New York calls kickball and freeze tag ‘risky activities’

New York has deemed kickball risky. Photo: Todd Borner

New York state legislators at the Health Department have created a new list of “risky activities” in order to broaden what facilities and programs would fall under the designation of a summer camp and be subjected to state regulation and fees.

Currently, any program that participates in two or more organized recreational activities that include at least one “risky” activity would qualify as a summer camp, according to the New York Daily News.

And what are some of the activities now deemed hazardous to your child’s health? Games like dodge ball, freeze tag, kickball, Red Rover and even Wiffle Ball make the list.

State Sen. Patty Ritchie (R-St. Lawrence County), who opposed the action, said she doesn’t think “Wiffle Ball is a dangerous sport,” adding, “It looks like Albany bureaucrats are looking for kids to just sit in a corner in a house all day and not be outside.”

Harlem mother Deborah Graham, 51, agreed with Ritchie’s sentiment, saying that being indoors all summer was more harmful than any of the newly deemed risky activities, telling the paper, “You could develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome [playing video games.] And when [kids] eat, eat and eat, they get diabetes. That’s dangerous.”

The original law regarding summer camp designation was passed in 2009, and was endorsed by the Camp Directors Association who also helped compile the new list. Previous activities added to the list were things like scuba diving and archery.

Ritchie was also concerned that the new rules would “cripple” smaller recreational programs, many designed to serve lower-income families, because of the added expense of registration fees and requirements that they have trained medical staff on site.

But a spokeswoman for the Health Department disagreed with Ritchie, claiming that most New York City programs already are in compliance with state regulations.

One mother, Kim Wainwright, agrees with the state’s action, and was quoted as saying, “Kids these days are kinda brutal so I can see those games being dangerous.”