The height/weight chart has a purpose. The purpose is to protect youth and leaders alike from being put into a life or death situation. BUT! What if you are just a few pounds over the max? What if you are physically fit, and healthy? What if you are muscular and not just fat? Who exactly determines to strictly enforce this said chart? There has to be some judgement involved in determining who can or cannot participate in troop or high adventure activities.
So what exactly does strictly enforced mean? A healthy active person cannot participate if they are a few pounds over the max weight. That right there would knock out a Majority of leaders in BSA. Maybe instead of saying strictly enforced, how about using the weight/height chart as a guide line and let you and your doctor decide weather you are fit and healthy for specific if not all outdoor activities.
If any group decides to do a physically demanding activity or a high adventure trip, for example Philmont, I would hope they would start training way in advance of their trip. I can almost guarantee that if anyone takes off on a trek they will be under the max weight within a few days anyway. I would almost bet that some who fall within these so called standards would not be fit enough for the activities either. I think we better use this H/W chart as a guide line instead of strictly enforcing it. This could hurt Troops and Crews in providing quality programs.
Get your petition below!
I would use a height/weight chart as an indicator as this is a very broad sort of statistic. To further analyse the risk I would then turn to Body Mass Index (BMI) and a general fitness assessment to get more meaningful data to work with.
cheers Rikki
http://rikkiresources.wordpress.com/
Rikki, you are right on with my thinking. Take me for example, I’m less than 10 pounds from being kicked out of high adventure, yet, I wear clothes that I used to have to be 15 pounds lighter to wear. I work with a trainer and exercise regularly, so my muscle weight has gone way up. If this is to be taken strictly, as indicated on the form, then they would lose a climbing instructor and cope facilitator who has worked awfully hard to be in the best physical shape of her adult life.
The form also limits the participation in training such as Wood Badge. My husband is in the process of earning his Wood Badge and he couldn’t believe they would limit that because his experience has not been high adventure, or far from medical care at any point.
[...] He then asks what strict adherence means or should mean. [...]
I guess most outings are within half an hour of medical care so it doesn’t affect even overweight Boy Scouts and Scouters that much. I’m out of line with these requirements, but I’m still not against them. I do think the BSA should stand for physically fit where being so may mean the difference between getting out okay or getting out at all. I just need to kick my rear in gear and try to represent the values we all swear by each week.
Reading the Official BSA discussion on this it seems like a loose enforcement of the rule. Philmont and other High Adventure have had weight restrictions for some time. This is suggested and the 30 minute point is being highly discussed as well.
Me I am way over the weight and trying to work on it every single day. I don’t think I was in the chart in High School when I played baseball, swam and wrestled. I will do my best and know my limits.
I found the loophole ! ” but is not mandatory” Sounds like the new health form contradicts itself. Again this should be an individual judgement call between scouts/scouters and their doctor.
Individuals desiring to participate in any high-adventure activity or events in which emergency evacuation would take longer than 30 minutes by ground transportation will not be permitted to do so if they exceed the weight limit as documented at the bottom of this page. Enforcing the height/weight limit is strongly encouraged for all other events, but it is not mandatory. (For healthy height/weight guidelines, visit http://www.cdc.gov.)
Robin, who is the keeper of all things Troop 483 Medical Forms, made a very good point. She said that these are optional at this point. They will go into effect next year. So, we ‘could’ all use it as incentive to push a little harder to get to where we need to be before then. OR… we can use the loop hole that Gary found. Either way, I’m still going to do high adventure camping. So there!
Actually it is MANDATORY for ALL activities outside the 30 minute rule, only RECOMMENDED for any other activities like sitting around doing crafts etc or overnight camping. This is all so ridiculous. this will essentially shut down our troop, and my husband could not go on the Sea Base adventure trip because he is over the weight limit even though he outswam all the leaders that are under the weight, he is a captain on the fire dept and has fully handled hauling all that equipment around for years, not to mention half of a 700lb roll of carpet.They say it is because the ladders only hold 300,but we have been on pontoons, catamarans in Mexico and snorkeled and he dived without any problem. Are these ladders deficient in some way?
This is going to send the BSA out .
The form directs you to the CDC web page for clarification, see the bolded red comments. I was a college and professional athlete and I have never fit within the “recommended weight” even when I had 3% body fat… But muscular athlete Scout Leaders take heart and read below (see: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/):
“If an athlete or other person with a lot of muscle has a BMI over 25, is that person still considered to be overweight?
According to the BMI weight status categories, anyone with a BMI over 25 would be classified as overweight and anyone with a BMI over 30 would be classified as obese.
It is important to remember, however, that BMI is not a direct measure of body fatness and that BMI is calculated from an individual’s weight which includes both muscle and fat. As a result, some individuals may have a high BMI but not have a high percentage of body fat. For example, highly trained athletes may have a high BMI because of increased muscularity rather than increased body fatness. Although some people with a BMI in the overweight range (from 25.0 to 29.9) may not have excess body fatness, most people with a BMI in the obese range (equal to or greater than 30) will have increased levels of body fatness.
It is also important to remember that weight is only one factor related to risk for disease. If you have questions or concerns about the appropriateness of your weight, you should discuss them with your healthcare provider. ”
So, research this link, take this quote in with the form and talk it over with your healthcare provider – if you’re the muscular athlete they’re talking about, the healthcare provider will hopefully write an exception…