Eating disorders affect at least 11 million people in the United States, some of them high school student athletes, who are running away from their healthy future. Student athletes may appear fit, but are they? Some athletes go to extremes to look healthy, and to compete. However, the ways they get there aren’t always the best methods.
When asked why students hide injuries, “They don’t want to be considered weak,” assistant football coach, Ried Bentley said.
Many students are required to lose, or gain, weight in a certain amount of time for a sport. 15 year old Christopher Alvarez allegedly lost 20 pounds in one week to go down a weight class and make varsity wrestling this season.
“I lost 20 pounds this week. I ant to lose more so I can wrestle in a lower class,” sophomore, Christopher Alvarez said.
The recommended number (as suggested by several health magazines) to lose per week is one to two pounds. Coach Bentley recommends that his athletes work out five days a week, two hours per session, so that the students don’t over work themselves.
Although this advice is well communicated from coaches to athletes, some still fall through the cracks.
“I think everybody has competed when unfit,” sophomore, Brennan Baker said.
A larger number of high school athletes admit to hiding injuries, or pretending to be healthy, in order to compete. Often, students hide injuries because they don’t want to be considered weak. When speaking about a football injury, “I was hit with adrenaline and wanted to play more,” sophomore, Javier Luong said. Hiding concussions, and leg injuries is not uncommon, and is a conscious decision made amongst teens. Coaches do not recommend that their student athletes hide injuries.
“I think there’s a big difference between being injured and being hurt,” Bentley said.
There’s no harm in gaining or losing weight for a sport, but there is a wrong way to go about it. Over working your body, over/under eating, and not getting the correct amount of sleep are all ways to lose weight, but it’s incredibly unhealthy, and can put your body in an immense amount of stress. Teenagers are susceptible to the idea of what an athlete is supposed to look like, and are more vulnerable at the high school age. Students push themselves to extremes to compete.
“Those that truly want to be successful go out of their way to be successful,” Bentley said.