Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 18, 2012 16:36:06 GMT -5
And maintaining a pitch year round is free? Do you guys have any idea how much soccer, football, baseball, etc. fields cost just in maintenance, fertilizer, and water? It's obscene. Not to mention getting a chunk of land that big to begin with.
Soccer has one of the highest injury rates of any childhood sport, and that's true even if you only count permanently damaging injuries. ACL tears are way too common, along with other permanent hip and knee issues. Head trauma is possible also since you have a bunch of kids running around, slide tackling, and kicking with no pads anywhere except on their shins.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 18, 2012 16:42:54 GMT -5
Well - every school around here (elementary, jr high and high school) have fields that they rent out for a very small amount of money. Also, there are a dozen parks that also rent out soccer fields, baseball fields, etc. The rates are far, far less than maintaining a gym. None of the schools around here have a gym full of equipment. So, running a league for baseball or soccer is far cheaper than starting a gymnastics team. So, I agree that the fields are being subsidized, but the cost structure difference to the team is significant. That may be a coincidence (as in, fields are cheaper than buildings, and have multiple purposes, so they are easier to come by. Or it may be that our society is willing to subsidize ball sports, but not a sport such as gymnastics.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 18, 2012 16:47:30 GMT -5
And maintaining a pitch year round is free? Do you guys have any idea how much soccer, football, baseball, etc. fields cost just in maintenance, fertilizer, and water? It's obscene. Not to mention getting a chunk of land that big to begin with.
No, but you and your kids practice softball in your backyard, right? You can work on finessing your actual skills (batting, catching, fielding) without any pitch or team. Plus you can usually practice on a school pitch.
You can't do that with gymnastics. You can do conditioning and maybe some light tumbling but you really need the equipment and the supervision to properly practice the sport.
As for the injuries, if soccer injuries are more common I have a feeling it's because of the reason I mentioned - lower insurance premiums, which lead to more people practicing and playing the sport, maybe without the proper equipment or training. People tend not to screw around with gymnastics - I'm sure not going to build a balance beam in my yard and let my kid have at it.
That's just a theory though.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 18, 2012 16:52:35 GMT -5
Actually I'm talking about injury rates per 1,000 participants. I posted the whole list a while ago on some thread or another, but soccer was way at the top. Along with the things you'd expect up there like football. Gymnastics is actually one of the lowest. The parents and kids who participate realize it's dangerous so they're spotted, learn the stunts while strapped to safety wires, on a trampoline, etc. When you play football they just throw some pads on you, give you the ball, and tell you to run that way and try not to get killed by all the kids trying to stop you. Pretty much the same thing for soccer.
We did when they started, but it's impractical now. I can't throw an underhanded 50 mph drop ball. Or a rise ball, curve ball, etc. If she wants to work on her hitting I have to find a good pitcher to throw to her, or take her to a batting cage. They don't have batting cages and pitching machines at school or park fields. We usually do fielding work at the fields too, since our backyard isn't really big enough to work on hard hit balls and outfield stuff.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 18, 2012 17:29:20 GMT -5
Gymnastics is actually one of the lowest. The parents and kids who participate realize it's dangerous so they're spotted, learn the stunts while strapped to safety wires, on a trampoline, etc. When you play football they just throw some pads on you, give you the ball, and tell you to run that way and try not to get killed by all the kids trying to stop you. Pretty much the same thing for soccer.
Right. That's what I said, more or less. I think the potential for life altering injuries is higher in gymnastics but I'm not surprised that they happen less - it's a much more heavily supervised sport for that very reason.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 19, 2012 23:36:52 GMT -5
Well, I got "the talk" tonight. The coach wants me to put her in 4 days a week, 4 hours per practice - you know - so she can move up a level. My answer was "No way." After his whole spiel about how long it takes to learn the skills and how much better she will do in competitions I said "I care about how she does in school." And he said "Okay, we will talk about it again in September or October, after she has had a month or two back in school." My answer will be "No way" in October, too. But, I'll let him wait it out and be surprised.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 20, 2012 13:29:21 GMT -5
While we're talking about sports... our summer team finished their season last night. We took second. We played a good championship game, but their pitcher is really good and we just couldn't find a way to score enough runs against them. The game to qualify for the championship game was outstanding though. We went into the last half inning with a two run lead, the top of their line-up coming in, and my daughter looking exhausted from pitching the whole game. 4 batters later there's 1 out, our lead is down to 1, the tying run is on third, and the go ahead run is on second. The following two strike outs were the most nerve wracking things I've ever watched. I could care less whether we won or lost, but I knew my daughter would take it pretty hard and really wanted to save that game.
My kid looked totally calm and collected all the way through the last pitch, but as they rushed toward the dug out with their hands in the air, her face just crumpled as she gave her mom a hug. They're both sitting their clinging to each other with tears streaming down their faces while the team celebrated around them. Made the entire season worth it (and we had our share of parent drama this year) just for that one moment.
ETA - And I finally got our last girl to hit!! Off the good pitcher no less. She's brand new to softball, and not terribly coordinated, so she's spent the whole season getting struck out or walked occasionally. Last week she fouled a couple off while getting struck out. Yesterday she had an honest to god base hit, and it was at the only game her parents were able to come watch. (I'm taking credit since I've been the hitting coach all season)
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jul 20, 2012 13:43:33 GMT -5
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