High school coach faces criminal charges after player's death

http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-general/20090122/Player.Death.Charges/


These things happen every summer, but I don't recall a coach facing criminal charges for it.

 

Beat me by two minutes! So, how does this change the high school landscape when two-a-days begin in August?

 

Listen, I've done Hell Week and it sucks major ass but at a certain point, when you're a player, if you feel like you're about to die, you need to sit the next couple of reps out. I know coaches don't like that and think you're dogging it, but you're doing yourself (and ultimately the team) a disservice by collapsing and getting legitimately sick/in danger.

 

Easier said than done. Kids can put a LOT of pressure -- just internally, I mean -- on themselves to make the team that they push themselves harder than is healthy to reach that goal.

The problem in high school athletics, instead of colleges or pros, is that these coaches (sometimes volunteer, almost always as a side job to teaching) are often undereducated on the health risks and don't know when to stop. Can't put that type of responsibility on kids who are just following orders.

 

yep, because 15-, 16- and 17-year-old kids are all about common sense.

 

This case is going to bear careful watching.

 

This happened in my backyard. I don't know all the details, but I believe there was a girls soccer game or scrimmage going on nearby. Supposedly, parents watching that game overheard coaches chiding the kids for even asking for water.

The accused played at U of L under Howard Schnellenberger and even played briefly for the Giants (might have been a taxi squader).

It hasn't been a great academic year for PRP. In addition to the controversy surrounding the football team, the school's principal had a DVO levied against him to protect his estranged wife and teenage son, who attended the same school. While the order mandated that the principal stay 1,000 feet away from his kid, he was still able to work at the school.

 

I think this could be one of the biggest stories in high school sports in several years. It could set a chilling precedent. I wouldn't want to be a coach or administrator if this guy is convicted in criminal court or found responsible in civil proceedings.

By the way, what's a DVO?

 

Domestic Violence Order

 

That's actually a somewhat sophomoric interpretation. If your body is so damaged that you're suffering heat stroke, or some related tragedy 'feeling like you're going to die'.... well, your internal temperature is already so high, that you most likely are dying, as in your insides are melting. We are talking about kids. It is most certainly up to the coaches to regulate what is going on and to make sure NONE of their players reach that level of stress.

 

What did the coach do wrong specifically? It would have been nice to know. Did he not give enough water breaks? Practice too long? What's the deal?

In high school we trained for XC in the summer when it was 90-100 degrees. But was our coach negligent? No way. We knew the dangers.

 

I think that's why there was an indictment. Something must have happened. And I'm sorry, you personally knowing the dangers doesn't mean someone else's behavior isn't negligent.