Your child goes down on the playing field and does not get up. You break into a cold sweat and your stomach feels like it’s stuck in your throat. How do you know if it’s just a boo-boo, or if they’re really hurt? The image on the next page will tell you, but don’t look if you don’t enjoy seeing pain.

I was shooting a high school soccer game in 2004 at Manchester Memorial when I took this photo. I remember the rain, the mud and the great Crusader goalie, but I didn’t even know I had this photo until I edited my images after the game. I do recall this young man being helped off the field, and the game went on.

After I discovered the image, I showed it to the sports staff that night, and a few others in the newsroom. Faces cringed when they saw the hand, but it wasn’t a photo we would run with a game story.

I can’t tell you how to tell if your child is hurt on the field. All I can say, with past experience, is that the coaches, trainers, medical staff, and emergency crews will take very good care of them. They will forget the trauma, if there is any, and only images or video will remind them of what happened. And, if something’s broken, they will get all the sympathy and care they ever wanted from their family and friends, along with some cool signatures on the cast.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: hurt, injury