PRP football coaches in BIG trouble

[bling49]

4 witnesses have come forward and given statements they heard PRP coaches deny water to PRP football players just 10 minutes before "Max" went limp and later died.

Lt. Col. Troy Riggs said today that the review of 15-year-old Max Gilpin’s death is being conducted at the request of Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel.

Stengel said he made the request after reading an account in The Courier-Journal today in which four witnesses said that a coach denied water to players.

Seriously no one should ever die from dehydration or overheating.

Hydrating yourself is so easy and it's not going to take away from the players practice time by taking water breaks.

Weakley said Max’s body temperature was 107 degrees when he was brought to Kosair Children’s Hospital and “obviously” suffered from heat stroke.

Also today, an additional witness said he saw a coach forbid three or four players from getting drinking water while they were running sprints after the regular practice session ended on Aug. 20.

Phil Compton, of Valley Station, who took his 11-year-old daughter to watch a soccer game on an adjacent field, said that when the football players began walking toward a water fountain at the far corner of the soccer field, the coach “pretty much called them out and told them it wasn’t time” to drink.

“They turned around and went back on the field,” said Compton. “I thought, golly, this is ridiculous. It was so hot out there.”

Another witness, Robbie Simon, who had come to watch her two nieces play soccer for PRP, said she saw football players bending over and that the coach yelled at them, “Get back out there, get back out there.”

These coaches, if this is true have no excuse.

[nmcardsfan]

sheesh..theres coaching and theres ridiculous. That is by far over the top...

If what witnesses say is true, that dude has a lot of explaining to do as well as some serious repercussions..

How sad is this...

[prudat]

being an old high school coach, there is definately gray area here when it seems very black and white.
It is really hard to judge this guy if you have never been in that situation.

I heard that the boys dad was at practice, it concerns me that these eye witness accounts come from people other than the dad. It is really easy to judge this guy but I would hold off judgement.

[nmcardsfan]

I can see where "hardening" players comes into the equation. I just think that sometimes you gotta know where to draw the line. Its High School sports...

I will wait and see what comes of this before saying anything more, cause youre right man it is kind of strange that his dad isnt one of the "witnesses"

[Philinville]

We were scheduled to scrimmage PRP Friday night but I received a call from BE head coach and he told me what had happened and the game was canceled. I don't really know much about what went on but I do know that the heat index that Wednesday was not over the level to stop practice. It was close and hot but the humidity level was low keeping it down.

This year we've been short on trainers that normally pass out the water so I've been on double duty this year and we keep the water ready for when ever needed. We have had a few kids over heat this year only to find out that they are mainly drinking Gatorade when at home and before practice or not drinking much at all. Gatorade's good but we try say 80% water 20% Gatorade.

We'll see what happens on all this and I'll bet they drop that heat index level on when to stop practice.

[bling49]

Hydration is easy, breaks are easy, if this kid overheated and died he didn't have enough fluids in his body to cool himself through the sweating process.

Once your at practice you are at the mercy of the coaches and when they say you can have a water break.

I couldn't rule out the fact that maybe Max didn't have enough water in him before practice, so some blame could lie with the player for not properly hydrating himself to sweat and cool his body effectively but I still place blame on the coaches if players were thirsty and denied water.

A water break isn't going to ruin a coach entire practice and dicipline plan but it can lead to a players death.

No excuse.

[prudat]

I agree completely that it is taken too far, and this is the last thing anyone wants to happen, I had to take a kid to the hospital one time for heat exhaustion (at a meet not practice). It is one of the reasons I no longer coach, I could never live with myself if something like that happened to one of my athletes.

I simply don't feel that the way the system is, you can avoid tragedies like this. I just don't think KY weather is conducive to that level of practice in August. I wish someone would do something truly out of the box like starting practice in September. You don't ever hear of kids having problems because it is too cold. I know that is crazy for most people to think about but why does a child have to pass every few years from these situations until something is really done about it?

[bling49]

My son plays H.S. football for Manual and the entire team brought home a booklet put together by U of L about hydration.

Everything they said we already do.
I tell my son hydration starts the day before and on practice and game days he should be drinking water all day.

I was suprised they said sports drinks over water but it's for the sodium and fighting off cramps.

The last thing the booklet said was "BREAK IT UP" increase frequency of breaks to help stay hydrated and cool.

When I played for the Bulls we had a guy start to cramp up on the bus on the way home from a road game.

I had never seen this before but his cramps went through his whole body, started in his calves, went to his thighs, stomach and chest. We had to exit the highway, went into a store and bought water and Gatorade and Ice, he drank fluids until he almost puked and was soaking wet in his street clothes from being packed in ice, he slept like a baby the rest of the trip home but I had never seen anyone go into full body cramps.

I have heard of boxers losing 15 pounds during a fight and it's all water weight, so I wonder why they don't cramp up or get dehydrated?

Maybe it's the water and breaks every 3 minutes.