SportsLinx – Never Again!
K had appendicitis in mid October. All went well and he was back at school by mid November with the proviso that he avoid any sports activity that could place strain on his stomach for the next month or so.
The school were (and always have been) great. But after he’d been back about a week, they announced that his class were going on a school trip to the local SportsLinx centre.
I really was in two minds about him going on this but, as well as the standard permission slip, he came home with a SportsLinx form that had to be completed. The form, though small, was pretty comprehensive and specifically asked for any medical information/history. So, fighting my Mum-like compulsion to immediately avoid anything vaguely “dangerous” (these were all trained SportsLinx professionals after all), I gave my permission for him to go and duly completed the Medical History section of the form. I was very careful to indicate exactly when K had had an appendectomy and specifically said that he was not to be allowed to undertake any activity that would put any strain on his abdomen.
He came home in pain.
On closer questioning, one specific “activity” had caused his pain — sit ups! For glod’s sake, who in their right minds thinks that it’s OK for a child who has had abdominal surgery only 5 weeks previously to try and do sit ups! Not only that but K tried to protest when he was asked to carry out the exercise. He told the “trainer” that he’d had recent surgery. He told her that he wasn’t yet allowed to do anything that “pulled on his tummy”.
Her response?
“Just try…”
So eventually, under adult pressure, he tried. He didn’t even manage 1 sit up before the pain kicked in. He ended up having to sit out the rest of the activities, in pain, with the teachers. There was no apology. No followup from SportsLinx to check that K was OK. And absolutely no explanation as to why their “trainer” didn’t follow my explicit instructions.
Thank you SportsLinx. You have almost certainly contributed — if not actually caused — my 10 year old son to suffer day after day of chronic stomach pain with no end in sight. At this point, I can only hope that karma kicks in and you are repaid for the suffering you may have caused — both to him and to the family as a whole (no summer holidays for us this year).
One thing I do know — hell will freeze over before I allow my son anywhere near SportsLinx again. If your child has any kind of medical problem, I strongly suggest that you do the same.
Leave a Reply