Dr. Honaker welcomes a medical school friend (and fellow western Kentucky native) Dr. Greg Canty to the show for a bit of reminiscing, but mostly a lively conversation about raising a child athlete.

As someone who grew up in the gym – his father who was a basketball coach – Dr. Canty was exposed early to sports medicine and naturally gravitated to the specialty years later. He started his career in pediatric emergency medicine and went back to do an additional fellowship to finally focus more on sports medicine. He is now the Medical Director of the sports medicine center at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

Dr. Canty is the father of three girls and provides a very relatable perspective of a dad supporting young athletes.

Topics covered in this podcast: 

• The #1 thing that people are looking to achieve when they come to see a sports medicine doctor
• ESPN Medicine vs Juvenile Sports Medicine
• What’s the right balance of parenting a young athlete? When do I push them and when do I let them figure it out?
• The impacts of coaches and lessons learned
• The role of a parent in a young athlete’s life
• The benefits of and life skills from sports participation, specifically for young girls
• A preview of what’s inside the specialty toolkits by Dr. Canty
• The best advice for pediatricians and parents when it comes to guiding a young athlete

Links: 

• Range by David Epstein
• Raising a Young Athlete Specialty Toolkit
• Common Sports Injuries Specialty Toolkit
• Children’s Mercy – Sports Medicine Center

Dr. Greg Canty is the Medical Director for the Sports Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO as well as the Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine.