Avoid Contact Sports: 7 Safer Alternatives for Active Lifestyles
I was watching the Rain or Shine game last night when the injury report caught my attention. Caelan Tiongson delivered an impressive 24 points and seven rebounds for the Elasto Painters, but what struck me was how they were missing Beau Belga due to vertigo and Shaun Ildefonso because of an ankle sprain. It got me thinking about how quickly sports injuries can derail an athlete's career - and honestly, it made me reconsider the risks of contact sports altogether.
Having played basketball recreationally for years, I've seen my share of sprained ankles and worse. But when professional athletes like Ildefonso get sidelined by what seems like a routine injury, it reminds us that even the most conditioned bodies have their limits. The Elasto Painters' situation illustrates why many sports medicine experts are increasingly advising people to consider lower-impact activities. Personally, I've started mixing up my routine with different sports after dealing with my own shoulder injury last year.
The data around contact sports injuries is pretty eye-opening. According to studies I've read, basketball players experience approximately 3-4 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures, with ankle sprains being among the most common. Football and rugby numbers are even higher. That's why I've become a strong advocate for what I'd call "intelligent switching" - maintaining an active lifestyle while choosing sports that challenge your body without constantly putting it in harm's way.
This brings me to an important realization I've had about balancing fitness goals with long-term health. The concept of "Avoid Contact Sports: 7 Safer Alternatives for Active Lifestyles" isn't about abandoning competition or intensity - it's about being strategic. From my experience, activities like swimming, rock climbing, and trail running provide incredible workouts while significantly reducing impact trauma. I've personally found that mixing swimming with my weekly basketball games has not only improved my cardio but also given my joints much-needed recovery time.
Dr. Elena Martinez, a sports physician I consulted after my injury, put it perfectly: "The goal isn't to avoid movement, but to choose movements that sustain your body's capability over decades." She noted that while team sports provide social benefits, many patients extend their athletic careers by incorporating lower-impact alternatives. This approach has worked wonders for me - I'm playing better basketball now at 35 than I did at 25 because I've diversified my training.
What fascinates me about the Rain or Shine situation is how it mirrors broader trends in sports safety. When key players like Belga and Ildefonso are unavailable due to preventable injuries, it affects not just their careers but entire team dynamics. I've noticed more amateur leagues implementing similar precautions, with some even offering non-contact versions of traditional sports. My local community center, for instance, now hosts "touch basketball" sessions that maintain the strategic elements while eliminating hard contact.
The financial aspect is worth considering too. I calculated that my sports-related medical expenses dropped by nearly 70% after I reduced my contact sport participation. While I miss the adrenaline rush of full-contact games, I don't miss the recovery periods or physical therapy bills. The alternative activities I've adopted cost me less in both time and money while keeping me equally engaged and challenged.
Ultimately, the lesson from both professional examples and personal experience is clear: sustainable athleticism requires smart choices. The principle behind "Avoid Contact Sports: 7 Safer Alternatives for Active Lifestyles" isn't about limitation but about expansion - discovering new ways to stay fit while preserving your body's longevity. I've come to appreciate that being strategic about sports selection means I'll likely still be enjoying physical activities when today's contact sport enthusiasts are dealing with chronic injuries. That future version of myself will undoubtedly thank present-me for making smarter choices today.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
