Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Nov. 1, 2019. We’re bringing it back as part of SportsDayHS’ best stories of 2019. Read more of our top stories — football and other sports — here.

Denton Guyer volleyball star Jordyn Williams saved her season with a trip to the doctor.

After playing club ball all summer, then getting no break before the start of the high school season because she spent time with the U.S. Girls Youth National Training Team, Williams learned that she was playing with a foot injury that was much worse than anyone imagined.

“It was about to explode,” Guyer coach Heather Van Noy said. “She was literally playing on that for the first part of our season. She just thought it was aching.”

Williams was sidelined nearly a month with a stress contusion. Had that gotten any worse and become a stress fracture, the season could have been over for a player who is committed to SEC champion Kentucky.

As coaches have watched several of the best players in the Dallas area miss significant time with injuries, they think that year-round play and specialization are hurting their sport.

Guyer freshman standout Kyndal Stowers missed three weeks with severe biceps tendinitis, an injury that occurred “because she was swinging so many times.” Stephen F. Austin beach volleyball pledge Harlie Cooper is one of two Guyer players out for the season with a torn labrum.

“I think it’s specialization,” Van Noy said. “We are very lucky that we have a strength and conditioning coach that is very aware of how these girls are using the same muscles over and over. When we lift weights, we are purposely working the other muscles that they don’t use. A lot of programs don’t have that luxury.”

RELATED: UIL volleyball district tiebreakers and bi-district playoff pairings

RELATED: Final Dallas-area volleyball area rankings

A study released Oct. 21 by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association as part of National Youth Sport Specialization Awareness Week supports the coaches’ concerns. It is estimated that the United States spends $800 million to $5.2 billion per year on injuries attributed to sport specialization.

“I absolutely think we are seeing more fatigue-related injuries because of no breaks during school and club,” Frisco Wakeland coach Kim Watson said. “I tell my kids to not attend club during the high school season. Club is asking them to not practice here. I’ve already had an athlete roll an ankle at a club practice in the middle of school season. Club right now is not necessary.”

UCLA pledge Charitie Luper of nationally ranked Trophy Club Byron Nelson missed more than a month because of a sprained right elbow. Mansfield Lake Ridge, which was nationally ranked much of the season, lost Texas pledge Madison Williams to a season-ending torn ACL on Oct. 11.

Southlake Carroll, which began the season ranked No. 6 in the state in 6A, lost four straight matches while Minnesota pledge Natalie Glenn was out with a sprained ankle. Van Noy, whose team plays in the same district as Carroll, said Glenn has had recurring ankle problems, and “it’s just overuse.”

—

Sign up for our FREE HS newsletter!

Subscribe today for as little as $5 a month!

—

The high school playoffs start Monday, and teams will be playing until Nov. 20-23 if they reach the UIL state tournament. The club season started last November, athletes played into early July if their team reached the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships, many had club tryouts the week or two after nationals, then the UIL season started the first week of August.

“Making the club season shorter would be great,” Allen coach Kelley Gregoriew said. “Moving nationals up, to two weeks after the regional tournament would be helpful. It would give athletes some time before club tryouts in July, but even after tryouts clubs would need to take a step back and let the players start focusing on school ball.”

Argyle coach Megan DeGroot said that when she played club volleyball, athletes got the necessary rest and recovery time because practice started the week before January and nationals finished for all ages by the end of June. DeGroot encourages her athletes to play club because they compete against the best in the nation and gain valuable exposure to college recruiters, but she cautions that “there has to be a balance somewhere that allows kids to be kids and not tear down their bodies or burn them out so fast.”

“Part of the issue is that kids are playing serious club sports at too young of an age,” DeGroot said. “Athletes are not properly being trained to jump, land, and lift properly, causing their body to overcompensate and thus strain or tear a major muscle.

“Aside from it being a year-round sport, many of the top clubs in the state and North Texas have started having ‘non-mandatory’ practices during the school season, which essentially puts pressure on the athletes to go to school practice and then their club practices. That is too much.”

The NATA’s Journal of Athletic Training looked at the damage that can be done when athletes are pushed to specialize in the $15.3 billion youth sports industry. Sport specialization often requires increased training hours and may predispose young athletes to social isolation, poor academic performance, increased anxiety, greater stress, inadequate sleep, decreased family time and burnout, the study said.

“High school athletes are doing physically what collegiate athletes do as far as volume is concerned,” Prosper coach Erin Kauffman said. “But at the high school/club level, many do not have access to a full-time nutritionist, sports psychologist or strength coach on staff, whereas these trained professionals are overseeing these athletes at the collegiate level to make sure they are taking care of themselves.

“The problem with volleyball and specialization is that many are urged to only play volleyball because high school basketball or track meets will interfere with weeknight club practices and potentially weekend tournaments.”

The NATA reported that 63% of club sport parents pay from $1,200 to $6,000 per year, with nearly 20% paying upward of $12,000 per year. The study went on to say that few families will have a child who avoids serious injury while obtaining a scholarship amount that exceeds money paid to club sport entities on a yearly basis.

“For the sake of earning a scholarship I understand specialization being a concern or decision made a player’s junior year,” DeGroot said. “However, the first two years while female athletes’ bodies are still growing and adjusting to high school, I think it is important for kids to be a multi-sport athlete.”

Jordyn Williams, Luper and Glenn are back for the playoffs, and the numbers show just how important it is to have them healthy and on the court. Byron Nelson is 8-0 since Luper was able to resume playing the front row, Carroll is 12-4 since Glenn came back, and Guyer is 10-1 since Williams returned.

Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle