[Tomcat68]

Sad news anywhere. Prayers go out to the friends and family of this young man.

http://www.dailyindependent.com/localspo...d=topstory

[BatCat11]

Sad to hear

[Playboy5]

Awful news to wake up to! Prayers for the friends and family!

[phs1986]

So sad!!!

[Benchwarmer]

thoughts and prayers to the family

[tradition]

This is such a sad thing. His father had just returned from Afganistan and was looking forward to watching his son play his Senior year. I know the article said he was a Jr. but I believe he would have been a senior. I have seen Pictures of this young man proudly showing off his State Rings and it just really saddens me to think that he is no longer with us.

Prayers to the Williams family and the Fort Campbell Football community.

[Stardust]

God bless the family. Very sad news.

[BIGREDDAWG]

Our hearts and prayers go out to this family in the wake of this terrible tragedy.

[Spud6]

Thoughts and Prayers are with his Family.

I really hate hearing this.

[cuppett777]

LORD JESUS help this family in this time of trial for them...and help the kids and coaches on the team

[devilhorns05]

God and Jesus are watching over his family and they will take good care of them. Prayers from Flatwoods

[Blue-N-Gold]

Thoughts and prayers going out to the family and friends of this young man from Hazard.

[ballcrazy]

May God be with his family.

[fooseballer1]

sad news my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and may god see them through this.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

Love and Prayers to the family from us here in Pikeville.

[GRIFFIN]

Sad

[Stardust]

Another football tragedy in Kentucky
By Ryan Ernst • [email]rernst@enquirer.com[/email] • July 30, 2009


So, now what?

Yet another Kentucky high school football player died Wednesday following practice. That’s three in four years. Obviously, that’s three too many.

Fort Campbell junior lineman Timothy Williams was pronounced dead at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville a day after he became disoriented at practice.

The death comes months after the Kentucky High School Athletic Association designed an online safety course to help prevent these types of catastrophes. The three-hour course covered emergency planning, first aid, recognizing emergencies, heat illness, head and neck injuries, facial injuries and skin conditions. At least one person who has taken the course must be present at every practice and competition.

The changes were put in place after 15-year-old Max Gilpin died last year, three days after collapsing from heat stroke during football practice at Louisville’s Pleasure Ridge Park High School.

Coaches already were required to attend medical symposiums and be up-to-date on CPR training. Players are required to take pre-season physicals. In the Williams case, the hospital said heat was not a factor. Temperatures were in the 70s. It was even raining. According to The (Nashville) Tennessean, coaches called the session a routine practice. First aid was administered; an ambulance was called.

What else is there? How do you defend an opponent you can’t even see?

So now we’re left to wonder what will come of the Timothy Williams tragedy.

“I don’t know where to begin,” said Newport Central Catholic coach Bob Schneider.

Schneider started Thursday morning at practice, by telling his players to hydrate often. He keeps water available at all times. He said he keeps his eye on players who might struggle during certain drills. He’s done the required training and follows the state’s heat index guidelines. The school keeps a trainer on-site.
It’s a different era than the one most high school football coaches played in.

“When I first started, they were still giving us salt pills,” said Beechwood coach Noel Rash. “We’ve gone from that to where we are now. It’s all been for the better. Our athletes are better prepared. The difference is this: we don’t just throw them back into drills. We check them and then throw them back in. There’s extra time spent on it that wasn’t spent 20 or 30 years ago.”

Despite all the new precautions, the number of deaths has actually increased. According to a 2008 study by the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research, the yearly nationwide average for heat stroke fatalities related to football between 1955 and 1995 was 2.15. In the last 14 years, the average has climbed to 2.79.

Schneider said he’s noticed the increase. And he thinks he has some explanations.

“I think back then kids were outside all summer,” he said. “They didn’t just sit indoors all summer and play video games, then come out at the end of the summer to start practicing football. Kids just aren’t acclimated to it now.

“And a lot of times you have parents pushing kids to come out and play football. Some of those kids just shouldn’t be playing.”

So, what’s the answer? More parent involvement? More stringent pre-season physicals? More state-mandated rules and regulations?

That’s the thing about a tragedy like this. It usually leaves us with more questions than answers.

[BellCoBobcat]

Another football tragedy in Kentucky
By Ryan Ernst • [email]rernst@enquirer.com[/email] • July 30, 2009


So, now what?

Yet another Kentucky high school football player died Wednesday following practice. That’s three in four years. Obviously, that’s three too many.

Fort Campbell junior lineman Timothy Williams was pronounced dead at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville a day after he became disoriented at practice.

The death comes months after the Kentucky High School Athletic Association designed an online safety course to help prevent these types of catastrophes. The three-hour course covered emergency planning, first aid, recognizing emergencies, heat illness, head and neck injuries, facial injuries and skin conditions. At least one person who has taken the course must be present at every practice and competition.

The changes were put in place after 15-year-old Max Gilpin died last year, three days after collapsing from heat stroke during football practice at Louisville’s Pleasure Ridge Park High School.

Coaches already were required to attend medical symposiums and be up-to-date on CPR training. Players are required to take pre-season physicals. In the Williams case, the hospital said heat was not a factor. Temperatures were in the 70s. It was even raining. According to The (Nashville) Tennessean, coaches called the session a routine practice. First aid was administered; an ambulance was called.

What else is there? How do you defend an opponent you can’t even see?

So now we’re left to wonder what will come of the Timothy Williams tragedy.

“I don’t know where to begin,” said Newport Central Catholic coach Bob Schneider.

Schneider started Thursday morning at practice, by telling his players to hydrate often. He keeps water available at all times. He said he keeps his eye on players who might struggle during certain drills. He’s done the required training and follows the state’s heat index guidelines. The school keeps a trainer on-site.
It’s a different era than the one most high school football coaches played in.

“When I first started, they were still giving us salt pills,” said Beechwood coach Noel Rash. “We’ve gone from that to where we are now. It’s all been for the better. Our athletes are better prepared. The difference is this: we don’t just throw them back into drills. We check them and then throw them back in. There’s extra time spent on it that wasn’t spent 20 or 30 years ago.”

Despite all the new precautions, the number of deaths has actually increased. According to a 2008 study by the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research, the yearly nationwide average for heat stroke fatalities related to football between 1955 and 1995 was 2.15. In the last 14 years, the average has climbed to 2.79.

Schneider said he’s noticed the increase. And he thinks he has some explanations.

“I think back then kids were outside all summer,” he said. “They didn’t just sit indoors all summer and play video games, then come out at the end of the summer to start practicing football. Kids just aren’t acclimated to it now.

“And a lot of times you have parents pushing kids to come out and play football. Some of those kids just shouldn’t be playing.”

So, what’s the answer? More parent involvement? More stringent pre-season physicals? More state-mandated rules and regulations?

That’s the thing about a tragedy like this. It usually leaves us with more questions than answers.

This is a terrible tragedy, especially with his father serving overseas. However, this article does not address this specific incident....which surely may not be heat related....my understanding is that the temperature was in the 70's on that day. Anyone with more specific information?

[99PIRATEFAN]

The family and friends and the football
team are in our prayers.

From Belfry Ky