HS Player Collapses And Dies From Heat

[KFDM COOP]

High school football player collapses from heat, dies

from espn.com

TLANTA -- A 15-year-old high school football player died Tuesday from heat stroke after collapsing one day earlier following an offseason workout.

Coroner Stephen Boyle said Tyler L. Davis, a rising junior at Rockdale County High School, was taken to the county hospital before being transferred to Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Egleston, where he died.

"He walked off the field on his own power, then collapsed on his way to the locker room," James Ginn, spokesman for the Rockdale County Public Schools, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "That's when they called 911."

Rockdale County is in the eastern suburbs of Atlanta.

Ginn said the district is investigating the death and the school has canceled all football-related activities "until further notice."

Monday's workout session was voluntary because formal football practices do not begin statewide until Wednesday, Ginn said.

Rockland County head coach Lee Carter was distraught and said he wasn't doing well when reached on his cellphone by the Journal-Constitution. Carter declined to comment on Tyler's death.

The football players lifted weights indoors for about an hour before heading out to the field to perform running and passing drills. Water was available to them throughout the training session, and they were outside with frequent breaks from about 5 p.m. to about 6:45 p.m., he said.

After practice, the players returned to the locker room, where the boy collapsed, Ginn said.

The school has brought in grief counselors to work with students, faculty and staff, he said.

Georgia, like much of the rest of the nation, has been sweltering under blistering heat.

Temperatures hovered in the mid-90s throughout the state Monday and Tuesday, with the heat index between 100 and 105 degrees.

[kicker]

Man thats crazy!

Is there even a real way to prevent something like this from happening?

[KFDM COOP]

Thermometer pill for football players

In the 1980s, NASA developed a wireless thermometer-in-a-pill to keep tabs on the body temperature of astronauts. Now, some American football players are swallowing the pills to protect themselves from potentially-deadly heatstroke. The thermometer pill is part of HQ Inc.'s "Coretemp" line of "miniaturized data recorder(s)." From IEEE Spectrum:

Once swallowed, the multivitamin-size pill acts as an internal thermometer, providing continuous readings of a player's body temperature, which can be picked up by a sensor placed against the small of the player's back. Players take the pills a couple of hours before the start of practice, allowing the capsules time to reach an athlete's small intestine, where core body temperature readings accurate to within 0.1 °C can be taken.

A year after the (Minnesota Vikings player Korey Stringer died of heatstroke, in 2003), Philadelphia Eagles player Tra Thomas was saved from a similar fate during summer training camp when a radio pill reported that he had a core body temperature of 40.9 °C and trainers pulled him off the field. "He hadn't shown any signs of heat stress," said Derek Boyko, the Eagles' director of football media services. "Who knows if, without the device, the training staff would have known he was in danger before it was too late."

[DP#1FAN]

Hopefully our area coaches will keep a close eye on there players.

[kicker]

Thats all you can do.

[Guest bulldogbark]

I feel for the coaches and players....you want to work hard to get in shape and be ready but in this heat exspecially now you got to be so very careful.....I remember in the early 70' we were not allowed to have water breaks during practice because it was thought that drinking water would make you worse off than you be if youj handnt drank some.....I just dont see any practical way to know when something like this will happen...we just need to keep all our athletes in our prayers for a safe practice and regular season...

[kicker]

I feel for the coaches and players....you want to work hard to get in shape and be ready but in this heat exspecially now you got to be so very careful.....I remember in the early 70' we were not allowed to have water breaks during practice because it was thought that drinking water would make you worse off than you be if youj handnt drank some.....I just dont see any practical way to know when something like this will happen...we just need to keep all our athletes in our prayers for a safe practice and regular season...

Something has to be going on now a days. We had the same temperatures when I played. None of us or any one else had this problem? Whats going on?

[DP#1FAN]

Has the UIL addressed this issue? I heard they may have changed 2 a days.

[Critter]

I've always hated 2 a days....I think they should just start their practices a little earlier..IMO

[kicker]

Well 2-a-days are a part of Texas HS football. We just need to figure out how to make them safer :wink:

[WOS95]

saw on tv, some of the nfl teams are practicing at night under lights.

[kicker]

saw on tv' date=' some of the nfl teams are practicing at night under lights.[/quote']

Why dont we patition the school board to get WOS a practice bubble

[Critter]

Then we would have Shirley Martin trying to name it after a female coach Sorry Had to say it before somebody beat me to it. 8)

[kicker]

I knew it was coming.

As far as the heat, it aint going away! They need to keep HYDRATED!!!!!

[Guest Jody]

Thats all you can do.

I have done quite a bit of work regarding heat stress and prevention. There are simple things you can do to protect from this type sitation. The basics are having a sturctured program by which you consider work and the heat index to determine water consumtion' date=' frequency of breaks, duration of breaks, electrolite replacement, core-tempurature monitoring, and aclimation to the environment.

As an example, initially under heavy work load (football), you might take a 15 minute break every 30 minutes and drink 4 cups of water and 1 cups of gatorade (numbers are examples only). Core-Body temp (ear thermometer) should also be used durnig breaks to monitor a person. As the person becomes acclimated to the environemnt, which can take between 1-week and 30 days, the person may require less break time. The person's physical health also has a lot to do with it. Your body cools itself by sweating, breathing, and redirecting body fluids to help cool itself. Signs & Symtoms of heat emergencies:

[b']Heat Exhuastion:

Heavy breathing

Profuse sweating

cool moist skin

Cramping in limbs and abdominal area

Rapid pounding pulse

Dizziness

Nausua

Dark Urine

Heat Stroke (true life-threathning emergency):

Hot-Red-Dry Skin

Diminished level of consciousness or even unconcious

Little or no sweating

Weak rapid pulse

Rapid shalow breathing

There are also some studies out there where they have found vitamine C to help in this regards. The easiest way to prevent these situations is to drink plenty of fluids and take frequent breaks.

If anyone has a need for a heat stress program, shoot me a PM and I'll be glad to share it. I am certainly not a doctor, but what I have is better than nothing and has worked for me over the years.

[DP#1FAN]

Jody great info thanks