1. 2014 Football Preseason Bulletin. (2014, July). Retrieved from http://www.piaa.org/assets/web/documents/2014_2015_Football_Preseason_Bulletin(1).pdf
Breslow, J. (2013, October 31). High School Football Players Face Bigger Concussion Risk. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/high-school-football-players-face-bigger-concussion-risk/
Kahler, K., & Green, D., (2015, November 24). The Game’s Tragic Toll. Retrieved from http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/24/high-school-football-deaths-2015
Mitten, M., Davis, T., Shropshire, K., Osborne, B., & Smith, R. (2013). Sports Law: Governance and Regulation. New York: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business
Pryor, R., Casa, D., Vandermark, L., Stearns, R., Attanasio, S., & Wafer, A. (2015, February). Athletic Training Services in Public Secondary Schools: A Benchmark Study. Retrieved from http://natajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.4085/1062-6050-50.2.03
Rechel, J., Yard, E., & Comstock, D. (2008) An Epidemiologic Comparison of High School Sports Injuries Sustained in Practice and Competition. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-kutztown.klnpa.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ee52b65f-dbe1-4e39-923c-5edfa59027dc%40sessionmgr4001&vid=3&hid=4102
Sanchez, R. (2015, October 26). Deadly month in high school football. Retrieved from http://www.edition.cnn.com/2015/10/09/football/high-school-football-deaths/index.html
Alexander Plate from Kutztown University
Research Advisor: Professor Kerri Cebula
The Legal Implications of Injuries in High School Football
How Common are Injuries in High School Football?
Julie Rechel, Ellen Yard, and Dawn Comstock are
members of the Research Institute at Nationwide
Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and conducted
a study in 2006 to determine what high school sports
have the most injuries (Rechel, Yard, & Comstock,
2008). They looked at 100 participating high schools
and the injuries of five boy sports and four girl sports
that occurred at these high schools (Rechel, 2008). The
boys’ sports consisted of football, basketball, soccer,
wrestling, and baseball, and the girls’ sports consisted
of basketball, softball, volleyball, and soccer (Rechel,
2008). The data showed that there were 4350 injuries
that occurred in the 100 high schools that participated,
and this number equates to 1,442,500 nationally
(Rechel, 2008). Football led the way with the most
injuries recorded (Rechel, 2008). Twelve football
players were injured during competitions per 1000
athlete exposure, and three athletes were injured
during practices per 1000 athlete exposure (Rechel,
2008). It can be determined that football was the most
dangerous sport in 2006 by looking at the amount of
injuries that occurred. However, this trend has
continued from 2006 to this past football season.
The Fatality of High School Football Injuries
There were 11 deaths in the 2015 football season that were
caused from a number of injuries and complications (Kahler &
Greene, 2015). These injuries and complications included trauma
to the head after a hit, and internal bleeding from a broken neck
and lacerated spleen (Kahler, 2015). Unfortunately, this is not the
first season with high school football players dying. Five high
school players died in 2014 from injuries that were directly
related to the sport, such as head and spine injuries, according to
a survey done by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports
Injury Research at the University of North Carolina (Sanchez,
2015). The survey also found that there was another eight deaths
directly linked to football in 2013 (Sanchez, 2015). Also, the
survey concluded that in the past decade there has been an
average of three fatalities each year directly related to high school
football (Sanchez, 2015). The Institute of Medicine conducted
their own study that showed that high school players suffered 11.2
concussions for every 10,000 games and practices, and college
players only suffered 6.3 (Breslow, 2013). The study was not able
to answer if these concussions early on in life lead to conditions
like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) or Alzheimer’s
disease (Breslow, 2013). However, it is a possibility that it does
lead to CTE. Dr. Ann McKee, a professor from Boston University,
has found CTE in the brains of dozens of deceased football
players, and two of these players were 18 and 21 years old
(Breslow, 2013). Fortunately, there are measures that can be
taken to reduce these injuries.
Solutions to Reducing Injuries
There are a variety of advanced tools that can be used to help limit the
amount of injuries that occur in football games. These advanced tools
tend to be costly for high schools though. However, there are a number
of methods that are more cost efficient. Coaches have a duty to
promptly obtain emergency medical care for an injured athlete (Mitten,
Davis, Shropshire, Osborne, and Smith, 2013). The National Trainer’s
Athletic Association conducted a study in 2015 that involved 14,951
high schools nationally, and found that 70% of respondent high schools
provided athletic training services at games or practice, (Pryor, Casa,
Vandermark, Stearns, Attanasio, Fontaine, & Wafer, 2015) . The
association hopes to see this number rise (Pryor, 2015). Courts have
also ruled that state high school athletic associations have a legal duty
to exercise reasonable care when formulating safety rules (Mitten,
2013). An example of this is the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic
Association (PIAA). The PIAA posted a preseason bulletin that
discussed and explained illegal plays, such as targeting and defenseless
players, and what will occur if a player commits one of these plays
(“2014 Football Preseason Bulletin”). The bulletin also talks about
concussion protocols, and what steps need to take place before a player
can return to play (“2014 Football Preseason Bulletin”). Schools are not
liable for players being injured from inherent risks, but a player being
injured from defective equipment that is not properly inspected is not
an inherent risk (Mitten, 2013). This means that equipment needs to be
inspected, and the PIAA requires coaches to have pregame verification
of equipment and the helmets meet standards set by the National
Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. These
solutions are simple and cost efficient, and will help to reduce fatal
injuries in high school football.