The new shoelace is the metered dose inhaler and it is out of control. tie match in the third?, overtime?, feelings hurt? time to get out the 'ol asthma inhaler for some matside respiratory therapy. Here is the joke...patients with reactive airway disease are prescribed rescue inhalers with instruction to use before exercise. If wrestlers did this there would be no need for reuse during a 3-6 minute match. In other words if you have asthma use the inhaler BEFORE the match, like you tape your laces before the match! if you have a more severe condition that requires during match use on occasion then you should be required to have a dr's note on file. OTHERWISE IN MATCH INHALER USE SHOULD BE PENALIZED just the same as the laces rule

Although I agree it is pretty over used, you can not penalize or question a medical condition. Huge liability on the official. They are not doctors, they are officials. Second time out is a choice of position. That's the rule and good enough for me.

Oh boy….. If it’s happening a lot on your end I would be frustrated also. I personally haven’t seen it much at all this season. Once a couple weeks ago but the wrestler didn’t do it during the match, it was after he got stuck late in the 3rd. He laid on the mat for a good 5 minutes before they got it back under control.

I don’t disagree with you but guess there is a fine line in this day and age with safety and stalling tactics. What happens if the kid doesn’t do it because he knows it will cost him a point and then has a serious medial reaction? Does it become a judgment call? That probably wouldn’t go well either way.

Having kids in my club with them (to date they have never stopped a match for them) I have seen them use them before practice and then legitimately need them again during practice. Practice is longer than the match as you said but I’m not sure I won’t to be the one that is responsible for a kid falling out.

I like your Dr’s note idea but at the same time probably not that hard to get a Dr. to write it and we are back in the same boat.

i agree they are not Dr's and shouldn't be made to make a medical decision but the governing body could keep info on file for those individuals with pervasive enough conditions to warrant in match use the rest can pre-medicate as those inhalers are meant to be used. The medical fact of the matter is there are VERY few people with asthma so bad that a pre-exercise dose would not preclude in match use...people with reactive airway disease that bad don't play sports generally. How many youth football/basketball/insert team sport here players have you seen run to use their inhaler every 6 minutes? I know how many I have seen ZERO... all the bad asthmatics must be wrestling

I think the inconvenience of the Dr's note will take care of 80% of the problem, yeah some people will still do it but it will eliminate the coach keeping it in the med bag for "strategic" use. Metered dose inhalers are so ubiquitous that anyone can get their hands on them therein lies the problem

I remember back when there were "unlimited" injury time outs (I think you still only had 1:30- 1996-1997 season) and I feel it was abused back then. I like the rule as it states now with the second injury time giving the opposing wrestler choice of position and third injury time being a DQ.

I am going to state I was one of those wrestlers who had to use my inhaler between matches. However, I tried to use between periods (if I had to use it) in an attempt not to slow down the match too much. I grew up with severe asthma and had to take breathing treatments and seeing all sorts of specialist while younger. I was told it would be difficult for me to participate in sports because of this. However, I credit wrestling for helping me learn to control my breathing better and learning to control my asthma (I did not get OK'ed by my doctor to even try wrestling until high school).

Whether or not it is abused now it is difficult to say. Remember these are young children not high schoolers (I am assuming). I also agree with Beeson, there would be too much liability on an official's hands to determine whether or not the use of an inhaler is warranted. They are under liability now when dealing with concussions, to add this is just going to discourage more young people from officiating.

Sorry for writing a book.

how bout this...pre-match kid has to declare and show the inhaler if they want it available for use in match and it must be administered (at least 1 puff) pre-match from then on it may only be used in between periods as needed except it MAY NOT be used prior to sudden victory. The match may be stopped for inhaler use but its a penalty following the format 1-1-2-DQ

so your telling me, that if a kid is having an asthma attack, you would not let them use the inhaler? Sounds like a lawsuit to me. My son has asthma and uses an inhaler. Very rarely do we need it in a match. We had to once this year. He was wrestling and an asthma attack hit. Had not had one in two years. Hit so hard we forfeited the match. So you can never tell when or where an attack will hit. Lets go ahead and punish a kid for a medical condition. Lets force more kids out. Smart!

No of course not we get medical clearance for skin conditions kids with a legitimate need for an inhaler for in match use can do the same thing. The reality is that 80-90% of the inhaler use I've seen in wrestling is to gain a competitive advantage as a stall tactic, and I'm of the belief that that advantage could be mitigated through some sort of certification, that's it, super simple

or here we go just like for school use, if a kid wants to use an inhaler at any point in the match they must have a prescription label with their name on it on the inhaler presented at the scorer's tablet pre-match? so unless your coach or uncle or sunday school teacher is also a Dr and writes you an Rx so you can cheat, you are out of luck. I mean we don't allow kids to take prescription meds at school without a labeled rx why do we do it at a wrestling tournament

I would like to pipe in, if a kid has asthma then they have the right to use whenever needed. Do not punish a kid for having asthma and second of all it is KIDS wrestling. So what is the big deal anyway so it is triple overtime and it is tied up and you loose the match so what it is KIDS wrestling That kid sucking on that inhaler did not win or loose the match based on the inhaler they either won or lost by the fact of who had the most heart in that match. The kid that lost should get in better shape and work harder to beat him the next time THAT IS WHY WE WRESTLE.



Tony Miller

If you lost because of one time out for an inhaler, you are just making excuses. WRESTLE!!

I am assuming the same loopholes that allow the wonton inhaler use in kids wrestling is the same in high school in the sense that prescription labeling isnt required? FYI the albuterol in those inhalers also has a stimulant effect so when used by someone not actively having an asthma attack they get a small kick out of it. It seems to be more of a liability that wrestling doesn't at least require the kid using the inhaler have a prescription label on it indicating legitimate use. The problem isnt asthmatics using their inhalers its kids and parents using the inhalers to stall who don't even have an Rx for an inhaler IT IS PRUDENT FROM BOTH A LIABILITY STANDPOINT AND COMPETITIVE INTEGRITY STANDPOINT THAT ANY INHALER USED DURING COMPETITION BE LABELED WITH A PRESCRIPTION LABEL BEARING THE COMPETITORS NAME that's all I'm saying and that to do otherwise should be penalized

FYI albuterol is classified as a PED at the college level and above and a TUE need be obtained for inhaler use over a certain level it is chemically similar to clenbuterol and can have the same mild adrenergic effects when taken orally. This is what is being used without regulation for many uses that have nothing to do with asthma by dozens of competitors at every wrestling tournament I've attended, KIDS tournaments--I am going to go out on a limb a say most on the forum would not be in favor of prescription stimulants being used by competitors who dont have rx's for them, Adderall and the like. I'm just saying if your using an inhaler you should have to produce evidence you have a prescription for it within the last year

What is the true question here? If a wrestler needs to use injury time for inhaler usage, then it is granted under injury time, just like any other possible injury a wrestler may encounter or come up with during a match. Therefore a wrestler can use the inhaler 2x during a match. After 2nd usage, opponent will have choice of position.

Sounds like a bunch of damn whining to me.

Who is more upset the kid or the coach or the parent, I bet the kid has already forgot about it and has moved forward. Not everyone is a winner but society seems to think so. Cowboy up quit whining and wrestle. This a good lesson for the wrestler also teaching them a good lesson in "LIFE". Life is not fair and it is what it is sometimes get over it. Work Harder.
"Remember that if you go the extra mile it is not as crowded"

Disclaimer...This isn't meant to be a negative comment, this is meant to be good advice....Beeson is absolute right on this one. I've wrestled people who have stopped matched for various different reasons. I'd take a drink of water and stay focused on the match. You can look at this situation in two ways. Complain and worry about what your opponent is doing, or Focus on your wrestler and make sure they don't see this as their opponent's advantage and lose focus on the match.

This thread was not began in an attempt to limit legitimate use of inhalers for asthmatic kids. It was began as an attempt to regulate inhaler use in such a way so that ONLY those kids can use them. In my informed opinion the level at which inhalers are used in kids wrestling would indicate fairly widespread ILLEGITIMATE use by kids who don't currently have a prescription for them. Does this make sense or am I living in an alternate reality

Is it really that broadly used in the kids division? Frankly, I haven't seen it. I do see it more in high school wrestling.