All-Star Competition And Illness

[kells]

I have competed at a 2 day competition before where i woke up with the flu in the middle of the night after day 1. i just stayed in bed tilll the last possibly minute and took lots of meds and fluids.I also kept pants and a hoodie on all through the warm up room, and warmed up minimally. Coaches are usually very understanding if you do chose to compete and may let you not throw all you're tumbling.
in most cases cheerleaders are to dedicated to not go out there and compete with our team

 

[Just-a-Mom]

First let me say I am so sorry for your losses, truly a parents worst nightmare. When I said I (and I know you aren't singling me out per se) let my child compete short of hospitalization. What I mean is there is alot I would still sent her to competition for. She had strep and was on abx for over 24 hours and was no longer contagious. Although I am not a physician I am in the medical field and do know how to properly assess my child and look for warning signs, and take her to the dr as needed and get clearance as well. For the record she did have clearance to compete. Would I send her with H1N1, after short recovery with mono, high fever, HECK NO. But a low grade fever, cold. YES I would. I do understand the contagious factor I have a chronically ill child who gets very sick if someone even thinks about sneezing next to him. It does infuriate me when parents carelessly send their child to school sick. Everyone knows their child and whether or not they can pull through it if they truy can not , or it is questionable dont do it.

I agree--I think most parents should make the decision and leave it at that. I guess it's just an unfortunate fact of life that there will always be parents who don't make decisions based on anything other than how they'll look to other people. I think I mostly get mad at coaches and other team members who feel it's their place to tell a parent when their child is well enough to compete. Again this is illness, not injury--I usually trust my children's coaches to assess the injury, the routine, and make it work. But if you're telling a coach that your child has had a fever of 102 for 3 days and they're telling you to come on in and compete without a doctor's note...that's just irresponsible to me. A cold? Fine. But when people are bragging they competed with swine flu or pneumonia I think that's just so selfish--and I really feel like a coach should step in and say no.

(***I almost feel like there are exceptions...if it's your last chance at a Worlds bid, and your whole teams dreams that they've been working for their whole lives for hinge on YOU being there, I would say just go and do it. I know someone said that it shouldn't matter the level, but really it does. A mini team has PLENTY of other chances to compete--and it'd be a good time to learn that sometimes, no matter what you've done to prepare, life rears its ugly head and you have to just deal. But a last shot at a Worlds bid is not something you'll get another chance at...much like I understnad that every once in awhile, you really do just have to go to work, even if you have the bubonic plague. I'm just saying that sometimes, just sometimes, the world will actually continue to rotate without you.)

 

[ninaxo]

this might be too much information, but i get ovarian cyst.. got surgery in 2009 to get some removed when i was fourteen,
at a competition this year i had a cyst that went unnoticed and it burst while competing.. not the best pain ever but i finished the routine regardless

 

[Hibbers]

I agree--I think most parents should make the decision and leave it at that. I guess it's just an unfortunate fact of life that there will always be parents who don't make decisions based on anything other than how they'll look to other people. I think I mostly get mad at coaches and other team members who feel it's their place to tell a parent when their child is well enough to compete. Again this is illness, not injury--I usually trust my children's coaches to assess the injury, the routine, and make it work. But if you're telling a coach that your child has had a fever of 102 for 3 days and they're telling you to come on in and compete without a doctor's note...that's just irresponsible to me. A cold? Fine. But when people are bragging they competed with swine flu or pneumonia I think that's just so selfish--and I really feel like a coach should step in and say no.

(***I almost feel like there are exceptions...if it's your last chance at a Worlds bid, and your whole teams dreams that they've been working for their whole lives for hinge on YOU being there, I would say just go and do it. I know someone said that it shouldn't matter the level, but really it does. A mini team has PLENTY of other chances to compete--and it'd be a good time to learn that sometimes, no matter what you've done to prepare, life rears its ugly head and you have to just deal. But a last shot at a Worlds bid is not something you'll get another chance at...much like I understnad that every once in awhile, you really do just have to go to work, even if you have the bubonic plague. I'm just saying that sometimes, just sometimes, the world will actually continue to rotate without you.)

To clarify, since you're getting so heated, I was not "bragging" about competing with pneumonia. 1. It was not contagious. 2. I was on medication. and 3. It was, indeed, our last chance at a World's bid.

 

[newcheerdad]

I agree--I think most parents should make the decision and leave it at that. I guess it's just an unfortunate fact of life that there will always be parents who don't make decisions based on anything other than how they'll look to other people. I think I mostly get mad at coaches and other team members who feel it's their place to tell a parent when their child is well enough to compete. Again this is illness, not injury--I usually trust my children's coaches to assess the injury, the routine, and make it work. But if you're telling a coach that your child has had a fever of 102 for 3 days and they're telling you to come on in and compete without a doctor's note...that's just irresponsible to me. A cold? Fine. But when people are bragging they competed with swine flu or pneumonia I think that's just so selfish--and I really feel like a coach should step in and say no.

I would like to know how gyms approach this. I have seen the "sick kid" perform more than once for our teams (including one girl who had to run off during a performance) but we don't have a specific rule about contagious illness. I know for a fact that if my daughter was running a fever and had been out of school for multiple days she wouldn't be competing. It wouldn't even be up for debate.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

To clarify, since you're getting so heated, I was not "bragging" about competing with pneumonia. 1. It was not contagious. 2. I was on medication. and 3. It was, indeed, our last chance at a World's bid.

Sorry...I knew after I posted that it sounded that way. But I missed my "edit" window.

I really wasn't just talking about you. Actually a girl at my job just came in with pneumonia over Christmas, and half our office is STILL trying to get over all the germs she brought us--this topic got me all flustered from that episode again.

What I am referring to is people without a dr. clearance. As in, the doctor has NOT said "You're not contagious after X number of days". Or "You can go on about your daily life after you take this medicine for 2 days". I'm referring to people who don't even go to the dr. and just assume that 5 days with a fever is normal and cool. Obviously, since you knew what you had and had medicine, that's not you. That's all I ask--quick visit to make sure you're not giving everyone something really bad.

*** And you were on last chance for Worlds bid which is one of my exceptions to give the plague to everyone.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

I would like to know how gyms approach this. I have seen the "sick kid" perform more than once for our teams (including one girl who had to run off during a performance) but we don't have a specific rule about contagious illness. I know for a fact that if my daughter was running a fever and had been out of school for multiple days she wouldn't be competing. It wouldn't even be up for debate.

So far, from what I've seen...if you are not actually handcuffed to a hospital bed, they expect you to be there. I've never seen a coach tell someone they needed to stay home--even with swine flu.

Doesn't mean it's never happened...just I've never seen it. I've only kept my daughter out of one competition and it was for an injury (we've been really lucky and never had sickness on comp day), and I had to really put my foot down and say "NO. She is not competing. I'm sorry that it puts you in a bind, but you're just going to have to deal." And it happened 2 days before the comp--so not like she'd had time to heal.

 

[newcheerdad]

So far, from what I've seen...if you are not actually handcuffed to a hospital bed, they expect you to be there. I've never seen a coach tell someone they needed to stay home--even with swine flu. Doesn't mean it's never happened...just I've never seen it.

I guess the first time it happens with my cp, they're just going to have "to deal".

 

[gymncheercoach]

Well from my posts you can tell how it was dealt with in my gym with my teams. My gym may have been the exception to the rule but we believed in the health of our athletes and others first.

 

[My3KidsMom]

I would personally be upset if my child had to compete with a child who had the swine flu or something contagious along those lines. I have never had to experience that because we have never been at a gym that made athletes compete with contagious illnesses. I even took my child to practice one day with a face mask on and the coaches said she could go home. Now I only took her in because she was the youngest on the team and I didn't want anyone saying she wasn't really sick so I took her and let the coaches see her and understand she was SICK!

 

[Diamond]

Bad reporting is what gives cheerleading a bad rep, because they only report the "bad" stuff. It seems like there is a little over reacting going on. I don't think anyone would say someone who has a high fever, vomiting, lethargic and all that goes with it should compete. This lady gave the scenario that her child had a fever but with meds was perky and herself, so there would be no harm in competing if this is the situation. You have gone with the extreme case and are now trying to call people out and make them to be bad parents. Contrary to what people may believe Doctors DON'T always know what's best. I have had a doctor roll his eyes and me and get upset with me when I brought my infant son back to the doctor because he was awfully Jaundice looking and have him tell me "we told you it takes 7-10 days to clear up, only to have him blowing my phone up within an hour of leaving from having his blood drawn to have him IMMEDIATELY return to the hospital and within a day begin an exchange transfusion because it was so bad as well as several trips with my youngest son to the ER where they didn't feel like he needed to be and EVERY time he was admitted! I KNOW MY children and I am their biggest supporter either way even if it came down to it and they had to miss a competition!

Just because the meds have her being her perky self doesn't mean she's ok. Just saying=). That's what meds do, make you feel better. I was sick when I was younger w/ a stomach virus & had a very high temp. I was bouncing around the house just because of a shot & the medicine prescribed to me. My mom had to constantly take my temp & keep ice packs on me. My fever could have reached a dangerous temp & no one would have known unless they took my temperature. No one is saying children should never cheer when they're sick. It's about how sick the kid is. Some of you are just talking about being sick in general. The lady isn't calling anyone out. From the info that was given she probably sees the sick child in a different way than other people do.

Most doctors do know what's best. There are some that don't. No doctor knows everything nor makes the right decisions every time. I think every adult has at least on incident where a doctor has made a bad decision or has given wrong info. I don't want my family business on here, but my family has gone through a worse situation than you w/ doctors & specialists who didn’t know what they were talking about for months until we found out the facts.

You just have to know your child. We don’t know the sick child so everyone is going off their own opinion of how to handle this.

 

[soFIERCE08]

i think people would be surprised to see how resilient kids are. when i was 3 or 4, i had a double ear infection and scarlet fever. and my mom only found out because i started to break out in a rash so she took me to the doctor. i never complained once. i say, if the kid can push through it, then let them. everyone knows their own strengths and limitations.

 

[Diamond]

i think people would be surprised to see how resilient kids are. when i was 3 or 4, i had a double ear infection and scarlet fever. and my mom only found out because i started to break out in a rash so she took me to the doctor. i never complained once. i say, if the kid can push through it, then let them. everyone knows their own strengths and limitations.

So basically if you never broke out in that rash you would have never been treated for scarlet fever, which could have been fatal. That's why you have to keep a close eye on children & think twice before you take them out the house while they're really sick.
I'm surprised you didn't complain about a double ear infection & fever. That’s really scary to me. I started having ear infections when I was 1 & migraine headaches since age 4 & my parents tell me I used to scream my head off!

 

[ImBigRed]

One thing that I highly recommend for anyone who travels often and is around a bunch of cheerleaders is "colloidal silver". They have it at vitamin shoppes and various other nutritional stores. It is incredible for fighting off any pathogens, it has been known to cure malaria. You can Do your own research because I could talk about its benefits for days. It is somewhat pricey but you should take it every day to avoid getting sick.

I have had people very close to me get sick and I have fought it off because I take colloidal silver. Look it up and let me know your thoughts!!!!

CHEERS!

 

[soFIERCE08]

So basically if you never broke out in that rash you would have never been treated for scarlet fever, which could have been fatal. That's why you have to keep a close eye on children & think twice before you take them out the house while they're really sick.
I'm surprised you didn't complain about a double ear infection & fever. That’s really scary to me. I started having ear infections when I was 1 & migraine headaches since age 4 & my parents tell me I used to scream my head off!

basically, but i'm saying that kids can often push through things that adults wouldn't expect. so, assuming one's daughter only has a cold/flu(and not scarlet fever), it is likely that they will be able to push through it. however, this depends on the kid. and like someone said, each parent knows their own kid.

and, i have a really high pain tolerance. i guess even as a kid pain didn't affect me too much.