Introduction

Children who play football may incur injury as a result. The damage can be due directly to physical contact during play or may be attributable to training. Differences between children and adults in physical and physiological characteristics explain why children may be the more vulnerable to injury. The factors that contribute to this greater risk in children include a larger surface area relative to mass, growing cartilage which can be easily stressed, and the fact that children have not yet gained the complex motor skills or experience associated with injury avoidance (Adirim and Cheng, 2003).