<p>My son is a high school athlete who is very active in sports. He played varsity soccer his freshman year as well as running varsity cross-country. His true love is soccer and all he talks about is getting a soccer scholarship so he can continue to play in college. He is playing in a high-level club and is already getting local interest. We are more interested in him keeping his academics up, which he is doing and we will just see what happens. Our big concern is that he was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis when he was 11. He is on pretty heavy meds (weekly injections plus more) to keep it under control and is a regular patient at our regional children’s hospital. The arthritis affected his play when he was first diagnosed, he couldn’t play more than maybe a quarter before he would have to come out. Now the arthritis is pretty much under control, although he is noticeably stiff in the mornings and has to take a lot longer than most to warm up. We don’t make a big deal about it with his coaches and most don’t know any specifics. Our concern is that it does flare up routinely, and he is definitely in pain a lot of the time. Maybe someone else has experience with something similar. How much shoud we disclose to interested coaches, both club and college. When it gets closer, are we legally obligated to disclose medical info, and how does it affect his chances. Even though he is still a freshman, this issue is already coming up and we are not sure how to handle it. Any ideas??</p>
<p>bumppppppp</p>
<p>JRA treatment has come a long way. But JRA, even with newer immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory treatments, is something that must be disclosed and will be problematic in terms of acquiring and maintaining a scholarship. </p>
<p>I would discuss the situation first with your rheumatologist in terms of his recommendations for playing college soccer. JRA, even with treatment, is a degenerative joint disease, and you don’t want to end up with permanent damage and need for earlier joint replacements, or disability due to trying to keep up with the rigors of playing a college sport. Can it be done?.. sure. It that a wise decision? … maybe and maybe not. Will a college or university offer a free ride to an athlete with a progressive degenerative auto-immune joint disease, one where meds will slow but not stop its progression? Hard to know without knowing more of the medical facts.</p>
<p>You might want to check if that arthritis is actually Ankylosing Spondylitis(AS), which I have had since 12 years old. It usually starts in young age and it is not that rare so there is a high chance your son has that. Morning stiffness and pain on low back or hip joint is the main symptoms. It takes time to get a diagnosis for this as many doctors are confused and fooled into thinking it is something different. Also, lots of old doctors are not trained to diagnose AS when young people(dominantly male) have such symptoms. Having HLA-B27 positive and inflammatory discovered in low back for your people is strong indication of AS. This can be controlled by NSAIDs or very effectively by immune suppressive shots such as Enbrel or Humira.</p>
<p>If your son has it, I would strongly recommend not playing soccer. Instead, he can find other non-collision sports. What I felt is every time I get hurt some joints in my body, it starts to have the same type of join pain on that part. So, it is not good to develop another inflammation on any of body parts, which varsity soccer can easily do. Also, it is likely to develop knee pain. </p>
<p>Even if his symptoms are mild and not AS, there is no point of being a soccer player when he suffers from arthritis. He can still enjoy playing soccer but I think focusing on school education might be better future for him if his eventual career is not going to be at athletic sides.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you for the info. Actually, he does have AS, not JRA- it’s just that most people don’t know what that is so we just keep it at juvenile arthritis. He sees a pediatric rheumatologist at Children’s LA. Fortunately, she completely encourages his activities including both soccer and cross-country. He also surfs and snow-boards and she loves it that he is so active. She feels that a lot of her patients use their arthritis as an excuse not to keep active, while she believes that the more activity he gets, the better. She has not put any limitations on his sports; she leaves it up to him to judge if it is just too painful - so far he has not stopped. He runs 3 miles a day during soccer and up to 10 miles a day during cross country. Our concern is how much information we owe coaches. He is on a TNF blocker, but already has had to switch as the 1st one became less effective. Obviously his meds could stop working and he could be incapacitated at any time. We just don’t know if we should advertise that he has AS or keep it to ourselves until he has a major flare-up.</p>
<p>everyone needs physician clearance to play NCAA, so may as well be upfront about the whole matter.</p>
<p>You may want to study up on prospects for soccer scholarships. At many schools, men’s soccer came out on the short-end of Title IX allocations, and a lot of scholarships don’t amount to much more than book money. If finances are tight and academics are good, you all might find a better deal looking to some of the need-, or nearly need blind DIII schools</p>
<p>We have a daughter with a lot of health issues, which did end up affecting her sports sometime in high school. She switched her (sometimes ferocious) interests to theater, then music, and is now a music major. Honestly, I am thankful every day that she was forced to give up sports!</p>
<p>It is still early in high school for your son, and also early in the course of his condition. Painful as it may sound, I think that answers will become clearer over the next couple of years, and it may be that he drifts from sports. Or not. Time will tell, corny as it sounds. Our daughter seemed heartbroken the year she stopped, for about a week, and then she picked herself up and did other things. It might be more stop and start, or gradual for your son. Or, he might find ways to continue: I always notice how many Olympic athletes have health conditions in their lives at one time or another.</p>
<p>I gather that you are worrying about this partly because you want to encourage more academics if sports is not going to work out. I think that no matter what a kid’s interests are, it takes a few years of high school to get the balance right. Many students who do sports are more organized and better at managing their time, and do fine academically.</p>
<p>The worry about telling the coaches in college is maybe a little premature. YOu could wait until that is a real, imminent issue. (You will also probably want to register with a disabilities office, at college, in case a flare requires accommodations.)</p>
<p>If your son is like my daughter, the more immediate issue is coaches during high school and what to tell them. A lot of coaches get a funny look in their eyes when you mention illness or other conditions. My daughter tended to tell them, and then enjoyed the revenge of excelling and proving them wrong. But the whole thing was awkward, and there are prejudices. Then again, trying to explain in any detail caused more problems than not. But, she still told them, because for her, there was a safety issue.</p>
<p>Does your son require accommodations at high school at all, when the pain is bad? For instance, does he have excused absences, or is that not an issue right now? Accommodations at the college level are much fewer than high school, which is a shock to many, but, again, it sounds like that is not a concern for your son and family right now.</p>
<p>Maybe you can just let things happen. You can’t control what happens, but you can facilitate the best outcome, and you will get answers as time goes on. Things can have a way of working out for the best, in surprising ways.</p>