CLEVELAND -- For many student athletes, it is an annual ritual to go in for a sports physical before being allowed to play.

And as NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth reported, doctors are now able to catch some serious problems that have nothing to do with sports.

Cleveland State University student Maria Rickards, who plays on the basketball team, lost her father to a heart attack two years ago – he was only 42 years old.

It was her trainers and team doctor who suspected she could be at risk, and found that she had dangerously high cholesterol.

Rickards says that without CSU's connection to medicine, she wouldn't have known to go to the doctor, and she says she now appreciates her mandatory sports physical more than ever.

"It makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable if I know what's going on with my body on the inside," said Rickards.

Cleveland Clinic sports health Dr. Susan Joy gives physicals to student athletes as early as middle school. She says new state and national guidelines encourage doctors to look more closely at the athletes' overall health.

"People are becoming much more stringent and there are now certain questions that are really a routine part of the health assessment for athletes that haven't been before," said Joy.

The first priority for Joy and her fellow Cleveland Clinic sports health doctors is still checking out the athletes' muscles and bones.

But extensive questionnaires also look closely at cardiovascular health.

This can be important for many young people, who don't always go to the doctor unless they have to, reported Booth.

The Cleveland Clinic doctors say that most of the athletes they screen are very healthy, but they do occasionally find a heart problem or other problems such as eating disorders.

Despite the thoroughness of a sports physical, parents should never use one to replace their child's annual exam.