All-Star Where Do Our Priorities Lie?

[AndyT_T]

Okay, so this is gonna be a little ranty but I really want to see what everyone think and I think this is an important question to ask. So bear with me.
So instead of calling out teams Im going to use my own experience as to not be rude to any program, but Im sure everyone knows at least one team where this applies.

So I remember once there was a girl on my team who landed wrong and really hurt her ankle -like tore a ligament and broke something- and finished the routine anyways. She was in the group I based with and me and the second and I watched her struggle through the whole stunt, moaning and wincing and generally in pain. But she was a strong girl and a fighter and she finished anyways.
When the routine ended we picked her up off of the floor and carried her off. We were so sure that our coaches would be so proud!
Surprise! they werent. They were actually livid. Not at her, just at the situation. At the next practice we got this huge speech about how our coaches were like a parent with 30 kids or more, and how they ALWAYS put us and our health first.
One coach said that she would rather have one healthy kid than a thousand worlds rings, and then they pretty much beat into our head the difference between fighting through the pain (soreness, weakness, maybe a twisted ankle or something) and being injured and needing to stop.
It ended up being one of the most memorable cheer moments I had, I could easily write a term paper about the speeches they gave they were beautiful.

Now Im in college and my coach is kind of the opposite. She pressures me to do things Im not ready to do on my knee yet because we need fulls for nationals, she pressured a girl who had been having semi-regular seizures and was getting MRI's to figure out what was wrong to "push through the pain" because she had a double basket, the list goes on.
Then I see a video where two girls get injured and leave the stage and no one stops the routine!
I also remember a girl getting kicked in the head on a relatively big name team and looking visibly dazed and confused (concussion anyone?), but no one stopped the music and she kept going!


It just seems like a lot of people in the sport tend to believe that "Pushing through the pain" is something to be really proud of, and to a certain extent I agree, but these are these kids formative years! When their bodies are still maturing and growing! An injury that isn't properly treated can lead to lifelong pain and problems.

So, the question: Do you all think this is an issue? Or am I seeing a problem where there isn't one?
When do you want your kids to stop and ask for help/a break?
How much pain is too much?

Input please! I really am curious as to what other people think!

 

[12mowerd]

I feel like the athletes health should most definitley come first. Maybe the coaches that tell the athlete to push through the pain, don't get it.

I coach middle school girls and they fake every injury just to get out of doing a roll or jumps. So in my head I tend to be less lenient to the ones who are really injured. It all depends on the coach and how bad winning is to them.

Not sure if that answers your question

 

[CheerBank]

My older ex-cp sustained an ankle injury at some point which she "pushed through" over 2 seasons in between being braced, booted, hours upon hours of PT, a steroid shot and finally arthroscopic surgery to remove the ganglion cyst and scar tissue from repeated sprains and tendonitits and to hope this would resolve the pain. Almost 5 months post surgery, she is still in pain and just had another MRI to see what if anything is causing it and if she still needs another surgery to stabilize the tendon. She is no longer cheering.

Younger cp had a bad ankle sprain over summer. We followed doctor's orders, kept her from cheering for a solid 5 weeks which included PT 3x a week, and gradually let her get back into tumbling. She now wears an ASO brace to cheer.

I wish I had pulled my older one right away and given her the time to heal. We were foolishly too concerned with how it would affect the team as well as what would happen to her spot if we pulled her, rather than her health. I will never make that mistake again. I will also not let my kids or a coach dictate when they return to the sport they love (which is what happened with my older one, she did not want to sit out) but rather the medical doctors who are more familiar with what can happen with untreated injury as well as my gut feeling as a parent. As much as we love cheer, permanent damage is not worth it.

 

[fierceBOWlove]

I think in some ways coaches should push us through the pain, but in instances where an ACL is torn or something severe like that, NO. Cheerleading may be extremely important, but nothing is more crucial then your health. Some of these injuries are catostrophic and could effect you for the rest of your life...JMO.

 

[NJ Coach]

There's a difference between being hurt and being injured.

 

[Mom2Cheergirls]

I think sometimes it is hard to tell. Especially with certain age girls where drama tends to lead to some girls maybe making an injury more than it may be...BUT (and this is a HUGE BUT) we are not doctors or medical trainers and if a CP says she feels injured than the coach should listen and parents who see it should not say things like that kid is always a cry baby or drama girl (have heard it said by parents in our gym and was SHOCKED, seriously stunned and the time I heard it the kid was really truly hurt). It is always better to err on the side of caution because really in the end cheer may feel like your life but there is so much more to it and jeopardizing your health is not worth the price of a jacket or a ring. There are those coaches and those parents who will say pain is the price and we must go for it, but hopefully they are the minority.

 

[BowsnBling]

Okay, so this is gonna be a little ranty but I really want to see what everyone think and I think this is an important question to ask. So bear with me.
So instead of calling out teams Im going to use my own experience as to not be rude to any program, but Im sure everyone knows at least one team where this applies.

So I remember once there was a girl on my team who landed wrong and really hurt her ankle -like tore a ligament and broke something- and finished the routine anyways. She was in the group I based with and me and the second and I watched her struggle through the whole stunt, moaning and wincing and generally in pain. But she was a strong girl and a fighter and she finished anyways.
When the routine ended we picked her up off of the floor and carried her off. We were so sure that our coaches would be so proud!
Surprise! they werent. They were actually livid. Not at her, just at the situation. At the next practice we got this huge speech about how our coaches were like a parent with 30 kids or more, and how they ALWAYS put us and our health first.
One coach said that she would rather have one healthy kid than a thousand worlds rings, and then they pretty much beat into our head the difference between fighting through the pain (soreness, weakness, maybe a twisted ankle or something) and being injured and needing to stop.
It ended up being one of the most memorable cheer moments I had, I could easily write a term paper about the speeches they gave they were beautiful.

Now Im in college and my coach is kind of the opposite. She pressures me to do things Im not ready to do on my knee yet because we need fulls for nationals, she pressured a girl who had been having semi-regular seizures and was getting MRI's to figure out what was wrong to "push through the pain" because she had a double basket, the list goes on.
Then I see a video where two girls get injured and leave the stage and no one stops the routine!
I also remember a girl getting kicked in the head on a relatively big name team and looking visibly dazed and confused (concussion anyone?), but no one stopped the music and she kept going!


It just seems like a lot of people in the sport tend to believe that "Pushing through the pain" is something to be really proud of, and to a certain extent I agree, but these are these kids formative years! When their bodies are still maturing and growing! An injury that isn't properly treated can lead to lifelong pain and problems.

So, the question: Do you all think this is an issue? Or am I seeing a problem where there isn't one?
When do you want your kids to stop and ask for help/a break?
How much pain is too much?

Input please! I really am curious as to what other people think!

Thank you so much for posting this. I could not agree with you more. I stopped a routine at a local comp after I saw one of my tumblers come out of a front through weird....I am glad I did because it ended up being a torn acl. When I stopped the routine the director was questioning why and so many coaches asked why I did it. Granted she did not look very injured at the time, I still knew my athlete enough to know something was wrong. Why would I risk her future for one pass, one extra stunt or one trophy. Maybe I knew that is when I went soft and was ready to retire, but I still believe that its gets pushed too far sometimes and coaches really need to read their athletes and decide on the safety of the child and not the title they may be giving up.

 

[FierceandFearless]

Thank you so much for posting this. I could not agree with you more. I stopped a routine at a local comp after I saw one of my tumblers come out of a front through weird....I am glad I did because it ended up being a torn acl. When I stopped the routine the director was questioning why and so many coaches asked why I did it. Granted she did not look very injured at the time, I still knew my athlete enough to know something was wrong. Why would I risk her future for one pass, one extra stunt or one trophy. Maybe I knew that is when I went soft and was ready to retire, but I still believe that its gets pushed too far sometimes and coaches really need to read their athletes and decide on the safety of the child and not the title they may be giving up.

Every coach should be able to have this sense of "security" in knowing that they know their athletes well enough. I feel like not enough coaches take the time to get to know their athletes to the point where they can tell when they are hurt or injured. It's not just a matter of "taking an athletes word for it", it's getting to know the athlete as a person enough to know when enough is enough for that athlete. Every athlete is different. Good for you for knowing that something was wrong.

 

[BowsnBling]

Now Im in college and my coach is kind of the opposite. She pressures me to do things Im not ready to do on my knee yet because we need fulls for nationals, she pressured a girl who had been having semi-regular seizures and was getting MRI's to figure out what was wrong to "push through the pain" because she had a double basket, the list goes on.


I also had to comment on the statement about her pressuring you for the full for nationals. If she is that stressed out about your one pass , your one full, then she has bigger fish to fry then your one pass, it won't make that much of a difference in the big picture. That is where injuries occur. When you are ready you will throw it. Do it in your own time.

 

[AndyT_T]

There's a difference between being hurt and being injured.

I feel like the line isnt definite enough, like theres some gray area and too few coaches really know which side of the grey area to be on, ya know?

 

[AndyT_T]

I also had to comment on the statement about her pressuring you for the full for nationals. If she is that stressed out about your one pass , your one full, then she has bigger fish to fry then your one pass, it won't make that much of a difference in the big picture. That is where injuries occur. When you are ready you will throw it. Do it in your own time.

Thank you She keeps telling me that If I wont pull it than she knows where my priorities lie, and I just tell her that my priority is to my health first, the team is a close second. If shes not okay with that then okay.
Id rather be healthy and safe in Missouri than risking my knee in Daytona.

 

[Babs]

We got news today that one of our athletes can't compete with us in two days. I told her mom that doctors outrank coaches!

Tell your cp's if their coach isn't listening to them about their injury/illness at practice to go talk to their team mom! Athletes can be hesitant to speak up in the middle of practice, team moms can help out if necessary.

 

[Rhiley]

You already said my opinion yourself... Things like soreness, a body-ache, fatigue (etc.) should be things you power through, because you have to anyways... That's what performing is all about... But if a doctors visit is needed for anything, that's the stopping point.

When you need to go to a doctor to diagnose something, or you think you broke something, you can't walk, you are physically incapable or incoherent, (etc.) then YES, by all means STOP!

I believe there is a definite fine line that coaches and anybody could - hopefully - see, but in the heat of the moment, like during a routine, I don't think a kid would know if it's okay to stop or not... Is it a serious injury? Am I being a baby? I'm sure I can keep going... Those thoughts race through your head. And nobody really thinks straight in the heat of the moment... I believe a coach would know, as long as they see it.

 

[kristenthegreat]

I often wonder if our desire to be seen as a 'real sport' causes us to push through injuries we shouldn't as a way to seem 'tough' and 'legit.'

I know we always talk about how gyms are families- well your family should understand when you need time to take care of you. Compromise isn't self-sacrifice, and I wish we could all learn the difference-myself included.

 

[Mom Jeans]

Why didnt USASF take a stand on this during their focus group on safety meeting