Our tamariki are suffering injuries up and down the land of the long white try line. writes Tommy Wilson. Photo / Getty Images
With club rugby finals just around the corner, you can almost smell the liniment as our Baywide competition hots up like a hangi stone ripe and ready for a kai to cook.
Like all gladiatorial sports, we as sideline coaches, thirst for "big hits" much as the Romans did around the lion's den, and like Caesar, with a thumbs up or thumbs down, we believe we have the magic combination to get our teams across the line at all costs, even serious injuries.
Back in the day it was all about hardening up and many an ex-rugby player is seen in later life walking around in a daze from too many stiff arms and shoulder charges. Many were serious injuries waiting to be invoiced later on in life.
In my time watching club rugby from a 5-year-old to now - 60 years down the track - it was very rare to see the ambo show up on the sideline.
The Zambuck would only come as the last call and even then a player could be stretchered off in the first half and be back on the field in the second half with little or no regard for what was happening inside the noggin after a head clash.
These days we are a lot wiser and have learned from the dizzy days of doing it for the team, even if it did mean you could carry an unattended injury for the rest of your life.
However, there is a new concern that only now seems to be registering on the rugby radar and it's one that, in my opinion, needs urgent attention. This is secondary school girl's rugby.
These past weeks I have been a reluctant parent watching my 14-year-old daughter play rugby.
I say reluctant as both of her parents weren't keen for her to play, but both bowed to the pressure put on us by our girl who loves playing sport, any sport, with her mates.
We didn't even make it past game one when her mate broke her arm and nearly missed kapa haka for the upcoming regionals.
This should have been a bit of a red flag for me but I did the old crouch and hold and don't be a d*** in front of your daughter buzz - and said nothing.
Second game up the ambulance comes and takes a girl away with what seemed like a serious head injury after not moving her for almost an hour. I stood on the sideline with the principal of the hosting college and we both knew something was wrong.
In the next two games that her mate was playing in for another local school, both were called off because of injuries, and ambulances came to both.
So what is the common denominator for all of these injuries?
For me, as a sideline coach, it's all about tackling technique.
These young teenage girls, in my view, don't have rugby in their DNA. Sure, some of them do, and they are more than likely not the ones getting hurt.
Our boy was brought up on rugby and I can't remember him ever getting hurt or for that matter seeing a serious injury. Not so for many of our girls playing today. This is their very first year so tackling a very large girl coming at you full pace is very much a close-your-eyes-and-hope-like-hell-it-doesn't-hurt experience.
Turns out it's not only happening here in the Bay of Plenty's secondary schools but up and down the land of the long white try line, where our tamariki are suffering injuries – many of them serious - and the alarm bells, if they haven't been ringing, should be.
According to the lead author of a recent study, Dr Chris Whatman, "youth athletes are hiding their injuries".
The study found 87 per cent of teenagers playing sport surveyed had hidden or downplayed an injury during a game.
Instead of heading off for treatment they would keep playing, either through a sense of loyalty and not wanting to let the team down, pressure from their teammates, coaches or parents, or because of their pure love of the game.
While the study has a small sample size, the preliminary findings also showed that female athletes were more likely to play through injuries than their male counterparts.
Furthermore, 102 coaches reported having witnessed an injured player play on, as did 205 players.
About half of the players and coaches had seen a player pressured into continuing despite the injury.
The number of coaches who failed to act is alarming, and Whatman said they are key in leading change in the attitude towards injury.
The track record of injuries has not been good and now I am trying to do all I can to protect the person who matters most to us.
More education around injuries and what effects they could have on a young girl's future wellbeing is needed. Perhaps now is the time we crouch and hold onto the health of our tamariki, before they engage in long-term injuries.
Tommy Kapai Wilson is a local writer and best-selling author. He first started working for the Bay of Plenty Times as a paperboy in 1966 and has been a columnist for 15 years. Tommy is currently the executive director of Te Tuinga Whānau, a social service agency committed to the needs of our community. broblack@xtra.co.nz