Soccer injuries, why don't I tell my soccer coach?

Soccer injuries or football injuries, as we say in the UK, can ruin careers. Even the smallest, niggling feeling of something wrong can lead to something more serious.

I really should know all about the feeling you get when you are out injured. A feeling that you are losing out, that you may never catch up with your team mates. A feeling that you may not get picked every game and will spend a lot of time on the bench. An even worse feeling that you might not ever reach your dream of playing professional football.

Early on this season I broke my collar bone, while in a tackle with a bigger lad, and was out for 4 months. Those 4 months were the worst months of my life as I had joined a new team in a higher league and was really starting to show my potential as a striker. There was nothing I could do to keep my fitness, not even light training. I just had to watch from the sidelines and pray that my injury would heal properly.

After 2 months, the pain had gone and I did feel I could get back to training, but my dad had other ideas. I suppose this is where we should really listen to our parents, they really do have our best interests in mind. I wasn't allowed to train until the end of the 4th month, no matter how well I felt.

Anyway, my collar bone healed and I learnt that a broken collar bone joint is usually stronger than the original bone. I hope so.

Playing football will always put you at risk of injuries. I used to get knee pains ( i found out they were due to a growth spurt), and ankle pains, but never told anyone because I didn't want to miss training or matches.

But one day my coach, who used to play professional football, told me how he used to carry on playing with injuries and couldn't carry on as a professional footballer because he had done too much damage to his knees.

After that, every time I got a niggling football injury, whether my knees were hurting or my ankle was hurting I made sure to tell my coach and rest properly.

Warming up is an essential part of avoiding football injuries, and I make sure I always warm up properly. I spend at least 15 minutes warming up, making sure that all the muscles that i'm going to use in my training session have got a gentle workout.