Parents Would you let your kids compete?

[Deleted member 18037]

Current CDC guidelines have been adjusted. I can't speak to your state, county or town guidelines.

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[cogymmom2dd]

Current CDC guidelines have been adjusted. I can't speak to your state, county or town guidelines.

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Yes, however our local health department says that if you live with someone who is positive, the 2 week quarantine for a close contact begins the day that the last known positive person is done with their 10 day isolation period. It’s a different protocol for households vs say you were exposed at work and advised to quarantine.

 

[JessSyd]

Don’t do it. Don‘t rush back and compete while out of condition. Don’t risk an injury in the name of kid’s sport at a time when ER’s are busy
and doctors are exhausted.

 

[cogymmom2dd]

I feel like I am not understanding the situation based on the answers you are receiving. What I am seeing above is the following:

-- No gym at all since 12/10
-- Release from quarantine and back to gym 1/14
-- Private lesson on . . .1/14?
-- Compete 1/15 or 1/16?

Unless you are talking about violating the quarantine to do private lessons, which I hope you are not considering.

I absolutely never insinuated that I was going to break quarantine for a private. I would never put our gym in that position. Heck, my L7 has only ever done 2 privates in her entire gymnastics career so I would not be all of a sudden a proponent of privates during quarantine.
They would be released on 1/14 and both have practice that day. There is a group that practices on 1/15 in the evening and I would ask for them to be able to compete. Likely that they would compete on 1/16 or 1/17 but it could even extend into 1/18 because that is a holiday. I believe 1/15 competition is typically L8-10 and upper level XCEL that compete (we have been going to this meet for years and it’s usually the same schedule every year).

 

[cogymmom2dd]

Don’t do it. Don‘t rush back and compete while out of condition. Don’t risk an injury in the name of kid’s sport at a time when ER’s are busy
and doctors are exhausted.

Yep. I get that. I have worked in healthcare for 20+ years as a tech, nurse, and APP, with the last 16 years working ER. I’ve been working on the front lines since day 1. I’ve worried about bringing this virus home to my family for the past 9 months. I dropped my hours so that I would have less exposures and could be home with kids who no longer had a daycare provider or need help with school. So, you bet I get the craziness and the exhaustion and I’m only working half of the time I was a this point a year ago.
The craziest thing is that my husband was reckless and brought this home, not me!
The last thing I want is any injuries but I also want them to have some sense of normalcy because things have not been ‘normal’ for the past 9 months, but especially not normal for the last 2 weeks- and we still have 3 more weeks to go! I feel like they could safely go back and at least safely compete their floor routines, possibly vault also.

 

[Jazzjerz]

Now that you husband is out of his quarantine, based on what my Dr. has told us, I would think that if you are able to very strictly quarantine yourself from them, they should be able to start their 14 day clock from their last contact with you. That is how we did it when one of our family members got it.
As far as the meet goes, however, our gym would not allow it, and as a parent, I wouldn’t either. My daughter has competed twice on limited practice due to illness or injury right before, and it wasn’t worth the worry or stress in the end. And she was out less than 2 weeks each time. I WOULD ask if they could go and rotate with their teams and be there to cheer them on, though.
I hope you both recover well, and the girls stay healthy, by the way.

 

[JessSyd]

Let ‘back to normal’ be their return to training. Competing at a meet after a month off training isn’t normal and it might not even be fun.

If they do have time for a training session before competing they will be so sore afterwards, even if they have been conditioning from home. And if they don’t - well would you really want them to vault having done nothing but two warm up runs in the past two months?

My daughter has returned to gym twice this year after month plus absences due to covid restrictions. Both times she did home conditioning, the first time she did zoom gym and the second time she had access to some gym equipment (it was her gym that was closed that time, not gyms in general).

She still needed tapering in each time - return to form was reasonably quick but it wasn’t instant, and there was some level of spotting and working up to things to ensure she had the confidence to complete skills safely. And she was SORE after the first few sessions back in gym each time. There was a competition schduled for three weeks after their first return and I would have allowed that but I was sort of worried about it. The gym ended up pulling the whole squad (the competition was cancelled anyway).

 

[Madden3]

So... your kids are officially out of an extremely strict quarantine regimen on the 14th, and the meet is the 15th. So this is not a 'kids are possibly contagious to others' question, this is a, 'should my kids compete after not practicing for a month' question? I am just trying to understand.

 

[gymgal]

Their levels make it much less likely that they could compete safely with only a couple of days back in practice but they certainly should be able to go to the meet and rotate with the girls. If they must, they could warm up with the team and then scratch each event. I personally would not have allowed my dd to compete after a month out of practice at those levels but I also know my child would never have wanted to. She was/is way too cautious to take that chance. But I have know a few gymnasts who would have no problem doing a couple of practices (or privates) after a month out (non injury, of course) and be ready to compete gold and L7. Obviously, your coach is going to make that decision so you might as well check with them now so you know the options before debating your own decision

 

[Madden3]

If these were my kids, and they wanted to compete and their coach was ok with it, I would let them compete. Absolutely. I would not keep them from competing just because of fear of injury unless the coach said it was not safe. Injuries sometimes happen, practice or no practice. If needed, they could adjust routines and take the score hit. Sports and competition is supposed to be fun, not a tension inducing test every time. It sounds like your kids take competing very seriously, maybe too seriously. If I was in this situation, I would make sure my kids understood that competing when poorly prepared was thier choice, they consequently need to adjust expectations, and there would be no complaining about scores or placement. An alternative would be to at least attend the meet to cheer on teammates. Another alternative would be to do something nice as a family to celebrate the end of this arduous situation you have all gone through. Best wishes whatever your choice.

 

[Flicfliclay]

Do your kids have access to any home equipment? Floor beam, air mat, etc? Are they conditioning? I am guessing they are already entered into the meet, so maybe let it be up to the coaches once they are back and go from there. Sorry, you and your family are dealing with this and I hope that your girls don't test positive! Sending good vibes your way!

 

[mommyof1]

I wouldn’t even consider having them compete. I once gave in to pressure from my daughter’s old gym to have her compete L4 bars after one full practice following three weeks in a boot. She had been conditioning and was able to complete excellent routines during that last practice, and the meet was still a bust because she didn’t have her confidence back. What you are proposing is far riskier. Your daughters will have been out of the gym entirely for several weeks, you would have them compete all events, and one is L7. I can’t imagine the gym would even let them try full routines at their first practice back, much less compete.

On top of all that, a pandemic is raging and hospitals everywhere are overwhelmed. No one should even be practicing dangerous sports right now, much less competing.

 

[gymgal]

On top of all that, a pandemic is raging and hospitals everywhere are overwhelmed. No one should even be practicing dangerous sports right now, much less competing.

This is very regional and regardless, the odds getting an injury that requires a hospital visit is extremely rare. It would be much more likely that a trip to an ortho urgent care is needed, which would not overwhelm the covid responders. In your line of thinking, Should no one drive until the pandemic is over, in case one might be in an accident, landing a visit to the ER? - which btw, would be more frequent than a gymnast needing to visit the ER

 

[Deleted member 18037]

On top of all that, a pandemic is raging and hospitals everywhere are overwhelmed. No one should even be practicing dangerous sports right now, much less competing.

It is simply not true that hospitals everywhere are overwhelmed.

And practicing “dangerous sports” and/or competing them have no direct correlation to a pandemic.
Please cite your studies regarding this statement.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I would not be comfortable to allow a Level 7 gymnast to compete in a few days training after having a month off.

Sure catastrophic injuries are rare, but in this sport injuries in themselves are not rare. Competition without being ready can just as easily put them out of the other two competitions they have this season.

They are also quite likely not to perform to their potential. A disappointing meet, where they know they are capable of so much more can be quite damaging to confidence going into future meets.

It’s easy for me to say when I live in a place that is COVID free (103 days of zero cases) but it’s just not worth it. There will be other seasons but not if they suffer a serious injury.

 

[mommyof1]

This is very regional and regardless, the odds getting an injury that requires a hospital visit is extremely rare. It would be much more likely that a trip to an ortho urgent care is needed, which would not overwhelm the covid responders. In your line of thinking, Should no one drive until the pandemic is over, in case one might be in an accident, landing a visit to the ER? - which btw, would be more frequent than a gymnast needing to visit the ER

Well, we aren’t driving farther than the grocery store curbside pickup spot and have taken away our kid’s bike and skateboard. Hospitals here have been overwhelmed for weeks now.

 

[mommyof1]

Also, hospital capacity issues are not being fully covered by our local media. We are hearing of hospitals on diversion, COVID patients being “boarded“ in the ER for days on end, and staffing issues from friends who work in or have had to visit hospitals. If you are relying on the news, you may not be learning of issues in your community.

 

[txgymfan]

The OP asked if you would let your child compete.
We are way way off topic. Please get back to the original discussion or I will lock the thread. This discussion is starting to get into arguments about Covid and there are many many other places to do that othe than the Chalk Bucket.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

The OP asked if you would let your child compete.
We are way way off topic. Please get back to the original discussion or I will lock the thread. This discussion is starting to get into arguments about Covid and there are many many other places to do that othe than the Chalk Bucket.

For clarification

So the only answer anyone on this thread should of typed was yes or no?

No one should of added anything else?

 

[GYM0M]

A couple of things I would use to make a decision if I was in your situation:
1.) Your gym’s philosophy, i.e. Do they let girls compete routines without 10.0 start values? Is there room in either DD routine to water down if they’ve lost some skills?
2.) How do they compete? Are they confident performers or do they get nervous and anxious?
3.) How do they handle disappointment? Not that this matters as much in terms of safety, but my DD has a tendency to try to over compensate for a bad meet in the gym by over working her body, which just starts a huge cycle of disaster.