Children in Sports-Safety Chat

[shawn alladio]

This is a great thread to post here. I have some groundrules first. There will be absolutely NO bashing on other people's posts! I will delete posts that bash, harass and basically do anything that I believe is unjust or inappropriate. You can post how you feel, you own that. This is not a debate thread, to heckle someone else's viewpoint. So do not do that, you will regret yourself and I will make sure of it.

We can learn from different viewpoints, we do not need to agree, nor support the content, so I prefer an honorable, kind and just opinion that supports concerns.

Personally I see nothing wrong with someone else's choice. That is their choice, I am not going to interfere unless it is part of rules I am enforcing at an event. I myself would probably not be the person I am today if I did not do things that are FAR more dangerous than what today's children partake in.

Risk is life, we live, we die, and sometimes nothing bad happens at all, and sometimes it goes horribly wrong. There is no guarantee to anything, only the pursuit of it..its even written in our consitution, the right to pursue happiness, not guaranteed...

So, with that, post, but be articulate, think before you post. Do not be mindless, but thoughtful and considerate, this is a sensitive issue and deserves respect, we are speaking of our children, as parents, so behave like a good parent.


____________________________

Awful, awful story. Shannon Bloomfield, a 12-year-old with aspirations to compete in the 2012 Olympics, died in a horse-riding accident in the UK yesterday.

From the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TO50VWB2VXOBLQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ 0IV0?xml=/news/2008/02/01/nhorse101.xml):


Shannon Bloomfield, 12, was taking part in an indoor jumping event when her mount fell on top of her.
She had almost completed the course when her horse, Poppy, failed to negotiate the penultimate fence.
It fell awkwardly, trapping the young rider, as horrified spectators looked on. Shannon was pronounced dead at hospital.
Bloomfield was described as "sports-mad" by her parents. The youngster competed in tetrathlons, an event which combines running, shooting, horse-riding and swimming.

This horrific accident will undoubtedly stir up arguments over children and their role in competitive, high-risk sports. Feel free to sound off with your take, below.

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/01/12-year-old-olympic-hopeful-crushed-by-horse/

[shawn alladio]

When I was 12 years old I wished that I was a horse, I had a love affair with this creature, it represnted spirit and freedom to me. When I was growing up at this time we were fairly poor, so I could never own a horse, but I could clean stalls all day long then on Thursday afternoons in Carmel Highlands I could train on the polo ponies.

Now these were very spirited animals, they knew their stuff but if there was another horse they didn't like, oh boy...they'd go at it. So I would clean the tack, which has a lot of pieces, feed, brush, do all the hard work just so I could get a riding lesson. And I was very happy and proud to do that work.

Like this child who died in this unfortunate accident, I would probably had not been any different from her, except my financial situation would not permit. Who is to say this child would have died like this? Surely not this amazing little girl, surely not her parents, no way. There is no true answer for this, why didn't she fall to one side free of the animal with only a scratch? It is impossible to say...it is not our right to say.

I remember a horse coming at mine and reared up and kicked, I saw the hooves coming...they are really big dogs these horses. But for little girls they are symbolic. Boys get all kinds of things, guns, bikes, all the go ahead stuff, girls could always get a horse.

When I was little, girls couldn't do anything out of the ordinary, play house, Barbies and such. And all i wantd was a GI Joe doll, a bike like my brothers, a stingray with a banana seat and sissy bars...he would go jump little mud hills, I wanted to do that so badly....I would have died for that. Instead of GI Joe dolls I got Barbies. Finally I got to buy my first toys and I bought a set of green plastic army men.

Nowadays the things that seem daring, are not. Everything is fast. Everything is dangerous, everything is big and expensive. Kids get things way too fast, they don't suffer, they don't save, they don't know what it feels like to have nothing. It is given, it is almost expected, and parents step up.

My youngest, we got her a battery operated john deere dump truck....she got in her little truck and took off down the street. She doesn't even like it. She said 'It's not fast enough'. She is 3 1/2 years old. What is she going to want? A ferrari bicycle? I mean really, this is what is happening...what was daring then is death now...She is almost 4 years old and she wants a dirtbike. NOW.

So, this is the cultural influence of media. This is the result.

And who is to say how many children will end up in a hospital because we are moving so fast, that the rides at Disneyland are no longer the biggest deal on the planet.