Infected Mats

[BigDogDaddy]

Are mats tested before...during...after the season for ringworm? Is there a mandate fromm TSSAA that this is done. Is there independent testing? Should there be? Reconditioning a mat cost $2m+ New mats cost $5m+.

 

With the financial pressure on school boards and ADs, are infected mats, being overlooked to save a buck?

Edited December 29, 2003 by BigDogDaddy

[mjgIII]

Are mats tested before...during...after the season for ringworm

 

How would you recommend that testing be carried out?

[nununu]

Why should there be testing. Each individual school should know the procedure for cleaning their mats. Most schools clean their mats thoroughly, and if a wrestler catches ringworm, its usually from another wrestler who escaped detection, or from a nonwrestler. It is not the mat.

[sundancer]

BDD - The previous posts are pretty accurate. Typically the ringworm is trasmitted from wrestler to wrestler. There have been instances where the mats were not properly cared for and had become so worn and broken down that the ringworm was imbedded into the interior of the mats. In those instances the only way to stop the spread, is to have the mats refurbished.

 

You are correct that most County School Systems, including Athletic Directors, will not cover the expense of refurbishing mats. The only time I have seen them address the purchase of mats is when they open new schools. Even in those cases, the county did not purchase mats for their existing schools, so why should they be purchasing them for the new schools they open today?

 

Booster clubs, parents and alumni have to raise the money to purchase new mats &/or refurbish the existing mats.

[Kris Smith]

I have friends from up north go to a match with me and they noticed that the mats were not being cleaned beteween the matches and were concerned why our schools do not do this. I never paid it attention until that moment and I realized that never do I see them during a tournament being cleaned, except for when blood is on the mat. I think this is something that should be looked into.

[takedown3]

I wrestled in high school and college from the mid '60s to the early '70's. I have no recollection of the epidemic of ring worm that wrestlers now have to contend with. Then again, nobody from north Georgia was wrestling then! I recall practicing a modicum of hygene with our wrestling mats but our practice uniforms sporadically made it to the wash.

[DoctorEvil]

Fewer kids shower than in the past. Fewer teams require it than in the past.