Safety checklist

[mommyof1]

My daughter is scheduled for an evaluation at a new gym. Although safety concerns are not our motivation for considering a gym change, safety will be a primary factor in our decision about whether to switch or stay. What should I be looking for as indicators of a safe program--or red flags indicating an unsafe one? Here is what I've come up with so far:

- Coaches are always aware of where the kids are and what they are doing; kids are not wandering around climbing on equipment they are not supposed to be using or interfering with the activities of other groups
- Kids are taught to keep a safe distance from one another while working on skills
- Skills are taught using progressions
- Kids under the age of five are not doing bridges or handsprings
- The team does not appear to be plagued by frequent injuries
- There is always at least one person with first aid certification in the gym
- Gymnasts are not allowed or forced to repeatedly try dangerous skills without a spot when hesitating

Does this seem reasonable? Am I missing anything? I also have one specific question: What type of matting or padding, if any, should I expect to see around the tumble track and trampoline?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

some of the things listed are overly broad. do they have liability insurance? are they a USAG club member? have you ever been sued? for what??

the "bridge" thing is probably a good one. but if done correctly the european & chinese coaches will argue their point.

the other stuff sounds like issues you see in the gym that you are currently in?

 

[MaryA]

I think just doing a quick scan around the gym looking for the % of gymnasts who are wrapped, casted, splinted, and braced will tell you a lot. Safety IS one of the reasons we left our old gym. Now girls from the old gym often come to open gym at the new gym and you can pick them out in an instant. The girl tumbling wearing wrist braces, with her left knee and her right ankle wrapped? She's definitely from our OLD gym!

 

[gymgal]

I think just doing a quick scan around the gym looking for the % of gymnasts who are wrapped, casted, splinted, and braced will tell you a lot. Safety IS one of the reasons we left our old gym. Now girls from the old gym often come to open gym at the new gym and you can pick them out in an instant. The girl tumbling wearing wrist braces, with her left knee and her right ankle wrapped? She's definitely from our OLD gym!

I don't know about this one. There are so many reasons for injuries. We have many gymnasts in dd's gym who were hurt outside of the gym. Wrapping and bracing have their place in rehab and depending on the time of the year, coaches may prefer to keep girls protected for a longer period of time. Example - my dd broken her wrist 3 mths before meet season. Her wrist wasn't back to full strength by the season start. So the hc decided it was better to keep her taped the rest of the season (while working on strength) rather than risk a reinjury. And because she was favoring one hand, they taped both wrists to protect the other one too. That was 3? Years ago. Her wrist is much better but still gives her problems with tumbling and on bhs on beam. So she uses tiger paws on floor and another thinner brace on beam. She uses them on both hands because it balances out the weight load. This is just one example but there are many others from our gym alone. I don't think you can walk in a gym and just look for injuries as a way of assessing safety.

Now, observing the gym as a whole during a few practices gives you a much better idea - are girls coming out of a fall correctly, is there proper amount of spotting, is there enough room between the equipment, are the groups orderly (not running among the equipment), are coaches scanning their groups often, etc...





Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[mommyof1]

the other stuff sounds like issues you see in the gym that you are currently in?

Let's just say there have been a couple of "yikes" moments related to items 1 and 2 on my list (kids goofing off and kids working too close to each other) and falling off the tumble track, but nothing that actually resulted in disaster or involved my daughter.

 

[mommyof1]

I don't think you can walk in a gym and just look for injuries as a way of assessing safety.

Now, observing the gym as a whole during a few practices gives you a much better idea - are girls coming out of a fall correctly, is there proper amount of spotting, is there enough room between the equipment, are the groups orderly (not running among the equipment), are coaches scanning their groups often, etc...

This makes sense as a way to gauge the risk of accidental injury, but I do still wonder if lots of tape and braces might signal a high rate of overuse injuries?

 

[Gymdad2]

It might be, but i know several coaches who use tape and braces to prevent injuries as well.

 

[gymgal]

It might be, but i know several coaches who use tape and braces to prevent injuries as well.

Same here

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Ummmm.... Can you ask parents at the gym about injuries? My son tapes his heel, but its because he's covering a huge wart that is being treated, lol. Plus we have a kid who broke her arm....skateboarding, not at gym.
Kids will be kids.
The other important one is background checks. At our gym, these are required!!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

It might be, but i know several coaches who use tape and braces to prevent injuries as well.

most of us do!

 

[mustlovejumping]

^^If you're going to use the number of braces/taped body parts as an indicator of the overall safety of the gym, please ignore any of us "oldies" who wear braces to make sure we can still make it to work and school the next day

 

[MaryA]

Well, I have a limited experience with gyms... limited to 2. "Old" gym, which did not have great coaching and great equipment where kids were nearly constantly braced, taped, etc. and "New" gym which does and which kids are not. So I suppose my sample of 2 is not necessarily enough to generalize from. As a mom, it makes me feel better to see fewer injuries in the gym, though I know there was one girl at the "old" gym who was constantly in a cast, and it was always for a non-gym-related injury... generally her doing something gym related at home and having collisions with furniture and other large heavy objects.