Helmets and Skiing/Snowboarding

[qwazse]

Another one of my youth just fractured their spine snowboarding "offroad" at an event that I was not supervising. He borrowed the board from a friend, I know he did not borrow a helmet. Three days in hospital plus a seizure

 

That's it. If I see ANY of you letting you or ANY of your youth on ski's or snowboards without headgear for ANY activity (scouting or otherwise), I'm stopping them in their tracks and telling them to go make snowmen until they get headgear. If they point you out as their adult leader, we will be having a "conversation."

[Beavah]

That's it. If I see ANY of you letting you or ANY of your youth on ski's or snowboards without headgear for ANY activity (scouting or otherwise), I'm stopping them in their tracks and telling them to go make snowmen until they get headgear. If they point you out as their adult leader, we will be having a "conversation."

 

Yah, I'm not much of a snowboarder, eh? So I can't really speak to the issue. Seems like helmets are prudent.

 

But I can say I've seen a lot of poorly behaved adults who give in to this impulse to treat other boys and other adult leaders discourteously. While it can be tempting, I reckon that after yeh take a breath you'll decide that the Scout Law offers a better approach.

 

Havin' a strange adult give "orders" to a boy he doesn't know is just a bit odd, eh? I think a parent would be rightly upset by that. Even might involve some discussion with fellows in blue. And yellin' at the youth leader of another youth group is just goin' to get whatever you say dismissed as the rantings of a loon.

 

When yeh approach things calmly and courteously, odds are yeh have a bigger effect.

 

I reckon as long as the industry norm is that helmets aren't required in snow sports, we're goin' to be dealin' with this in various ways, and it's best to deal with it respectfully and gently.

 

Happily, as long as it isn't an industry norm it's also not much of a liability issue, eh? We need to be cautious when we choose to front-run this stuff without a careful look at things. Sometimes policies can do more harm than good, like if a lot of scouters start thinkin' it's OK to use helmets from other sports or borrow (ill-fitting) helmets from other people in order to comply.

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[qwazse]

Okay, a "respectful and gentle" conversation then.

 

Point is, I figure in the four years I've been skiing I've organized day trips to the slopes for about 100 youth. Mostly without helmets. Until this year I hadn't paid attention to it. But, so far three out of three winter events this year someone has landed on their head. The one which I was directly responsible for was the only one in which helmets were required (by me personally, thanks to the GSS revision), and that youth walked away with just a headache. The other two were hospital stays. The most recent was a youth from my unit who is now in a back/neck brace for months and I wish someone at that activity could have told the kid put on a helmet or stash the board.*

 

So, folks, if you're looking for a way out of the helmet rule, you won't find it from me.

 

*P.S. - I'm not blaming the supervisors of the event on this one. Although I haven't had a chance to debrief, I suspect the snowboarding was done somewhere away from adults. In any case, the youth knew the helmet rule (as well as the "sandwich principle"). This is the hard way to learn an important lesson.

[Beavah]

Yah, yeh have to also be realistic, too.

 

A helmet won't do a thing to prevent a spinal fracture. Might even make it worse. So if the lad in fact suffered a spinal fracture, yeh can reassure the other group leaders that there's not much they could have done by way of protective equipment.

 

Which comes back around to da other 15 points of the Sweet 16, eh?

 

What are yeh doin' for proper supervision, especially in terrain parks and jumps and whatnot? Are your adults really qualified to supervise that?

 

What are yeh doin' to check proper equipment selection and maintenance of snowboards and skis and such? Proper sizing?

 

Do you and the lads know the safety procedures for the sport? Skier/Rider Responsibility Code? Safety for skiin' trees? Safety procedures for ridin' the rails?

 

Skill level limits. How are you assessin' the lads ability and readiness to ride different slopes, to try different stunts? How are yeh limiting them if they're not ready?

 

Buddies and First Aid. Do all your boys know what to do on a slope if someone is injured? Do yeh really teach first aid for head and neck injuries in your troop well enough that every lad is proficient in first response?

 

If we're worried about helmets but not doin' all of da other parts of the G2SS Sweet 16, then we're just foolin' ourselves. And then those other youth groups who don't use helmets but do a lot of this other stuff have a right to pull us aside and have one of them conversations .

 

Best to always mind the planks in our own eyes before we worry about da mote in our neighbor's.

 

Beavah