Summer is a fantastic time of year for many Chicago kids. Aside from the fact that they are out of school, many are also able to spend time with their friends while engaging in their favorite club and team sports. From soccer to football, baseball to field hockey, children all across the metropolitan area spend their summers getting dirty and honing their athletic skills.
While sports are a great way for kids to learn teamwork and build physical stamina, they are also often the medium through which children suffer personal injuries. Some sports-related injuries are minor, such as superficial abrasions and minor sprains. Others are more significant, such as broken bones and concussions.
According to a report out of the Institute of Medicine, interest in sports-related concussions have risen over the last decade — especially among kids. Competition and various pressures can sometimes push young people to test their physical limits in sports. As a result of these efforts, some youths go too far and pay for the repercussions of their actions with their health.
While the possibility of injury is often at least anticipated by participants in sports, in some cases children find themselves hurt through sports-related situations unrelated to their own actions. When faulty equipment, unsafe playing spaces, inadequately trained coaches and other factors cause children to suffer injuries, liability for youths’ injuries may reside in parties other than the injured kids.
Serious injuries that occur during youth sporting events are scary for the children who sustain the harm as well as for those who witness the injury-causing incidents. Though some sports injuries are simply part of the natural course of engaging in athletics, others result from preventable negligence. Personal injuries caused by others are sometimes compensable through tort-based litigation. Attorneys who work for personal injury victims can advise youths injured in sports if their claims may meet the requirements of personal injury causes of action.
