While sports lovers are now finding other ways to fill their cravings for action by watching video clips of past events and major organisations are suffering a massive financial hit due to the cancellation of events, there are other forms of losses being suffered.
Aside from leagues being halted or marquee events being pushed back, there are now those athletes who had been nursing major injuries or carded to undergo treatment during the first quarter of 2020 now having to find alternative measures.
Healthcare systems across the globe are now under duress either currently treating or in preparation for a flood of coronavirus cases and young athletes with an array of joint and other injuries are being asked to cancel planned surgeries, rehabilitation sessions and visits to sports medicine doctors.
In many cases, hospitals have had to make the hard decision to simply suspend non-essential onsite treatments while some private practices are stressed about whether to still serve youth. Of course, athletes such as professional footballers who are privileged to be contracted to clubs will be better off due to the medical setups and provisions at their clubs. The same applies to pro basketball players or other high-end athletes.
Emory Healthcare in Georgia and Hospital for Special Surgery in New York is among those turning away athletes.
"As sports medicine providers, we need to accept that we are not providing essential care, and likely contributing to exponential spread of the virus through in-person office visits and elective surgeries as well as removing valuable resources," said Dr Scott Boden, chair of the department of orthopaedics at Emory University School of Medicine.
Rescheduling elective surgeries have upset parents of young athletes the most. If it’s not an urgent issue, such as an acute injury, fracture, infection or tumour, athletes are being told visits should be rescheduled.
A 2019 study by Brown University found that kids who specialise in a sport engage in higher levels of vigorous exercise than their peers and may be more likely to sustain injuries such as stress fractures, tendinitis and ACL tears. The findings, drawn from a multiyear national study of more than 10,000 older children and teens, suggest that those who engage in the most hours of intense activity per week are the most likely to be injured.
"Even in this time of self-quarantine and social distancing, it is likely that athletes will sustain new injuries that need to be evaluated," said Dr Lawrence Gulotta, a sports medicine surgeon.
Doctors are encouraging athletes, especially younger ones who play or train excessively to treat the coronavirus shutdown as a valuable opportunity to simply rest their bodies and recover. According to them, now is not the time to endure the ramifications of surgery, even if younger people appear less susceptible than the elderly to the worst effects of contracting the virus.
"Surgery can depress the immune system," said Dr Boden, "So at this time it is hard to justify any truly elective surgery or office encounters if we are to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and flatten the curve so it doesn’t overwhelm our healthcare resources."
Listen, there's no wishing away coronavirus. We're slipping from the containment phase of this epidemic to the mitigation one, and if sporting bodies and officials want to do their part, they'll not only be encouraging fans and athletes to stay home but they could well make progress by using the time to regroup and plan for when this whole thing is over.
The lockdown of normal business forced by the ongoing crisis is not necessarily a time to kick back and only enjoy Netflix around the clock. It is an opportunity to regroup, refocus on priorities and rebuild for a stronger tomorrow. We should use this time and use it well. At some point if not already, we will be ready to start dreaming about future sporting missions or achievements and we need to think about how we will fuel those dreams appropriately when that time comes.
Sporting heads and officials can take advantage of the downtime to envision what they want their organisations or clubs to look like when the crisis is over and to take actions like assessing their strengths and weaknesses, setting and working toward goals, and even learning new skills. But we can also have compassion during this time and understand that while we want to push ourselves personally and professionally, we need to be understanding of the situation. Additionally, we may want to push everyone around us to do what is right and also think with our hearts.
Editor's note
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He is a former FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and currently a CONCACAF Competitions Media Officer. The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any individual or organisation he represents.