be easier said than done, as completely staying off your feet and ankles can be a difficult task when you're trying to just live your daily life.

Rest is essential with these injuries, though, so using a pair of crutches to aid you in getting around could be a good idea.

More severe ankle and foot injuries could require surgery -- if ligaments are torn -- or a cast -- if bones are broken.

Foot and Ankle Injury Prevention

It's tough to prevent ankle or foot injuries in basketball, since some of them will simply happen throughout the normal playing time.

Make sure that you have good, supportive shoes, though.

That's one way you can potentially prevent injuries to your ankle -- by having high top shoes that are appropriate for basketball and support your ankle as you move from side to side. 

Shoes that also help prevent you from slipping on indoor basketball courts are also essential.

If you want extra protection, you can also wear an ankle brace to give you that support.

Also, simple taping that can be done by a trainer can also go a long way to help prevent injuries.

4. Wrist and Hand Injuries

Lower-body injuries aren't the only ones that basketball players can suffer.

Players use their hands often, from dribbling the ball, to passing and receiving passes, to shooting on offense.

On defense, players use their hands to defend and try to knock away the ball.

One of the most common injuries to this area of the body is jammed fingers.

This occurs often when players are reaching their hands out to defend and try to swat the ball out of another player's hands. That player may either bump up against him, or swat his hands away, causing the fingers to jam.

A similar thing can occur when reaching out to deflect a pass or block a shot.

Players also often jam their fingers when they are receiving a hard pass, if the ball ends up hitting them on their fingers instead of landing squarely in the palm of their hand.

Sometimes, these finger injuries can be more severe, or happen further up the hand, and could sometimes be a break in one of the bones in the fingers or hand.

Wrists can also jam or strain in a similar way to how fingers do.

Players can sometimes either jam their whole hand, injuring their wrist, if they make hard contact with a player or the ball with their hand, with their palm being the point of contact.

Wrist and Hand Treatment

Jammed fingers and wrists are luckily pretty easy to treat.

Applying ice will help to reduce inflammation and swelling, which is the cause of most of the pain that comes as a result of these injuries.

If you have broken a bone, you may need to take some more time off for the game and/or wear a splint or cast.

Wrist and Hand Prevention

There isn't too much you can do to prevent jammed fingers and wrists except to simply be mindful about where you are and where the defenders and ball are at all times.

When you're extending your arms to deflect a pass or defend, knowing where the ball is at that point will help prevent you from being surprised and, therefore, getting your fingers jammed.

player in blue attempting to score while two players in white foul him during basketball game

5. Face and Head Injuries

Face and head injuries most often occur in basketball as the result of contact with the ball or another player.

There is a lot of contact between shooter and defender at times, especially when the shooter is attempting a shot closer in to the basket.

Defenders will try to block the shot or at least cause it to be unsuccessful, and they will raise their hands and swat at the ball to do so.

When the defenders do this, they can sometimes inadvertently hit another player on the head.

The least severe of these types of injuries that are caused are cuts to the face and to the head.

These can sometimes be simple cuts that can be just cleaned, or they can be more severe, deeper cuts that may require stitches and rest.

The more severe type of head injuries occur when a player hits another player in the head hard with his hand, elbow, or arm.

Head injuries can also occur if a player falls to the ground and either makes contact with the floor or another player's knee.

This can result in a concussion, depending on how hard the contact is.

Face and Head Injury Treatment

Treatment of head injuries can vary from cleaning and bandaging cuts, to stitching up deeper cuts, to extended periods of rest and total inactivity for concussions -- especially the more serious ones.

Face and Head Injury Prevention

It's next to impossible to prevent cuts to your head and face, as they will happen as part of the normal progression of games and practice.

The only way to really prevent them is to try to avoid contact with other players, which is very hard to do.

These are the five most common areas of a basketball player's body that are injured while playing the game.

While injuries are common in the sport, the good news is that most of them are not serious and simply require the RICE method to treat.

There are also solid ways that you can help prevent these types of injuries from occurring.

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  • v.2(4); 2010 Jul

Injury in the National Basketball Association

Mark c. drakos.

† Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City, New York

Benjamin Domb

‡ Hinsdale Orthopedic Associates, Hinsdale, Illinois

Chad Starkey

§ Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Lisa Callahan

Answorth a. allen, background:.

Injury patterns in elite athletes over long periods continue to evolve. The goal of this study was to review of the injuries and medical conditions afflicting athletes competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) over a 17-year period.

Descriptive epidemiological study.

Injuries and player demographic information were reported by each team’s athletic trainer. Criteria for reportable injuries were those that resulted in (1) physician referral, (2) a practice or game being missed, or (3) emergency care. The demographics, frequency of injury, time lost, and game exposures were tabulated, and game-related injury rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

A total of 1094 players appeared in the database 3843 times (3.3 ± 2.6 seasons). Lateral ankle sprains were the most frequent orthopaedic injury (n, 1658; 13.2%), followed by patellofemoral inflammation (n, 1493; 11.9%), lumbar strains (n, 999; 7.9%), and hamstring strains (n, 413; 3.3%). The most games missed were related to patellofemoral inflammation (n, 10 370; 17.5%), lateral ankle sprains (n, 5223; 8.8%), knee sprains (n, 4369; 7.4%), and lumbar strains (n, 3933; 6.6%). No correlations were found between injury rate and player demographics, including age, height, weight, and NBA experience.

Conclusion:

Professional athletes in the NBA experience a high rate of game-related injuries. Patellofemoral inflammation is the most significant problem in terms of days lost in competition, whereas ankle sprains are the most common injury. True ligamentous injuries of the knee were surprisingly rare. Importantly, player demographics were not correlated with injury rates. Further investigation is necessary regarding the consequences and sport-specific treatment of various injuries in NBA players.

Clinical Relevance:

Knowledge of these injury patterns can help to guide treatments and provide more accurate guidelines for an athlete to return to play.

Over the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the nature of the game has undergone significant changes. Basketball was originally conceived as a noncontact sport, and the rules of the game were based on the idea that “if the offense did not have the opportunity to run with the ball, there would be no necessity for tackling and we would thus eliminate roughness.” 7 Despite its origins as a noncontact sport, basketball has evolved into an increasingly physical game in which contact is accepted and expected. Contemporary coaches teach their players contact moves. Players routinely use their bodies to their advantage—to fight for position, to intentionally draw contact in the air while shooting the ball, for example—and they use their forearms and elbows to ward off defenders. This evolution has predictably led to a number of injuries to players in the NBA.

Few studies in the orthopaedic literature have reported on the epidemiology of various injuries in professional basketball. 2 , 4 , 5 , 9 , 10 Several recent studies have reported injury rates in high school and collegiate basketball. 3 , 6 , 8 When compared with their high school and collegiate counterparts, NBA athletes compete on a longer court, for a greater number of minutes per game and times per week, for a longer season, and at an older age. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the injuries and illnesses reported by NBA athletic trainers and team physicians and to analyze the injury rates and games missed as a result of individual injuries.

Materials and Methods

Nba database.

Before the start of the NBA season, each team submits a detailed player profile for each member of the team with demographic and clinical information, including the permanent identification number, player position, height, weight, age, and years of NBA playing experience. Given the frequent turnover of an NBA team roster during the course of a season, this information is constantly being updated with player additions and subtractions. With the termination of the NBA season in June, statistical compilation is performed regarding exposures for games and playing minutes. The Player Profile database was linked to the injury database to provide athletic exposure and demographic information. Information from the 1988–1989 through the 1996–1997 seasons was acquired from the NBA’s official statistical publication, The NBA News (New York, New York). From 1997 to the present, these data have been collected via the NBA’s Web site: http://www.nba.com . This site is now the NBA’s official source of statistical information.

The National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association maintains a database of all injuries and illnesses sustained by NBA players. The criteria for a reportable injury are based on three parameters: the injury required physician referral, prescription medication, or both; resulted in a game or practice being missed, or it necessitated emergent care. These records are leaguewide injury-reporting instruments that are completed by the team’s athletic trainer and cosigned by the team physician. The data include pathology, time and place of onset, activity, and mechanism of the injury. Clinical follow-up data were also collected and analyzed regarding the number of practices and games missed, the support devices worn, injured reserve list status, hospitalization, surgery, and medication.

Data Analysis

An analysis was performed of the NBA database from the 1988–1989 through the 2004–2005 basketball seasons for league-sanctioned activities (approximately October 1 through June 15 of each year). The frequency, means, standard deviations, and incidence rates of injury were calculated using SPSS 13.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois).

For the purposes of this study, an athletic exposure was defined as 1 athlete appearing in 1 game. Game injury rates were calculated per 1000 athlete exposures. No distinction was made in the database between athletes who played all 48 minutes of a contest versus athletes who played 1 minute. During a single game, the maximum athlete exposures would be 24, when all 12 players from each team participate in the contest. This method describes the total number of athletes appearing in regular and postseason games. The incidence rate (per athletic exposure) for practices and preseason games was not calculated owing to unreliable reporting methods and lack of a standardized protocol. However, the frequency data for injuries and illnesses sustained during these activities were still included and analyzed.

Incidence rates for a particular injury were defined as number of injuries per 1000 athlete exposures, as calculated with the following formula:

A multivariate analysis was performed for several factors, including height, weight, and years of NBA experience. A P value of .05 was used to determine statistical significance between game-related injury groupings. Confidence intervals (95%) identified differences in game-related injury rates. For the rarer injuries (ie, injures with fewer than 10 game-related occurrences), we did not calculate the confidence intervals owing to the decreasing reliability with decreasing cell frequency.

From the 1988–1989 through the 2004–2005 seasons, 88.2% of the 30 NBA teams contributed consistent reports on an annual basis to the NBA injury and illness database. In 1988–1990 there were 25 NBA teams. Two expansion teams were added for both the 1989–1990 and 1995–1996 NBA seasons; one final expansion team was incorporated at the start of the 2004–2005 season. Compliant teams averaged 42.8 ± 23.4 reports per year. A total of 1643 individual players appeared on at least 1 preseason, regular season, or postseason roster; 1366 (83.1%) appeared in at least 1 regular season or postseason game. The average player was in the database for 3.7 ± 3.2 seasons, accounting for a total of 6145 player entries in the database across the duration of this study.

Demographics

During the period of study, there were 12 594 reported injuries. Of these, 6287 (49.9%) occurred during games. The incidence of injury was 19.1 per 1000 athlete exposures. These injuries accounted for 59 179 games missed. The players averaged 26.8 years of age. There were no correlations between injury rate and height, weight, or years of NBA experience ( Figure 1 ).

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Object name is 10.1177_1941738109357303-fig1.jpg

Injury rate by player demographics.

Injury Prevalence

The lower extremity was the most frequently injured body area, accounting for 62.4% of all injuries and 57.8% of all game-related injuries ( Table 1 ). These injuries also were responsible for 72.3% of the games that were missed because of injury. The rate of injury per 1000 athlete exposures was statistically higher than any other body area, at 11.1. The next-most-common areas of injury involved the upper extremity and torso, which accounted for 12.2% and 12.9% of all injuries, respectively.

Injury rate by body area.

The ankle was by far the most common joint injured, comprising 1850 injuries and 14.7% of all injuries ( Table 2 ). There were 1123 game-related ankle injuries (17.9%) with an incidence of 3.4 injuries per 1000 athlete exposures. Lumbar spine injuries (n, 1279; 10.2%) were responsible for almost as many games missed (n, 6729) as the ankle injuries (n, 6838). Injuries to the patella (n, 1266; 10.1%) and the knee (n, 1135; 9.0%) resulted in more games missed (n, 8076 and 10 737, respectively) than either of the 2 most commonly injured areas (ankle and lumbar spine).

Injury rate by structure.

When the pathology was analyzed, lateral ankle sprains were found most common (13.2%), accounting for 8.8% of all games missed ( Table 3 ). They also accounted for 17.0% of the injuries sustained during games. The incidence of ankle sprain (3.2 per 1000 athlete exposures) was more than twice as common as any other injury. Patellofemoral syndrome represented 11.9% of all reports but only 3.9% of injuries sustained during games. Patellofemoral injuries were the most common reason for games missed (n, 10 370; 17.5% of all causes).

Injury rate by specific pathology. a

Finally, analysis of injury type revealed that sprains were the most common (27.8%), followed by inflammatory conditions (21.8%) and strains or spasm (21.8%) ( Table 4 ).

Injury rate by type.

Professional basketball today has become a highly physical, high-contact sport. All reportable injuries were collected directly from NBA trainers and team physicians over a 17-year period, and injuries rates were determined by demographics, body area, structure, pathology, and injury type.

Player demographics revealed no correlation between injury rate and age, height, weight, or years of NBA experience. This is an essential finding, given that agents and organizations constantly attempt to stratify and predict the injury risk for each player. If there were a correlation between injury rate and player demographics, players at higher risk could be cut from their team.

The finding that lateral ankle sprains were the most common injury (13.2%) is not surprising in light of the frequency of jumping and landing in a crowd of players. Much attention has focused on prevention of ankle inversion injuries in basketball players. Players generally wear mid- or high-top sneakers designed to protect the ankle, and many players tape their ankles or wear braces. The high frequency of ankle injuries suggests that more clinical and biomechanical research is necessary to improve protective shoe and ankle equipment.

In 1982, Henry et al reported on 576 injuries that occurred in 71 professional basketball players over 7 years. 4 In the current study, 12 594 injuries in 1366 players occurred over 17 years. During this period, the game became increasingly physical and played by larger individuals. Henry et al noted that 94% of games missed were due to injuries of the knee, ankle, and foot, compared to 53% of games missed in this study. Both studies found that ankle injuries were the most common but that knee injuries accounted for the greatest number of games missed.

Starkey reported on NBA injuries over a 10-year period and similarly reported no correlation between injury rate and player demographics. 9 A 12.4% increase in game-related injuries was noted during the 10-year period, which may be due to an increase in contact in professional basketball. The increase in size and speed of the players, as well as the improvement in diagnostic tools, may also be a factor in the injury increase.

Meeuwisse et al reported on rates and risks of injury in Canadian intercollegiate competition. 6 Ankle injuries were the most common, but knee injuries resulted in more games missed. Studies of elite basketball in Sweden and high school basketball in Texas also found that the ankle was the most commonly injured area, followed by the knee. 1 , 8

Several limitations may affect the accuracy of this study. The injuries in the database include only those reported by the team trainers according to the criteria outlined above. Minor injuries that did not meet the criteria are not included. Injuries may at times be falsely reported to keep players on injured reserve, allowing teams to carry more players on their roster. Finally, the reporting method used does not differentiate between playing the entire game or only a few minutes.

In conclusion, NBA basketball has evolved to become a highly physical sport with a predictably high rate of injury.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Roger Hinds, ATC, for his contributions to this paper.

No potential conflict of interest declared.

Injury Prevention in Basketball

  • First Online: 06 October 2020

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basketball injury essay

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Basketball is a non-contact sport that involves fast acceleration and deceleration with cutting manoeuvres and high physical demands that may expose the participant to the risk of injury. Increased knowledge of injury prevention is an important mission, as basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world at all levels, among both men and women and the young and old. To be able to minimise the overall risk of injuries, prevention strategies for both acute and over-use injuries must be implemented and, optimally, also individualised.

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Brorsson, A., Jónsdóttir, U.S., Karlsson, J. (2020). Injury Prevention in Basketball. In: Laver, L., Kocaoglu, B., Cole, B., Arundale, A.J.H., Bytomski, J., Amendola, A. (eds) Basketball Sports Medicine and Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61070-1_51

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basketball injury essay

How to Write a Non-Cliche College Essay About Sports + Examples

What’s covered:, what makes a sports essay cliche.

  • How To Make Your Sports Essay Unique

Great Examples of College Essays About Sports

Where to get your college essay edited for free, or by an expert.

You’ve been brainstorming essay topics for your college applications, and you think you’ve finally found the right one: an extended metaphor likening your experience on the field with overcoming personal struggles. The problem: many other students have this same thought. 

The purpose of a college essay is to make yourself stand out as a unique individual, but when students write about sports, they often blend in. Because of that, students are usually advised to pick a different topic.

That being said, it is possible to write a non-cliche college essay about sports if you put in a little extra effort. Read along to learn how to make your sports essay different from all the other sports essays.

Sports essays are cliche when they follow a standard trajectory. Some of these trajectories include writing a story about:

  • An agonizing defeat
  • Forging bonds with teammates
  • Overcoming adversity
  • Overcoming an injury
  • Refusing to quit
  • Victory during a big game

Because sports essays have very similar themes and “lessons learned,” it can be difficult to make your story stand out. These trajectories also often focus too much on the sport or storyline, and not enough on the writer’s reflections and personality.

As you write your essay, try to think about what your experience says about you rather than what you learned from your experience. You are more than just one lesson you learned!

(Keep in mind that the sports essay is not the only college essay cliche. Learn about other essay cliches and how to fix them in our complete guide).

How to Make Your Sports Essay Unique

1. focus on a specific moment or reflection..

The college essay is a way for students to humanize themselves to admissions officers. You do not feel human if you are describing yourself as just another player on the field!

One important way to make your essay about you (not just about sports) is by focusing on a specific moment in time and inviting the reader to join you in that moment. Explain to the reader what it would be like to be sitting in that locker room as you questioned the values of the other players on your team. Ask your reader to sit with you on the cot in the trainer’s room as your identity was stripped away from you when they said “your body can’t take this anymore.” Bring your reader to the dinner table and involve them in your family’s conversation about how sports were affecting your mental health and your treatment of those around you.

Intense descriptions of a specific experience will evoke emotions in your reader and allow them to connect with you and feel for you.

When in doubt, avoid anything that can be covered by ESPN. On ESPN, we see the games, we see the benches, we even see the locker rooms and training rooms. Take your reader somewhere different and show them something unique.

2. Use sports to point out broader themes in your life.

The main risk when writing about sports is neglecting to write about yourself. Before you get started, think about the main values that you want to express in your sports essay. Sports are simply your avenue for telling the reader what makes you unique. 

As a test, imagine if you were a pianist. Would you be able to talk about these same values? What if you were a writer? Or a chemist? Articulating your values is the end, and sports should simply be your means.

Some values that you might want to focus on:

  • Autonomy (you want to be able to set your mind to anything and achieve it on your own)
  • Growth (you seek improvement constantly)
  • Curiosity (you are willing to try anything once)
  • Vulnerability (you aren’t afraid to fail, as long as you give it your all)
  • Community (you value the feedback of others and need camaraderie to succeed)
  • Craft (you think that with deliberate care, anything can be perfected)
  • Responsibility (you believe that you owe something to those around you and perhaps they also owe something to you)

You can use the ESPN check again to make sure that you are using sports as an avenue to show your depth.

Things ESPN covers: how a player reacts to defeat, how injuries affect a player’s gameplay/attitude, how players who don’t normally work well together are working together on their new team.

Things ESPN doesn’t cover: the conversation that a player had with their mother about fear of death before going into a big surgery (value: family and connection), the ways that the intense pressure to succeed consumed a player to the point they couldn’t be there for the people in their life (value: supporting others and community), the body image issues that weigh on a player’s mind when playing their sport and how they overcame those (value: health and growth).

3. Turn a cliche storyline on its head.

There’s no getting around the fact that sports essays are often cliche. But there is a way to confront the cliche head-on. For example, lots of people write essays about the lessons they learned from an injury, victory, and so on, but fewer students explain how they are embracing those lessons. 

Perhaps you learned that competition is overwhelming for you and you prefer teamwork, so you switched from playing basketball to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe, when your softball career ended abruptly, you had to find a new identity and that’s when you became obsessed with your flower garden and decided to pursue botany. Or maybe, you have stuck with football through it all, but your junior-year mental health struggle showed you that football should be fun and you have since started a nonprofit for local children to healthily engage with sports.

If your story itself is more cliche, try bringing readers to the present moment with you and show why the cliche matters and what it did for you. This requires a fair amount of creativity. Ensure you’re not parroting a frequently used topic by really thinking deeply to find your own unique spin.

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable. 

Why it works:

What’s especially powerful about this essay is that the author uses detailed imagery to convey a picture of what they’re experiencing, so much so that the reader is along for the ride. This works as a sports essay not only because of the language and sensory details, but also because the writer focuses on a specific moment in time, while at the same time exploring why Taekwondo is such an important part of their life.

After the emotional image is created, the student finishes their essay with valuable reflection. With the reflection, they show admissions officers that they are mature and self-aware. Self-awareness comes through with statements like “surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become” and maturity can be seen through the student’s discussion of values “honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet.” These are the kinds of comments that should find their way into a sports essay!

basketball injury essay

“Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one. 

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we compete with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

In the beginning, you might think this is another cliche sports essay about overcoming adversity. But instead, it becomes a unique statement and coming-of-age tale that reads as a suspenseful narrative. 

The author connects their experience with martial arts to larger themes in their life but manages to do so without riffing off of tried-and-true themes. Through statements like “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was” we learn about the students values and their desire to be there for those who depend on them. 

The student also brings it full circle, demonstrating their true transformation. By using the “Same, but Different” ending technique , the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiences it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is very compelling!

“1…2…3…4 pirouettes! New record!” My friends cheered as I landed my turns. Pleased with my progress, I gazed down at my worn-out pointe shoes. The sweltering blisters, numbing ice-baths, and draining late-night practices did not seem so bad after all. Next goal: five turns.

For as long as I can remember, ballet, in all its finesse and glamor, had kept me driven day to day. As a child, the lithe ballerinas, donning ethereal costumes as they floated across the stage, were my motivation. While others admired Messi and Adele, I idolized Carlos Acosta, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. 

As I devoted more time and energy towards my craft, I became obsessed with improving my technique. I would stretch for hours after class, forcing my leg one inch higher in an effort to mirror the Dance Magazine cover girls. I injured my feet and ruined pair after pair of pointe shoes, turning on wood, cement, and even grass to improve my balance as I spun. At competitions, the dancers with the 180-degree leg extensions, endless turns, and soaring leaps—the ones who received “Bravos!” from the roaring audience—further pushed me to refine my skills and perfect my form. I believed that, with enough determination, I would one day attain their level of perfection. Reaching the quadruple-pirouette milestone only intensified my desire to accomplish even more. 

My efforts seemed to have come to fruition two summers ago when I was accepted to dance with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet at their renowned New York City summer intensive. I walked into my first session eager to learn from distinguished ballet masters and worldly dancers, already anticipating my improvement. Yet, as I danced alongside the accomplished ballerinas, I felt out of place. Despite their clean technique and professional training, they did not aim for glorious leg extensions or prodigious leaps. When they performed their turn combinations, most of them only executed two turns as I attempted four. 

“Dancers, double-pirouettes only.” 

Taken aback and confused, I wondered why our teacher expected so little from us. The other ballerinas seemed content, gracing the studio with their simple movements. 

As I grew closer with my Moscow roommates, I gradually learned that their training emphasized the history of the art form instead of stylistic tricks. Rather than show off their physical ability, their performances aimed to convey a story, one that embodied the rich culture of ballet and captured both the legacy of the dancers before them and their own artistry. As I observed my friends more intently in repertoire class, I felt the pain of the grief-stricken white swan from Swan Lake, the sass of the flirtatious Kitri from Don Quijote, and I gradually saw what I had overlooked before. My definition of talent had been molded by crowd-pleasing elements—whirring pirouettes, gravity-defying leaps, and mind-blowing leg extensions. This mindset slowly stripped me from the roots of my passion and my personal connection with ballet. 

With the Bolshoi, I learned to step back and explore the meaning behind each step and the people behind the scenes. Ballet carries history in its movements, from the societal values of the era to each choreographer’s unique flair. As I uncovered the messages behind each pirouette, kick, and jump, my appreciation for ballet grew beyond my obsession with raw athleticism and developed into a love for the art form’s emotive abilities in bridging the dancers with the audience. My journey as an artist has allowed me to see how technical execution is only the means to a greater understanding between dancer and spectator, between storyteller and listener. The elegance and complexity of ballet does not revolve around astonishing stunts but rather the evocative strength and artistry manifested in the dancer, in me. It is the combination of sentiments, history, tradition, and passion that has allowed ballet and its lessons of human connection to become my lifestyle both on and off stage.

This essay is about lessons. While the author is a dancer, this narrative isn’t really about ballet, per se — it’s about the author’s personal growth. It is purposefully reflective as the student shows a nice character arc that begins with an eager young ballerina and ends with a reflection on their past. The primary strength of this essay is the honesty and authenticity that the student approaches it with.

In the end, the student turns a cliche on its head as they embrace the idea of overcoming adversity and demonstrate how the adversity, in this case, was their own stereotypes about their art. It’s beautiful!

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

This essay uses the idea of sports to explore a more profound topic—growing through relationships. They really embrace using sports as an avenue to tell the reader about a specific experience that changed the way they approach the world. 

The emphasis on relationships is why this essay works well and doesn’t fall into a cliche. The narrator grows not because of their experience with track but because of their relationship with their coach, who inspired them to evolve and become a leader.

Have a draft of your college essay? We’re here to help you polish it. Students can participate in a free Peer Review, or they can sign up for a paid review by CollegeVine’s experts. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to start improving your essay and your chances of acceptance!

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basketball injury essay

Rehabilitation of basketball injuries

Affiliation.

  • 1 New Jersey Sports Medicine Institute, Verona, NJ 07044, USA. [email protected]
  • PMID: 16952753
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.pmr.2006.05.009

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the United States and throughout the world, and therefore represents one of the most common sources of sports-related injuries. Basketball injuries should be managed by the same general rehabilitation principles as other sports injuries. Additionally, the clinician should be aware not only of general sports injuries but of those injuries most commonly seen in basketball players. By maintaining knowledge of the most common basketball injuries as well as their diagnosis and treatment, the clinician can help to optimize the athlete's return to play and enjoyment of the sport.

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basketball injury essay

Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson drops intriguing Trey Galloway injury timeline

T rey Galloway, a senior on the Indiana basketball team, grew up living the dream of every kid in the Hoosier state. Galloway was a four-star high school basketball prospect who won an Indiana state championship while playing for his father, who then went on to play multiple years at Indiana University. Unfortunately for Trey Galloway, that dream was briefly derailed in March 2024 by a nightmare that is common for any athlete at any juncture of their career — Galloway suffered a knee injury in a late-season game versus Michigan State which required off-season surgery. The timing of this knee injury has cast some doubt on his availability for the start of the 2024-25 season, his fifth with the Hoosiers.

On Wednesday, while at an annual fundraising event, Hoosiers head coach Mike Woodson spoke on Galloway’s offseason progress, and gave a promising update on whether or not his starting shooting guard will be ready to go at the start of what will be his fifth season in Bloomington .

“He’s going through rehab and he’s not ready to play yet on the floor,” Mike Woodson said on Wednesday , per Jack Ankony of Sports Illustrated. “But we’re hoping and thinking he’s going to be back and ready to go when the season starts. So we just got to continue to – we got eight weeks here coming up starting June 3rd and well into July, and hopefully by then he’ll be ready to play.”

Last season, which was Trey Galloway’s first year as a season-long starter for the Indiana basketball program, the Hoosier State native played the best basketball of his career. Galloway averaged 10.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, a mark that was 9th-best in the Big Ten. Getting a veteran presence like Galloway back on the floor for the start of the year will be of the utmost importance for Mike Woodson, who enters what looks to be a make-or-break season with the Hoosiers.

Indiana’s 2024-25 season outlook 

If this is a make-or-break season for Mike Woodson at Indiana, at least he’s put himself in a position to succeed . The Hoosiers are currently 2nd in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings for the 2024-25 season, thanks in large part to the addition of two-time All-Pac-12 1st Team performer Oumar Ballo. Over the last two seasons, Ballo, a seven-footer from Mali who started his college career at Gonzaga, has averaged 13.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game for the Wildcats.

In addition to Ballo, Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers also added reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Myles Rice, a talented combo guard who averaged 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Washington State. Rounding out the transfer portal class for Indiana are Luke Goode (Illinois), Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford), and Langdon Hatton (Bellarmine).

This high profile transfer portal class joins a solid group of returnees. In addition to Trey Galloway, the Hoosiers also return Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Anthony Leal, Gabe Cupps and Jakai Newton.

The post Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson drops intriguing Trey Galloway injury timeline appeared first on ClutchPoints .

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ESSAY: How much does a year cost?

One year of stagnation had disastrous consequences for the Brooklyn Nets. So before they face the summer of 2024, they must ask themselves one question. Are they willing to do it again?

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Brooklyn Nets New Coach Press Conference

Like any of you who invest in rooting for the Brooklyn Nets strongly enough to regularly comment or even read this site, I enjoy being right. That’s at least half the fun of being a sports fan.

I would love to tell you to go back and read the comments on this article from a year ago, in which I advocated for the Nets to smash the rebuild button, even without owning their picks — this was before the incessant rumors /public courting from the Houston Rockets began, offering Brooklyn their own picks back for Mikal Bridges.

But I’m not here for a victory lap, despite the 32-50 record Brooklyn posted this season that has many fans bemoaning the apparent direction of the franchise: steering clear of that dreaded rebuilding phase. We can of course debate the merits and various strategies of a proper rebuild (or “tank,” if you want to use the unholy name). I argued that accumulating picks by the truckload, quantity over quality to a certain point, is what’s really important, regardless if those picks are team-controlled or not.

This isn’t about that, and it’s not even about the new scuttlebutt concerning a potential exchange of draft assets: Brooklyn sending the future Phoenix Suns picks they own to Houston, again, for their own picks back. I’m not reporting anything here, but I didn’t entertain that offer and in fact dispute even calling the rumor an offer. Everything they’ve done since that fateful 2023 trade deadline suggests they’d rather short Phoenix’s stock (and Philly’s and Dallas’) than their own.

Which raises the question: How much does a year cost?

Specifically, and at the risk of sounding like every other Gen Z writer, a year in which the vibes were so dismal that the head coach with three-and-a-half years left on his deal was canned; the starting point guard wanted out so desperately that a trade for another guard who had, on his prior team, been reported as not being “thrilled” to play a supporting role on a middling team actually improved the vibes; a star player who had to reassure the fanbase that he didn’t want to jump ship to the cross-town rival because he wasn’t feisty enough on his college buddies’ podcast, and more. (Including calling Mikal Bridges the team’s “star” player an act of aggression against a portion of the fanbase.)

Mikal says he wasn't raised to quit when things get tough. Then pours cold water on NYK noise: "I know a lot of people might think about different situations and teams. Obviously I got my boys over there in New York and stuff, so everybody goes with that." pic.twitter.com/rwzwJBuCaf — Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) February 21, 2024

Because it really was the vibes rather than the basketball which was frequently lifeless. Better hoops and better injury luck with Brooklyn’s 2024 roster could have netted them a Play-In Tournament appearance, probably something closer to 40 wins. But getting skunked by the Boston Celtics in the first round wouldn’t have changed the long-term direction of the franchise one bit.

2024 was never going to be a contending year for the Nets. 2025 won’t be either. But can it be the same?

Many of those who pined for a rebuild immediately after Brooklyn dealt away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving failed to emphasize the most enticing part of that route, in that it’s far, far more fun. Just look at the juice Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney brought to the end of the season.

But now, the Brooklyn Nets have just two major steps to go in their current plan, and they are quite simple steps, just difficult. 1) Acquire an All-NBA player. 2) Acquire another All-NBA player.

Not impossible though, considering the amount of picks that the Nets have in their war chest, the fact they call New York City home, and that Ben Simmons’ max-slot is expiring next season. And while that final fact suggests 2025 could become another waiting year for Brooklyn, how can the answer to the above question be “yes”? It feels like the Nets have truly been through it all, but also that another season like 2024 would cause a permanent crack somewhere in the armor.

Thus, step one becomes critical, at the very least to create a playoff-caliber team that gives fans something real to invest in while still on the path to something greater.

Which is why Fanduel TV’s Shams Charania reporting that there is “optimism” in Cleveland that Donovan Mitchell will sign an extension with the franchise is at least a bit worrying...

"J. B. Bickerstaff is out as head coach in Cleveland, sources tell me that Kenny Atkinson and James Borrego are among the leading candidates to replace Bickerstaff...There is a lot of optimism around the Cavs that they're going to get a commitment from Donovan Mitchell on a… pic.twitter.com/9NkzsXTIkm — Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 23, 2024

Mitchell could represent an ideal Step One for the Nets. He is an elite offensive player who is incredibly fun to watch and would fit quite well with the current Brooklyn roster. The New York native declining to sign his extension would put Cleveland on the clock while diminishing their leverage in trade negotiations, perhaps slightly lowering his cost and making step two more feasible for Brooklyn.

Signing that extension, of course, does the opposite, and leaves the Nets searching for a way to create something interesting by next season. They just have to be interesting, not world-beaters as they were in 2019 when they lured Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn. So, is that Trae Young? Feels unlikely, though if Atlanta’s asking price is really as low as recent reporting suggests, Brooklyn should consider it.

Which brings us to uncomfortable territory. Did 2024 cost Brooklyn enough to make a move that doesn’t address either Step One or Step Two in a rush to make this team interesting?

With just one year left on Ben Simmons’ contract, there’s no long-term reason to dump a first-rounder or two just to exchange it for a better expiring like Brandon Ingram’s, though Ingram would improve the Nets. Just not enough.

And yet, you can’t begrudge any fan for wanting Brooklyn to make such a move, for the team to change something up other than the coaching staff. Jordi Fernández and his staff could work wonders, but as of now, they’re still inheriting a roster that won 32 games last season.

The Brooklyn Nets are searching for reasons not to simply run it back in 2025 and play another year of the waiting game. But with Donovan Mitchell potentially signing that extension in Cleveland and giving the Cavaliers another chance, they might have to. That’d be a lot easier to stomach if 2024 wasn’t a season full of evidence indicating how painful that waiting can be.

What will the Brooklyn Nets do this summer, a suddenly pivotal one for the franchise, a year before their original target date? To answer that, we must first consider another question:

How much does a year really cost?

A day, in a week, in a year

Where everything exactly as you feared

Lightning could strike me right here

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Former Trinity star, Syracuse guard Chance Westry gives update on injury, Orange outlook

  • Published: May. 30, 2024, 5:00 a.m.

Syracuse Orange Basketball 2023-24: Syracuse vs Pittsburgh

Syracuse Orange guard Chance Westry (11) takes few shot before the Orange’s game. Westry has been injured for most of the season. The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team host the Pittsburgh Panthers at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse N.Y. Dec 30, 2023. Dennis Nett | [email protected] [email protected]

Chance Westry still hasn’t had a chance to show Syracuse fans what he can bring to the table.

But the one-time Trinity Shamrock star, progressing to full health following a knee injury last year, is ready to show the Orange faithful what he can do.

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Jenison teen struck while retrieving basketball from road

  • Updated: May. 31, 2024, 5:04 p.m. |
  • Published: May. 31, 2024, 5:03 p.m.

Life ambulance file

A 14-year-old Jenison boy was injured when he was struck while retrieving a basketball from Baldwin Street. (MLive file photo)

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- A 14-year-old Jenison boy was injured Friday, May 31 when he was struck by a pickup while retrieving a basketball from Baldwin Street.

The crash happened about 3:10 p.m. near Walnut Avenue.

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  • See dashcam video of Kent County sheriff’s cruiser hitting, fatally injuring teen

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Encouraging Sign for Duke Basketball Pro Dereck Lively II

Matt giles | may 30, 2024.

Former Duke basketball center Dereck Lively II

  • Duke Blue Devils

At 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks, featuring Luka Doncic and 2010-11 Duke basketball one-and-done Kyrie Irving, look to bounce back from Tuesday night's 105-100 Game 4 home loss by closing out their Western Conference Finals series against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.

ALSO READ: 'Alaskan Assassin' Adding to NBA Blue Devil Power

Dallas may or may not enjoy the services of its other NBA Blue Devil in 7-foot-1 rookie Dereck Lively II, who is the squad's primary enforcer down low, even if in a reserve role.

But the 20-year-old budding big man's outlook for Game 5 appears considerably more promising than it did in the 24 hours leading up to Game 4. He ended up sitting that contest due to the frightening neck injury he sustained in the second quarter of the Mavericks' Game 3 victory in Dallas on Sunday night.

On Wednesday evening, the team upgraded Lively to questionable for Game 5.

Wheels up ✈️ 📸 @dallasmavs pic.twitter.com/JsYl6l9277 — Dereck Lively II Muse (@DL2Muse) May 30, 2024

The Mavericks are 3-0 in the series when Lively has played. And they are +22 across the 63 minutes he's been on the floor, in which he's averaged 9.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 13-for-13 from the field and 3-for-3 at the foul line.

Should Dallas advance, Dereck Lively II and Kyrie Irving would face 2016-17 Duke basketball one-and-done Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics beginning next Thursday. It would mark the first time that three former Blue Devils have appeared in the same NBA Finals.

ALSO READ: One Duke Newcomer Not on Campus This Week

Matt Giles

Matt Giles is the editor and publisher of FanNation's Blue Devil Country and All Tar Heels, covering the Duke Blue Devils and UNC Tar Heels on SI.com.

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Guest Essay

With Each Basket Steph Curry Shoots, I Inch Closer to Death

An illustration that superimposes an hourglass onto the markings of a basketball court.

By Ezekiel Kweku

Mr. Kweku is a special projects editor in Times Opinion.

A few weeks ago, as I watched the Golden State Warriors submit to a humiliating defeat by the Sacramento Kings, my main feeling was not frustration, anger or embarrassment. Rather, it was resignation: One day I will die.

The Warriors’ three core players — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — have been together since 2012. I remember watching their first playoff run end at the hands of the dynastic San Antonio Spurs machine and reveling in their unbounded potential. They will be back, I thought, and I was right — over the next few years they turned into the defining team of their era, combining swarming, ferocious defense with gorgeous, egalitarian offense. Curry blossomed into one of the greatest players of all time; Green, one of the best defenders; Thompson, one of the best shooters. They went to the finals six times and won four.

How this all came to matter to me is a little mysterious. But one of the charms of sports is that they are empty of inherent meaning: A ball passing through a rim has no practical import or broader significance. But that emptiness makes them a perfect vessel for the entire range of human emotions, their bite no less sharp for the low stakes. For me, the emotional tides of life as a Warriors fan have moved in strange relation to the ebbs and flows of the rest of my life.

The professional life span of an N.B.A. player is short. Players join at 19 at the earliest, and by their early 30s, if they’ve managed to stick around that long, they are often considering retirement. Rooting for basketball players means constantly being aware that they are aging. And now that the oldest players are my age, it means constantly being aware that I am aging, too.

Stephen Curry was born into the N.B.A. in 2009, at age 21. Six years later he was the league’s most valuable player. Nine years after that, in 2024, it’s clear that the end is near, both for Curry and for this team. Parts of his game that I fell in love with have faded; watching him, I can almost feel my own bones grinding against one another. The quick-twitch burst that allowed him to slip past defenders or explode from a dribbler’s crouch to a shooter’s stretch is all but spent. He operates in narrower margins, tighter windows. Flashes of the old wizardry still shine through, but these days he is more craftsman than magician.

If there is one moment for which Klay Thompson will be remembered, it is Game 6 of 2016’s conference finals. On the verge of playoff elimination, Thompson saved the season with a supernatural series of three-point shots: from oblique angles, or with legs canted in the air, or over forests of defending arms. It was everything that I had come to love about basketball compressed into one game.

The Warriors won that game and the next, sending them to the finals in a rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The morning of Game 3, I went with my pregnant wife to her first ultrasound appointment, brimming with anticipation. What I remember most is the billowing silence as the nurse technician fruitlessly scanned for signs of a viable fetus and the way my wife’s palms felt so soft against my own. I did not cry until we had reached the safety of our home.

Later, without much deliberation, we decided to go through with our plans to watch the game. It was a blowout defeat. I cannot remember one half of this day without the other — the real tragedy bound up with the ersatz one. Uncannily, each made the other hurt less, like dull echoes canceling out.

Hampered by injuries and the weight of expectations, the Warriors would go on to lose the series, their historic regular-season success transforming into playoff ignominy. A few days later, my wife became suddenly and mysteriously ill, unable to stand without passing out. I carried her down the stairs of our apartment building; in the sunlight, I noticed how pale she was and began to be truly afraid. What had been diagnosed as a miscarriage turned out to have been an ectopic pregnancy. My wife’s fallopian tube had ruptured. An emergency surgery saved her life. She was still in her recovery bed when we heard that Kevin Durant would be joining the Warriors.

That next year, as the team stormed through the season, my wife’s belly swelled with new promise. The Warriors won their second championship of this run. On her due date, we braved the crowds to watch the Larry O’Brien trophy carried through the streets of Oakland.

The year after that, my son awoke in my arms as the Warriors clinched their third title. We were at a watch party, and the sight of the confetti falling around us fascinated him. Four years later, in 2022, I woke him up — and his new little brother, too — to watch the Warriors win the fourth title of the run, a memory they remind me of often.

A few weeks ago, I took my firstborn to a Warriors game: his first time seeing them in person and the last meaningful game of their elegiac regular season. Despite my nudges and suggestions, the younger Warriors players held no interest for him. He had eyes only for his favorite players: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. We arrived early to watch Curry warm up — he, too, was accompanied by his firstborn. Riley Curry was 2 during her dad’s first championship run, making a name for herself by stealing the mic and the show during the postgame news conferences. Now she was 11 and passed the ball to her dad for a few trick shots at the end of his workout. My son, watching through binoculars, correctly declared Curry “the best.”

The Warriors played from behind for most of the night. Curry conjured up some vintage late-game heroics, but it was not enough. My son, who had invested every shot with world-changing significance, took the narrow defeat with surprising equanimity. They had tried their best and come pretty close to winning, after all. I asked him what his favorite part of the game had been. “You standing up and cheering,” he said. “I just liked it.” He does not yet know why Warriors basketball had come to mean something to me, and to him. But he sensed the currents. This is how it starts, I thought to myself.

Ezekiel Kweku is a special projects editor in Times Opinion.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Wes Miller speaks on promising 2024-25 Cincinnati Bearcats basketball roster

basketball injury essay

After 45 wins and back-to-back trips to the National Invitation Tournament, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team could be on the threshold of something exciting with their 2024-25 roster.

UC's transfer portal haul included former five-star forward Dillon Mitchell from Texas, center Arrinten Page from USC and shooting guard Connor Hickman from Bradley. 247Sports.com rated the class as No. 25 in terms of incoming transfers. Coach Wes Miller's incoming freshmen, Tyler Betsey of Connecticut and Tyler McKinley of Winton Woods, put the Bearcats at No. 32 for high school players.

What's not measured or rated is retaining a roster. With the official announcement of 7-footer Aziz Bandaogo withdrawing from the NBA Draft , the Bearcats brought back eight scholarship players, including four starters. Jizzle James started the last two games and returns along with Dan Skillings Jr., Day Day Thomas, Simas Lukošius, Bandaogo, C.J. Fredrick, Josh Reed and redshirt Ravyon Griffith.

"It was a priority to retain these guys," UC head coach Wes Miller said while previewing his roster Wednesday. "All the guys that came back from Day 1 it was, 'I want to be back in Cincinnati.'"

Putting together a starting lineup could be a challenge for Miller this season, but heading into his fourth year, he could have his most electric roster Bearcat fans have seen. Of the scholarship players, only Fredrick, Reed and Thomas were not rated at least a four-star. Thomas started in 35 of the 37 games he played last season and Fredrick has started 77 of 94 games between UC, Kentucky and Iowa.

"There's a ton of length and athleticism," Miller said. "There's a lot of versatility. I think we can play faster. I think we can get way more aggressive defensively. The different offensive options we're going to have is exciting. There's no reason to celebrate but to this point I'm proud of what's been created. Our returning players and our staff deserve the credit for that."

As he's out of scholarships, Miller says this class is complete.

You can't get a hit unless you swing

While Miller hasn't had the blue-chip luxury of some elite programs, he knows what it looks like having played for North Carolina and Roy Williams.

In the last two seasons, UC has hosted a dozen ESPN Top 100 recruits and the Bearcats have signed four.

"We see this as one the great programs in college basketball," Miller said. "The best players should want to play here. We're going to continue to go after the guys that fit the things that we value and the things this city, this community and this University value. We're not afraid to fail in recruiting. What I'm more proud of is we've got a number of great players to say yes and continue to say yes when they have options to leave here (via portal)."

A visit could lead to a second chance

The Bearcats have hosted from the 2024 ESPN 100, No. 17, Flory Bidunga (committed to Kansas), No. 24 Jase Richardson (Michigan State), No. 30 Labaron Philon (Kansas, then Alabama) and No. 74 Travis Perry (Kentucky).

From the 2023 class, they hosted No. 1 Isaiah Collier (USC) and Sean Stewart (Duke, then Ohio State). No. 40 Arrinten Page was a high school teammate of Collier's and visited and now is in the fold as a Bearcat. No. 83 in the 2023 class is Rayvon Griffith who redshirted last season after playing at Arizona Compass and Taft High School before that.

In addition to securing Page and Griffith, five-star Dillon Mitchell was No. 4 in the 2022 ESPN 100 and is now a Bearcat. He is UC's first McDonald's All-American since Lance Stephenson.

"Dillon's already done it at a really high level," Miller said. "He's had significant roles for two NCAA tournament teams. They (Texas) made a deep run his freshman year. I think they won the Big 12 tournament his freshman year. He's so versatile on both ends. He can do so many things, guard so many different positions, I think he really fits our style of play, the things that we value."

Page from USC may be the sleeper of the class.

"Grassroots recruiting is so important," Miller said. "If we hadn't recruited AP (Page) in high school. You could see his progression from a guy that wasn't even being recruited to a Top 50 player in his class. I was as sure about him in the high school recruiting process as anybody I've ever recruited."

That assurance led Miller to not look at Page's 3.1 scoring average or 2.1 rebounding average. Knowing the difficulties of being a Division I freshman plus his family helped. Plus, Miller found out Page was dealing with mononucleosis as a freshman.

"I think he has a chance to make one of the bigger freshman-to-sophomore jumps in college basketball because he's super gifted," Miller said.

Bearcats do land a couple of 2024 stars

UC was 2-for-6 among the 2024 ESPN 100, getting No. 59 Tyler Betsey of St. Thomas More in Connecticut and local No. 82 Tyler McKinley. Miller is still shooting for the stars as Jasper Johnson of Link Academy and Lexington (KY), No. 8 from the 2025 ESPN 100, has visited.

As for waiting on the likes of Mitchell, Page and Betsey, Miller has been known to celebrate but as Tom Petty once sang, "The Waiting" is the hardest part.

"It is kind of a nervous waiting game," he said. "As I get older, I get a little bit better. You don't sleep as well those nights because you're anticipating decisions and you know how big those decisions can be for your program. That's recruiting. Sweating out those decisions is what all coaches go through."

Injury updates

C.J. Fredrick has been cleared from his hamstring issues to begin work with the team, while Day Day Thomas, who missed the last two NIT games with a broken foot will be back later this summer.

Miller attended a recent doctor's appointment for Thomas in Charlotte, North Carolina and his progression will be initially limited. He expects him to be cleared by mid-to-late June.

Skillings swan song?

Dan Skillings Jr. said on a UC ESPN+ baseball broadcast that this would be his final year. Miller will be guiding the junior through what both hope to be a productive year.

"I think what he's saying is he wants to become a player the NBA chooses to draft," Miller said. "That should be his goal. The challenge now for Dan is to make sure his goals are matched by what his day-to-day habits are. He's got to have a work ethic and an approach that's second-to-none. Dan and I talk very openly. His goal should be to have an unbelievable year that results in a ton of winning. Dan and a bunch of our other guys have to spend this offseason obsessed with improvement."

Areas to improve

"I think the thing that's obvious is how many close games we lost," Miller said. "What can we do from here moving forward to close that gap? That's the thing that sticks out the most, just how small the margins are. We have to do everything in our power to close the gap in those margins with our work this offseason."

Though no schedule has been released, numerous reports have UC hosting Morehead State on Friday, Nov. 8 at Fifth Third Arena in its opener.

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COMMENTS

  1. How and When to Talk About a Sports Injury in Your College Essay

    A sports injury can evoke a lot of emotions—pain and disappointment, to name a few. Recovering from your injury, and describing that recovery, can demonstrate determination, hard work, bravery, perseverance in the face of obstacles, and many other admirable qualities. It's a natural topic to choose.

  2. Causes Of Basketball Injury Essay

    Causes Of Basketball Injury Essay; Causes Of Basketball Injury Essay. 809 Words 4 Pages. Basketball: How to Prevent Injuries Basketball is one of the most well-loved sports. In the United States alone, there are about more than 26 million Americans who play this sports. In fact, it is the most played sport in the US, next is baseball.

  3. Epidemiology of sports injuries in basketball: integrative systematic

    A total of 12 960 injuries were observed, most of which occurred in the lower limbs (63.7%), with 2832 (21.9%) ankle injuries and 2305 (17.8%) knee injuries. Injuries in the upper limbs represented 12%-14% of the total injuries. Children and adolescents received head injuries more often compared with the other age and skill categories.

  4. Basketball Injury Essay

    Basketball Injury Essay. You're about to play a basketball game. You're not hydrated or stretched out. The chances of you getting hurt are more likely than not. There are several ways to prevent basketball injuries on and off the court. First of all you should warm up and stretch your muscles. Cold muscles are prone to injury.

  5. Prevention of Lower Extremity Injuries in Basketball

    Therefore, the purpose of this study was to systematically search, review, and meta-analyze the effectiveness of current lower extremity injury prevention programs in basketball populations, focusing on injury rates of (1) general lower extremity injuries, (2) ankle sprains, and (3) ACL tears. We hypothesized that the literature would present ...

  6. Benefits of Playing Basketball: Injury Prevention and Risks: [Essay

    Basketball has been identified as the sport having the second greatest number of facial injuries, including eye and oral trauma, in the United States.10 The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) found that basketball was associated with the greatest number of injuries occurring in players ages 5 to 19 years.

  7. Basketball Injury

    Basketball Injury. Decent Essays. 1037 Words. 5 Pages. Open Document. A male basketball player came into the clinic complaining of back pain that sometimes travels down his leg. This athlete has a long history ( 3+ years) of back pain and often uses advil to get through practice and games. The pain often starts as pinching in the lumbar spine ...

  8. Types And Effects Of Injuries In Basketball

    Types And Effects Of Injuries In Basketball. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. Injures is one of the most common ways an athlete can end his career. Injuries are truly something athletes try to avoid.

  9. Basketball Injuries: Caring for a Basketball Team

    Among the 12- to 17-year-olds, women sustained a higher rate of finger sprain injuries at 7.9% compared with men at 6.5%. Male high school basketball players fractured their hand/finger frequently at 24.8%, while female high school basketball players fractured their hand/finger at 40.5% ( 68 ).

  10. 5 Common Basketball Injuries (and How to Treat Them)

    One thing you can do to help prevent injuries to your hip and thigh is make sure you use the right basketball stretches before practices and games. You can also have a good weight training program that will build up your muscles and joints. 2. Knee Injuries.

  11. Injury in the National Basketball Association

    Studies of elite basketball in Sweden and high school basketball in Texas also found that the ankle was the most commonly injured area, followed by the knee. 1,8. Several limitations may affect the accuracy of this study. The injuries in the database include only those reported by the team trainers according to the criteria outlined above.

  12. Basketball Injury Research

    Among the most common basketball injuries we can talk about lateral ankle sprains, lumbar strains and hamstrig strains (Drakos, Domb, Starkey, Callahan, & Allen, 2010). These injuries can impact on future performances and also on willigness to take up basketball again. Sports related injuries might become a work impediment in certain individuals.

  13. Injury Prevention in Basketball

    In basketball, injuries to the lower extremities are by far the most common. In a newly performed systematic review , it was shown that 63.7% of all injuries, irrespective of gender and level, were seen in the lower limbs; 21.9% in the ankle and 17.8% in the knee. Wrist, hand, and finger injuries were most common in the upper extremities, even ...

  14. How to Write a Non-Cliche College Essay About Sports + Examples

    2. Use sports to point out broader themes in your life. The main risk when writing about sports is neglecting to write about yourself. Before you get started, think about the main values that you want to express in your sports essay. Sports are simply your avenue for telling the reader what makes you unique.

  15. Injury Risks Of Playing Basketball

    Health Benefits Of Basketball Essay. As the number of basketball players are increasing, so the cases of injuries in young athletes despite of social and health benefits of the sport (Pate, Trost, Levin & Dowda, 2000). The main cause of injuries in basketball is a lot of stress on the body. According to the National Electronic Injury ...

  16. Rehabilitation of basketball injuries

    Abstract. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the United States and throughout the world, and therefore represents one of the most common sources of sports-related injuries. Basketball injuries should be managed by the same general rehabilitation principles as other sports injuries. Additionally, the clinician should be aware not ...

  17. Basketball Injury Research Paper

    Basketball Injury Research Paper. Around 92% of all basketball players will have an ankle sprain at least one time during their playing career. Most basketball injuries are sprains, strains or contusions (muscle damage by impact) meaning the most common injured area for basketball players are either their ankle or knee.

  18. Basketball

    For that first game of basketball in 1891, Naismith used as goals two half-bushel peach baskets, which gave the sport its name. The students were enthusiastic. After much running and shooting, William R. Chase made a midcourt shot—the only score in that historic contest.Word spread about the newly invented game, and numerous associations wrote Naismith for a copy of the rules, which were ...

  19. Dallas Mavericks' Dereck Lively II Injury News Before Game 5 Against

    Lively has been instrumental in the Mavericks' success throughout their postseason run. He's averaged 8.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 15 games while shooting a historic 65 ...

  20. Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson drops intriguing Trey ...

    The timing of this knee injury has cast some doubt on his availability for the start of the 2024-25 season, his fifth with the Hoosiers. On Wednesday, while at an annual fundraising event ...

  21. ESSAY: How much does a year cost?

    Because it really was the vibes rather than the basketball which was frequently lifeless. Better hoops and better injury luck with Brooklyn's 2024 roster could have netted them a Play-In ...

  22. Injury In Basketball

    The NBA is the number one leading sport for injuries. In basketball history there has been a total or 409,799 injuries in the league. That is why it is important for you to stretch before and after you play. ... Sports Injuries : Sports Injury Essay. In sports, especially professional sports injury is a great possibly, and a common and very ...

  23. Former Trinity star, Syracuse guard Chance Westry gives update on

    The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team host the Pittsburgh Panthers at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse N.Y. Dec 30, 2023. ... progressing to full health following a knee injury last year ...

  24. Jenison teen struck while retrieving basketball from road

    OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- A 14-year-old Jenison boy was injured Friday, May 31 when he was struck by a pickup while retrieving a basketball from Baldwin Street. The crash happened about 3:10 p.m. near ...

  25. Encouraging Sign for Duke Basketball Pro Dereck Lively II

    At 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks, featuring Luka Doncic and 2010-11 Duke basketball one-and-done Kyrie Irving, look to bounce back from Tuesday night's 105-100 Game 4 home loss by ...

  26. Mavericks win likely sets NBA Finals matchup, plus Acuña's devastating

    Ronald Acuña Jr. will miss the rest of the season after testing confirmed a torn ACL, a brutal blow for a Braves team already slightly lagging behind lofty preseason expectations. It's ...

  27. Bill Walton leaves behind incomparable basketball, broadcasting legacy

    LOVERRO: Walton leaves behind incomparable basketball, broadcasting legacy. Print. By Thom Loverro - - Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Former Maryland basketball star Tom McMillen was surprised to hear ...

  28. Opinion

    By Ezekiel Kweku. Mr. Kweku is a special projects editor in Times Opinion. A few weeks ago, as I watched the Golden State Warriors submit to a humiliating defeat by the Sacramento Kings, my main ...

  29. Can Wes Miller's UC Bearcats basketball roster lead to an NCAA bid?

    Wes Miller speaks on promising 2024-25 Cincinnati Bearcats basketball roster. After 45 wins and back-to-back trips to the National Invitation Tournament, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats men ...

  30. Basketball Injury Research Paper

    Depending on the duration and intensity of play many contributing factors play a role in the prescribed treatment of basketball injuries. This paper will examine the different types of treatment available and the major factors that are considered based on case by case basis. Basketball is an enjoyable sport with the risk of minor and major injury.