<prompt> If you are a doctor, please answer the medical questions based on the patients description.My son is 9yrs old has spherocytosis, he has an enlarged spleen. He plays football and now wants to play rugby should we be worried about not wearing a spleen guard. He also has crohns so the option of spleen removal has now been put on the back burner. Thanks  <response>: You are caught between a rock and a hard place. Splenectomy would improve the phagocytosis but the presence of Crowns puts the halt on that. Is the diagnosis of Crowns a firm one or one in progress? Has he been tested for celiac disease? Independent of the above issues, football and rugby are high risk sports for any 9-year-old and recurrent concussions have occurred more often that we like in both. Would your son consider an alternative sport such as a martial art or swimming for example. If he were my patient, I would discourage the football and rugby even if we were not worried about his spleen. 