Jack’s JRPS Project

I originally had the idea for this project after watching the 2025 NBA playoffs and seeing three players go down with Achilles injuries. One of these players was our very own Jayson Tatum, and his injury ended the Celtics' playoff run. In the wake of these injuries, the mass media began to discuss and highlight how youth basketball could have led to these injuries through overtraining and Early Sport Specialization. By the time the school year started, I knew that I wanted to spend the year on this topic and understand more about how the youth sports system had led to these injuries. I began by asking a question to ground my research: Is overtraining in youth sports, ages 9 to 18, and concentrating on one sport, hurting children's mental and physical well-being, and is there a manageable solution while still optimizing athletic performance at each level? For my final project, I made an educational video to teach all ages and demographics. I shot a video because I believed that I could reach the biggest audience that way and it was the most general medium that I had out of all my options. The video explains overtraining and early sport specialization and how to avoid and recover from both. I tried to use as much academic information as I could in it so that it would be as accurate as possible for the audience. Overall, I feel that I have not only learned a lot about this topic but also about myself as a student and educator. I have learned about the importance of education and how it can impact so many lives. I have also learned the importance of learning about unknown ideas and things to better understand our world. Both I believe, are important to living our lives and being better people.