too young to race

[tsorfas]

Too young to race motor bikes - YouTube

i believe that is a good topic.. is there really an age limit?
i think i read somewhere that in order to race in loudon you have to be at least 16?

[csmutty]

Too young to race motor bikes - YouTube

i believe that is a good topic.. is there really an age limit?
i think i read somewhere that in order to race in loudon you have to be at least 16?

The age limit for LRRS is 14.

Offroad racing has no age limit. If you can ride you can race.

[jcrawford]

This is a sad story but certain risks exist when you are racing. The parents were ok with taking the risks because they let him race.

I am not quite sure I see a reason to ban kids from racing. If the kid wanted to race, and was not forced by a father vicariously living through his son then nothing is wrong here IMO, other than the tragic loss.

I mean what's next are we going to say that kids shouldn't go sledding because of the inherit risks: http://rochester.patch.com/articles/...near-kalamazoo

It sounds to me like this kid was a good racer and enjoyed it, otherwise why would he push his bike to speeds topping 100mph?

[nt650hawk]

http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...-terrible.html

[noxin]

How is racing motorcycles different than football (children running full force into each other) or cheerleading (children literally throwing other children in the air and attempting to catch them) or equestrian sports (small children riding a large animal)?

Proper training, skill development and supervision is all that should be required.

[NobodySpecific]

How is racing motorcycles different than football (children running full force into each other) or cheerleading (children literally throwing other children in the air and attempting to catch them) or equestrian sports (small children riding a large animal)?

Proper training, skill development and supervision is all that should be required.

The difference to parents is that you don't expect your child to die playing football. They fail to realize, however, that subjecting brains to the trauma of football can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can result in brain damage and early death. Since the effect is delayed and can't be attributed to any single hit (in most cases), it comes off as seeming to be less dangerous when compared to motorcycle racing, where one bad crash can end a career or take your life.

I'm not saying football is necessarily bad by the way (though I'm glad I didn't play when I was younger).

[mzdagrl]

If you don't want your kid to race, don't let them.

If you don't want your kid to play football, don't let them.

If you don't want your kid to die in a car crash, never let them get in a car.

There are risks in everything we do. Hell, I have old overuse injuries from marching band - yes really - that still haunt me and probably will crop up for the rest of my life. I flew to Italy three months after the attacks on the WTC to perform, when many other students and schools backed out. Every time I got into a bus to travel to a parade, or was flown halfway across the country to play for a hockey game, I risked the same things. Not to the same extent, sure, but the risk is there. (as an aside, I also was a competitive athlete, as well as big into rock/ice climbing for a while, so not all my activities were as benign as band, just using it as an example of a "harmless" activity).

As a parent, it is up to us to determine what risks we are willing to let our child take, and how their happiness, success, and lifetime goals play into those risks. And, it is our job to minimize them through proper supervision, training, and preventative measures.

[Woodcraft]

The difference to parents is that you don't expect your child to die playing football.

No one "expects" a child to die doing any sport...otherwise sports in general would have to wait until adulthood, which would be terrible. The burden is incumbent upon the parents to determine the readiness of their child for any sport. I've seen kids die and get hurt playing just about every sport there is; baseball, football, skiing, motorcycle racing, boating, hockey - you name it.

There is no right and wrong answer that applies to everyone. Each parent needs to evaluate the readiness of each child (as we know they are all different) for any activity. It is not the duty of someone else to make a call for your child. If you want to wrap the kid in pillows and limit activity to the chess club, that's your call. If you want to teach them to skydive, that's your call as well. Everyone needs to use thier own judgement, and stay out of the business of others. Life entails risk....and without it I think it frankly would be quite boring. Kids need to learn to practice determining what risks are OK and are not OK while a parent is there to help coach them through it. What they learn at home will help them later in life.

The judgement calls come in when determining what is reasonable. Can you let your kid try a 80 foot triple in motocross...sure, if you think he is ready. Without a helmet or boots on.....I think you've crossed the line, because you did not reasonbly offer them the protection they need from a statistically probable outcome. All in all it's a tough call as to where that line is, as emotions get understandably peaked when a kid is involved.

[SteveM]

To further the point, my 13 year old plays football.

Center and linebacker in a 160 lb weight limit division. He weighs 105.

3 weeks ago he's defending against a 2 point conversion attempt and the opposing running back, at FULLY 160 lbs, gets through a gap in the line and my son puts his shoulder down and hits him square in the chest.

At the time, I was at the back of the end zone takings picture, literally 10 yards away.

I could see the impact (the kid did manage to stay on his feet and scored) as a 160 lbs kid with more momentum collided with my Matt.

Matt's neck, shoulder and upper back were sore for 3 days.(did not mis a snap)

If his technique had not been good, or even if one of them had slipped a little, he could had been paralyzed on that single play. We have all seen it happen.

Is he too young to play football?

There are always risks....


BTW, my favorite moment was when I asked him if he ever got worried when he was blocking against much bigger nose tackles and he said, "The fat kids don't bother me, I just stay low and drive them out of the way. It's the quicker kids that give me trouble because I'm the only one on the line who has to make sure Jake (QB) gets the snap cleanly before I can think about my block."

You know when they're old enough for this stuff by listening to the maturity with which they understand how they must prepare. There are still risks, and something can always happen, but the risks drop a lot when you know the kid understands what he needs to do.

[nt650hawk]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartDi...ry?id=13055595

Wes Leonard: Michigan High School Basketball Star Dies After Game-Winning Shot

Medical condition. Should the parents have let him play even if they knew about it?





http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...ticle-1.469819

High school baseball player, Thomas Adams, dies after being hit in chest by pitch during practice


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...#ixzz1ckQDcFeX

[NobodySpecific]

No one "expects" a child to die doing any sport...otherwise sports in general would have to wait until adulthood, which would be terrible. The burden is incumbent upon the parents to determine the readiness of their child for any sport. I've seen kids die and get hurt playing just about every sport there is; baseball, football, skiing, motorcycle racing, boating, hockey - you name it.

There is no right and wrong answer that applies to everyone. Each parent needs to evaluate the readiness of each child (as we know they are all different) for any activity. It is not the duty of someone else to make a call for your child. If you want to wrap the kid in pillows and limit activity to the chess club, that's your call. If you want to teach them to skydive, that's your call as well. Everyone needs to use thier own judgement, and stay out of the business of others. Life entails risk....and without it I think it frankly would be quite boring. Kids need to learn to practice determining what risks are OK and are not OK while a parent is there to help coach them through it. What they learn at home will help them later in life.

The judgement calls come in when determining what is reasonable. Can you let your kid try a 80 foot triple in motocross...sure, if you think he is ready. Without a helmet or boots on.....I think you've crossed the line, because you did not reasonbly offer them the protection they need from a statistically probable outcome. All in all it's a tough call as to where that line is, as emotions get understandably peaked when a kid is involved.

I would be willing to bet that a lot of parents are afraid of motorcycles because they expect them to cause death based on the gruesome nature of some well publicized crashes. My point was that everything is dangerous, and a lot of parents just put their heads in the sand and pretend that THEIR choices are right because it's what they know (i.e. parents that played sports as kids but are terrified of motorcycles and try to pass those same views onto their kids, justifying that if they survived the sports without harm then they must not be that dangerous but lashing out at motorsports because OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT HORRIBLE CRASH?!). There are no fires or explosions in football, so it just doesn't have the same affect on people.

[SteveM]

My physics are rusty, so this could be all wrong, but I think that force increases with the square of velocity.

Thus danger does increase as speed increases and everything with a motor goes faster than everything without one.

That doesn't mean that this kid was too young for motorctclye racing, but there is some rational to the concern about motorsports and not all of it is driven by fiery crashes.

OTOH, while football has no explosions, if you have ever been 30 yards away from a 13 year old lying, (who was in your house playing with your kid 3 days earlier) motionless on the field and being taken off on a backboard, you would appreciate that all of these sports have their cautionary moments

[sideways pete]

In a few letters I've written to our public servant's I explained,"Life is dangerous, living life is more so." Last year a grandmother comes to watch her grandson dirt track for her first time. The attendant says $10 to which she replies, "I'm not paying that." The attendant nicely explain's insurance and ambulance bills. Grandma says "ambulance?" "Here's 10 bucks knowing if something happens professionals are on site."