All-Star Stunting On Concrete During Practice

[ArizonaMVP]

Closed practice, so I was sitting outside in the car doing busy work while my CP worked through her 2 hour practice.

CP is an 11 year old flyer on a senior 4/R5 team. As usual, the girls begin filtering out for conditioning in the parking lot (ugh - whole different issue for me). After a few minutes, I was shocked to see them stunting on the asphalt. They are going up one at a time, with a big group of girls around them to spot. It is dark, about 8:00 PM, and lit only by the few street lights in the parking lot. To make it worse, they are stunting near a curb, which would make catching someone potentially challenging. (One girl did trip over the curb while spotting.)

Surprisingly, this happened twice tonight. Very basic stuff. 1 and a half fullups to prep. Switch up to heel stretch. Scale. Each flyer went once, or until they did it right.

After practice, I approached a coach and asked, "Did we really just stunt outside on concrete?" Her answer was nonchalant. Of course. All the teams do it. The girls weren't pushing themselves inside and they needed to know they could do it under any circumstance. If the bases let the flyers fall indoors, they KNEW they couldn't let them fall outside, so they worked harder to hit.

So my question... Am I just being one of those worried/nosy parents, or is this as big a deal as my (phsyical therapist) wife is going on about? She isn't satisfied with the answer, and has been on the computer for an hour now, looking up injury rates, USASF safety rules, TBI statistics, etc.

Just let it go? Demand further conversation with the owner on the subject?

 

[Cheeranswers]

i definitely would not let it go and as an athlete i would have refused to do it in the first place (i however am much older than your CP and would now have the confidence to say something) and i would have no problem leaving that gym if necessary. i feel uncomfortable as is stunting on grass (however i do), but would never in a million years stunt on concrete. does this coach realize if someone were to be dropped and crack their head open it would be on the gym? mistakes happen. the girls are young and in my opinion that is just terrible coaching.

 

[Ems]

Stunting on concrete didn't really bother me as long as it's something I knew my group can hit (FYI - collegiate team.) For an elite section, not so much. But the thing that I refuse to do is stunt when it's dark out. That is not safe. Unless you are surrounded by lights, doing any sort of release move is so freaking scary because you can lose sight of your flyer. It happened to me once, doing a simple cradle from a half (back in high school) and it was one of the scariest things I have encountered and I will never stunt without adequate lighting ever again. I can see where the coach is coming from wanting to make them fight to save stunts, but they should find a better way of doing it than actually putting kids in harms way. It's like tight rope walking over a pit of hungry alligators. Sure, it's incentive not to fall but it's still a really bad idea.

 

[canz]

I am against stunting over concrete under any circumstances and when I get pushed to allow it by athletes parents etc for parades and the like I quote the critical fall height study which usually is the conversation ender.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Is your gym a member of usasf?

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[CheerMomNTx]

Wrong on SO many levels!

 

[ufomom]

I had to delete my response because it had no filter. It had words like, morons, insurance, lawyers and stuff in it. At a minimum, asking what the disaster recovery plan is if there is a catastrophic injury? Of course, I come from the parent angle as the one who would have to pay for the injury and long term care, if needed.

Edited to ask...I know there are risks in cheerleading, but I expect cheerleading to take place in the gym under lights.

 

[BigBow]

Just no. Even if you can do a stunt in your sleep, flukes still happen. Imagine how that coach would have felt if something tragic did happen. It's why we compete on a mat, not concrete.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I had to delete my response because it had no filter. It had words like, morons, insurance, lawyers and stuff in it. At a minimum, asking what the disaster recovery plan is if there is a catastrophic injury? Of course, I come from the parent angle as the one who would have to pay for the injury and long term care, if needed.

I hear you! OP you might suggest to your gym/program that they consult with their attorneys about how well that "gym not liable for injuries" piece of paper they made you sign would hold up in case of an injury due to stunting on concrete... Just saying

 

[Just-a-Mom]

I had to delete my response because it had no filter. .

This is why all I asked was one question. I couldn't even formulate the rest of the post.

I know as parents we are obviously horrified at the complete idiocy of this... curious to see a coach's thoughts on the logic here (stunting on a dangerous surface makes the athletes more inclined to hit the stunt ) @cupieqt and other coaches - thoughts?

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[Ashley]

But the football field and tennis courts at Disney are just concrete with fake turf on top and no one seems to have a problem stunting on that.

(<-- see my profile picture, that's a flipping x-out basket on the tennis court)

We've done it at comps to get some extra warm up time in, but with a full circle of spotters, one stunt at a time, and no doubles or cradles. Like @Ems said, we stunted on concrete in college too.

Though I do think it makes everyone be just a little bit more careful, but doing it outside of the gym at practice seems pointless.

ETA: I suppose it doesn't bother me because my open and college teams are all adults capable of making the decision to possibly injure ourselves. I'd probably feel different as a parent.

 

[ufomom]

But the football field and tennis courts at Disney are just concrete with fake turf on top and no one seems to have a problem stunting on that.

We've done it at comps to get some extra warm up time in, but with a full circle of spotters, one stunt at a time, and no doubles or cradles. Like @Ems said, we stunted on concrete in college too.

Though I do think it makes everyone be just a little bit more careful, but doing it outside of the gym at practice seems pointless.

Disney is one catastrophic injury away from disallowing the practice in my opinion. They have set up a structure and a precedence for it to occur. Fortunately, my gym doesn't participate in that.

 

[quitthedrama]

what @Ashley said. I hate it and I think it is dangerous, but there has not been a team that my kids have been on that has not stunted in the ready rooms at the convention centers, which with the exception of the lighting, is no different than being outside in the parking lot. I do wish USASF would take a stronger stand on this and add this to their list of rules.

 

[GreenStormLucy]

We do stunt on concrete sometimes when we have performances, parades etc.

The routines we do at these events are completely watered down, always spotters, no flipping baskets - and i'm still nervous and hate it.

The girls would love to do more impressive things, but there's no way.

Even a prep retake can go wrong. In the gym on mats the risk of an injury is minimal. Falling out of a prep or not being caught in the cradle without mats - i don't want to think about what could happen.

Thread starter: Talk to the coach, to the gym owner, to whoever will stop this.
It's not like they had to stunt in the dark with some lights in the parking lot.
The coach/coaches decided to do that and i, as a parent, would be very concerned that they have no other "tricks" to make the team hit their stunts.



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[cupieqt]

This is why all I asked was one question. I couldn't even formulate the rest of the post.

I know as parents we are obviously horrified at the complete idiocy of this... curious to see a coach's thoughts on the logic here (stunting on a dangerous surface makes the athletes more inclined to hit the stunt ) @cupieqt and other coaches - thoughts?

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I try to avoid stunting on anything other than mats but depending on the stunt and the circumstances I might be ok with it. Low level stunts, no inversions, no baskets, etc. are ok with proper supervision. BUT, a shoulder sit can be dangerous if the kids aren't able to execute it safely and properly so it really depends on the kids, the stunts and the circumstances.

ETA: if I have time and know we need to practice, I try to book a local gym. If we only have a ballroom available then it's gonna be a ground bound practice and they'll just be marking through.


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