Idle curiosity...

[jebPE]

How would you handle a player with Tourrette's Syndrome?

I would think the coach would want to show a letter from a doctor before every game.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by jebPE
How would you handle a player with Tourrette's Syndrome?

I would think the coach would want to show a letter from a doctor before every game.

It would depend on the words. Not all Tourette's sufferers use foul language. I would definitely need to see a letter. And I'd hope the coach would talk to me about it well ahead of time, and I'd have a talk with the opposing coach, so that he'd be up to speed, too.

Also, the nervous movements could be a problem. I'm not sure, if there was contact that gave an advantage, that I could just ignore it. have to think about that one.

PS Have you read "Captain Newman, MD"?

[jebPE]

I have not read "Captain Newman, M.D."

[ChrisSportsFan]

Does that player only have "bouts" after bang/bang calls?

I bet we've all had games with players who have TS and we didn't even know it. I may be wrong but usually if they're focused on something, doesn't that usually help them?

[blindzebra]

I never had to deal with tourette's, but I did have an autisic player once in a Special Olympics game.

The kid had always only played a few minutes in every game and the coach had always started him.

The coach forgot to start him and in the second half, the boy got upset because he could not understand why the board did not say 00 to 00. It became very obvious the player was not going to be able to handle the score being on the board.

We got the coaches together and we cleared the score off the board, so it would be 00 to 00, and kept the score in the book, until the player got his couple of minutes in.

The TS player's coach would need to have a doctor's note, that said exactly what the usual behavior of the player would be.

[w_sohl]

I've heard that we have an official with TS around here and he/she uses the F word during freethrows of a girls game at times. Could you imagine that, 8 spectators in the gym, 2 offcials, about 14 players and three table people. Probably pretty quiet during free throws.

[Back In The Saddle]

I've worked men's leagues where the majority of the players suffered from Adult Onset Tourrette's.