[quote] Gymnastics is as dangerous a sport as it is beautiful. According to the NCAA, it ranks second behind wrestling for the number of injuries that occur in practice and competition combined. In 2003-04, gymnastics ranked behind only football and wrestling for injuries that require seven or more days of lost time.
Those numbers, however, do not quantify the pounding gymnasts endure before reaching the NCAA level. Many of the injuries collegiate gymnasts suffer are attributed to overuse, injuries that grew more troublesome from the rigors of training and possibly weren't properly addressed when they were first sustained.
"It's scary because there are elite gymnasts out there and they are probably competing with stress fractures and broken bones and coaches are probably like, 'Well you have to do it,' " Kim said.
Kim knows those pressures from experience. At 14, she competed with a stress fracture in her leg and collapsed during the floor exercise.
"It was hurting before but I didn't want to say anything," Kim said. "Then I couldn't do the tumbling pass. I was crying, my mom was crying. We had to go out for awards and they were like, 'Can you hop on one leg?' I don't know how I made it, but there is worse. I had a teammate who trained with a broken elbow." [/quote]
Broken elbow! Must not have been bars.
Difference between college gymnastics and club gymnastics for injury/preventive care:
[quote]Such scenarios aren't likely at the collegiate level because teams have a staff of doctors, trainers and therapists who oversee athletes. At Utah, Iriye's office and training room is connected to the gym, separated by a large glass window that makes it easy for him to keep an eye on the athletes as they train.
"I trust if they tell me to hold someone out, then we need to do that," Utah coach Greg Marsden said. Such safety nets are missing at the club levels because of the expense of maintaining a medical staff. Many clubs are associated with medical services and might give gymnasts access to trainers on a weekly basis, but the care is sporadic at best in the opinions of Utah's gymnasts, who represent a good cross section of the experiences at many of the nation's top gyms.
"If we had a trainer on staff, then you're talking about raising fees to pay for it," said Eli Rodriguez, the coach and owner of Byers Gymnastics, where DiLuzio trained. "Most gymnasts have a private physician. We're lucky here because my wife is a physical therapist. Sometimes we're better at diagnosing injuries than doctors."
Rodriguez said the responsibility to get proper care fell to the parents and the gymnasts.
"At the college level, they have doctors who say they aren't medically cleared," he said. "I go, 'How do you feel?' OK, you are cleared. You have to go off what kids are saying." [/quote]
It's good he asks and doesn't tell.
Like this:
[quote]Instead of learning about proper care, the gymnasts said they learned at a young age injuries were best ignored.
"I can remember crying in the gym a lot because it would hurt so bad to walk and I'd still have to do floor routines," Ashley Postell said. "It could be really bad and [a coach would say], 'Well, what are you going to do at a meet?' So you'd turn right around and keep working. It's hard, but that's what we grew up with and what we adapted to."
Fake it to make it
Masking the pain became key.
"I had friends who would just eat Advil like candy, they would get like 10 Advil a day," Utah junior Kristina Baskett said. "Most of them were girls who were always taped up and bandaged." [/quote]
Stomach ulcers.
More team mentality than individual at college gymnastics, except if you're going for the NCAA AA ranking.
[quote] However, gymnasts say coming clean about aches and pains would have meant disappointing parents or coaches, as well as themselves.
"When you get to a meet, you can't . . . have someone else take your spot like you can here, because it's all on you," Postell said. "You are competing for yourself, so you basically have to go through with it."
Still, the seemingly ideal circumstances at Utah and other college programs don't easily change some gymnasts' approach. The proper medical care, the trainers at the ready, the support of teammates and coaches who don't pressure the injured to compete - it all doesn't deter DiLuzio from wanting to compete on a bum leg, even as she acknowledges the wise thing would be to rest her leg.
"I'm just me, so I'm going to push through," she said. "I'm not going to stop. Nothing like that is going to stop me." [/quote]
Katie Heenan, also, for example, is competing with two fractures in her back, while doing physical therapy, etc.
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