Playing safe

Recent deaths of North Carolina high school football players signal the need for closer medical supervision

Yes, it's a tough sport. And yes, some risk is always involved. High school football players know it, and so do their parents. Safety is on everyone's mind, and toward that end, equipment at all levels of the sport is better and there is more awareness of conditioning and the possibility of injury than in times past.

Still, the recent deaths of three high school players in North Carolina, including a player from Greenville's J.H. Rose High School who died the day after a game on Sept. 19, underline a need for stricter standards of oversight. The News & Observer's Tim Stevens and Roger van der Horst reported on the issue Sunday.

Jaquan Waller, 16, suffered a mild concussion at a practice on Sept. 17. Then, after being tackled in that Sept. 19 game, he suffered severe swelling of the brain. He died the next day. The medical examiner in the case determined that Waller had died as a result of "second impact syndrome," a rare condition prompted by two minor head injuries that happen within a short time span. An expert from UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of Exercise and Sport Science told The N&O that a player should never go into a football game three days after a concussion.

The death of Waller is being investigated by Pitt County schools, and officials are thus not discussing it in detail. But it is known that a teaching assistant who is not a licensed athletic trainer was the one who evaluated Waller's condition after his injury at the practice.

About half the state's 460 high schools have access to a licensed trainer, but they are not required to have one. Others use people certified in first aid and CPR who have taken injury prevention and management courses. Certified trainers, however, must have four-year degrees in sports medicine or athletic training, certification from a national organization, protocols approved by a physician and continuing education.

Certainly one lesson to be learned from the deaths of Waller and the other players is that all schools must have licensed trainers. In these cases, it appears that coaches showed caution, and those charged with supervising the players did what they believed were the right things in the context of their training. And all three deaths vary in possible causes. But common sense dictates that having a licensed trainer on the premises is a safety step that must be taken.

There are some difficulties in finding trainers, and of course the expense is a factor -- Pitt County officials said, for example, that they could hire trainers full-time only if they also teach.

But protecting the health and safety of athletes in a strenuous contact sport must become a priority. Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, the UNC-CH expert, says that every school should have a trainer and that athletes should undergo what he called "baseline" testing before the start of a season.

That ought to be the one and only acceptable standard for North Carolina's high schools. And if need be, state legislators should write it into law and provide the money for the necessary hirings.