Injuries

Curious - what would you do. High school player was injured & doctor had restricted her play. Parents are unable to make the game & later find out their DD was played further aggrevating things, disregarding the doctor's instruction. If this was your dd, would you intervene & how far would you take it?

If the coach knew and was made aware of her restriction, then i would go all Jim Carey on his, the AD's and the school boards butts. But I would also yell at my DD as she has a mouth and knows how to use it so she should of said No I can't.

You would need to first find out all of the relevent facts...

1- Did DD know she truly couldn't play, or did doc say if she felt ok to play?
2- Was she forced to play with any threat of not playing?

A little different than YOU saying go ahead if you feel ok...

slippery slope... Don't envy you on this one...

Coach knew & was in possession of paperwork. Injured girl has been bullied by others all season & afraid to say no. Girl was told by her dr that she was not to play if she was in any pain.

I'd have to talk to the coach and AD on that one.

father tried talking to AD, it will end up swept under the rug.

LAWER Get one now..............

Warriors21 said:

father tried talking to AD, it will end up swept under the rug.

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Typical!



FASTPITCH! Anything else, And you're playing to SLOW!

As both a parent and a coach, I will always err on the side of caution when it comes to injuries. The only exception would be if I was over-ruled by the parents and the player to continue playing her. Even in that scenario, I would tend to enforce the doctor's orders.

A young girls long term health is always more important to me than ANY game.

Actually, I'm going through something like that right now....one of my top players is out with back pain and it's one of those "She's either going to be out 2-4 weeks or 4 months, depending on further testing results" type of things, and I wouldn't even consider persuading the parents to let her play, even though she shows absolutely no sign of injury from observation.

Warriors21 said:

Coach knew & was in possession of paperwork. Injured girl has been bullied by others all season & afraid to say no. Girl was told by her dr that she was not to play if she was in any pain.

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This is a tough one- Did the girl "say" she was NOT in pain and therefore she "could" play??
As a parent I would be p*$$ed. However, I hope that I would take a step back and pause before I said or did anything that I would later regret. I hope I would talk to dd first to see if there is any chance she misled the coach into thinking that she was ok to play- i.e. not in pain.

Did the paperwork that the Coach saw only say that she was NOT to play IF she was in pain OR was it clear that the girl was shut down for a certain period of time.
If it is clear that she should not have been playing, then its time to talk to the Coach privately.

As far as getting a lawyer involved- as a previous post mentioned- IMHO (yes I'm a lawyer but i'm not giving legal advice), that isn't always the best route...you need to think long and hard about what it is you want to accomplish because lawsuits don't always end up getting people what they really want...

If your dd has potential to play in college you then you need take a hard look at how your actions in handling this situation might impact her future.....

and then their is the whole "politics" of the school system that you need to think about- assuming that your kid still has a few years left at that school....

not a fun situation to be in....best wishes on a speedy recovery for the dd involved

Apparently this situation isn't isolated to 1 game either. I don't believe there was any misleading on the player's part. She hopes to continue playing in college & knows that wont be possible if her current injury isn't handled properly. Player didn't feel she had anyone to back her without parents there & coach took advantage of the situation. In fact, player even had the school's athletic trainer in the dugout trying to stretch her out during the game. Trainer has been vocal that girl should not be playing. AD isn't about to do anything about it (coach is not a teacher) What else is there to do? OHSAA? School board?

As far as the trainer, they are trainers not doctors. Our one had a broken foot, doctor told her play when you feel you can, trainer didn't clear her, they needed her in one game in the middle of it and we were fine with her decision, since the Medical Doctor told her she could when she felt she could. We only listen to Children's Hospital Doctors and not the school recommended one also...

This is not tough.

If the coach was in possession of the paperwork that had her restricted to 'no play' by her doctor. (which is the only kind I have ever seen) Then he can not play her period. Even if she wants, or her parents want, they need to submit a 'release to play' from an MD before she can walk on the field in either a practice or a game. If he played her without a release he is a fool, a danger to his players and assumes enormous risk of the liability for her current and lingering injuries. I don't care what your dd said or did, she is a minor child and has no say when she is fine or in pain only the physician can release her to play.

The coach should be fired immediately. Go to the superintendent and to the school board members immediately; use the phone and follow it with letters. You have my permission to be a crazy person. Enlist other parents in this attack, this is unlikely to be an isolated incident. Lay into the AD, the coach and maybe the trainer, include the principle, her guidance councilor and the school nurse. the system will protect the coach until they realize that you are serious and then all the rats will abandon ship.

Be sure of your facts but if they are as presented here it is time to nuc' the coach. You are looking for a head on a pike. I can hardly wait to see what the districts attorney recommends when he hears of this. This kind of blatant disregard of a players welfare is grounds for immediate dismissal. The coach is a bully and a fool. This coach has to gone.

I would agree with fairman, the coach now would follow under the all important NEGLIGENCE.

different sport (track) and different grade (8th) but same subject. My dd is restricted from middle school track due to her heart (abnormal aortic value)from her doctor. She can't run any distance. Her doctor restricted her, and she still tried to run. Coaches found out and flat out told her to stop. In fact, even when she gets the all-clear, she must pass the coaches test first before she is even allowed to participate. At least she was cleared to play softball.

Player is having an MRI since a specialist thinks she has torn cartlidge. AD is suddenly MIA whenever parents call or try to see him.

The AD works for the Principal and if you can't talk to him/her there is an assistant principal that usually has this type of duties. If they won't talk; call the Superintendent's office and talk to them. You gave the coach a chance, the AD a chance, now move right on up the bureaucracy and get some results. If they ignore you call the school board members individually. This is the beauty of the locally run school. The internal teacher/staff codes of conduct will protect this idiot until it is clear that his laundry is about to hung out to dry and then they will turn on him. You want a face to face with the principal it is his school and he will answer for any noise that happens up the line.

I really feel for your situation. My daughter told the coach before a game that her back was killing her (it had begun to bother her, and we were seeking treatment but didn't have a doctor's note yet). She begged him not to have her pitch in a game that would not have changed their standings in conference or anything vital. While batting, she felt a snap in her back and again could not convince the coach to take her out of the game.

We were not at the game, and he refused to even warm up the back up pitcher. I received a call from the coach telling me to pick up my daughter because her back was out and needed an adjustment. Turned out she fractured a vertebrae in her back.

She never gained her pitching speed back again. She is also not playing in college any more due to her back pain. We are in the process of seeking medical attention again to see if complications have developed.

If I had a chance to do things over, I would tell my daughters that if they were ever in pain that they should refuse to play--no matter the consequences. I would also make it clear to the coach myself that my daughter is not to dress for practice or games. The coach who was also the athletic trainer had an obligation to take care of her but selfishly put her in the game.

I wish this young lady a speedy recovery. Obviously she is very talented if she is expected to play injured.

Warriors21 said:

Coach knew & was in possession of paperwork. Injured girl has been bullied by others all season & afraid to say no. Girl was told by her dr that she was not to play if she was in any pain.

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What do you mean she's been bullied all season? I'm probably gonna get my butt kicked on here for this but, from the "limited" information you've provided; I'm gonna put it off on the injured player, and here's why....I'm gonna assume you're talking about a Varsity program consisting of girls from 14 to 18 yrs old. So you have 8th graders that are nothing more than 1yr older to full grown women. She was given the choice by her doctor to play if she wasn't in pain. She played, so I have to assume that she wasn't in pain. If for some other reason she played and shouldn't have and she was "affraid" to say she couldn't then she obviously wasn't mentally tough enough to be in a Varsity program. You never did say if we were dealing with a freshman or upperclassman. So what I've outlined is my assumption that she is a freshman playing with a team full of upperclassman. Now on the flip side of this, if she is a frosh on a JV or freshman team and she's letting herself get bullied and affraid to tell the coach she can't play, yes I said "letting herself get bullied", because bullies are cowards and easily dealt with, then she should consider giving up softball all together.

I know my post was a little harsh, but this sounds more like someone that has a problem with the HS coach, and using bits and pieces of a situation to get sympathy for a player at the expense of the coach. The doctor didn't shut the girl down, they gave her the choice, so obviously it wasn't a season ending injury.

I know of a HS team out there right now that has an injured player playing right now. The doctor gave her the same instruction, you can play if there is no pain. The coach is ok with that, the parents are ok with that, the player is ok with that, and the doctor is ok with that. Well there is another parent with a player on the same team who's DD just so happens to be the backup to the girl who is injured. Which means she's ridding the bench. Well this parent went to the AD to try to get the coach fired for letting the injured girl, who is following her doctors orders; play. When that didn't work he went higher in an attempt to get the injured girl removed from the team because he was so concerned that she was going to injure herself further. What it boiled down to was getting this girl sidelined would mean that his DD would get to play!

So IMHO the story on this thread has a odd similar smell to it. My point is that posting situations on here and giving very limited details doesn't give us a far shot at giving good advise. Especially when HS sports are involved, because there a alot of parents out there that will do whatever they can to gain some sort of advantage on a coach and then dangle it over his/her head all year long. I will go one step farther and blame the parents because if they were concerned about their DD well being they should have shut her down themselves. Even more so because they knew she was being bullied all season and was affraid to say no. Their daughter is a minor so the parents can speak for her. As for the AD being mia, when they finally talk to him/her that's exactly what I would tell them. If you're daughter shouldn't have been playing, then you as "GOOD" parents should have made sure that didn't happen.

Hilliarddad3 said:

As far as the trainer, they are trainers not doctors. Our one had a broken foot, doctor told her play when you feel you can, trainer didn't clear her, they needed her in one game in the middle of it and we were fine with her decision, since the Medical Doctor told her she could when she felt she could. We only listen to Children's Hospital Doctors and not the school recommended one also...

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Trainers are closer to being a doctor than most coaches
There are exceptions to every rule