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Dr. Doug Glazer, a certified athletic trainer and Assistant Professor of Sports Science at Merrimac (MA ) College, suggests that if you are concerned as a parent about your child's psychological readiness to return to sports after long-term injury, you should:
- Talk to your child. You know your child better than anyone and may able to detect subtle clues that your child isn't quite ready to return because she is uncharacteristically hesitant, or demonstrating a lack of confidence that she didn't exhibit before her injury.
- Administer the Psychological Readiness to Return to Sports (PRRS) test.The advantage of the test, Dr. Glazer explains, is that it can be administered by anyone , not just an athletic trainer. The key is for the scores to show improvement over time, which shows that the athlete is getting ready to return to sports.
- Have a three-way conversation with the coach and your child. If you continue to be concerned that your child isn't ready psychologically to return to sports, meet with the child and his coach, show the coach the results of the test, and suggest that it might be wise for the athlete to be held out a bit longer so he doesn't risk re-injury or losing confidence.
