The committee reached its decision based on its desire to emphasize health and safety for student-athletes. Members cited Rule 3.9.1 in the 2007-08 NCAA Wrestling Rules and Interpretations, which states that "A physician or a certified athletic trainer shall examine all contestants for communicable skin diseases before all tournaments and meets." Rule 3.9.3 also requires the medical checks to be conducted on each day at the site.
Committee members have stressed the point of conducting skin checks to wrestling stakeholders by highlighting these policies in the rules book. Every NCAA school that sponsors wrestling also received a DVD that contained a 15-minute segment about skin disease. The 15-minute video can be viewed online at www.NCAA.org.
The committee said the medical examinations are important because of recent cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a staph infection that was more commonly found in hospitals but has crept into athletics.
MRSA outbreaks have occurred throughout locker rooms and clubhouses at every level of sport recently, and it has increased the awareness of the infectious disease.
"People need to take this seriously," said NCAA Wrestling Secretary-Rules Editor Bob Bubb. "It is in the best interests of the student-athletes, and it is in the rule book."
In 2005 and 2007, the state of Minnesota suspended high school wrestling more than a week due to skin disease outbreaks, and professional teams have disinfected their entire training and locker areas when a player acquires a staph infection.
Committee members do not want intercollegiate wrestling student-athletes to experience similar outbreaks.
"In any contact sport, minimizing the risk of infections is of paramount importance," said NCAA Wrestling Committee Chair Brad Traviolia, who is also the deputy commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. "There is a heightened awareness out there. More should be done to protect the student-athlete. By creating more significant rules and following through with the protocol for those rules, the committee believes it is doing the right thing."
Bubb said examinations by physicians, dermatologists or certified athletic trainers at competition sites lessen the chance of spreading communicable skin diseases.
"The kids step up in shorts and you have someone look at the chest, the hairline, the back, the legs and boom, you're done," he said.
Data from the NCAA Injury Surveillance System (1993-2004) indicate that skin infections are associated with at least 20 percent of the time-loss practice injuries in wrestling (primarily herpes simplex and ringworm). Skin infection in fact is the No. 1 reason a wrestler stays off the mat.
Open wounds and infectious skin conditions that cannot be adequately protected should be considered cause for medical disqualification from practice or competition. Many skin infections must be treated for a minimum of 72 hours before the student-athlete wrestles. Wounds or skin conditions deemed as non-infectious must be adequately medicated and covered by a securely attached bandage that can withstand the rigors of competition. Guidelines for the treatment of skin infections can be found in Appendix D of the NCAA Wrestling Rules book (also available online at www.NCAA.org).
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