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General Climbing Discussion

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Extreme sports and kids... 21-May-2015 At 7:22:33 AM Wendy

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I'm so boring and all, I know, but I do wonder about the "extreme" end of all sports for kids. Everyday sports like football produce a shitload of injuries (just ask Simey). Or gymnastics. Putting all that effort into training takes time away from other things in life that are also important. Competition puts pressure on them to perform and succeed. It's pushing not yet fully developed bodies (and minds) to their physical limits. It's particularly when the pressure (from self or others or even just desire) to do something overrides reasonable caution. 10 concussions and 6 seizures? Holy f---. He's lucky he can still function. Lots of sport and "risky" physical activities are great. They should be fun. More people should do them. Do we need to have children at the cutting edge of them? Well, not really. It's amazing that we have 8-10 year olds climbing 32 or v10 or other such things way beyond me. But what are the long term effects of putting that level of strain on a growing body? And at what age is a child really capable of understanding the risks, assessing their skills and position and making good judgement calls associated with climbing? Most adults struggle with it! Still, I guess most of them aren't ending up with permanent brain damage. Some things are definitely more risky then others and in general, I'm rather unkeen on anything that means if I fall off, I hit the ground.