Austin, TX Bans Firefighters from Sports On-Duty

[PlayWiFire]

I can see both sides of the issue. You have management that is watching the bottom line and labor that wants the action. I would like to keep the option of playing sports for excercise. However; we firefighters need to remember that we are not like Mike when playing basketball and police ourselves with the contact.

[MMCNEAL]

Clearly, the decision to ban this type of physical activity was a management and fiscal responsibility issue. Our department does not ban this activity but we have neighboring jurisdictions that do. Yes, its not popular with the workforce, but there are other methods of physical activity that provide the cardiovascular and strength training required for firefighters. Maybe the money saved on injuries could be used for other p.t. equipment or incentives. If nothing else would that money be avail. toward salaries? Three hundred thousand a year would fund 6 more firefighter positions in our department.

[Captain88]

My crew and I got into a little trouble playing wiffleball in the side yard of the station with kids from around the neighborhood. I don't understand. We were getting some PT in, and we were doing some good PR with the neighbors too. So instead of getting those two things accomplished, we now sit on the couch and chair and do nothing

[ffguy083]

This is an interesting thread... I'm not real clear though. Is the ban from contact sports? or from any sports at all because of contact during no contact sports?

If the ban is from contact sports, that is quite reasonable.

If the ban is because of injuries received by some from participating in full contact basketball, it seems to be on the surface a knee jerk reaction. Why not ban contact sports on duty, and then discipline those who ignore the bans?

Sure, Staff could require all sorts of mandatory fitness stuff, but that is usually a joke. With sports, everyone usually joins in, and often times it becomes the beginning of some sort of work out program.

Oh well... just remember... Chiefs come and go, but Firefighters are forever.....