Gymnastics: Football for Girls

When the US Olympic gymnastics team started warm-ups just before competition opened this year, one girl was injured. Because the injury didn’t occur more than 24 hours in advance of the competition, the team was not allowed to substitute another gymnast in her place. While many people were shocked by the injury, others realize that gymnastics has an injury incidence that makes it, injury-wise, the equivalent of tackle football for girls.

While many of the injuries related to gymnastics are related to overuse, stress, and improper stretching, many other injuries are due to lax safety equipment or poorly set up venues. Because of this, it is very important to find a gym with good safety precautions in place.

There is no set of rules for gymnastics in terms of safety requirements of the equipment or the gym. There is, however, a safety certificate available through USA Gymnastics. Any parent considering placing his or her child in a gymnastics program should be certain to check for this safety certificate.

Another thing to check is how attentive the instructors are in classes. If they are not paying much attention to children they have in classes already, chances are good things will not change when your child is added to the mix.

The most important things to check for are properly set up equipment and adequate safety measures. These safety measures include a lot of padding around the various apparatuses, as well as safety harnesses. Properly set up equipment should look clean and not be disassembled on a daily basis.

If your child has been injured in a preventable gymnastics accident, contact the Wausau gymnastics injury lawyers of Habush, Habush, & Rottier at 1-800-248-0171 to discuss your situation and to determine your legal options.