The problem is, if you take a point away, you are punishing the majority of kids who are ethical and only use it when needed. If it is a close match, the kid who really does need it won't want the penalty and then it's too late. The asthma flares up could end him in the hospital. It is a very scary thing not to be able to breathe - my son takes precautionary meds as well as "releif" inhalers and still ended up in the hospital for 5 days recently. You just can't mess with kids with asthma - it is too serious. The real issue isn't the inhalers, it is the integrity of the child/parent/coach. For those people who take advantage of it (and trust me, I have seen that happen), they would take advantage of anything, whether it would be inhalers, injury, drawing blood etc.....just to stop the match. I am all for an injury timeout though, just not points taken off. That's too much pressure for a kid to have to decide whether his asthma is bad enough, especially in the heat of battle, when he can't breathe, for points to be taken off. I would hate to lose a match in the finals due to a health issue which you didn't ask for and don't want but can't do anything about it....again though, it's not the inhalers, it's the integrity.....
