How To Manage Team Sports When Your Child Has Food Allergies
There are so many things affected by food allergies. It’s because food is an integral part of EVERY aspect of our lives! Not only do food allergies affect our mealtimes and snacks, but they also affect all other parts of our life from school to travel and even sports activities.
Now, I don’t have a whole lot of team sports background. One daughter is a dancer and yes, she does dance twice a week, but she doesn’t dance competitively so we don’t spend weekends with the team. My allergic daughter plays basketball, and again, it is in a relaxed setting so no weekends away. That said, I have a few ideas about ways to manage team sports that I know you’ll find helpful.
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but here are a few things to consider before team registration day.
Is your food allergy child READY to be a part of a team sport?
This has nothing to do with their sports ability but more to do with their food allergy habits. Managing their food allergy will be mainly up to them while they’re practicing or playing so you need to feel confident in a couple of things:
Do they put their hands in their mouth or touch their face often (this may especially be a problem for younger kids)?
Do they wash or wipe their hands without prompting before eating?
Will they feel confident asking their coach if food is safe before eating?
The point here is to focus on how your child will keep themselves safe when with the team and whether you can feel confident in their abilities.
Are YOU ready for your food allergy child to be part of a team sport?
Keep in mind that you will not be able to control what others do. EVEN if you do talk to the team parents, you cannot ask them to change what they eat or touch before they come to practice. Because even if you were to agree with the whole team about what foods they should avoid, unfortunately, people forget or they do it anyway. It’s human nature for even the most caring/empathetic person.
This means you won’t be able to create a completely food-free or food-safe environment. I feel like it’s better to think of this now because the last thing you want is to create a false sense of security where you and the coaches think your child is safe and they’re really not. I suggest that instead of food-free controls you think about creating protocols or routines that may be safer than team food avoidance, in the long run, anyway.
So are you ready with this mindset?
If so, then you’ll need to decide how you’ll deal with it on your end. This means training your little and prepping them. The silver lining is that you’ll also be prepping them for life in the real world too!
A big part of being ready is having the right tools to manage food allergies during the sport. For example, do you have an epinephrine case that can keep your child’s epinephrine cool enough on hot days outside? Or warm enough if it’s cold? Do you have your emergency plan updated and copies made for the coaches and volunteers?
How to explain food allergies to the team
In my opinion, you want to explain the allergies to the coach for sure. Then, you can decide together how to manage talking to the rest of the team volunteers or parents. Because even if you’re not asking the team to avoid food, everyone who will be helping with the team must know about the allergy and possibly how to identify a reaction and treat it, if needed.
To start the conversation off, I have a handy tip that I talk about in the following video. The video talks about teachers, but this can be used for coaches too!
What do you need to talk to the coach about?
Given how we won’t be able to control what happens before and after practice, focus on what happens during the practice.
1. Does wiping down the equipment prior to practices and games seem reasonable?
This will depend on your child’s age and their ability to keep themselves safe by not putting hands in their mouth and touching their face. You’ll probably want to think this through in the beginning, before talking to the coach. For example, if your child uses only their own hockey sticks, it may not be a problem; but if it’s another sport like basketball, it may be a little harder to wipe down 10-20 balls every practice. It would likely be you doing this task so you’ll have to think about what responsibilities you’re able to take on. It may just be better to wait one more year and work on your child’s habits instead of volunteering for wipe down duty every single practice and game.
2. What allergy-friendly snacks will the team eat?
How can you help the team choose and provide safe snacks for all the teammates? If you need help with this, check out the Moms Of Young Kids With Severe Food Allergies. It’s a great Facebook community of helpful moms where you can ask for ideas!
3. How are meals handled for celebrations and team competitions/tournaments when there’s a child with food allergies?
How can you help make these safer for your child? Are you able to help plan and execute these meals?
4. Where will your food allergy child’s epinephrine and emergency plan be kept during practice and games?
How will the location of these things be communicated to coaches and volunteers?
5. How will the coach, staff and volunteers be trained to manage food allergies?
If they’re not already trained, how will the team coaches and volunteers learn what anaphylaxis is and when to use the epinephrine? Are they willing and able to take a free Allergy Aware online course or will you train them?
6. Does the coach seem receptive to managing food allergies?
If the coach seems resistant to talking about and managing allergies, or you have any doubts, you may want to reconsider that specific team. Is there another option out there for your child?
Team sports are a commitment and the last thing you want is to feel worried and afraid each and every time your child goes to practice or games.
7. What food allergy protocols will be put in place?
Teammates need to be taught that food, drink and water bottle sharing is not ok (both because of germs AND food allergies). Other protocols like wiping hands when arriving to practice may be a consideration too. Think this through and think about what is reasonable given your child’s age. Then chat with your coach to see what might work for them. Remember not to let fears overtake your thoughts here. You want to be safe, but it also needs to be doable and reasonable.
Conclusion
Remember, it is important to let your child experience life!
As with anything with food allergies, team sports take extra care and attention, but can be done! Just work on good food allergy habits, manage your expectations and keep communication open with the coach and teammates. You can do this, mama!
PLEASE read and SHARE with other food allergy moms and food allergy groups. Sharing IS a great way to help other food allergy moms and allows me to continue creating content. Thank you so much!
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