All-Star Discuss Your Usasf Struggles Here

[CookieMomster]

Somebody mentioned a girl on one of the teams was treated for breathing issues because she couldn't get to her inhaler. Many people with asthma react that way in humidity. I'm asthmatic as well and when the humidex goes over a certain percentage I stay indoors because I can't breath. Humidity and breathing complications can go hand in hand. If it was a dry temp she probably wouldn't have had complications. Asthmatic athletes at this level know how to control their asthma but throw in humidity and it's a whole other ballgame. There is no ounce of forgiveness. Just stepping outside on a hot humid day and walking to my car and trigger my asthma attacks and I barely have one anymore.

ETA: this is why I'm a nerd when it comes to dew point and humidity. I avoid it like the plague and I'm forever reading weather updates that dictate my activity levels; and given the high humidity levels we get in our summers due to Lake Effect weather we can go hot and have humidity as high as 95%!

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

Updated. Ignore the fact that this is a day late.

ETA: Still need confirmation with the "Sarah?" for CEA. The Sarah I found on their staff list has blonde hair in the Facebook photo I found but also I could be looking at the wrong person.

 

[quietmom]

Somebody mentioned a girl on one of the teams was treated for breathing issues because she couldn't get to her inhaler. Many people with asthma react that way in humidity. I'm asthmatic as well and when the humidex goes over a certain percentage I stay indoors because I can't breath. Humidity and breathing complications can go hand in hand. If it was a dry temp she probably wouldn't have had complications. Asthmatic athletes at this level know how to control their asthma but throw in humidity and it's a whole other ballgame. There is no ounce of forgiveness. Just stepping outside on a hot humid day and walking to my car and trigger my asthma attacks and I barely have one anymore.

ETA: this is why I'm a nerd when it comes to dew point and humidity. I avoid it like the plague and I'm forever reading weather updates that dictate my activity levels; and given the high humidity levels we get in our summers due to Lake Effect weather we can go hot and have humidity as high as 95%!

This is frightening as far as the asthma goes.

Forgive me as my scope is only with special athletes. Do coaches have emergency medicines likes inhailers, epi pens, or diabetes supplies with them for athletes with potentially life threatening medical needs? I know that with the kids I have worked with that we did. How is this type of thing managed in the top levels of cheer?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

This is frightening as far as the asthma goes.

Forgive me as my scope is only with special athletes. Do coaches have emergency medicines likes inhailers, epi pens, or diabetes supplies with them for athletes with potentially life threatening medical needs? I know that with the kids I have worked with that we did. How is this type of thing managed in the top levels of cheer?

I don't know about all star but for school cheer, my girls (because they are older) are allowed to self-carry their inhalers or epi pens as long as we have the med forms on file. They usually keep them in their backpacks. I have held on to them as well if the parent is more comfortable with that.

 

[njallday]

Updated. Ignore the fact that this is a day late.

ETA: Still need confirmation with the "Sarah?" for CEA. The Sarah I found on their staff list has blonde hair in the Facebook photo I found but also I could be looking at the wrong person.

The hands on her hips woman next to Darnell looks very Joelle-y to me, but I don't know what she was wearing to confirm.

 

[Tealxblack25]

Has it been proven (even though it seems pretty obvious) that this F5 girls asthma attack that put her in the hospital was in fact due to the humidity and conditions of the field ?

If so, I don't know why no one from F5 is on the bandwagon to get USASF to make a statement or take action ?
People can die from asthma attacks I would think more so worse than a broken leg

 

[336Teal]

A few notes about the photo.

The person that is labeled as Sarah Macrow (CEA) is not Sarah. This is Sarah, in the far bottom left corner.

The white male with the dark hair and pale blue shirt standing to the left of Darnell Harris (CEA) is Joel Kreider (CEA).

The guy that is labeled as Ben Pope doesn't look like Ben to me, but I could be wrong. The facial profiles seem different, but I suppose he could have been making a face.

 

[quietmom]

Has it been proven (even though it seems pretty obvious) that this F5 girls asthma attack that put her in the hospital was in fact due to the humidity and conditions of the field ?

If so, I don't know why no one from F5 is on the bandwagon to get USASF to make a statement or take action ?
People can die from asthma attacks I would think more so worse than a broken leg

Those conditions can also have injuries that are more severe than a broken leg that can also result in death or permanent disabilities. No matter what, the U$A$F needs to make some immediate changes so this never happens again. While it would be nice for them to make a statement and take responsibility, I am not going to hold my breath. I do hope that even if they don't make a statement that they actually act and that things are fixed so that preventable, life threatening injuries don't happen.

 

[Cheer007]

Can someone post the Final scoresheet from MEDIUM ALL Girl?

 

[njallday]

Remember when Cali Aces had the random, horrible performance where it looked like half their team got hit in the head and was bleeding, and one flyer was clearly concussed and not walking straight? And we freaked out that no one stopped the routine because at that point it was up to the kids to stop? And we decided they weren't capable of making that decision (because they wouldn't stop) and now it's up to EP's. Look how many routines are stopped now to make sure kids are safe.

Don't be afraid to speak up. Keep yelling until you're heard. Sometimes we cause changes to happen for the better.

 

[cheerdiva22]

Updated. Ignore the fact that this is a day late.

ETA: Still need confirmation with the "Sarah?" for CEA. The Sarah I found on their staff list has blonde hair in the Facebook photo I found but also I could be looking at the wrong person.

Tara from Maryland Twisters is Tara Cain, not Tara Hall :)

 

[DancerDude0118]

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney the vault was set at the wrong height during part of the all around competition. After they realized the vault was at the incorrect height they gave the gymnast the option to recompete vault. The deal was the second vault would be their score if they chose to recompete. My question is why did this have to be a unanimous decision why couldn't they have done something similar. You break your own rule you allow a recompete if they choose with that score counting.

You know, the sad thing is even though the gymnast were allowed to compete their vault again, the damage had already been done. It took them two and a half rotations, which by then, two and a half rotations worth of gymnast(which included the top qualifying group) had already competed on the vault and moved on to the other apparatuses. Their mental game was complete thrown off; a number of them started to botch their routines on the other apparatuses that they normally would hit. They should have just cancelled the entire day and postponed it.

It's a good thing cheer is just a one routine thing.

Really I know there are so many other things that are bigger deals, but I feel like this is just another factor that USASF should have considered over the years. We know that F5, CEA and Rays (probably others) were all doing late night and outdoor practices. Teams are training to adapt to long waits and late nights (the fact that they even have to train for these things is ridiculous but not my current point.) What many teams have no possible way of training for is the humidity. If you aren't used to humidity it can knock the breath out of you and make you feel sticky and slippery just by walking much less competing a level 5 routine. If you don't live in an area that has high humidity, what are you supposed to do? Purchase massive industrial sized humidifiers and blast them in the gym so you can practice for finals? Even then it wouldn't be the same (if such things even exist.) Are we know wanting teams to come to Florida weeks early to train and adapt? In the Thailand documentary years ago they addressed the awful FL humidity. They flew in weeks early to adapt to the time change and the humidity, because their bodies don't function the same in it.

I've competed outside in the Florida sun before around this same time of year. It was awful and our gym never returned to that comp. Fortunately it wasn't a competition as big as worlds and it wasn't the end of our gyms business because we decided not to return.

This doesn't make any sense to me... if anyone of you have ever been to Southeast Asia, it's probably one of the most humid regions of the world. I'm positive that Thailand is more humid than Florida throughout the year, there wasn't much "acclimatisation" needed.

 

[anythingforcheer]

Does anyone know if USASF will make an official statement in response to the issues?

 

[randomactsofcheer]

I am curious to hear if anyone has attempted to contact the USASF about these issues since Worlds? Has someone come up with a letter or email that others can just sign their name to and then send to the USASF?

If the USASF doesn't address this now, they will not change how they handle these things in the future. Maybe next year they will move this division to earlier or indoors to avoid this specific problem, but without them being hounded to implement higher safety standards for athletes across the board, everyone will just be appalled by some other safety issue next year.

 

[dance_extreme_94]

I am curious to hear if anyone has attempted to contact the USASF about these issues since Worlds? Has someone come up with a letter or email that others can just sign their name to and then send to the USASF?

If the USASF doesn't address this now, they will not change how they handle these things in the future. Maybe next year they will move this division to earlier or indoors to avoid this specific problem, but without them being hounded to implement higher safety standards for athletes across the board, everyone will just be appalled by some other safety issue next year.

Plenty of people have contacted them, they just don't get a response. I'm thinking they're not responding to anyone because they're getting sued for something much more serious, and instead of giving us the answers we deserve, they want to beat around the bush. We deserve answers point blank period. No matter what they think.