“It’s important for athletes to talk about mental health because it encourages everyone to talk about it and be more aware of it,” said Cameron Dobbs, a student assistant coach for the University of Miami Hurricanes volleyball team and a former player herself. “Also, athletes need to know they’re not alone and that it’s okay to struggle and learn along the way.”

After gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from some Olympic events and Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open because of mental health concerns and general stress, conversations were started about the importance of athletes taking care of their mental health. 

“I think there’s an under emphasis on mental aspects on the court, like how to focus on your game, but also the health side of things, like making sure you’re taking care of yourself,” said Alex Yang, the captain of the New York University men’s tennis team. “And all that stress off the court feeds into our performance on court, and as captain, I want to address it more on our team.”

Dr. Abraham Chileuitt, a sports neurologist that focuses on concussions in Miami, Florida, said many of his patients often come in with other mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, which could be worsened if they suffered a head injury.

“Everything they do is scrutinized, their performance, their game,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of times the scrutiny is more negative than positive.”

While this may be a new media discussion, the mental health problems of athletes have been happening for decades. During the pandemic, student-athletes had both their athletic and academic careers come to a standstill. 

“I got admitted to NYU three weeks before everything shut down in the city,” said Candice Saxod, a swimmer for New York University. “And it disconnected me from my normal life and routine, and for a year I didn’t have classes in person. So, having to go back to in-person is  really tiring, like today I had my first college exam in person, and I completely freaked out.”

But, Saxod is hopeful that things will return to normal once she has time to adapt.

“It’s just small details that you used to get used to again, and those things take time,” said Saxod. “There’s different ways of handling things, and it just takes time.”

Yang was considering quitting tennis earlier in his career to focus on academics and other interests. However, during the pandemic, he had a break from his sport and competitions for months. 

“It’s always good, I think, to get a mental break,” said Yang. “And I think in those four months, there was no stress, no pressure, and I actually grew to love the sport a lot more. The break gave me more perspective and reminded me that it is just a sport and I have to still take care of myself.”

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“It is the most absurd thing ever to wear masks during games and practices or any other athletic event,” said  Cinque Stephens, an NYU basketball point guard. “As athletes we’re required to be vaccinated yet we have to show a “Vax Pass” to get into facilities.”

The CDC, highly recommends for vaccinated people to continue to wear a mask in public indoor settings. They also suggest that universal indoor mask wearing in a school setting, including visitors, is highly effective. 

NYU’s basketball season was canceled last year and this year they are required to wear masks at all times while participating in any activity in the Palladium, their campus training facility.

“From the second you walk in until you leave your mask is forbidden to drop below your nose,” said Stephens.  

Stephens said his concerns stem from watching  his teammate almost pass out while working out because they can’t breath with masks on. The school is essentially forcing you to get vaccinated which he believes  is a violation of freedom of choice.

While the NYU tennis team is not required to wear a mask while practicing on the court indoors, they must immediately put a mask on upon exiting the court. Teammates must wear  a mask in the van when heading to practice at their Randall Island facility.

“It is too hard to wear a mask while you play, too hard to get oxygen and way easier to overheat,”said Lucy Avant,  an NYU tennis player.

According to the Mayo Clinic, it is completely safe to wear a mask while exercising and their research showed that your heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, oxygen level and time of exhaustion are not outstandingly affected during physical activity. 

Guard/ forward from Wagner College, Kate Tokuhara is ready for her first season back since with fans and spectators. Photo by Melissa Wright

At Wagner University in Staten Island, vaccines are required, masks are required in the weight and training room,  but not during practice on the court. 

“We should not have to wear a mask during games and practices because we are already a contact sport so I feel like a mask won’t make much of a difference,” said Kate Tokuhara, a guard on their basketball team. ”Also, it is very difficult to run with a mask on.”

Jasmine Matthews, a forward on the NYU women’s basketball team said that wearing a mask is tough, but bearable. 

“Of course they are hard to breathe out of especially when your heart rate starts going and you’re doing a lot of activity,” she said.  “But I think a lot of us have gotten used to them.” 

 Matthews said she is excited about returning to the court for the first time since the pandemic struck in March 2020 and she will wear her mask with pride.

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Over the past three years, participation numbers in high school football have been on a steady decline. Besides the pressure of classes and extracurriculars, students have to deal with the harsh reality of concussions.

“This sport is not meant for human bodies. It’s barbaric, but people like it so not much we can do,” said Dapo Balogun of Newark, New Jersey.

According to a National Federation of High School Associations’ athletic participation survey concussions are the number one reason why participation numbers have dropped. Parents are concerned about the growing research on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and head trauma injuries that can leave damaging effects on the body.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that is caused by a violent force to the head or neck area. Concussions usually affect motor and memory skills, but the effects of the brain injury are temporary. Not diagnosing a concussion can lead to other serious brain effects in the long term and can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE.

According to the  National Federation of State High School Associations, 1,057,407 participated in 11 man football in 2016. In 2017, the number dropped to 1,036,842, a two percent decline from the previous. In 2016, 14,099 high schools sponsored 11 man football in 2017 the number dropped to 14,059, a 20 school decrease from the previous year. The numbers have declined steadily over the years.

“The number one reason for these numbers declining is the rising talks of brain injuries and concussions,” said Bob Carrich, Senior Athletic Director at Bergen Catholic High School. “These findings on brain injuries are making parents more concerned about the realities of playing contact football.”

Bergen Catholic is one of the elite high school football programs in New Jersey. Although they don’t cut players, participation numbers at the high school declined slightly. Carrich also offered low enrollment at the high school as another reason for participation numbers decreasing in the sport.

The NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association), set out new rules in February to limit the amount of time there is for full padded contact practices. In 2018, high schools were allowed 90 minutes of player-on-player contact sessions a week. Moving forward into 2019, high schools will only be allowed 15 minutes of player-on-player contact for the week. These rules were set in place to limit the number of concussions and head injuries sustained during practice, that can affect athletes during the games.

Kenneth Isadare is a junior league football coach from Orange, New Jersey  has noticed the concern with parents regarding concussions and head injuries. His coaching staff has made it imperative to put regulations on player-to-player contact situations at practice. They’ve no longer allowed live tackling sessions and only let their kids practice in full equipment, one day out of the week.

“Trying to keep these kids safe starts with us, ” said Isadare. “We notice the participation numbers going down, but we can fix that by putting these kids in the safest of scenarios as possible.”

Although several preventive measures have been put in place to limit the number of concussions, some parents feel that the violent nature of the sport will still have parents hesitant in allowing their kids to play high school football.

“It’s an overall dangerous game,” said Ernestina Cancam of Bloomfield, New Jersey. “Even if they put restrictions on the game, the players will still experience the after-effects of brain injuries when they are done playing.”

When the New Jersey high school football season resumes in August, players will be under the strictest contact rules in the country. The emphasis on limiting head and neck injuries and player safety has been a major topic of discussion for high school athletic committees. Kevin Carty Jr, who was the president of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association’s executive board believes the regulations should boost up participation rates statewide.

“We want to keep our kids safe and we want people to know this is happening. By making it a mandate statewide, it can ease the fears of a lot of parents,” he said.

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As thousands of high school seniors signed their letter of intent on National Signing Day, Irvington High School stands out. While the public school is on the rise as a football powerhouse and is in one of the most competitive conferences in the state of New Jersey, their community has suffered from violence, crime and poverty.  The success of the program has been a much needed bright spot.

“We’re trying to change the narrative of what this city has been and the troubles that we’ve had in the past,” said Ashley Pierre, head football coach of the Irvington Blue Knights.

According to City-Data, Irvington’s crime rate was more than four times the national average, with 1,000 crimes occurring per 100,000 people for seven years straight. Though the crime rate did begin to decline in 2010, the rates are still high.

“Outsiders always talk bad about Irvington. They don’t realize people come from negative situations and that’s part of life,” said Savion Herring, Irvington’s offensive tackle and University of Cincinnati signee.

Coach Ashley Pierre, an Irvington native, played football at the University of Rhode Island and was an all-conference linebacker in 2007. When he was hired in 2015, he took over a team that was 3-7 overall and at the bottom of the Super Essex County conference. In his first season as head coach, he went 8-2 and had a top 50 finish in the state.

Irvington head coach Ashley “Rowdy” Pierre has been at the school since 2016. Since then he’s has a 24-9 record and has sent more than 12 athletes to division one schools. Photo by Chinedu Onyemaobi

“When I first took over this program, I tried to surround myself with men who cared and loved these kids,” said Pierre. “So we brought back some coaches from this city who have accomplished what we’re aiming at and that’s a championship.”

In a town where 25 percent of households live below the poverty line, the struggles at home can affect student-athletes both in the classroom and on the field. To combat these issues, Pierre has implemented a mandatory one hour study hall, weight lifting sessions, and  nutrition courses for his players. He also has a “Real World Wednesday”, where he brings guest speakers to mentor his players about the realities of life after football.

“What Rowdy [Coach Pierre] has done for our football program is truly special. There’s a different level of focus in our football players and it transcends beyond the classroom,” said Dr. John Taylor, Irvington’s Athletic Director.

Darren Fields, Irvington’s 6′2″ defensive back, will be playing at University at Albany State University of New next year and has played in Irvington township since his Pop Warner years. The start of the 2018 football season did not start off on the right foot, as Fields was sidelined with a fibula injury and missed the first eight games. Getting to this point in his life was not easy as he was faced with adversity early on his life.

“From the way I was raised, to be honest, I’m not supposed to be in the situation I am right now,” said Fields. “All I can do is be a great example to my brother and sister and show them the right path so they can be successful.”

Irvington High School had 12 student-athletes sign to division one schools in 2017. Most notable was  Lancine Turay, who is at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is the brother of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Kemoko Turay. This year, Irvington has six student-athletes signing to division one schools. Coach Pierre believes this is just the beginning of Irvington’s success.

“Next year we should have around 10 guys sign. This is just the start of something special” said Pierre. “We’re going to be around for a long time. Just stay tuned.”

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Every Saturday for the past four months, Michael Sforza, 11, spends his morning at Be the Best Sport, track and field lessons in Port Washington, Long Island. Running, leaping and landing on two feet doesn’t seem difficult for most, but for Sforza, spending 45 minutes at the Port Washington Tennis Academy, running back and forth to constantly perfect his form is an accomplishment his father couldn’t be more proud of.

Sforza enjoys sports, video games, the internet and exercising, but what differentiates him from most children his age is that he has autism. Sforza was diagnosed when he was 20 months old. His father, Nick Sforza said that although his son likes to be at home on the computer, this program, allows Sforza to get out of the house and spend time doing what he loves to do, run.

About six years ago, Nick Sforza heard about the sports organization for special needs children in Nassau County, which offers an array of programs ranging from soccer, basketball, track and field and others.

Edgar Sanchez, the Sports Program Director, said that although the organization is sports oriented, children also learn how to improve their listening skills and social functioning.

“One of the kids that we had in the previous class, he would walk around flailing his arms, falling on the ground, said Sanchez. “Any bit of sensory stimulation that was too much for him, he couldn’t handle it, and now, he comes in and he knows what’s expected out of him. He’s able to control his emotions so much more.”

Since 2009 Be the Best Sport has been providing Nassau County with sport programs for special needs adults and children. The organization aims to strengthen their motor, cognitive, and social skills.

The CDC reported that in 2016 nearly one in 68 children in the U.S. have autism.

It is important for these children to be active because it reduces negative behavior and obesity, experts said.

Ameera Ullah, 14, who has microcephaly, a condition where the brain develops abnormally.also participates in the program. Her father, Sayeed Ullah, said that there are three components that all humans need to benefit your life.

“Sports to give strength, music for amusement and education for tools of success,” he said. “These three elements are very important in human life.”

When Ameera was one and a half years old, her father noticed something was wrong when she was only crawling. A neurologist determined that Ameera had microcephaly, now, at 14, Ameera’s brain functions like a 3 year old.

Whether or not the town or county provides sports programs for special needs children, Sayeed Ullah believes that doesn’t give an excuse for parents to overlook their children’s needs.

“Some towns don’t have it,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the parents should sit on the couch. Physical fitness is very important for making your mind feel fresh and healthy. If the community doesn’t provide it, you as a parent need to move forward, look forward.”

Nick Sforza said he is grateful that his son has sports in his life.

“I think the hardest thing for a parent with a child on the spectrum is there aren’t enough things to do for them,” said Nick Sforza as he smiled while watching his son run his last lap around the track. “To have the ability to do this with him, it means more than anything.”

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About 30 United States ski and snowboard olympians gathered at Cipriaini Wall Street for the 50^th anniversary of the New York Gold Medal Gala yesterday. The fundraising event raised over $1 million, out of the $36 million budget needed, for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team athletes that are part of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. Although the athletes came together to raise funds to keep the sports alive, the sport of snowboarding has hit a plateau. Conditions on the mountains are declining and the sport is becoming more expensive with the price of lift tickets high and equipment even higher, athletes said.

“With conditions being pretty poor nobody wants to put all that money into the sport purchasing equipment and travel,” said Olympian, Faye Gulini, 24, of Salt Lake City, Utah at Friday’s event.

The past two or three seasons have been the hardest on snowboarding. The training facilities and resorts need to rely on making handmade snow because there are less snowfalls .

“One year I think we had 50 percent of our competitions cancelled because we didn’t have enough snow to build the actual venue and build the courses,” said Gulini.

It’s hard for Olympic gold medalist, Kaitlyn Farrington, 26, to believe that snowboarding is dying, but with less snow prices at the ski resorts are going up.

“Just to go on to a resort it’s over $100 for a day ticket,” said Farrington, of Sun Valley, Idaho.

But Farrington and all the U.S. Team athletes have support from the United States Ski and Snowboard Association that helps pay for their travel and competitions. Farrington said she has strong sponsors that support her life outside of snowboarding so she doesn’t need to work on top of all of her training and competing.

Ross Powers, 37, was the 2002 snowboard half-pipe gold medalist and now coaches at Stratton Mountain School in Vermont. He said the higher prices of equipment, lift tickets, and travel affects his students. With only 16 kids in his program this year, the number has fallen significantly.

“Snowboarding has kind of been on a standstill, definitely people are still getting into, but it doesn’t seem like it’s growing as big as it was back in the day,” he said.

Powers does have scholarships set up with the Level Field Fund that can help kids interested in pursuing a career in snowboarding, but the sport is still at a plateau. He said younger kids are getting into freestyle skiing because they can do the tricks and jumps as snowboarding without having to transition to a snowboard.

Tom Kelly, the USSA’s  vice president of communications said, his organization works with the International Olympic Committee to bring new events to attract young athletes .

But without the support of the U.S. Team it is hard to get the funds to start snowboarding and to keep up with training, athletes said.

Fundraisers help with the money going towards coaches, event costs, salaries, camps, travel of staff and athletes, Kelley said.

“Each of our programs, be it alpine, freestyle, snowboarding, etc. is evaluated based on needs for that particular program to be competitive internationally,” said Kelly, who has been with the association for 30 years.

But funding only comes when you are at the top of your sport, said Olympic gold medalist Jamie Anderson, 26, of South Lake Tahoe, California. Anderson grew up with eight siblings and didn’t have that much money to support her snowboarding career.

“I was selling golf balls at the golf course and saving money for nationals,” said Anderson. “I could have really used the support of the U.S. Team when I was 12, 14, 16 years old.”

Anderson relied a lot on her sponsorships to make it to the Olympics. When she was younger it was tough to find the money to sustain her snowboarding.

With the prices rising on equipment and lift tickets it will be hard for skiing and snowboarding to rise back up again as these sports only attract a certain demographic of people, said athletes.

But Anderson believes the sport won’t die.

“People are going to want to ride the mountains forever,” said Anderson.

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Joe Quinn isn’t one to sit idly on his couch every weekend, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. Sure, sometimes. But more often than not he’s sporting sweatpants, running sneakers and a Team Red, White and Blue (RWB) T-shirt, preparing for a community run or social event with his teammates.

On April 26, the Northeast regional director and New York community captain of Team RWB – a national veteran organization – ran in the third annual 9/11 Memorial 5k with a handful of fellow teammates. Team RWB, founded in 2010 by Mike Erwin, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, consists of community programs, which encourage veterans to stay active and engaged through physical and social activities. Quinn, 35, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who lost a brother in 9/11, once needed the same services.

 From basketball in Brooklyn to West Point

Growing up in Brooklyn, Quinn was a “local basketball legend” according to his brother Michael Quinn, 39, from Manhattan.

He had to play. Quinn was “in the zone” and felt the “flow,” an experience he said he couldn’t explain, that it was just a feeling he had as an athlete. Quinn was so good that Division I United States Military Academy at West Point recruited him in 1998 and offered a full scholarship.

During his first three years he suffered through boot camp, physical training, the rigors of academics and juggling basketball.

“Everything builds up your senior year,” Quinn said.

But on September 11, 2001, his senior year didn’t begin how he had hoped. Sitting in his Native American Literature class, Quinn was reading “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water” when he noticed that the metaphorical mice in the maze were off.

“You wake up, you go to formation, you eat for seven and a half minutes, you leave, you go to class, you take the same pattern to class, you see the same people,” said Quinn. “I remember being in class that morning of September 11^th … [and] you know when something is off. You can almost feel it in your bones.”

His older brother Jimmy Quinn, 23, worked at the World Trade Center, but Quinn wasn’t sure which tower. Back in his dorm room on the phone with his mother, she asked how things were. Had he taken a nap? What was going on? His parents tried to protect him because they knew West Point was stressful and didn’t want to burden him further.

“It was like instinctually for her to be like, oh, how are things?” Quinn said. “I’m like, mom, are you kidding me, are you watching this? And then she broke down.”

The south tower fell first and Quinn was freaking out. Then the north tower crumbled. Picturing his brother in a tower was the biggest blow. He was asthmatic, and Quinn said his fear was more about his brother being scared than it was about him dying.

“We always hoped that it was just instant,” Quinn said.

His family never found Jimmy Quinn’s remains. Psychologically, Quinn said it was amazing how his mind could lie to himself.

“The whole goal was like, oh, he’s in a hospital with amnesia in New Jersey,” Quinn said.

In mid-December of 2001, Quinn and nearly 1,000 family and friends held a memorial service for Jimmy Quinn, showing his picture.

“Even that felt like fake,” Quinn admitted. He was in a haze and said he probably shouldn’t have graduated, but did with the help of professors and friends.

Quinn’s call of duty

After graduating in June of 2002, Quinn had a five-year commitment to the military. He trained for six months at Fort Sill in Oklahoma before deploying to Iraq for his first tour in 2003.

One night in Anbar Province, Quinn recalled being with a soldier and thinking, how did I get here? He was a teenager when he decided to play basketball at West Point, and in the moment, at 22, that kid was gone.

In early 2004 Quinn returned to America, trained for another six months in Oklahoma, and worked as a general aide with Gen. Mark Graham, his now father-in-law. He met Melanie, his wife, who was 20. They had loss in common. Her brother Kevin had committed suicide in the summer of 2003, while her older brother Jeff was killed in Iraq by an IED eight months later.

“I was actually within the same area during that time that Jeff was in, so it was kind of surreal,” Quinn said.

He deployed for his second tour in the fall of 2006 and served in Iraq working in the Multi-National Corps – Iraq, the tactical unit responsible for command and control of operations. His tour lasted 16 months.

“In deployments … time does stay still mentally for you back home,” he said.

There’s a sense of being lost in transition. He remembers once asking if an Usher song was still popular, only finding out that it was two summers before.

Where do I fit in?

Upon returning from Iraq, Quinn attended Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he earned his master’s in public policy.

“I really wanted that opportunity to just take the time to learn. And then also just try to process the last six, seven years of, what the heck just happened?”

But transitioning wasn’t smooth. The day his brother died was the hardest moment of his life, but being in Boston while Melanie finished nursing school in Oklahoma was the hardest year. From the time he was 17 to 28 he was in a military environment, and suddenly, his community of comrades was gone. Further loss.

“I’m disconnected to my family and friends, I gained like 30 pounds because I’m hitting the snooze button, not working out, eating and drinking pizza, tacos and beer, just like non-stop … and I really couldn’t connect,” Quinn said.

He showed up 15 minutes early to his first day of classes, while one student showed up 15 minutes late with a box of pizza. He brought a notebook and pen to class, while his classmates typed on “silver notebooks with this shiny white apple on it,” Quinn recalled.

He didn’t feel at home being in the states; he felt at home being deployed.

Once he graduated – and became engaged to Melanie – he left for Afghanistan to work as a counterinsurgency advisor for Gen. David Patraeus from 2010 to 2011.

“You don’t want to be on the bench right? You want to be in the game,” Quinn said.

Although his personal life that he cherished in the states was gone, he felt no higher job satisfaction than being deployed. Quinn embraced his basketball flow again; he was “in the zone” in Afghanistan.

“I could have probably done that job the rest of my life, but then I came home mid-our and got married and Melanie said no more playing overseas, so that’s what kind of nipped it in the bud for me.”

Another loss.

He would have put up more of a fight, but knowing what his wife had lost, he thought it would be unfair. Not only did he deploy, his whole family deployed.

“Dealing with the loss of one brother in [9/11] and then having another one over there, it was a very stressful decade,” Michael Quinn said. “I think every time I knew he was back it was a good feeling.”

A gain

After all the loss, shifting and loneliness, Quinn found his fit with Team Red, White and Blue in 2013.

After reconnecting with longtime friend Mike Erwin, founder of Team RWB, Erwin asked if Quinn wanted to come on board.

“I was finding a lot of soldiers, a lot of guys that were having trouble back home,” Quinn said.

It made no sense to him that he was working at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point worrying about terrorists and insurgents thousands of miles away, while soldiers back in America were hurting.

While not deployed at Team RWB, Quinn said he feels like he is because of his varied responsibilities, from working on strategic decisions including budgeting and development, to picking up cases of water for a run, such as April’s New York Road Runners’ “Run As One” 4-miler.

“I think it’s a good thing because I think a lot of these service men and women, they carry a lot of emotional baggage and I think doing this kind of helps buffer that feeling,”said his brother, Michael Quinn.

Quinn’s friend Jeff Bryan, 32, a 2004 West Point graduate, former Fort Sill roommate and an Army veteran, is also a Team RWB member.

“It’s really the connection you make with veterans and people who are not veterans that you otherwise wouldn’t make. I think that’s really what it is. That sense of community and getting to know people who you 99 percent certainty would not have met.”

Rather than sit alone in a smoky basement bar, veterans and civilians push beyond limits, stay active, and stay engaged.

“The fact that I get to do [this] hopefully while helping veterans, is even better,” Quinn said. “I think that’s what’s transformative. I mean we’re going to have marriages, friendships forever [and] that’s what changes your life. Relationships change your life.”

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As baseball tries to put behind the final remnants of the steroid era that put a black eye on the entire sport, it seems the game considered our nation’s pastime is encountering an entirely new issue. A different epidemic appears to be making a wave through baseball, as an increasing number of pitchers have been forced to undergo major surgery each year. While these procedures most commonly occur at the highest tiers of play, experts believe that they can be prevented starting at the lowest levels.

“What are we going to do to protect our sons,” asked Bobby Hoffman, commissioner of the Manhattan Youth Baseball League. Hoffman, 61, began the little league he still oversees in 1990, and his answer was for the Upper East Side based league to stress education and fundamentals.

Hoffman believes that the first step a pitcher needs to take to avoid injury is learning how to throw properly. Pitching is all about repeating the same delivery on a consistent basis, and if that delivery is flawed, eventually those harmful mechanics will catch up to an athlete later on in his career. Hoffman has never had a pitcher in his league go under the knife, and he credits that distinction to the clinics run by former college and professional baseball players before each game. Although, not only do the former players advise the young athletes, but they instruct parents on how to properly teach their children as well.

“The premise of the league was to teach baseball and to not just throw kids out to the wolves,” said Hoffmann, who has an 8-year-old son who plays in the league. “So we started with programs on how to teach dads how to teach proper fundamentals… and then we would also teach during the game.”

While proper pitching mechanics is one way a player can greatly reduce the risk of injury, monitoring pitch counts is another approach Hoffman suggests managers can use to keep an eye on their players.

Using information from a study completed by Dr. Stephen Fealy for Major League Baseball, Hoffman prefers if pitchers in his league do not throw over 60 pitches in a game. It is at that point that fatigue sets in; tired ligaments are overworked, causing pitchers to use potentially harmful mechanics. While the league does not implement a hard rule on the matter, Hoffman makes sure the teams’ coaches are fully aware of his goal.

“I tell my managers, look a 15-year-old breaks down at 60 pitches, you know when your kid’s mechanics are breaking down, do the right thing pull them out of the game,” said Hoffman. “Our parents are our managers, they’re expected to protect their sons as well as the other sons in their care.”

Managers can exercise caution to the best of their abilities, but once their players leave after a game or practice, they can no longer supervise them. Whether it is for select teams or college scholarships youth sports breeds competition, and as a result kids are playing on multiple teams, and playing baseball all year round. Joe King manages an 11 and under travel baseball team out of Levittown, Long Island, and believes overexposure is one of the main reasons for the increase in injuries to pitchers.

“Our league enforces a 60 pitch limit, but it serves no purpose if that child pitched the day before for a team in another league, or even worse earlier that day,” said King, who has coached baseball for 10 years. “My son pitches on the team I coach, but I only allow him to throw once a week.”

King’s son Joseph has been playing baseball for five years and when he is not pitching he plays shortstop and third base. Baseball is primarily the only sport Joseph plays, but the 11-year-old limits his season to the spring and summer. He hasn’t had a history of serious arm injuries, but in a game earlier this month he felt a pain in his throwing arm and was immediately moved from pitcher to second base. Joseph was hesitant about getting back on the mound, although he does have another qualm with the sport he loves to play.

“Last year I used to always get hit in the leg when I was batting,” said Joseph, who bats left handed. “I still played, but it just kept happening to me, so I hope that stops.”

Assuming his luck in the batters box changes, limiting Joseph’s workload and using proper form will help him follow in his father’s footsteps (King is 46-years-old and still plays baseball), but the same cannot be said for other young athletes around the country.

Dr. David Dines, world-renowned shoulder surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, agrees that overuse is one of the main reasons why pitchers damage their throwing arms, and believes it occurs far too often nationwide. Although, that’s not his only rationale for the uptick in injuries, as Dines, who is currently the medical doctor for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP Tour) and previously was the associate team physician for the New York Mets, also feels that across the board the level of play has risen, and pitchers have been the ones paying the price. It is harder than ever to retire batters, and the adjustments pitchers have been forced to make have proven costly.

“Why is there a rash of elbow injuries in the Major Leagues? Because quite frankly these hitters are so good,” said Dr. Dines, the former president of the American Shoulder and Elbow Society. “These guys have to throw harder, they have to throw with more velocity, with more action on their pitches… and all these things have an affect of putting pressure on either your shoulder or your elbow.”

While it is unclear whether throwing harder makes a pitcher more susceptible to a serious arm injury, studies have proven that pitchers that throw faster do tend to spend more time on the disabled list and out of action. One element Dr. Dines is certain about is that an athlete’s overall fitness does factor in to his chances of getting hurt. Just as pitching requires a lot moving parts to work as one, it is not just a pitcher’s arm and shoulder that needs to be strong, but his core and lower body as well.

“We used to think that it was all arm, elbow, hand and wrist. And over the last 15 to 20 years we now know that in throwing it is the core, literally the core, the spine, it’s all attached,” said Dr. Dines. “At the end it is the concept of rehabilitating, strengthening the core to the shoulder to prevent injury.”

Despite pitchers going down at an unprecedented level, it is not inevitable that most pitchers will at some point be forced to undergo major surgery. Guidelines towards pitcher safety have been and will continue to be administered and improved upon. While the specifics of those policies may change, the same themes continue to be emphasized.

“Stuff happens, a guy falls off the mind, on one pitch a spike gets caught, you can’t prevent that, that’s just bad luck,” said Dr. Dines. “But in general, if you take the approach that you are going to be prudent about the amount of throwing, you’re going to have the proper education and training about the proper throwing mechanism and you are going to take care of your body the way it needs to be taken care of, you can prevent a lot of these injuries.”

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Players trickled in to Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on a recent Saturday night, lugging hockey bags into revolving doors of locker rooms. Men and women draped in thick pads, standing on skates, stood in line at the water fountain, preparing for games on either two rinks.

Some of the players are gay.

When the New York City Gay Hockey Association first started, opponent players would yell out “fag” on the ice. It was more than the expected high-sticking, roughing and swearing that heated games bring out in players.

“Like a bunch of nancy, faggoty boys playing on the ice, and you know what, we have a few of those,” said former board member and current Wizards alternate captain, Robb Riedel. “And we can queen out as much as anyone else. … [But] once you’re on the ice you’re playing. Even if someone is more feminine, they’re still playing just as hard and shooting just as hard.”

Director Jeff Kagan founded the New York City Gay Hockey Association (NYCGHA), the state’s first official gay hockey organization, in 1999. He was moved to create the gay-friendly association after he and another player, in a former league, realized that each other were gay, but not out.

The NYCGHA< is one of many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations that have sprouted in New York City. In the 16 years since its establishment, its philosophy has remained that anyone is welcome, and players have stuck around for the love of hockey and to share in friendship.

“Part of the thing was you couldn’t find 15 gay guys [in 1999] that played hockey to build a team,” said Riedel. “So really it was open to whoever wanted to play.”

Seven teams of both men and women, gay and straight, compete in four different skill divisions within the Chelsea Piers adult ice hockey league ranging from division 1 (advanced) to development (beginner). Players pay a $650 fee at the start of the season in September and the association pays a team fee to Sky Rink. All seven teams have roughly 15 players.

The games are free. Most of the audience consists of player’s spouses, although all don’t always show. On Saturday night, three people watched from the plastic bleachers.

Green high beams and dozens of fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling shone brightly on the scraped-up ice. A Zamboni, an ice-resurfacing machine, wasn’t in sight and the national anthem wasn’t about to boom through speakers, but as 8:30 p.m. approached, players were skating, stretching and strategizing. Division 7b rival, the Thundercats (6-5), presumably, were questioning whether they would be able to upset the Wizards’ 13-0 season.

Riedel, 40, is gay. The magazine editor joined the association in 2003 after 10 years off the ice. Growing up skating competitively in New Hampshire, he said he stopped at the age of 15 because he didn’t feel aggressive enough and was shying away from the sport.

Part of him was buying into gay stereotypes. He said that through the media and television two decades ago, gay men and women were stereotyped as feminine. When it came to sports, especially, they were clumsy, not talented and not aggressive.

“I sort of felt like that as a kid,” Riedel said.

It took him a year to join the NYCGHA.

“I found coming back as an adult, my mindset had totally changed, and I’m just as aggressive as everyone else out there,” he said.

Vince Aita, 41, the Wizards’ straight captain, began playing hockey late in life. He always loved watching the sport as a kid, but realized that not knowing how to skate and play wasn’t an excuse. He started skating lessons at the Piers for a year, contacted lower division teams and Kagan responded. Aita’s been on the Wizards for nearly eight seasons.

“It was kind of mentioned immediately up front that it was part of the gay hockey association, but I think the thing that was kind of funny about it from the get-go was orientation was never a question from start to finish on either my side or on Jeff’s side,” Aita said. “I think part of being a very gay-friendly environment is that it’s not gay. It is gay-friendly.”

Dean Baer, the Wizards’ second alternate captain, formerly married with two children, came out later in life.

“I didn’t have many other older gay friends, and now I do,” said Baer, 45. “And that’s through hockey. Whether they’re gay or not, that doesn’t make a difference. Now I have some people that I can relate to a little bit better.”

Gay and straight, players stood in position as the puck dropped at center ice. Riedel pushed alongside four teammates donning red, white, gold and green uniforms. Every time the puck was slapped, a player was slammed into the boards and skates suddenly reversed direction, noise echoed through the arena.

After a steady back and forth, Mark Checkosky’s shot found the net around the 11th minute in the first period, giving the Wizards a 1-0 lead. As the buzzer drained, there was no intermission, but rather, players began the second period on carved ice.

The Thundercats spoiled the Wizards’ 1-0 lead with a game-tying goal near the 12-minute marker in the second period, intensifying a thirst for winning.

Nearing the final few minutes with a tied game it looked as if it were heading into overtime until Checkosky scored the Wizards’ game-winner, bumping their streak to 14-0.

Riedel said he believes the goal of the NYCGHA is actually to run itself out of existence and that there needn’t be a gay hockey team. Though he’s looking forward to the playoffs through early March.

“[You hope] that attitudes have changed enough that you wouldn’t need it and I think we’re headed in that direction,” he said. “You’ll have everyone from an attorney to a plumber, who would never meet in real life otherwise, and every Saturday night we come play hockey and then go drink at a bar.”

Around 10:45 p.m. that’s just what some of the Wizards did. Heavy gear strapped over their shoulders, they rode the elevator down to the parking garage, tossed their sticks and skates in the car, and headed for a round of celebratory drinks, preparing to stay until last call.

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