"I don't need to warm up. I'm the man." — Hyun

Once I showered and got dressed, I drove to the courts. Terry and Brian were already there. For about 15 minutes we shot the ball around, warming up before the game. We were still waiting for our friend Hyun to show.

When Hyun finally arrived, we were all set to play. I asked Hyun if he needed time to warm up. "No thanks," was his reply. "I don't need to warm up. I'm the man." I only shook my head as I walked away from him. We shot odd finger for teams and the game was under way.

For the first ten minutes, it was a competitive game. I was going baseline on Terry, hitting shot after shot. Whenever I was double-teamed, I dished the ball to Hyun. He saw an open lane and tried to go for a lay-up. As he started to break towards the basket, he twisted his ankle and fell to the ground.

We all gathered around him, asking if we could do anything for him. Hyun couldn't answer; he was too busy grasping at his badly swollen ankle. I looked down at him and muttered to myself, "That's what you get when you don't warm up before a game."

Many athletes, both professional and non-professional, tend to leave warm-ups or practices out of their normal routine, believing that they don't really need them. Chris Cannizzaro, the assistant coach for The Mets (a Little League baseball team in Howell, New Jersey) knows just how much his team dislikes warm-ups.

"The kids believe that warm-ups are for sissies," Cannizzaro observed. "I tell them before we start to practice that they have to do stretches to loosen up. Before I finish my sentence, they start groaning and complaining that they don''t need to stretch. It's like pulling teeth to get them to do their warm-ups."

Professional coaches don't set up practices just to annoy their players. Practices are held for an important reason. It gives the professional athletes the time they need to condition their bodies into game shape.

Muscles are stretched and warmed up. The blood is pumping. The breathing is hard and fast. Stamina is gained. These are key ingredients to normal warm-ups. Without these ingredients, athletes would enter a game with their bodies cold and not loose. And that is when disaster happens.

Cannizzaro has seen some unfortunate injuries that could have been avoided if his players would have done their warm-ups properly. "I've had two kids who both pulled their hamstrings when trying to run to first base," he recalled. "They put the ball in play like they were supposed to but when trying to beat out the throw, they pulled their hamstrings. That is a really painful injury that easily could have been prevented with the proper warm-up exercises."

"The kids believe that warmups are for sissies. I tell them before we start to practice that they have to do stretches to loosen up." — Chris Cannizzaro, Little League coach

Everybody can be susceptible to sport injuries. Even the multi-million-dollar players are not invincible. Baseball, football, soccer, golf, and even tennis players can sustain injuries if they do not do proper warm-ups. Some of the injuries could be groin pulls, strained tendons, back spasms, twisted ankles, torn ligaments, pulled muscles, and cramps.

I had a chance to talk to Rico Brogna, the first baseman for the New York Mets, before a recent game with the Colorado Rockies. We talked about the knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the spring training season. According to Brogna, the injury was his own fault.

"Even though I went into spring training in great shape, I never did my usual routine of stretching before the game," he said. "The result was the injury. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter what shape you're in, if you don't prepare (for the game) properly, you're asking for trouble."

If major sports athletes can be susceptible to these type of injuries, then why do many non-professional athletes think that they can get away without doing warm-ups prior to the sport they play? TV networks only show the sports event and not the warm-ups. And most people believe that the athletes just show up and start playing. This is not really the case.

According to Herbert Rudolph, a doctor in Farmingdale, New Jersey, the best way to prevent serious sport injuries is to do stretches before a game.

"What stretches do is to awaken the joints and muscles in your body," Rudolph said. "Most injuries occur because the muscles are not loose. Stretches definitely prevent cramps and certain body spasms."

"Another good form of warm-ups would be to jog in place for a minute or two," Rudolph continued. "Jogging in place helps gets the blood flowing and a person's stamina would increase."

Richard Yuro, a physical education instructor at Howell High School in Farmingdale, New Jersey, couldn't agree more with Rudolph.

"With my students, I make them jog for about two minutes before every game," Yuro said. "Then we do different types of stretches like reaching for the toes, bending side to side, and twists. Only when all of my students are properly warmed-up do we start playing the games."

Professional athletes and the different sport leagues can make a difference by stressing the importance of warm-ups and practices by TV ads and other promotional spots. Some athletes, like Anthony Mason (of the New York Knicks) play in summer leagues. The public can get a chance to watch their favorite stars prepare for each game. By doing this, people will see that these highly paid athletes are human just like them and that they need warm-ups just like everyone else.

Brogna is already doing his share to educate kids about the importance of warm-ups. During the off-season, he is the coach of his old school's basketball team. Not only does he preach the importance of sportsmanship, he stresses the importance of warm-ups.

"I tell the kids that in order to protect their bodies from injuries, they need to do at least 15 minutes of stretches to warm the body up for the game ahead," he said. "Fifteen minutes of warm-ups is a lot better than 15 days of pain from a stupid injury that could have been avoided."