Covid and Kids

“𝙔𝒆𝙨𝒕𝙚𝒓𝙙𝒂𝙮 𝙡𝒆𝙛𝒕 𝒎𝙚 𝙨𝒉𝙖𝒌𝙚𝒏 𝒐𝙣 𝙨𝒐 𝒎𝙖𝒏𝙮 𝙡𝒆𝙫𝒆𝙡𝒔, 𝙖𝒏𝙙 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝒕𝙞𝒍𝙡 𝙥𝒓𝙤𝒄𝙚𝒔𝙨𝒊𝙣𝒈 𝒘𝙝𝒂𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝒊𝙩𝒏𝙚𝒔𝙨𝒆𝙙. 𝑶𝙗𝒔𝙚𝒓𝙫𝒊𝙣𝒈 𝒎𝙮 𝙙𝒂𝙪𝒈𝙝𝒕𝙚𝒓’𝒔 𝒕𝙚𝒏𝙣𝒊𝙨 𝙩𝒐𝙪𝒓𝙣𝒂𝙢𝒆𝙣𝒕 𝒕𝙪𝒓𝙣𝒆𝙙 𝙞𝒏𝙩𝒐 𝒂𝙣 𝙪𝒏𝙚𝒙𝙥𝒆𝙘𝒕𝙚𝒅 𝒔𝙩𝒖𝙙𝒚 𝒐𝙣 𝙮𝒐𝙪𝒕𝙝 𝙝𝒆𝙖𝒍𝙩𝒉, 𝙖𝒏𝙙 𝙬𝒉𝙖𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝙤𝒖𝙣𝒅 𝒘𝙖𝒔 𝒖𝙣𝒔𝙚𝒕𝙩𝒍𝙞𝒏𝙜.

Here’s the reality: 𝟏 𝐢𝐧 𝟒 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩. That’s not an exaggeration—I counted. And it gets worse. My daughter's opponent arrived late, visibly unwell, and admitted to vomiting twice before the match. Throughout their game, she dry heaved repeatedly and even appeared to throw up into a bag on the court. Shockingly, there’s no @usta rule addressing this, but in @ibjjf, vomiting is an instant disqualification—it’s a primal “I’m tapping out” signal from the body.

The first round was outside. The second and third? Indoors. My wife, daughter and I wore respirators, bracing ourselves for judgmental looks. And they came. When she pointed out kids staring at her, I turned around just in time to see one of those kids cough directly into her dad’s face.

The most haunting part? The parents. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭. Apathy in the midst of a germ storm.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 ‘𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭’ 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬' 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?”