Player with Cerebral Palsy--A must read

[bard]

I just received this from my president of my local official's association. I would sure appreciate any insight or experiences that you guys could share. I'll likely see this kid this year, and I'm certainly going to want to let him play.

A situation has presented itself in the Lafayette area. A local junior high/middle school has a player that has Cerebal Palsy(sp.?). He has participated in basketball since he was young, but basically has no use of one of his arms. In an effort to enable him to participate with his friends, a brace is placed on his hand/wrist area. This brace has a piece of pliable metal to support the hand/wrist area, and then it is wrapped with soft padding.

Clearly, in the Rule Book(Rule 3-5, Art.1), it states that this is an illegal item and should not be permitted. The Case Book, starting on pg. 20, also supports this illegality. In the situations that were described to me, the officials handling this situation were correct in their application of the rules.

However, since we live in a law-suit happy world; we, as officials are put in a tough situation. The American Disabilities Act can come into play, as can liability issues with the schools. In talking to Ray Craft at the IHSAA, here is how he recommends we handle this situation:

I've encouraged the parents to obtain a physicians statement that states "it is not more dangerous......" and to give some medical parameters to support the brace, the benefits, etc. I've also encouraged the school(AD) to draft a letter that they "have followed the process for approval and these are the results". Mainly because they may experience the same resistance when they play at another location. Hopefully, in future games, the coach will have these statements available to the referee. If you note in the rulebook under 'Exception 1' and in the Case Book on pg.21, even though it's referring to headwear; in paragraph (a) it talks a little about this process.

Now we have 'passed on' our liability to the physician, the school, and the IHSAA; and we don't have to be the enforcer of an unpopular decision in regards to a handicapped child wanting to play ball with his friends. However, it still gives us the generalization that referee's judgement may be necessary. So, if we ever feel that other players are truly in danger or placed at a disadvantage, we need to enforce this rule.

Hopefully, this clarifies the local situation that has occured. There may be many more, and my suggestion would be to handle each one separately. By following these guidelines, we can establish a precedent and a consistent application of the rule within our association.

[Mark Padgett]

While I would love to see this kid be able to play, his brace is a hazard to others. Our primary responsibility is to protect all the players from potential harm.

Sorry - this kid doesn't play in my games if he is wearing that brace. If both sides (the kid's parents if he doesn't play, and the other parents if he plays with it) threaten legal action, I walk away from the game.

[Mregor]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
While I would love to see this kid be able to play, his brace is a hazard to others. Our primary responsibility is to protect all the players from potential harm.

Sorry - this kid doesn't play in my games if he is wearing that brace. If both sides (the kid's parents if he doesn't play, and the other parents if he plays with it) threaten legal action, I walk away from the game.

I have to agree with Mark. This is specifically covered in the rules. If you let the player participate and someone is hurt, then your set-aside of the rule has perpetuated the injury. If you don't let him play, the law suit is against the NFHS to change their rules. We don't write the rules; we enforce them. If we ignore a rule, we open ourselves to liability.

Mregor

[whistleone]

My question would be how much does this kid play? If he's only in for "mop up" duty, I'd be a little more inclined to let him play. If he's scheduled for regular duty, he's more than likely going to find himself on the bench for the night. Seeing as how he has little to no use of one arm, I can't imagine that he sees tons of playing time, although I have seen players with one arm do quite well in bball.

I think it's great that the decision will ultimately come from the state association. Then it's not up to the officials on any given night to have to make the decision. If the officials used the NFHS rules for the basis of their decision, the coaches/administrators could always come back with "an exception could be granted by the state association." With the ruling coming from the state association, all bases are covered.

Not quite sure how I'd handle that I would lean towards the not letting him play with that kind of brace. I have been an official for Illinois Special Olympics basketball(I know it's a little different situation there than this is), but I seem to recall some bigger guys in the games that would wear a boxing head gear and some sort of soft brace for an arm or something. I would be inclined to think that there is some kind of brace out there that didn't have the metal piece to it that would be suitable to protect the kid.

I just want to make it clear that I think it's great that the kid is able to compete with his friends at a normal level, but there has got to be some way to protect him without going against the rules and endangering another kid.

I also have another situation that I ran into last year with a kid playing for his high school team that was deaf. Hear in Missouri there is the Missouri school for the Deaf that participates regualarly in MSHSAA competion and there is no problem because the coaches can comunicate with them in sign language. The situation I had was not with them but with a class 5 High school with only the one kid. The coach never mentioned this to us prior to the game so it was sort of surprising when there was a 2nd person(coach) standing in the coaches box. Actually, there was also another person running the other side of the floor to comunicate with the kid as well. Once we figured out the reasoning for this we allowed it to continue and just ask them to stay as far back as far as they could and on the bench side stay seated as much as possible.( I didn't want to tell them they couldn't stand or translate for the kid so that he wouldn't be able to play).

Just sort of wondering what everyone would have done in that situation.

THank.

[AK ref SE]

I guess my two cents would be......Have the school get a letter from the state.
As stated above. A brace on the wrist is illegal equipment. The Physical Disabilties Act talks about reasonable accomodation.....I do not see where you as an official would have to be afraid of being sued for not allowing the player to participate without a letter from the state. JMHO

AK ref SE

[zebraman]

I agree with AK_ref_SE. I'd love to see the kid play. I don't want the liability. Get a directive from the state and let them take the responsibility. IMHO, the school's coaches and AD should know enough that they need to check on that special situation ahead of time with the highest governing body in the state rather than springing it on the ref.

Z

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Jerry Blum
I also have another situation that I ran into last year with a kid playing for his high school team that was deaf. Hear in Missouri there is the Missouri school for the Deaf that participates regualarly in MSHSAA competion and there is no problem because the coaches can comunicate with them in sign language. The situation I had was not with them but with a class 5 High school with only the one kid. The coach never mentioned this to us prior to the game so it was sort of surprising when there was a 2nd person(coach) standing in the coaches box. Actually, there was also another person running the other side of the floor to comunicate with the kid as well. Once we figured out the reasoning for this we allowed it to continue and just ask them to stay as far back as far as they could and on the bench side stay seated as much as possible.( I didn't want to tell them they couldn't stand or translate for the kid so that he wouldn't be able to play).

Just sort of wondering what everyone would have done in that situation.

THank.

There was a girl here at Oregon City who was deaf that played varsity for two years. She had a translator who worked during the huddle, and if a coach was specifically talking to her. But on the floor, all the players, the bench personnel and even some of the fans and parents had this elaborate set of hand signals that they would all use to let her know what was happening. Anywhere she looked, she could know what to do next, just as the other players could hear from every direction. the signals came from the translator, who had taught them to everyone. The coach would yell something, and the translator would do a big signal, and then everyone else instantly picked it up. It was kind of touching to see all these "accommodations" for her, and it was worth the work -- she was really, really good.

During the state tournaments, there was even a pair of guys (parents? or assistant coaches?) who would stand at strategic locations to block the TV cameras and fans from seeing the signing, so the opponent couldn't find out what was happening.

[rockyroad]

Not only was that girl successful in HS, she also played two years al a local Community College, and is currently playing for a Div. II college...her disability has not hampered her at all, and is certainly not a "danger" to other players...

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by rockyroad
Not only was that girl successful in HS, she also played two years al a local Community College, and is currently playing for a Div. II college...her disability has not hampered her at all, and is certainly not a "danger" to other players...

Thanks for the update, I hadn't followed her career. She is probably a "danger" to the other team, though!!