Are your children in sports? Do you ever go in the locker room before or after an event? Do you know what goes on during practice? Are these athletes healthy? With their defined muscles, trim bodies and nice tans they may very well look healthy, but are they really healthy? Are they developing good health habits?

I love to go to the high school sports events, but one night after my son’s football game, I got quite a shock. Our local high school had not had a winning football team for many, many years. The year the community had been waiting for had finally come. In the grocery store, in the restaurants, and every place our family went, people were talking about this outstanding group of young men.

Obviously, people were talking about the fact this team wasn’t allowing any other team to score against them, but the big topic of conversation was the camaraderie of this group, the respect they had for each other and their coaches. They were friends, they were a team and they just had fun. They celebrated team victories, but they also celebrated individual victories. They supported each other, on the field and off, and they came together if someone needed help. Not only were they good kids, many were scholar athletes.

The parking lot was full on game nights and the community came out in force when a game was at another school. This football team was bringing the best out in everybody, or so it seemed.

One cold October night, after the football game, our family was waiting in the car for my son to come out of the locker room. Finally, here he came with no shirt on and it was cold enough to do ice sculptures. He got in the car and then said he forgot something and had to go back to the locker room. Within minutes he was back in the car and I asked him what he had forgotten. He showed me a bottle of an over the counter form of ibuprofen. I am sure you are probably thinking…big deal; the boy probably had a few aches and pains from all the tackles.

Unfortunately, this was a big deal and it could have had disastrous consequences. Much to our surprise, many of the boys on the team were taking 5 or 6 of these pills before each game they played. Sadly, they thought it was fine because it was an over the counter item and people use it everyday. Apparently, this had been going on for a few years and come to find out, it is not unusual for college players. Please do not assume by using my son’s football team as an example I am implying that this is only a male problem or it is isolated to football.

Quite the contrary, this type of behavior occurs within the female and male population in all sports from tennis to volleyball. From the scholar athletes to young men and women who sing in the church choir. It is everywhere. We are not talking street drugs or alcohol, but if abused can be just as lethal.

Parents, talk to your coaches. Make sure your children are on teams that stress the importance of nutrition. Get the team and the parents together before the season and have a night to talk about natural liquid supplements and the positive effect this type of nutrition has on the body. The football coaches will love you and the boys will have even more stamina. My son or any of the young men on his team could have died on the field or in practice due to the effects of ibuprofen on the body. According to Wikipedia, Ibuprofen was made available under prescription in the United Kingdom in 1969, and in the United States in 1974. Now, Ibuprofen overdose has become common since it was licensed for over-the-counter use. Along with several other NSAIDs, ibuprofen has been implicated in elevating the risk of myocardial infarction, particularly among those chronically using high doses. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

For my Sports Info Pak on healthy nutrition; please send me an email and your contact information and I will send you out a pack for each team member. Let’s work together to keep our athletes healthy. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/c6wlhq