Sports-Related Injuries and Contact Sports.

It is summertime in sunny Sarasota, Florida and during the summer, us Floridians love to get together for a game of soccer, touch football, or pick-up basketball on the blacktop or at the rec center.

If you play sports, you know how much fun it is to be a part of a team, all while getting a great workout! There is, however, always the possibility of a close game getting ruined by an unfortunate accident which leads to a personal injury. 

A lot of sports involve close physical contact, which must be carried out in a safe and reasonable manner, so as to minimize any unnecessary/offensive harm.

Here are some points to keep in mind when playing sports this summer:

• Stay hydrated – drinking enough water will prevent your muscles from getting fatigued too quickly.

• Make sure your shoelaces are tied tightly – Tripping and falling over untied shoelaces is a frequent occurrence and is easily preventable.

• Don’t “over-do” it – If your body is telling you that it is tired, listen to it (especially if the activity is outdoors). 

• Be cognizant of how intense you are playing – Some sports like basketball, for example, are extremely physical by nature. It involves people running directly into one another and can result in hard fouls. Keep in mind that if an injury were to occur, there are usually no athletic trainers standing by to assist you or the other players as there are in pro sports. So, it is probably better to play at a “4” or a “5,” rather than a “10.”

• Stretch before participating – Perhaps obvious and self-explanatory but stretching before playing sports is always a good idea. Nobody who was ever injured while playing sports wished that they had stretched less. 

• If you are injured while playing sports, take note of whether the injury arises from the actions of another player, the rules of the organization who organized the sport, or if the injury arises from a condition of the premises itself.

• Preserve all evidence at the scene! – In a situation where you are injured while playing a team sport, there is a very high chance that the other players, or even some of the spectators, will have witnessed what happened. Take down the information of who was around, what they saw, and when. Future witness testimony can be outcome determinative in many cases. Also, photographs of a premises defect or other evidence of negligence helps too.

Go To Hale 

We, at Hale Law, encourage you to be physically active and healthy this summer, and to act as safe as possible under the circumstances. 

If you were injured while playing or participating in sports, there could be a possibility that the injury was the result of somebody else’s negligence. 

Give us a call if you want a free legal opinion on the matter. We work on a contingency fee basis, so all legal services come at no cost to you if we are unable to recover compensation. 

For a free consultation, call us anytime at 941-735-4529.