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Robyn Kozierok
September 3rd 03, 06:31 PM
Somehow we got through 9 years of raising boys with no broken bones.
Then last summer Ryan broke his finger. Well, Matthew decided to
do something about our low bone-break-count. He cracked/buckled
a total of 4 bones in his forearms! (In each forearm, right near the
wrist, the larger of the two bones is buckled and the smaller one is
cracked.)

So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
for him to hold a pencil.

On the bright side, I no longer have a conflict with the two boys'
soccer games. :-/

If you have a child who might be prone to do so, tell him/her that when
climbing a baseball backstop, it is *not* actually a good idea to turn
around and try to climb down with your back to the fence so you can see
where you're going better. :-O

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

dragonlady
September 3rd 03, 07:22 PM
In article >,
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote:

> Somehow we got through 9 years of raising boys with no broken bones.
> Then last summer Ryan broke his finger. Well, Matthew decided to
> do something about our low bone-break-count. He cracked/buckled
> a total of 4 bones in his forearms! (In each forearm, right near the
> wrist, the larger of the two bones is buckled and the smaller one is
> cracked.)
>
> So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
> to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
> 6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
> his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
> hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
> for him to hold a pencil.
>
> On the bright side, I no longer have a conflict with the two boys'
> soccer games. :-/
>
> If you have a child who might be prone to do so, tell him/her that when
> climbing a baseball backstop, it is *not* actually a good idea to turn
> around and try to climb down with your back to the fence so you can see
> where you're going better. :-O
>

Oh, lord -- I'm glad he isn't hurt worse! Hugs to you and your family
while you deal with this.

But I gotta say, the image you leave us with in the last paragraph had
me laughing out loud!

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

Karen G
September 3rd 03, 07:31 PM
Gracious, I feel for you. Casts are a pain. At least he can pick a
neat color and they aren't as heavy as the old plaster ones. How long
will the permanent casts have to stay on? We went through a dislocated
elbow/broken arm with surgery last summer. What a deal! We were very
blessed with a good pediatric orthopaedist.

Good luck with the necessary activities. It took my then two year-old
quite a bit of time to get the hang of going to the bathroom and eating.
With two casts it is going to be twice as hard. Fortunately, at 2 she
only had to have the cast on for 4 weeks.

A note to you and to other parents with kids in casts for the first
time. The removal can be quite traumatic. They use a saw connected to
vacuum cleaner to cut the cast material. Always make sure the person
doing the removal shows the child (on his/herself) and then on the
child's other hand or leg that the blade will not cut skin. The noise
is bad enough, but the idea of a blade is pretty awful.

Karen G

Scott Lindstrom
September 3rd 03, 09:09 PM
Robyn Kozierok wrote:

>
> Anyone know of any kind of special utensils that might be available to
> allow a person to feed himself with an arm casted at a 90 degree angle?
>

I've seen really long forks before, I think they were
gag gifts -- so you can eat off other people's plates.
If they're longer than your 7-yo's arm, he might be
able to use them.

Or maybe he should perfect his throw-the-food-in-the-
air-and-catch-it-in-his-mouth technique ;)

Good luck. Healing wishes have been sent ...

Scott DD 10 and DS 7

LFortier
September 3rd 03, 11:05 PM
Robyn Kozierok wrote:
>
> So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
> to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
> 6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
> his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
> hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
> for him to hold a pencil.

Ouch! So how's school going to work out?


> If you have a child who might be prone to do so, tell him/her that when
> climbing a baseball backstop, it is *not* actually a good idea to turn
> around and try to climb down with your back to the fence so you can see
> where you're going better. :-O


We will keep that in mind.

Lesley

Splanche
September 3rd 03, 11:05 PM
>Anyone know of any kind of special utensils that might be available to
>allow a person to feed himself with an arm casted at a 90 degree angle?
>
>Thanks!

You may find stuff for disabled people in a medical supply store, but you might
also do ok with a long wooden spoon.
reading shouldn't be too tough-- a book holder will help so he doesn't have to
hold onto the book himself. something like:

www.3000giftsandmore.com/book_holder.htm




- Blanche

just me
September 3rd 03, 11:06 PM
"Robyn Kozierok" > wrote in message
...
> Anyone with suggestions as to what a 7yo boy with 2 casts can do besides
> vegging in front of the TV?
>

When my then 4 yo brother broke his arm my father bet all three of us $5 [a
significant amount in the 1960's to a child] that we could not learn to tie
a shoe one handed. I learned, taught both my YS and my bro. The point I'm
making is that if you make some interesting challenges your son may well
respond to them above and beyond any expectations. Perhaps working from the
frame work of what is it like to live without arms and challenging him to
learn various tasks with his feet. Perhaps you could find information about
some individuals who have responded to that type of challenge successfully.
This could become quite an eye opening in empathy, surmounting difficulties
and looking beyond the disability.....he might also develop quite an
artistic outlet that becomes an avocation......


> Anyone know of any kind of special utensils that might be available to
> allow a person to feed himself with an arm casted at a 90 degree angle?
>
Consult with an Occupational Therapist. They have all sorts of interesting
tricks and adaptive devices. If you are into cost savings, see if you can
find the inexpensive alternative, such as the door handle in the bathroom
instead of the expensive but very similar looking/functioning device to hold
onto to get up off the toilet or out of the bathtub. You ought to be able
to get a referral to a decent Occupational Therapist from the physician
without any difficulty in light of the fact that both arms are broken and
immobilized.

Hang in there! This could be a very interesting time and perhaps sibling[s]
will find new ways of both terrorizing him and of responding to his needs
like a loving sibling should ;-)

-Aula

Iowacookiemom
September 4th 03, 01:43 AM
Yikes, Robyn, I'm so sorry!

When Henry broke his leg and was in a cast on both legs, toe to waist, it was
mostly a matter of accepting that there was not much he could do for himself.
Of course, he was much younger.

It sounds like he's an adventurous sort (given how this happened), so I'm
betting he will creatively figure out how to do lots of stuff. You'll also
find what types of food he can eat no-handed. For example, when I am alons I
still practice a childhood habit of eating the first few kernels of popcorn out
of the box by touching my tongue to them and just lifting the popcorn out (it
will adhere to the damp tongue).

My nephew had both arms in similar casts at about 12 yo. IIRC (we do not live
close to them) they never found much they could do to accommodate him; they
just had to resign themselves to doing it all.

Good luck to all of you!

-Dawn
Mom to Henry, 10

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 01:47 AM
In article >,
Scott Lindstrom > wrote:
>
>Or maybe he should perfect his throw-the-food-in-the-
>air-and-catch-it-in-his-mouth technique ;)
>

Oh great. I'd rather avoid another ER visit for food aspiration. ;)

We did let him eat some items "puppy style" tonight. He thought that
was cool :)

--Robyn

chiam margalit
September 4th 03, 05:59 AM
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message >...
> Somehow we got through 9 years of raising boys with no broken bones.
> Then last summer Ryan broke his finger. Well, Matthew decided to
> do something about our low bone-break-count. He cracked/buckled
> a total of 4 bones in his forearms! (In each forearm, right near the
> wrist, the larger of the two bones is buckled and the smaller one is
> cracked.)
>
> So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
> to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
> 6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
> his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
> hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
> for him to hold a pencil.


Serious bummer. Like you, I was recently knocking wood that I had yet
to be in an emergency room in my 10 full years of parenting, but that
ended with a child shutting another child's hand in the sliding door
of the minivan by accident. It WAS an accident, I was watching and saw
the whole dreadful thing happen. We got a striped pink and purple
cast. It's lovely. YOu can request multi-colored ones, and one sample
at our children's hospital was a delightful plaid. :-)

>>
> If you have a child who might be prone to do so, tell him/her that when
> climbing a baseball backstop, it is *not* actually a good idea to turn
> around and try to climb down with your back to the fence so you can see
> where you're going better. :-O
>

We'll keep that in mind. Although I *think* my kids are beyond
climbing on backstops, one was on the roof of the train station
recently until spotted by a neighbor who threatened to call the
police. You gotta wonder just WHAT they are thinking!

As for feeding oneself, there are always chicken nuggets and other
large chunk food, which can be eaten right from the plate, doggie
style. And one of my kids has perfected eating with a fork between her
toes, so you might want to try that out. It's disgusting but
fascinating, in a weird way.

Marjorie

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 07:03 PM
In article >,
just me > wrote:
>
>When my then 4 yo brother broke his arm my father bet all three of us $5 [a
>significant amount in the 1960's to a child] that we could not learn to tie
>a shoe one handed. I learned, taught both my YS and my bro.


You can tie a shoe one-handed? And you taught a 4yo how to do it? I am
*very* impressed! :)

>The point I'm
>making is that if you make some interesting challenges your son may well
>respond to them above and beyond any expectations.

Good point. He is still in some pain now, but once he starts feeling
better, I expect he will start doing pretty well at finding ways of
doing things.

Thanks,
--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 07:03 PM
In article >,
Karen G > wrote:
>
>You can get ahold of pretty big straws--the kind that come with the big
>insulated cup comes to mind. Anything soupy--which includes ice cream
>will probably work well as long as it is thin enough to be "sucked." I
>can't think of any other way to get the food to his mouth other than
>rigging something up suspended over his head.

Have been thinking about milkshakes for this reason. :)

But I'm also thinking that some kind of curved utensils should work
to get food into his mouth. Sort of like the ones you sometimes
see for toddlers, only longer.

--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 07:05 PM
In article >,
LFortier > wrote:
>Robyn Kozierok wrote:
>>
>> So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
>> to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
>> 6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
>> his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
>> hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
>> for him to hold a pencil.
>
>Ouch! So how's school going to work out?

For now, the other kids are taking turns being his "scribe". His school
program happens to be very flexible, and not especially writing-intensive, so
it seems to be OK. He's dictating some things, doing others orally with
a teacher, etc. Still, we're all hoping he will be able to write/draw
a bit on his own once he gets the fiberglass casts. The problem right now
is that he has a half cast held on by tensor bandages, and he has a whole
width of tensor bandage going around his little hand, making it hard for
him to bend his fingers.

--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 07:06 PM
In article >,
chiam margalit > wrote:

>Serious bummer. Like you, I was recently knocking wood that I had yet
>to be in an emergency room in my 10 full years of parenting, but that
>ended with a child shutting another child's hand in the sliding door
>of the minivan by accident.

Ow!

>We got a striped pink and purple
>cast. It's lovely. YOu can request multi-colored ones, and one sample
>at our children's hospital was a delightful plaid. :-)

Oh my, we might be there all night if they offer multi-colored casts.
He has decided in advance on one red and one blue. :)

>As for feeding oneself, there are always chicken nuggets and other
>large chunk food, which can be eaten right from the plate, doggie
>style.

We prefer to call it "puppy style" :-O

>And one of my kids has perfected eating with a fork between her
>toes, so you might want to try that out. It's disgusting but
>fascinating, in a weird way.

I don't think Matthew is as flexible as your daughter :) I'm
afraid he might break something else trying to do that at the table,
though we might let him try it on the floor. :)

Thanks,
--Robyn

Chris Himes
September 4th 03, 10:04 PM
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message >...
>
> So, now he is in 2 (temporary, for now) casts, each going from his hand
> to above the elbow, and he can't do anything for himself. For at least
> 6 weeks. Give us strength! He can't get either hand close enough to
> his mouth to feed himself. He currently can't write at all, but I am
> hopeful that the permanent casts will allow enough finger flexibility
> for him to hold a pencil.

My son broke one wrist about this time last fall, he fell off his
chair at school. Anyway, the cast was much easier to deal with than
the temporary cast, it should allow him to bend his elbows and have
pretty good finger and thumb movement. My son was able to continue
piano lessons with his left arm casted. In his case, they changed the
casts at 4 weeks and that gave us a chance to wash the arm a little
before they recasted it for 2 more weeks. It seems that 6 weeks is
pretty much the standard time for bones to heal.

Good luck
Chris

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 10:45 PM
In article >,
Rosalie B. > wrote:
>
>I don't know if he could jump rope or not. He could probably (?)
>still ride a bike, although the doc would probably frown on that.

There's an old joke that applies pretty well to this suggestion:

A doctor has come to see one of his patients in a hospital. The patient
has had major surgery to both of his hands.

"Doctor," says the man excitedly and dramatically holds up his heavily
bandaged hands. "Will I be able to play the piano when these bandages
come off?"

"I don't see why not," replies the doctor.

"That's funny," says the man. "I wasn't able to play it before."

--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 4th 03, 10:46 PM
We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D

--Robyn

Rosalie B.
September 5th 03, 01:10 AM
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote:

>
>We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
>one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
>elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
>So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
>do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
>instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D

Great news!!

Maybe he can go back to soccer now <eg>? I would think that would be
a perfect sport for a kid who couldn't use his hands.


grandma Rosalie

just me
September 5th 03, 03:25 AM
"Robyn Kozierok" > wrote in message
...
>
> We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
> one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
> elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
> So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
> do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
> instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D
>


Wow! The news could hardly have been much better eh! I like the colors,
too. much better than my option of gray inflatable bladder cast when i
broke my leg last year. I hope he enjoys himself without enjoying it *too*
much, iykwim!

-Aula

Nick Theodorakis
September 5th 03, 04:05 AM
On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 20:10:07 EDT, "Rosalie B."
> wrote:

> (Robyn Kozierok) wrote:
>
>>
>>We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
>>one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
>>elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
>>So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
>>do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
>>instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D
>
>Great news!!
>
>Maybe he can go back to soccer now <eg>? I would think that would be
>a perfect sport for a kid who couldn't use his hands.

Most of the leagues that I've played in didn't allow kids with casts
to play: it's a potential danger to other players in collisions (we
couldn't even wear watches). I don't know if they have relaxed that
prohibition these days.

Nick

--
Nick Theodorakis

Robyn Kozierok
September 5th 03, 04:50 AM
In article >,
Chris Himes > wrote:
>
>My son broke one wrist about this time last fall, he fell off his
>chair at school. Anyway, the cast was much easier to deal with than
>the temporary cast, it should allow him to bend his elbows and have
>pretty good finger and thumb movement.

You called that one right on!

> My son was able to continue
>piano lessons with his left arm casted.

Wow! I was thinking we'd have to postpone his piano lessons until
he got them off, even with the new ones, but as it turns out, they've
shortened the predicted healing time to 4 weeks which should coincide
very nicely with the end of his piano teacher's maternity leave :)

--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 5th 03, 04:51 AM
In article >,
Louise > wrote:
>In article >, "Rosalie B."
> wrote:
>
>> (Robyn Kozierok) wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
>>>one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
>>>elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
>>>So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
>>>do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
>>>instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D
>>
>>Great news!!
>>
>>Maybe he can go back to soccer now <eg>? I would think that would be
>>a perfect sport for a kid who couldn't use his hands.
>
>When I had the old-fashioned kind of plaster cast on my arm, it wasn't
>comfortable to do any kind of strenuous sport because when my pulse
>went up, my arm would throb in the cast, and it would also sweat, and
>at first the jiggling would hurt. I tried running, soccer, and
>bicycling, and finally just did lots of walking for 6 weeks (I was
>16).
>

The main issues with soccer would be sweating and other comfort issues
as Louise has noted, and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
cast. They don't let kids with casts play in the middle or high school
leagues for this reason. His league doesn't appear to have any rules
on it, but I think we are going to have him go to practice and work
drills (if he is able to enjoy it) but not scrimmage or play in the
games. But as noted, at least soccer is fairly well suited to a kid
with incapacitated arms :)


--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

Robyn Kozierok
September 5th 03, 04:51 AM
In article >,
just me > wrote:
>
>
>Wow! The news could hardly have been much better eh! I like the colors,
>too. much better than my option of gray inflatable bladder cast when i
>broke my leg last year. I hope he enjoys himself without enjoying it *too*
>much, iykwim!

While he's keeping pretty good humor about it, we have heard a fair bit
of "I wish I never broke my arms" and he is also getting a bit tired of
explaining what he did to everyone he meets in public. (And now that he
is sporting a pair of neon casts, it's not exactly easy to overlook!)
His older brother has taken over some of the explaining for him :)

--Robyn

chiam margalit
September 5th 03, 09:46 AM
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message >...
> We just got back from the orthopedist. Matthew has 2 lovely neon casts,
> one green and one orange. The great news is they are *not* above the
> elbow! And as I had hoped, they give him much more finger mobility.
> So from being able to do almost nothing, he has gone to being able to
> do almost everything. Yay! Also he can probably get them off in 4 weeks
> instead of the 6 predicted by the ER. :-D


That IS good news. So he can eat all by himself. Too bad, he could
have tried the feet method! Neon casts are cool. Did you get some
sharpies in different colors for people to sign them?

We spent another evening in the ER tonight. DD fell and got a hecka
lot of gravel underneath her big toe, and they had to dig it out. Took
3 hours and 3 doctors, one of whom made horrible faces and said he
didn't go to medical school for this! :-) It was gross, but thankfully
it's all out. The wound was the size of a nickel and pure black.
That's ER twice in the last month. I hope this streak is over with.

Marjorie

Allen McIntosh
September 5th 03, 02:25 PM
In article >,
Robyn Kozierok > wrote:
>The main issues with soccer would be sweating and other comfort issues
>as Louise has noted, and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
>cast.

When our then 4 y.o. broke her wrist, we were told absolutely no playground
activities. The cast affects their balance (perhaps less so if they have
a cast on each arm :-) and their ability to break a fall properly. If
they fall and the hand at the end of the cast takes the force of the
impact, another visit to the ER may be required...

Hillary Israeli
September 5th 03, 02:25 PM
In >,
Robyn Kozierok > wrote:

*While he's keeping pretty good humor about it, we have heard a fair bit
*of "I wish I never broke my arms" and he is also getting a bit tired of
*explaining what he did to everyone he meets in public. (And now that he
*is sporting a pair of neon casts, it's not exactly easy to overlook!)
*His older brother has taken over some of the explaining for him :)

You could get him a T-shirt that says "I fell down, Of course it hurt,
four weeks from [date]" (because everyone probably says "what happened?
did it hurt? how long do you have to have those casts on?" right?)

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large :)

Robyn Kozierok
September 5th 03, 02:55 PM
In article >,
Hillary Israeli > wrote:
>In >,
>Robyn Kozierok > wrote:
>
>*While he's keeping pretty good humor about it, we have heard a fair bit
>*of "I wish I never broke my arms" and he is also getting a bit tired of
>*explaining what he did to everyone he meets in public. (And now that he
>*is sporting a pair of neon casts, it's not exactly easy to overlook!)
>*His older brother has taken over some of the explaining for him :)
>
>You could get him a T-shirt that says "I fell down, Of course it hurt,
>four weeks from [date]" (because everyone probably says "what happened?
>did it hurt? how long do you have to have those casts on?" right?)

Oddly enough, I don't think anyone's asked how long he has to wear the
casts. Or whether or not it hurt. After "What happened to YOU?" they
mostly move into "Can you go to school like that?" "Can you write?" etc...

--Robyn

Robyn Kozierok
September 5th 03, 05:01 PM
In article >,
Allen McIntosh > wrote:
>In article >,
>Robyn Kozierok > wrote:
>>The main issues with soccer would be sweating and other comfort issues
>>as Louise has noted, and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
>>cast.
>
>When our then 4 y.o. broke her wrist, we were told absolutely no playground
>activities. The cast affects their balance (perhaps less so if they have
>a cast on each arm :-) and their ability to break a fall properly. If
>they fall and the hand at the end of the cast takes the force of the
>impact, another visit to the ER may be required...

His orthopedist said, "No skydiving." He said he could run around and
play as much as he felt like doing, with the caveat that if he sweats,
he may find it uncomfortable. I do see the risk from another fall; but
I think he's feeling a little cautious these days anyhow, so he should
be fine.

--Robyn

Cathy Kearns
September 5th 03, 06:38 PM
"Robyn Kozierok" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> The main issues with soccer would be sweating and other comfort issues
> as Louise has noted,

And the risk of him falling and rebreaking the arms...
But these are all risks that you can take...

>and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
> cast. They don't let kids with casts play in the middle or high school
> leagues for this reason.

This is where it starts affecting everyone else. Now
other kids could get hurt.

Here in the US any league that would let a kid with casts
even practice would have their liability insurance pulled.

>His league doesn't appear to have any rules
> on it, but I think we are going to have him go to practice and work
> drills (if he is able to enjoy it) but not scrimmage or play in the
> games. But as noted, at least soccer is fairly well suited to a kid
> with incapacitated arms :)

Good luck to his coach. I coach young girls (under 10, AYSO)
and I wouldn't let a child with a cast practice with my team.
There are very few drills we run that aren't contact drills.
They could accidently bean another child with their cast,
and that wouldn't be fair to the others on the team.
Soccer is accident prone enough without throwing
hard objects in there.
(Not to mention the AYSO organization would kill me,
being I just included them in the liability and they will
lose their insurance.)

However, at home, in your yard, I'd say go for it, he
could run around, get great at ball handling skills, and
be ready for when the casts come off.

>
>
> --Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)
>

Robyn Kozierok
September 6th 03, 01:04 AM
In article >,
Cathy Kearns > wrote:

>>and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
>> cast. They don't let kids with casts play in the middle or high school
>> leagues for this reason.
>
>This is where it starts affecting everyone else. Now
>other kids could get hurt.
>
>Here in the US any league that would let a kid with casts
>even practice would have their liability insurance pulled.
>
>>His league doesn't appear to have any rules
>> on it, but I think we are going to have him go to practice and work
>> drills (if he is able to enjoy it) but not scrimmage or play in the
>> games. But as noted, at least soccer is fairly well suited to a kid
>> with incapacitated arms :)
>
>Good luck to his coach. I coach young girls (under 10, AYSO)
>and I wouldn't let a child with a cast practice with my team.
>There are very few drills we run that aren't contact drills.

These guys are essentially U8 (2nd and 3rd graders) and they run lots
of non-contact drills: dribbling, passing, shooting, etc. In addition,
they frequently have a couple of drills going at one time, so as long
as there is one non-contact drill among them, Matthew can just avoid
the unsafe drills. I spoke to his coach and she is enthusiastic to
have him do what he can with the team, and willing to try to accomodate
him by, for example, trying to have some non-contact practicing he
can do during most of the practice time.

>They could accidently bean another child with their cast,
>and that wouldn't be fair to the others on the team.
>Soccer is accident prone enough without throwing
>hard objects in there.

No one has any intention of putting him in a situation where
he could put other kids in danger.

--Robyn

Cathy Kearns
September 6th 03, 12:31 PM
Wow, see how different the regions are. Here they won't even
let the U8 girls wear barrettes, too hard, too dangerous.

"Robyn Kozierok" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Cathy Kearns > wrote:
>
> >>and the risk of him bopping someone else with a
> >> cast. They don't let kids with casts play in the middle or high school
> >> leagues for this reason.
> >
> >This is where it starts affecting everyone else. Now
> >other kids could get hurt.
> >
> >Here in the US any league that would let a kid with casts
> >even practice would have their liability insurance pulled.
> >
> >>His league doesn't appear to have any rules
> >> on it, but I think we are going to have him go to practice and work
> >> drills (if he is able to enjoy it) but not scrimmage or play in the
> >> games. But as noted, at least soccer is fairly well suited to a kid
> >> with incapacitated arms :)
> >
> >Good luck to his coach. I coach young girls (under 10, AYSO)
> >and I wouldn't let a child with a cast practice with my team.
> >There are very few drills we run that aren't contact drills.
>
> These guys are essentially U8 (2nd and 3rd graders) and they run lots
> of non-contact drills: dribbling, passing, shooting, etc. In addition,
> they frequently have a couple of drills going at one time, so as long
> as there is one non-contact drill among them, Matthew can just avoid
> the unsafe drills. I spoke to his coach and she is enthusiastic to
> have him do what he can with the team, and willing to try to accomodate
> him by, for example, trying to have some non-contact practicing he
> can do during most of the practice time.
>
> >They could accidently bean another child with their cast,
> >and that wouldn't be fair to the others on the team.
> >Soccer is accident prone enough without throwing
> >hard objects in there.
>
> No one has any intention of putting him in a situation where
> he could put other kids in danger.
>
> --Robyn
>