Rebecca VA Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 My 15-year-old began playing team sports at her private school last year. She doesn't seem to have a great deal of "sports sense" and never became very good at anything. No problem...someone has to be the worst one on the team, LOL. What concerns me is the fact that she will let balls fly at her head and won't move out of the way. During basketball season she was hit in the face EVERY SINGLE TIME she practiced or played. She is the same way with soccer -- the balls come right at her face, and she stands there and lets herself get hit. She was hit directly in the nose on a couple of occasions -- causing her nose to bleed -- and hit in the jaw (where she had major jaw surgery two years ago) repeatedly. Now she is going off to boarding school. I do not want her playing sports involving balls. She just doesn't have the wherewithall to get out of the way. The school offers other options for students who don't want to play team sports -- there's dance, and rock-climbing, and intramurals, and probably a couple of other activities. However, she doesn't want to take those -- she thinks they will be boring. She wants to play team sports. I feel that her safety is more important than whether she gets bored or not. I don't want my daughter's jaw -- meticulously operated on at a cost of thousands of dollars -- to be traumatized by another blow. (She told the dentist just this morning that she has been having trouble opening her jaw since last winter.) I don't want her nose broken by another basketball flying at it. My husband thinks I'm coddling her and she needs to toughen up. I think she needs to recognize her limitations (the fact that she won't move out of the way to avoid a ball, which most people do instinctively, is a limitation to my way of thinking) and take something a little less dangerous for her. What do you ladies think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 eye exam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhjmom Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 eye exam :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristyB in TN Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 eye exam Second that. And swimming, lol. It actually sounds like me playing anything in high school. I tried field hockey and got the crap beat out of me. ;) I ended up fencing, lots of padding and just my speed. Now I run. It keeps me out of therapy and I rarely get hit in the face. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 She can be a team manager and still get a sports credit. Lots of boarding schools have crew teams, running, rock climbing, outdoor expeditions. Some schools even offer dance as a sports credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I'd get the eye exam. From what you've described I'd be more concerned about concussions. There's new research on concussions and some suggest that continuous blows to the head are a problem even if they are not full concussions. My local school district requires every parent and every student to go through a concussion education program every year in order to participate in any sport. If it were me, I'd research the issue and go over it with dd and a family doctor, but I'd probably let dd continue to play the sport of her choosing based on both the family doctor and the eye doctor. You might want to see an optometrist who specializes in sports vision. It could be that your dd has good vision in both eyes, but they are not working together. IME, an opthamologist will not pick up on this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Anyone else? Please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 It sounds like it could be a depth perception issue. At 15 and going to boarding school, I think she's old enough it's reasonable to expect that she would be choosing her activity according to her preference. Do you think this is at the level that a doctor would prescribe avoiding sports with balls if she were to have a pre-sports physical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I concur with the eye exam, definitely. It's really, really not normal to not avoid getting hit in the head or face the way you describe. Try to document as many specific incidents as you can and give them to the dr in writing, in a brief, bullet-point list with short explanations. The only way I would allow her to continue is with the combined blessing of an eye doctor, her dentist (or whoever can render an authoritative opinion on her jaw), and her doctor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I have a dd like that. It is her eyes and depth perception. Causes some problems not only with balls and frisbees, but with stopping a car and parking as well. You might want to get her eyes checked. Make sure to mention her problem to the eye doctor, they don't always pick up on it unless they look for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 That was my first thought too. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Sounds like my son before a detailed eye exam when we discovered that he can't see objects in certain angles of his vision so that explained baseballs to the head, basketballs flying at him without him ever putting up his arms to "defend" himself, etc! We switched to rowing/crew after that! Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticmom Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 eye exam :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Thanks, ladies! I've scheduled an exam for tomorrow afternoon. I talked to my daughter this morning, and she acknowledged that she has trouble seeing things that approach her quickly or from the wrong angle. If the doctor says she has a depth perception problem, then what? Should I let her play team sports and get her face bashed in? Or should I make her take non-team activities? (They don't have swimming, sadly -- it'll probably be cross-country, rock climbing, dance, or cardio strengthening.) She keeps insisting on team sports, and she doesn't care that she'll get hit. Thing is, she'll start to care when she gets a concussion, or her nose gets dislocated, or her jaw is damaged beyond repair. What would you do if this were your daughter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverland Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 What would you do if this were your daughter? nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 No ball sports. Not negotiable. The school/league may even prevent it. I coach at the local high school. With any head injury, the athlete has to get a doctor's note to return to play. The doctor usually wants a 7-10 day break and reevaluation. So, she would go to practice, get hit in the head, take a week or two off (with two doctor visits), go to another practice, get hit again, another week or two off, etc, etc. What would be the point? Google football players, concussion, death. Duerson. Easterling. http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/web/concussions/ Make sure your eye appointment is with one of the COVD optometrists that OhElizabeth always writes about. A regular eye doctor won't test for everything. There are many, many threads on vision therapy that discuss the differences in the exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Oh yes, I forgot to put in my previous post about my son - what finally prompted us to get a detailed eye exam was during a baseball game. He stood at shortstop with his mitt in the "ready" position as the batter slammed a ball right into my son's teeth - so first, a dental visit for the knocked out front tooth then the eye exam. So no more "ball" type sports for him! Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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