As the fall approaches, parents are busy not only preparing their children to return to school; but also organized sports. Organized sports for children and teens are on the rise and they start for children as young as six years old. As a former athlete, I am aware of all the benefits sports can bring to a child.

In 1990, 10% of the 51 million deaths worldwide were due to injury.  It is projected that by 2020, this figure will increase to 8.4 million annually, making injury the greatest single cause of loss of healthy years of human life, especially among children and young adults. According to the World Health Organization’s  2008 World…