Pregnancy and Tournaments!!

[mutley]

right havnt had time to read every post so i`l be brieff if a women is pregnant and wants to play nothing is going to stop her. as for armour over the bump the only armour that isnt going to let anything through is hard armour motocross style. now can any one see the flaw in this hard armour, fast moving paintballs soft tourny shell would equal a great big sludge and a quick trip to the dead box. which would result in any femail that determind to play would soon get fed up in the dead box after about 30 seconds.

just my thoughts on the subject

 

[Mark]

If no deep tissue damage could be done by paintballs then why are females adopting breast protection....if this is the case that there is indeed deep tissue damage possiblities then even men should wear this padding...or at the very least be allowed to. As shown in a recent annoucement thread a woman using this breast protection got bounces...which padding isn't supposed to do it is just to protect not get bounces. Look at the mess Dye has gotten in with the padding on the shoulders...not needed it is only for bounces (and yes I wear a Dye top and of course once the rules are totally nailed down I will remove the padding inside) hard protection is fine for this area as why should a woman be treated in any way different to a male...this is supposed to be an equal opportunity game. If the shout of impact ultimately causing cysts or carcenomers (sp?) then I have news for you men can suffer the same medical problems and they don't need to be overweight with man breasts. So if protection is allowed for women then the same goes for men. It has already been noted about a man having a stomach op and then bandaging themselves up to continue playing as not being in the "spirit" of the game the same applys to a pregnant woman...if you don't know fair enough but as soon as you know then stop playing until you have had the baby.

 

[parkrangers]

breast tissue is very different to the tissue in your stomack and yes i did have a problem earlyer in the year with a blood clot in my breast from a very close shot and yes my doctor did have words with me over it, but look im still playing and yes i do know the damage i can do to myself the same as anyone playing ball does, if you boys were shot very close in the b s you may have a few problems also,if you have ever been at the birth of a child you will have seen the amount of water that comes from the sacks that are natures own way of protecting the un born child, i think there are just a few people that are getting out of there depths on this subject if it is really going to get this serious may be its about time we got a doctor to have there input and put it to bed and every bodys minds to rest.
i would never put my boys life at risk and i dont think if i had been playing ball when i was pregnant i would have stoped does that make me a bad mother????????

 

[Gups]

Hiya Robbo, I had a chuckle at your earlier comment about women shouldn't be playing paintball... didn't you know the 'females in paintball movement' is all an evil global plot solely to get your back up Anyway...

Originally posted by Robbo
Ya know Gups, and with no disresepct intended, I don't think your final comment regarding 'medical guidlines' is at all appropriate and is also miselading.
Firstly, whether or not a woman plays whilst she is pregnant is a decsion that should be made by her and her physician, each case would be different and there could be no general allowances.
Secondly, just because a woman plays any sport whilst she is not pregnant does't and can't automatically allow her to play when she is, it's not as easy as that.
Paintball has many situations that can strain and pull muscles, including stomach and pelvic regions.
This not a good area to put under stress whilst pregnant, no matter how progressed the pregnancy is.

The 'medical guidelines' bit wasn't intended to mislead... it's in a booklet all preggy ladies get from their doc which suggests that, with their doctor's say-so, it's fine to continue playing a sport which they are used to playing regularly already. This is because the muscle groups used in that particular sport are already strengthened by the previous playing of that sport so no additional muscle strain is incurred by continuing to play it. A new sport would involve using new muscle groups and so strain would possible.

I have no idea what clinical conditions could erupt with a muliple shot to a confined area

Nor do i Robbo, which is my reason for originally asking what padding would be allowed for pregnant 'ballers, so that shots to that area would not pose a 'threat'.

but I know one thing, why take the chance?

(and in reply to others who have made a similar point...)
Drinking a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, smoking a cigarette, taking iron supplements or medicines, flying, listening to loud music, eating food additives, shelfish, eggs, etc etc all pose a minimal threat whilst pregnant. I don't see, with a doctor's permission and the bump adequately protected, that playing paintball should pose a greater threat than any of these...

There are some interesting and valid points an this thread.One question was asked 'how far pregnant' which i think is very relevent. As 'ParkRangers' said, sometimes you don't even know until the end of the first trimester (3 months). Throughout this time the foetus is completely protected by the pelvis. It's not until about 4 months that the top of the womb protrudes above the pelvis and becomes vulnerable. By 6-7 months the 'bump' would make playing paintball uncomfortable... so i guess i would be talking about the period between discovering one was pregnant and about 6 months-ish, or whenever the person in question felt they no longer could play.

Of course, soon after this we would have the need for a 'babychange/nursing mothers' tent at tournaments....

 

[Dark Warrior]

Chatted to mumsy about this subject and although there are serious implications from a close range hit in the later stages of pregnancy, most women could happily carry on playing during the first weeks. The actual length of time does vary from woman to woman as some do carry well and others balloon up quite quickly.
Mums qualifications
Gave birth to this lard arse on her birthday
Followed on in later life by my brother then my sis
all in between her career - 40 years as a MIDWIFE

 

[Matski]

Re: Re: Pregnancy and Tournaments!!

Originally posted by Gups
Drinking a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, smoking a cigarette, taking iron supplements or medicines, flying, listening to loud music, eating food additives, shelfish, eggs, etc etc all pose a minimal threat whilst pregnant. I don't see, with a doctor's permission and the bump adequately protected, that playing paintball should pose a greater threat than any of these...

I think if you asked a doctor if the medical council, who 'ok' all booklets etc, would consider paintball a sport?.....I very much doubt he'd say yes, as others have said, 90% of doctors, give or take, probably have no idea of the forces involved in paintball......When you have very little knowledge of something the judgements you make are likely to be flawed. 'All paintball players are just paramilitary nuts' for example...

Padding is an unfair advantage, hard padding puts your team at a disadvantage and you could still harm your baby, potentially, by falling over, getting bunkered in the neck and passing out etc etc stuff that does pose a greater threat than drinking a cup of coffee....

 

[Kizzie]

ummm, I recently miscarried and I played PB, but did not know I was preggers. granted I also played a week long basket ball tourney and was knocked about there as well. So I'll never know what was the "true" cause, but let me make this clear, had I known I was expecting I would not have played PB or BB. Also whose to say, maybe neither activities caused the miscarriage, but it's a pretty damn strong argument for it. Do you notice when you are with your small children you always cross on the green, even if the road is clear? But just the thought of doing the something that in the end could have even the slightest chance of going ary you avoid. You must apply that same instinct to the unborn child. The whole issue is principle and your parental instincts. Not padding, not rules, not " it's stupid to play whilst expecting". I find it impossible to think that you don't have the tiniest of voices in your head saying " this may not be the best thing to do". even if less that 1% of your psyche nudges your brain only to question your actions then it's not worth it. SO go cheer, make a banner, do some pod bitching!! you'll be back out there before you know it.

 

[Gyroscope]

We are all guessing about the consequences, doctors included. I cannot believe that this has come up enough for statistic data to be collected.

My gut (no pun intended) tells me that the first trimester, there would be very little risk. There would also be no need for armor/ padding for most mothers.

I would be completely unwilling to risk being involved in a death due to paintball. Therefore, I would not play (until enough data were collected to tell me empirically that it is perfectly safe for the baby). I would insist on better safety statistics for an unborn baby (who did choose to participate) than I would for a player old enough to understand what the risks are and weigh them for themselves. Obviously, I would not wish to be part of gathering data on preganancy in paintball, but I don't begrudge anyone else the choice.

I think that any sensible tournament organizer would feel much the same. Why take such a (financial and public relations) risk? Aside from any moral consideration, I can't see it- until my data is in.

How much padding, Gups? I recommend a net about thirty feet high that will not allow and shell fragments larger than 1/4 inch to pass through, at a distance from the mother of 5 feet.


edit: awesome topic- it has been dumber and dumber lately.

 

[JoseDominguez]

Being charged into by a frontman who's not looking where he is going isn't safe at any stage in pregnancy. Not really got much to do with the paintballs......... I think most medical practitioners will agree that full body contact from another human being at full speed isn't good..... and no amount of padding is going to protect from that. And remember, we are talking tournament here....... so should the other team agree not to run around? I know over aggressive play is against the rules, as is full body contact........... I'm sure mother nature will take that into account when it happens.

 

[Burb]

Holy crap.

Jesus! What a debate.

Personally I wouldn't play against a pregnant lady, if I was the one to cause injury to a child I would probabbly top myself.

The list of things not to do when pregnant is enormous! Don't drink caffenine, alchol, don't smoke, try and avoid foreign foods, stay away from food with too much artificial produce. If you have a fall go to the hospital, if you have a sickness go to the hosptial...etc... The list goes on! I feel we are a little paranoid in this day and age with all the sterilizing bottles, dummies, not heating water more than once to make the milk - infact it's crazy!

But to play paintball whilst pregnant?! That's just insane. IMO it would make Jordan look like a responsible mother!

Protection? Nothing short of a Mr Blooby suit would be surfice - and for an tournament organiser to knowingly allow such activities? Madness.

Aside from the obvious welt type injurys, what about the injurys sustained from Tripping and landing on your gun? I've done that! Or doing a dodgy slide and landing on a pretruding peg?

Oh well! Im a man, what do I know?