An Epidemic – Over-Use Injuries in Youth Sports

Is participation in organized athletics a part of your child’s life? Are you concerned about the skyrocketing increase in injuries to tendons, bones and joints due to the repetitive motion of the arms, legs and shoulders?

The Columbia Club of New York, together with Columbia College Women (CCW) and the Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) is proud to host a panel discussion about the epidemic of over-use injuries in youth sports and how it can be reversed.

The discussion will include coaches, trainers, medical doctors, youth sports administrators and parents of children with over-use injuries — all with a Columbia affiliation and all with varying opinions/perspectives/viewpoints on this very important topic.

Program

Moderator:

Juliet Macur

Juliet Macur has been a Sports of the Times columnist for The New York Times since October 2013. She has covered the Olympics and Olympic sports, doping and legal issues since 2004. She has written extensively about Lance Armstrong, cycling and doping.

Ms. Macur’s work has received honors from the National Press Club, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists and the New York Press Club. Her work has twice been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series.

The daughter of Polish immigrants who came to the United States as refugees after World War II, Ms. Macur grew up in Bridgewater, N.J. She was the captain of the Columbia University rowing team while at Barnard College and received her bachelor’s degree in 1992. After college, she was a competitive rower for the New York Athletic Club. In 1997, she graduated with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Panelists:

Dr. Beth Shubin Stein

Dr. Beth Shubin Stein is an Associate Attending Orthopaedic Surgeon and a member of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Since completing her fellowship in Sports Medicine, she has developed a particular interest and expertise in arthroscopic and reconstructive surgery of the shoulder and knee.

In her clinical practice, Dr. Shubin Stein employs the most advanced arthroscopic and minimally invasive techniques to treat patellofemoral disorders of the knee, meniscal tears and other common knee ligament injuries such as ACL tears, as well as sports-related injuries including shoulder instability, labral and rotator cuff tears in addition to shoulder arthritis and shoulder replacements. She specializes in patellofemoral instability and patellofemoral arthritis in both her practice and research and has published, taught and spoken on this topic at the national level.

Dr. Shubin Stein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. She completed her medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and her residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Her affiliations with professional sports teams include serving as assistant team physician for the New York Power, the professional women’s soccer team and as a team physician for the United States Federation Cup Tennis Team.

Dr. Shubin Stein graduated from Columbia College in 1991.

Dr. Christopher S. Ahmad

Dr. Christopher S. Ahmad specializes in ACL knee injuries, meniscus and cartilage injuries, instability and labral tears of the shoulder, rotator cuff pathology, Tommy John surgery, and advanced arthroscopic surgical techniques for sports-related injuries of the knee, shoulder, and elbow. Dr. Ahmad is the Head Team Physician for the New York Yankees, the Rockland Boulders, the New York City Football Club of Major League Soccer, and several high schools throughout Manhattan and New Jersey. Additionally, he is a member of the Major League Baseball Team Physicians Association, serves as a consultant for local metropolitan gymnastics and swim teams, and is the official medical provider to the FC Westchester Soccer Academy.

The recipient of several awards for outstanding research in the field of Sports Medicine, Dr. Ahmad conducts ongoing research in the areas of ACL injury prevention and screening, biometrics of the elbow, and surgical techniques for rotator cuff shoulder instability repair. He has authored more than 200 articles and 50 book chapters related to shoulder, elbow and sports medicine and has presented over 250 lectures nationally, and internationally. Dr. Ahmad edited two influential textbooks: Minimally Invasive Shoulder and Elbow Surgery and Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Injuries.

He earned his undergraduate degree in engineering while playing 4 years of Division 1 varsity soccer at nationally ranked Columbia University. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.

Jim Gossett

Jim Gossett is one of the best-known and most highly honored athletic trainers in the nation.

Jim Gossett joined the Lions in the summer of 1979 and became the Head Athletic Trainer in 1984. He administers a staff of seven full-time assistants that work with all 31 Columbia teams and operates modern training facilities on the main campus and at Baker Athletics Complex.

He has worked with most of Columbia’s teams, but has been particularly identified with football, soccer, fencing, rowing and wrestling. He has the head athletic trainer for football since 1984. Mr. Gossett has worked with several championship squads, including the men and women’s fencing team, which won two NCAA championships while he was associated with them. He worked with men’s soccer and wrestling from 1979 to 1983, when they won a combined eight Ivy League titles and made two trips to the Final Four.

As a well-known athletic trainer in the New York Metropolitan area, Mr. Gossett was selected recently to serve as a spokesperson for Gatorade, Inc., and the National Athletic Trainers Association. His role is to promote healthy practices in order to prevent heat-related illness during the hot weather months, and to serve as a resource, including on-air interviews, for CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox television affiliates in the New York area. The New York State Board of Regents reappointed Mr. Gossett to the State Committee for Athletic Trainers. His five-year appointment is to the State Board for Professions, which regulates athletic trainers in New York State.

Mr. Gossett, a native of Indianapolis, attended Indiana State University, graduating in 1978. He joined the Columbia staff in August 1979, shortly after receiving his master’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Brent Walker, PhD

Brent Walker, PhD, a leading educator and mental training consultant, joined the Columbia staff in 2012 as an Associate Athletic Director. Dr. Walker directs Columbia Athletics’ Championship Performance, designed to help Columbia’s varsity teams and more than 700 student-athletes win individual and team championships through mental preparation, leadership, and nutrition.

Dr. Walker is currently the President of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, the largest sport psychology organization in the world with over 2,300 members representing 57 countries. Prior to arriving at Columbia, Dr. Walker maintained a private practice where he provided mental training services for individuals and organizations ranging from the youth to the professional ranks. He has consulted with multiple Division-I intercollegiate athletic departments, youth sport organizations, and the U.S. Soccer Federation.

A native of Illinois, Dr. Walker earned his undergraduate degree from Bradley University where he played baseball and basketball. He currently lives in River Edge, New Jersey with his wife, Chantelle, and 3 children.

Diana Caskey

Diana Caskey began serving as head coach of the Columbia women’s swim team in 1992. Her time at Columbia has been highlighted by a multitude of record-breaking performances and monumental accomplishments. Ms. Caskey stands out among her peers within the Ivy League as the only women’s coach to recruit an Olympic Gold Medalist and NCAA champion in Cristina Teuscher (Columbia College ’00).

Prior to Columbia, Ms. Caskey spent three years at her prep school alma mater, The Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., teaching English and assisting with both the school and USS club teams. During her tenure, the school team won two National High School championships. At the club level, Peddie Aquatics placed second in two Senior National Championships. Ms. Caskey coached two Olympians, as well as numerous Olympic qualifiers, NCAA finalists, USS National Champions and senior and junior national qualifiers.

A 1985 graduate of Princeton University, Ms. Caskey was a standout swimmer for the Tigers, earning All-America and All-Ivy League honors. She held the Princeton record in the 500 free for 14 years and led off the 800 free relay that won the AIAW Intercollegiate Championships in 1982. Before graduating from Peddie in 1981, she also enjoyed a fine prep swimming career. As the team captain, she set school records in both the 200 and 500 free and won Peddie’s scholar-athlete award.

Ms. Caskey and her husband, Larry Good, reside in Morningside Heights with their daughters, Sierra, 14, and Stella, 11.

Glenn Meyers

Glenn Meyers was a stand-out baseball player at Columbia and has three degrees from the University. He graduated from Columbia College in 1984, from the School of Engineering in 1985 and completed a Masters Degree from the Engineering school in 2000. He has been in the utility industry for 26 years at both Con Edison and Orange and Rockland Utilities.

As Captain of the Columbia baseball team, he was named NY State All Star 1st Team and Academic All-American 1st Team. In 1988 he was honored with a selection to the “All-Time Columbia Greats” Team (along with Lou Gehrig). Mr. Meyers is still in the top five in many major offensive categories at Columbia for both single season and career and holds the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League record for triples and grand slam home runs in a single season. Mr. Meyers went on to play professionally in the California Angels and Minnesota Twins organizations.

Mr. Meyers is committed to community service having held board positions at several not-for-profit agencies in Rockland County, New York including Jawonio in New City and the Piermont Police Athletic League, serving as Commissioner of Youth Baseball. Mr. Meyers lives in West Nyack with his wife, Ilana (Barnard ’88,) and his four children. He has been coaching youth baseball for the past 25 years.

Registration: 6:00PM
Panel Discussion: 6:30PM
Reception: 7:45PM

Cost: Free for members and their guests

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