Before Courtney Thompson became injured, she practiced four and a half hours a day, six days a week, often repeating the same gymnastic move 100 times. What does this say about Courtney as a person?

At 10, Courtney Thompson was a top-ranked gymnast in New

Hampshire. She had been doing flips since she was one year old, and

she had her heart set on competing in the Olympics. She practiced

four and a half hours a day, six days a week, often repeating the same

move 100 times.

Her demanding schedule took a toll. It got to the point where Courtney

could barely straighten her elbows unless she put ice on them. On Jan.

12, 2005, she had to stop in the middle of a floor routine. "I jumped

up and grabbed my arm," she told Senior Edition. "It hurt wicked bad."

Doctors discovered that Courtney’s constant workouts had caused the

cartilage, or connective tissue, in her elbow to separate from the

bone. She had surgery on both arms and endured months of painful

rehabilitation.

Courtney’s experience is part of a growing trend in youth sports—

severe injuries, once limited to professional athletes, are now showing

up in kids and teens.

"We’re starting to see 12-year-old kids look like 40- and 50-year-olds

in terms of stress on their bodies," Roch King, a kids’ volleyball coach,

told reporters.

Experts say kids are pushing their bodies to the limit, practicing sports

too hard for too long. The strenuous1

schedules often lead to

dangerous injuries that could leave young athletes on the sidelines—

permanently.

Under Strain

From 30 percent to 50 percent of youth sports injuries are due From 30 percent to 50 percent of youth sports injuries are due to

overuse, according to experts at The Physician and Sportsmedicine

Journal. Overuse injuries are caused by repetitive motion that, over

time, puts more stress on a body part than it can withstand. The tissue

or bone eventually breaks, stretches, or tears.Explanation: u i d k

answer: to communicate with people on the other side.

explanation: