This athlete, who wishes to remain anonymous, knew that she would not be able to play if her coaches were to find out. However, “We had a game in 2 days, so I had to hide it. I did not want to miss out on what was an important game, and I didn’t want to let my team down,” she said.

While this scenario may seem rare, a lot of Staples athletes said they feel the need to hide their injuries in order to continue playing.

Field hockey player Jackie Lawrence ’13 recently played through a concussion until one of her teammates told the coach and trainers. “We are the best we have ever been, and I didn’t want to miss out by not playing,” Lawrence said.

The pressure felt by these athletes to continue playing seems very common. Football player Bo Gibson ‘12 played an hour of practice with a concussion until he couldn’t even keep his eyes open. He, too, didn’t want to let his team down by leaving.

From the trainer’s perspective, “if it is a captain or a senior, they feel that it is their duty to help the team. They feel guilty for not playing,” said Gaetana (G) Deiso. “However, injuries happen, and it’s not their fault,” she said.

The anonymous athlete said that even though her head continued to hurt a lot, she had to keep playing, and it never really stopped hurting.  She was able to convince her coaches and teammates that she was fine, even though she believes they thought something was a little off.

Looking back on her decision, this athlete acknowledges that she was very lucky. “I know what I did was not smart at all, but I wanted to win that game, and I wanted to play. At the time, nothing else really seemed to matter.”

“Would I go back and have hidden it again? Quite possibly yes,” she said.

While these athletes who play through their injuries know they are making a poor decision, they still feel guilt and pressure to continue to play. Deiso explained that the only one who made the right decision in Jackie’s situation was the girl who “told on Jackie.” Even Gibson said that playing with the concussion was “a stupid thing to do.”

Since people know that they should not be playing through these injuries, yet they still do, the trainers stressed the fact that their goal is to keep athletes on the field, as long as it is not dangerous.

“What students don’t understand is that when they keep playing on an injury, they further injure themselves,” Deiso said. “We don’t want to take people out unless we have to. When students tell us that something is hurting, we try to tape it, wrap it or heat it if we can.”

Another football player, who asked to remain anonymous, hurt his shoulder during practice midway through the season. He came out of practice for a few minutes but went back in that same day.

“I knew I was hurt but I wasn’t sure of the severity of the injury,” he said. “The only pressure I felt was internal: I had an opportunity to play and I didn’t want to give it up.”

The boy’s doctor said that he definitely hurt his shoulder more by playing through an injury.

The trainers emphasized that they want to keep the athletes healthy and protected.

“We are here to prevent injuries and to keep kids on the field as much as possible. We just need to make sure it is safe,” Deiso said.