Should student athletes be screened for heart problems?

[uscitizen]

Should student athletes be screened for heart problems?

Yes

Should the parents pay for it? And if the parents sign off on their child playing sports and said child drops dead..... should they be able to sue the school for the death?

Everyone should pay more tax dollars so a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

We talk about cutting costs in our education system well sports should be the first thing to go.

 

[Vidi]

That is obviously not true.

It actrually is true.

It is not. Take the football team at your average US high school, for example. It is not only the team captains that benefit, not only the starting teams, not only the JVs, not only the other kids on the team who are basically backups, not only the cheerleading squad, not only the marching band that plays at halftime, not only the majorettes, not only the kids at the pep rallies, not only the students in the stands at the game cheering on their school and fostering a sense of school pride and community coherence and continuity with the parents and alumni there alongside them, not only the coaches and staff, friends, family, etc.

I agree that its more than just the kids on the field or even the ones who just wear the uniform, that benefit, but when you extrapolate the number of people realated to either directly or indirectly to the team, the same extrapolation can be made for each program. School pride, alumni community...all of those things can also be found surrounding a good drama program, or a good debate program, or marching band.

Like I said, I do not think, as it was stated in this thread that sports programs should be shut down, quite the opposite. They ARE beneficial, but we also need to protect non sports programs which are beneficial as well. But I do agree that each individual program benefits only a small percentage of the total number of kids and surrounding community.

All of that being said, I am willing to concede that my view may come from the fact that my graduating class was over a 1100 kids. And that was just the seniors. A few years back I lived in a small town in Minnesota that had a population of 3500, which was less than the number of kids that attended my high school, grades 9-12. If you asked my wife, whos graduating class was less than 100 kids, she might feel differently.

 

[Unkotare]

a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

That is not true. The "first thing to go" should be your shitty, insecure attitude.

 

[Unkotare]

It actrually is true.

It is not. Take the football team at your average US high school, for example. It is not only the team captains that benefit, not only the starting teams, not only the JVs, not only the other kids on the team who are basically backups, not only the cheerleading squad, not only the marching band that plays at halftime, not only the majorettes, not only the kids at the pep rallies, not only the students in the stands at the game cheering on their school and fostering a sense of school pride and community coherence and continuity with the parents and alumni there alongside them, not only the coaches and staff, friends, family, etc.

...all of those things can also be found surrounding a good drama program, or a good debate program, or marching band.

Certainly not to the same degree, but let's keep the drama, debate, and music programs too. But then, maybe there will be some here who were bad at drama, debate, or music as children and never got over it who will insist those programs must be cut...

 

[Mr. H.]

The local school district offered free heart screening to all JR/SR H.S. athletes. We signed up the daughter because she's a dancer and probably exerts just as much energy as most athletes.
It's a good program. Not sure how they financed it.

 

[old navy]

Yes

Should the parents pay for it? And if the parents sign off on their child playing sports and said child drops dead..... should they be able to sue the school for the death?

Everyone should pay more tax dollars so a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

We talk about cutting costs in our education system well sports should be the first thing to go.

Student-athletes do better in the classroom, both academically and behaviorally, while they are in-season. That tends to drop off after the season in some kids but not all. So therefore, we should increase the sports opportunities.

If the citizenry wants to abolish student activities in their school system, they should attend school board meetings, get petitions signed, protest at the gate on Friday night, boycott the teams' sponsers, and generally raise enough hell so as to effect change.

Come prepared though. Most people want their kids to have multiple opportunities in school. The different sports, clubs, and other such activities help to build leadership skills, teach teamwork, and boosts self esteem. They worked out great for my two kids and my present students who are involved will come out better due to their experiences as well.

 

[old navy]

The local school district offered free heart screening to all JR/SR H.S. athletes. We signed up the daughter because she's a dancer and probably exerts just as much energy as most athletes.
It's a good program. Not sure how they financed it.

Sounds like a good deal Mr. H. If I may ask, what did the cardiac screening include?

EKG, Echocardiogram, labs for cardiac enzymes, stress test perhaps?

 

[old navy]

Aren't they screened for heart problems right now?

http://www.vhsl.org/doc/upload/adm-form-physical-20120315.pdf

The link is to my school's required physical exam form. The actual physical part concerning the heart includes just auscultating the heart (listening with stethoscope). The most important part to this form is the history section which includes family history. The history is only as good as the person reporting it and reading it. A full cardiac screening to include EKG, echocardiogram, lab work, stress test, etc. would cost lots of money. The kid has to either pay for the exam or have insurance pay. The VHSL minimum requirement can be supplemented by a request from a parent to the family physician and paid for by them, I would suppose.

 

[editec]

Yes

Should the parents pay for it?

Yes

And if the parents sign off on their child playing sports and said child drops dead..... should they be able to sue the school for the death?

Depends on why the child drops dead, doesn't it?

Everyone should pay more tax dollars so a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

Do they?

We talk about cutting costs in our education system well sports should be the first thing to go.

We are talking about cutting costs?

I thought we were talking about whether student ahtletes ought to be given a physical before allowed to play sports?

When did the goalposts change on this topic?

 

[chanel]

Happens all the time editec. Where have you been?

But this is not about physicals for sports. We already require this. This is about expanding the requirement to include EKGs, defibs, specialized training, etc. It's about exploiting dead kids to and holding schools responsible for pre-existing conditions. And most of all it is about month money from cash strapped schools and tapped out taxpayers. And I'm sure anyone who opposed this would be labeled a child hater or something.

 

[Foxfyre]

Happens all the time editec. Where have you been?

But this is not about physicals for sports. We already require this. This is about expanding the requirement to include EKGs, defibs, specialized training, etc. It's about exploiting dead kids to and holding schools responsible for pre-existing conditions. And most of all it is about month money from cash strapped schools and tapped out taxpayers. And I'm sure anyone who opposed this would be labeled a child hater or something.

Exactly. Again a note from the kid's doctor clearing him to play the sport should remove all liability for the school if some undetected condition results in injury or death. All the school should be responsible for is gross negligence.

Life lived to the fullest is never going to be without risks. We can enclose kids in bubbles and never allow them to be exposed to anything that could remotely cause any kind of injury, but what kind of people would they then be?

Many, if not most, of us grew up roller skating, ice skating, bowling, skate boarding, swimming in less than clean water, eating dirt and bugs, riding bicycles, using fences for balance beams, riding horses, petting and getting bitten by strange dogs, getting scratched by strange cats, getting chigger and mosquito bites, dealing with poison ivy and poison oak, running, falling down and skinning knees and elbows and getting teeth knocked out, etc. etc. etc. Many of us also have been water skiing, snow skiing, snow boarding, hiking on treacherous trails, speed boating, tennis, have rock climbed and dangled from trees, have driven our cars at less than safe speeds, and have played unsupervised sand lot football, basketball, baseball, soccer etc.

And the vast majority of us have survived it all with few visible scars and a lot of fun memories.

To deny kids the fun and delight and challenge of competing in school sports out of fear that they might get hurt is just silly. Take all reasonable precautions and require that doctor's note, yes. But exposure to concepts and activities outside of textbooks and classroom lectures can also be serious education.

 

[uscitizen]

a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

That is not true. The "first thing to go" should be your shitty, insecure attitude.

My sister taught remedial math to football players for several years.

 

[Unkotare]

a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

That is not true. The "first thing to go" should be your shitty, insecure attitude.

My sister taught remedial math to football players for several years.

And you are so stupid as to draw broad conclusions about all student- athletes in the country based on that? Did you ever bother to think about it, or are you just venting the bitterness you still feel over your childhood inferiority complex?

 

[Foxfyre]

a select few students can be on a sports team and generally do worse acedemically than their counterparts who are not on the team.

That is not true. The "first thing to go" should be your shitty, insecure attitude.

My sister taught remedial math to football players for several years.

And I am thinking back over the years to all the student athletes I have tutored, mostly to so that they could keep their grades up so they were eligible to compete in sports. Without the motivation to stay on the team, I am convinced that a lot of these kids would have just given up and dropped out.

And thinking back over the few who did drop out, most especially among the third generation kids in my own family--there was a real epidemic there for awhile--not one of the drop outs was active in school sports or music or drama or debate or other school activities that broaden horizens, stimulate creative instincts, develop a competitive spirit, teach teamwork and leadership skills.

 

[Vidi]

That is not true. The "first thing to go" should be your shitty, insecure attitude.

My sister taught remedial math to football players for several years.

And I am thinking back over the years to all the student athletes I have tutored, mostly to so that they could keep their grades up so they were eligible to compete in sports. Without the motivation to stay on the team, I am convinced that a lot of these kids would have just given up and dropped out.

And thinking back over the few who did drop out, most especially among the third generation kids in my own family--there was a real epidemic there for awhile--not one of the drop outs was active in school sports or music or drama or debate or other school activities that broaden horizens, stimulate creative instincts, develop a competitive spirit, teach teamwork and leadership skills.

Exactly. Extracurricular activities give kids incentive to stay in school and work to achieve.

 

[Vidi]

It is not. Take the football team at your average US high school, for example. It is not only the team captains that benefit, not only the starting teams, not only the JVs, not only the other kids on the team who are basically backups, not only the cheerleading squad, not only the marching band that plays at halftime, not only the majorettes, not only the kids at the pep rallies, not only the students in the stands at the game cheering on their school and fostering a sense of school pride and community coherence and continuity with the parents and alumni there alongside them, not only the coaches and staff, friends, family, etc.

...all of those things can also be found surrounding a good drama program, or a good debate program, or marching band.

Certainly not to the same degree, but let's keep the drama, debate, and music programs too. But then, maybe there will be some here who were bad at drama, debate, or music as children and never got over it who will insist those programs must be cut...

Yes, we need to keep those programs too. And in some cases yes, to the same degree. My high school had strong alumni and community support for our drama program. It generated considerable pride, more so than any sports program in the school, in fact. But that's ONE school. In others, the "pride of the school" can be other programs. My stepsons school spends as much on its music program as all it's sports programs combined. It's one go the reasons I chose to sell off my business several years ago and move here, even though the house I moved into cost way more than it should. This little area I live in just happens to have many of the players from the local sports teams living here. I wanted my kids to have the same schooling their kids were getting, so though it required some sacrifice, we moved here. And while there are sports programs, they are not the focus of the school. Oh and the kids need a 3.0 average to be eligible for sports here as well.