Albert Camus and Youth Sports Injuries 

Albert Camus shows us how sport-ending injuries or illnesses can affect athletes drastically. Many young athletes find peace and purpose in sports, and injuries can prevent them from performing in those sports. Camus was seen as an outstanding athlete and went on to play for the Algiers Racing University between the sticks (Camus’s Absurd Love of Football, n.d.). All of Camus’s hopes and dreams of excelling in football were crushed after receiving devastating news (p. 1). Albert Camus would not like youth sports injuries because, in his case, tuberculosis prevented him from doing the things that he loved.

Albert Camus would be in favor of the precautions to prevent youth sports injuries. The diagnosis of tuberculosis put an end to any football ambitions Albert Camus had. Camus’s love for the game was due to all of the lessons he learned from it. “After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football,” said Camus in 1957 (Of course Albert Camus was a goalkeeper, 2021). At 16 years old, Camus was praised by the team bulletin of Algiers Racing University for giving a “splendid exhibition” (Camus’s Absurd Love of Football, n.d.). It was only after two months of this praise that Camus began to spit blood and was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis (p. 1). Not only did tuberculosis affect his ability to play football but also prevented him from enlisting to fight Franco and the Nazis (p. 1). Camus would encourage athletes to take part in the precautions to prevent injuries because of his experience through tuberculosis and football. 

Apart from football, tuberculosis caused Albert Camus to miss out on several things (Setser, 2015). Camus could no longer swim, roam the streets with his friends, and overall became weak, so he felt that his life was over (p. 1). Like his mother, Camus became an invalid (p. 1). His mother was partly deaf and illiterate (Halley, 2020). Albert Camus was ambitious, and unlike his mother, he hated not being able to do simple things (Setser, 2015). With no treatment available for tuberculosis, Camus took this as a death sentence (p. 1). After his diagnosis, he then began to believe that he could cure himself, but that obviously was not the case with tuberculosis (p. 1). If there had been a cure for tuberculosis, Albert Camus’s outlook on life would have possibly been different. With sports injuries, there are precautions athletes can take. When precautions are not taken seriously, they can sooner or later affect an athlete’s ability to do simple activities. Camus’s experience of missing out on life affected him in a variety of unimaginable ways. 

The ending of many activities in Camus’s life due to tuberculosis ultimately influenced his style of writing and his negative outlook on life (Setser, 2015). He watched life just pass him, which caused his thinking to become bitter (p. 1). According to Halley, “tuberculosis placed him, as he struggled for breath, in a “monastery” of “silence.” (Halley, 2020). You can find silence everywhere in his creative work (p. 1). Camus wrestled with the problem that life was absurd (Camus’s Absurd Love of Football, n.d.). Camus believed that life was absurd because we crave happiness, but instead we are always met with the silence of the world (p. 1). He stated, “To understand that life is absurd is the first step to being fully alive” (Albert Camus on suicide, absurdity, and the meaning of life, 2023). You may ask yourself, What makes life worth living then? Camus praised sports, the beach, women, and good food (p. 1). Albert Camus believed that just because life was meaningless did not mean you could not find ways to enjoy it (p. 1). According to Albert Camus, “The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” (A quote by Albert Camus, n.d.). Football was that exact thing for Camus, until it wasn’t anymore. For many athletes, sports are a gateway to enjoying life. In Camus’s early life, this was his gateway for enjoying life. So, while Camus would argue that life is meaningless, he would support athletes trying to prevent injuries because this gave him a way to enjoy his life. 

Albert Camus’s love for the game of football never disappeared. While Camus still lived in Algeria, he adored to go and watch local teams play (Camus’s absurd love of football, n.d.). While working his first jobs in Paris journalism, Camus could hardly wait on Sunday nights for the scores of Algiers Racing University to come in (p. 1). He also worked as a teacher in 1941 and got the opportunity to coach the school team (p. 1). Camus’s youth was lit up by football, so as a result, he never stopped watching it, even if it was from a distance (p. 1). His love for the game floats in the back of all of his novels (p. 1). According to Camus’s absurd love of football, “In 1959, less than a year before he died, Camus told another interviewer that, along with the theater, the football pitch had been one of his two real universities.” (Camus’s absurd love of football, n.d.). The impact a game can have on an individual is extraordinary. The feelings of accomplishment, success, and meaning can all disappear in an instant by an illness or injury. Camus experienced how a sport can truly impact you and would therefore stand by the precautions to prevent injuries. 

 Throughout Albert Camus’s life, he endured things that several people never will. Tuberculosis flipped his life upside down and affected him vastly. From ending his football career to preventing him from doing fun activities, tuberculosis affected several aspects of his life. As a result of these effects, his thinking and outlook on life changed. Camus believed life was meaningless, and his thinking became bitter. While he was distraught about not being able to participate in sports, his love for the game never died. He supported the sport he loved, even if it was from a distance. With all of the experiences Albert Camus went through, he would encourage athletes to take the right precautions to prevent sports injuries. He has experienced firsthand what not being able to participate in a sport that has your entire heart can do to you.  

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