In the wake of the death of Harrison High School center Fermin Vialpando, the question becomes: What can be done to prevent future sports-related deaths at the high school level?
The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research reported eight indirect deaths during prep football games in 2005. Of those eight, three were heart related, one was from lightning, one from extreme heat and three were attributed to causes unknown.
The Colorado High School Activities Association follows national guidelines on safety and conditioning, and makes bulletins available that emphasize proper hydration, equipment guidelines, safe tackling procedure and physical conditioning.
“You always want to go back and look to see if you were taking the proper steps to ensure the safety of the athletes,” said Bert Borgmann, assistant commissioner of the CHSAA.
Every competitor in Colorado prep sports is required to take a physical before he or she can practice with the team, which is when early warning signs are hopefully noticed.
“The physicals (required) are good, but it’s not a clinical physical that takes 45 minutes where you get a blood test and ear test and all of that,” said Darryl Miller, the athletic trainer for the Denver Prep League.
Said Borgmann: “You don’t know if you’ll catch everything, and that’s the tough part.”
Mark Buderus, football coach of Florence High School for the past 22 years, said everything that can be done is being done.
“It depends on the doctor. A kid could have two or three physicals and they maybe won’t find it (a warning sign),” Buderus said.
Roderick Upshaw is in a unique position as football coach of Ridge View Academy. Ridge View is a correctional institute in which students never leave the campus and are closely scrutinized in their daily lives.
“We’re monitoring their every-day activity. They get physicals and checkups randomly,” Upshaw said. “So many kids are doing stuff (supplements) to get stronger and faster – I think something does need to be done. I think as coaches, players and parents we will need to take extra precautions.”
While ever-increasing medical technology allows for better understanding of students’ physical well-being, there always will be an element of the unknown involved.
“We hope everybody understands the inherent problems that come with participating in any sport,” Borgmann said.
