such injuries.
When a football player is in perfect position to make a play,
the credit is often given to the athlete and/or coach for making
the correct read.
Editor’s Note:
This is the third and final article in a three-part series about head and neck injuries in football and how prepared local sports programs are in preventing and responding to such injuries.
When a football player is in perfect position to make a play, the credit is often given to the athlete and/or coach for making the correct read. But as many coaches will admit, their job can only accomplish so much. By putting the player in the best possible position to succeed and letting the athlete loose, a coach gives the athlete and team the best chance to win. Nothing more can be asked for.
The same goes for preventing injuries.
With the proper amount of training and instruction before and during a season, the likelihood of sustaining a catastrophic injury is greatly reduced. Beginning with spring and summer practices up through maintaining nutrition and treatment over the course of a season, players can give themselves a far greater opportunity to remain on the field, overcoming many of the aches and pains that occur during a grueling three-month schedule.
The following is a short list of some of the equipment and procedures in place to prevent and, if need be, respond to injuries at San Benito High’s football program:
San Benito High School
When Dr. Frank Bunch was playing fullback at Stanford University in the 1960s, an accident occurred in spring practice.
The Cardinal were conducting tackling drills with dummies that were suspended from above. When a player would move forward to hit the dummy, the bag would swing back into the next would-be tackler.
One of the linemen, Bunch heard, went into the swinging dummy with his head down instead of looking up.
At that spring practice, the linemen fractured his neck. He was a paraplegic and died two years later from health complications associated with his paralysis.
“It can happen,” said Bunch, now an orthopedic surgeon at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital. After practicing from 2002 to 2006 at the Hollister hospital, Bunch covers all orthopedic injuries part of the month, as well as home games for the San Benito Haybalers football team.
“They can teach good tackling techniques,” Bunch added, “Keep your head up, not down.”
David A. Tari, San Benito’s Certified Athletic Trainer, is in his 11th year at the high school, and holds similar sentiments.
“Teaching kids how to hit properly,” Tari said, “Hit what you see, see what you hit … The kids are getting so much bigger and so much faster, that’s where a lot of the problems come from, too.
And coming to practice in shape and in condition is necessary as well. Bunch said it’s important to stay alert on the field to avoid any blind hits, while well-conditioned football players will be more able to protect themselves than fatigued players would be.
If it’s a blind-sided hit or just a routine tackling drill at spring practice, not being prepared on the field can lead to serious consequences.
Tari stated the importance of mouthpieces, a usually forgotten equipment item to some players.
“We tell coaches for kids to put air in the helmets and wear chin straps and mouthpieces,” Tari said. “The main goal (of a mouthpiece) isn’t to protect the teeth. It’s to protect from a concussion. It provides a cushion.”
Recognizing the signs of a concussion – which include vomiting, dizziness, headaches, short-term memory loss and slurred speech, among other things – is one step toward treating the problem.
Bunch, who’s never had someone unconscious when he’s been on the field, said the importance of this is to prevent second-impact syndrome.
“If they go out there and get nailed and they have a concussion, you can’t let them go back out there. It isn’t safe,” Bunch said. “When you get hit, there is brain swelling and the swelling can cause the brain to be more susceptible to another injury.”
While Bunch has never seen a player go back into a game after a concussion, concussions can sometimes go unreported, leaving a certain responsibility on the player.
With spinal injuries, Tari said symptoms cane be burning or tingling in the arms and legs. If that’s the case, an ambulance is needed.
“The kids are our first priority,” Tari said. “I think we’re really well prepared because that’s what our main focus is.”
With Bunch at home football games and Tari at nearly every athletic event, not to mention ambulances on the scene at Andy Hardin Stadium and the close proximity to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, San Benito is better off than most with their medical care.
But Tari feels they could always be more prepared. More mouthpieces on the sidelines? Referees diligently enforcing spearing penalties? Employing base testing, which can tell if a player is cognitively getting better or worse?
They’re all options, but they all come with a cost factor as well as a time factor.
For now, players should know how to tackle properly, use the proper equipment properly, and know what the symptoms of a concussion are.
“Kids don’t always recognize the signs. It’s kind of like a rite of passage for being a football player, for being an athlete, and kids don’t always recognize what’s going on,” Tari said. “You don’t want to see a kid ruin his career or his life.”
Let us know if you feel comfortable about your high school football program’s ability to prevent or respond to injuries by contacting Green Phone at 638-9108 or gr********@sv**********.com.
