MOBILE, AL -- LeFlore High School linebacker Tim Robinson still remains hospitalized in critical condition with a serious head injury suffered during a game against Spanish Fort on Oct. 9 at Ladd Peebles-Stadium.
Robinson, an aspiring gospel rap artist whose debut CD Defeating The Enemy is due out in December, has made significant progress since being injured … but pressing questions surrounding that night still remain.
His parents, Evelyn and Ben McGhee, both credit Spanish Fort team doctor Bill Admire for saving their son’s life and say his quick diagnosis of a serious concussion helped paramedics with the decision to rush Tim to the hospital.
But what if Dr. Admire hadn’t been on the opposing sidelines that night?
Should the Alabama High School Athletic Association, and particularly the Mobile County Public School System, require every team to have doctors on the sidelines during games?
Or are Robinson’s injuries part of a much larger problem facing high school football athletes nationwide, who are suffering critical head injuries at an alarming rate?
As far as state and local policy is concerned, it’s not much different than many athletic association's requirements across the country.
“We don’t have a policy that says schools must have doctors on the sidelines,” said AHSAA Associate Executive Director Joe Evans.
“We pretty much leave it up to the individual school system on how they handle that.”
Mobile County Public School System Athletic Director Calvin Crist says teams aren’t mandated to have doctors on the sidelines, but they are required to have a training staff capable of handling just about all types of injuries.
“We have certified trainers at all our high schools,” said Crist. “I can’t tell you the extent of their certifications. It’s different at different schools, but they are all qualified to deal with just about all injuries the players face.”
And why do some teams have doctors, like Spanish Fort’s Admire, and others don’t?
“That’s an individual school choice,” said Crist. “We used to have more doctors who volunteered their time, but that seems to have changed. For instance, Murphy has a doctor on their sideline now, but he also has a son on the team.”
Last year the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) partnered with 16 groups, including the National Federation of State High Schools Associations, to form a task force and study treatment strategies.
Estimating seven million students play high school sports each year, NATA said those at only 42% of schools have "access" to athletic trainers for treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of injuries.
"Just as you have a responsibility to make sure there is a coach, a facility, a field to play on, equipment and an opposing team to play, you also have a responsibility to provide care," said Jon Almquist, chair of the task force and athletic training administrator for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia.
But according to a report from the on-line medical site HealingWell.com, it might not matter much whether qualified trainers or doctors are on the sidelines at high school football games because young athlete’s brains may not be fully developed or their skull bone may be thinner, making injury more likely.
The report quotes researchers who say high school players have more than triple the risk of sustaining catastrophic head trauma compared to college players. High school athletes suffered 0.67 such injuries per 100,000 players compared with 0.21 injuries per 100,000 for college players.
“There may be several reasons for this,” says lead researcher Dr. Barry Boden, of the Orthopedic Center in Rockville, Md. "But with the advent of the modern helmet, the number of these injuries goes down."
Nobody is pointing any fingers of guilt for what happened at Ladd Stadium three weeks ago.
But whether it’s better trained trainers, more doctors on the sidelines or improved equipment, let’s just be sure everything is there for the young player’s survival … just like Dr. Admire was there for Tim Robinson.
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