Students Cardiac Arrest and Parental Choices
Cardiac arrest and college student athletes, this serious and sometimes life ending problem has crept into university gyms and playing fields across our nation.
Recent attention to the severity of this problem was brought to light in the magazine Wired.
The article was titled "Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Collegiate Athletes at Alarming Rates.
" Author Eric Malinowski provided detailed information ranging from gender, race, age and geographical regions of each occurrence.
Reading further into the article, I found myself becoming quite anxious as a parent and I began to question myself in decisions that were made years prior regarding my daughter's health and her desire to excel in competitive sports.
Healthy food choices, exercise, and a well-balanced life had been high priorities in the first eighteen years of her life.
Now after reading Mr.
Malinowski's article, I pondered extensively about those very decisions; were they flawed or reckless in any way? Over ten years of her precious life were devoted to extremely competitive gymnastics.
On any given week you would have found her in the gym no less than twenty hours per week.
The majority of these sessions were spent with me sitting on the bleachers observing practice after strenuous practice.
At the tender age of six, a former Olympian gymnast, now head coach, approached our family seeking our approval to allow our daughter to represent his gymnastics team and compete throughout the United States.
We were indeed honored as a family, but after the initial excitement wore off, we found ourselves trying to determine if this was a good decision for her.
Was there enough time for school, play, family, church and competitive gymnastics? and, would this be in her best interest overall? Many families never have the opportunity to be concerned with issues such as this; therefore, since the desire and commitment level was clearly present in our child, who were we to stop her from striving to be her best! Gymnastics, like many other sports, is not only extremely competitive, but quite dangerous.
Throughout the years of practice and competition, countless injuries occurred to many students, many of which ended the dreams of the gymnasts, but fortunately cardiac arrest was not a prevalent concern or something our family ever witnessed.
Development of cardiovascular ability is one area that much time is devoted to, and coaching methods of training were designed to increase endurance.
One common method witnessed over the years, and concerning to me, was having the gymnast run through her floor exercise not once, twice or even three times--no, four times consecutively seemed to be the magic number coaches looked for to determine if their gymnast demonstrated enough endurance to not appear as tired or un-trained.
So where do we draw the line as parents and coaches, and consider what's in the best interest of our children/students? and do the risks of injury, or more seriously, cardiac arrest exceed the accolades? One example of selfishness and lack of complete thought that comes to mind is a comparison to the novel Frankenstein.
One could state that the creature was created for the sole purpose of bragging rights, rather than any kind of necessity designed to better society.
Oftentimes parents, much like Frankenstein, make decisions for their children that do not appear to be in their best interest, but rather one that seems to benefit the parent.
Frankenstein's creature, much like our student athletes, faced severe challenges that he could not have anticipated nor chose to endure, but found a way to survive.
Is it really appropriate for parents or those in a position of authority to push our student athletes to the point that they sustain serious injury or go into cardiac arrest? At least in my opinion--no we should not.
Additionally, we need to be vigilant in observing our children and be aware of signs and symptoms that could potentially lead to any such occurrence.
In Mr.
Malinowski's article, he makes a rather direct suggestion to force schools and universities to have the requirement of purchasing medical equipment to be used for screening of our student athletes.
This is one positive example of considering the athlete's safety first; however, the costs associated with doing so would more than likely be passed on to families who are already burdened with the exorbitant cost of education.
Personally, I think a better idea would be for the students to be screened at the medical facility of each family's choice and present the findings to the universities prior to being allowed to compete.
One possible way to help minimize the high costs associated with sports and medicine is to allocate a portion of scholarship funds given to student athletes to be used for the sole purpose of screening and/or rehabilitation following injury.
It seems reckless that our universities are quick to pass out scholarships enabling athletes to compete, but do little to nothing to mitigate medical atrocities! Why is it OK to require our athletes to "give their all" to represent our universities, but those very universities are NOT required to "give their all" to protect the lives of their athletes? While the main focus of this paper is centered on cardiac arrest, this in no way is the only challenge facing our young athletes today.
Collegiate sports today have become more competitive and aggressive than ever before.
Think about the football, basketball, wrestling, and, of course, gymnastics.
How many times have we witnessed competition taking a time delay for an athlete who sustained some kind of injury? Head injuries, broken bones, and lacerations are more prevalent than ever before.
With the serious nature and progression of competitive sports today, I think it necessary to take more aggressive measures as parents and university officials to minimize the amount of injuries and deaths that occur.
After reading Mr.
Malinowski's article and taking some time to reflect on the decisions our family was forced to make, I was finally able to come to the conclusion that we did make informed decisions and took every possible preventative measure to ensure our daughter was in the best shape possible before competing and while she competed! The health and safety of our athlete was equally as important as her rewards and awards.
Now, after looking back, we can honestly say that our experience as a family, and our athlete's life-changing experience for competing and growing as a person, was one we will forever have wonderful memories with no regrets.
Susan LaFrance May 8th.
2011 Works Cited: Malinowski, Mark.
"Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Collegiate Athletes at Alarming Rates.
" Wired.
Conde Nast Digital.
, 11 April 2011, Web.
n.
d.
Shelley, Mary.
Frankenstein.
New York: 2003.
Barnes & Noble.
Print
Recent attention to the severity of this problem was brought to light in the magazine Wired.
The article was titled "Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Collegiate Athletes at Alarming Rates.
" Author Eric Malinowski provided detailed information ranging from gender, race, age and geographical regions of each occurrence.
Reading further into the article, I found myself becoming quite anxious as a parent and I began to question myself in decisions that were made years prior regarding my daughter's health and her desire to excel in competitive sports.
Healthy food choices, exercise, and a well-balanced life had been high priorities in the first eighteen years of her life.
Now after reading Mr.
Malinowski's article, I pondered extensively about those very decisions; were they flawed or reckless in any way? Over ten years of her precious life were devoted to extremely competitive gymnastics.
On any given week you would have found her in the gym no less than twenty hours per week.
The majority of these sessions were spent with me sitting on the bleachers observing practice after strenuous practice.
At the tender age of six, a former Olympian gymnast, now head coach, approached our family seeking our approval to allow our daughter to represent his gymnastics team and compete throughout the United States.
We were indeed honored as a family, but after the initial excitement wore off, we found ourselves trying to determine if this was a good decision for her.
Was there enough time for school, play, family, church and competitive gymnastics? and, would this be in her best interest overall? Many families never have the opportunity to be concerned with issues such as this; therefore, since the desire and commitment level was clearly present in our child, who were we to stop her from striving to be her best! Gymnastics, like many other sports, is not only extremely competitive, but quite dangerous.
Throughout the years of practice and competition, countless injuries occurred to many students, many of which ended the dreams of the gymnasts, but fortunately cardiac arrest was not a prevalent concern or something our family ever witnessed.
Development of cardiovascular ability is one area that much time is devoted to, and coaching methods of training were designed to increase endurance.
One common method witnessed over the years, and concerning to me, was having the gymnast run through her floor exercise not once, twice or even three times--no, four times consecutively seemed to be the magic number coaches looked for to determine if their gymnast demonstrated enough endurance to not appear as tired or un-trained.
So where do we draw the line as parents and coaches, and consider what's in the best interest of our children/students? and do the risks of injury, or more seriously, cardiac arrest exceed the accolades? One example of selfishness and lack of complete thought that comes to mind is a comparison to the novel Frankenstein.
One could state that the creature was created for the sole purpose of bragging rights, rather than any kind of necessity designed to better society.
Oftentimes parents, much like Frankenstein, make decisions for their children that do not appear to be in their best interest, but rather one that seems to benefit the parent.
Frankenstein's creature, much like our student athletes, faced severe challenges that he could not have anticipated nor chose to endure, but found a way to survive.
Is it really appropriate for parents or those in a position of authority to push our student athletes to the point that they sustain serious injury or go into cardiac arrest? At least in my opinion--no we should not.
Additionally, we need to be vigilant in observing our children and be aware of signs and symptoms that could potentially lead to any such occurrence.
In Mr.
Malinowski's article, he makes a rather direct suggestion to force schools and universities to have the requirement of purchasing medical equipment to be used for screening of our student athletes.
This is one positive example of considering the athlete's safety first; however, the costs associated with doing so would more than likely be passed on to families who are already burdened with the exorbitant cost of education.
Personally, I think a better idea would be for the students to be screened at the medical facility of each family's choice and present the findings to the universities prior to being allowed to compete.
One possible way to help minimize the high costs associated with sports and medicine is to allocate a portion of scholarship funds given to student athletes to be used for the sole purpose of screening and/or rehabilitation following injury.
It seems reckless that our universities are quick to pass out scholarships enabling athletes to compete, but do little to nothing to mitigate medical atrocities! Why is it OK to require our athletes to "give their all" to represent our universities, but those very universities are NOT required to "give their all" to protect the lives of their athletes? While the main focus of this paper is centered on cardiac arrest, this in no way is the only challenge facing our young athletes today.
Collegiate sports today have become more competitive and aggressive than ever before.
Think about the football, basketball, wrestling, and, of course, gymnastics.
How many times have we witnessed competition taking a time delay for an athlete who sustained some kind of injury? Head injuries, broken bones, and lacerations are more prevalent than ever before.
With the serious nature and progression of competitive sports today, I think it necessary to take more aggressive measures as parents and university officials to minimize the amount of injuries and deaths that occur.
After reading Mr.
Malinowski's article and taking some time to reflect on the decisions our family was forced to make, I was finally able to come to the conclusion that we did make informed decisions and took every possible preventative measure to ensure our daughter was in the best shape possible before competing and while she competed! The health and safety of our athlete was equally as important as her rewards and awards.
Now, after looking back, we can honestly say that our experience as a family, and our athlete's life-changing experience for competing and growing as a person, was one we will forever have wonderful memories with no regrets.
Susan LaFrance May 8th.
2011 Works Cited: Malinowski, Mark.
"Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Collegiate Athletes at Alarming Rates.
" Wired.
Conde Nast Digital.
, 11 April 2011, Web.
n.
d.
Shelley, Mary.
Frankenstein.
New York: 2003.
Barnes & Noble.
Source...