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Connor Vogel
During athletic director Ryan Johnson’s most recent biweekly Shawnee Mission athletic directors meeting, the district’s sports safety policies were reviewed by medical director of youth sports medicine Dr. David Smithwith of the University of Kansas Health System.
“Anytime in life that something like [Damar Hamlin’s injury] didn’t directly happen at our school or district you can use it as a learning opportunity to review our policy and see how we would have handled it,” Johnson said.
This meeting was a direct result of NFL player Damar Hamlin’s injury.
On Jan. 2, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field after taking a hit to the chest from Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest, causing Bills medical staff to perform on-field CPR to restore his pulse before transporting him via ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment.
Hamlin’s injury shines a light on the dangers of sports at every level. The risks of severe concussions and undisclosed injuries are commonly overlooked.
Junior and varsity basketball player Ashley Zastrow understands the gravity of the situation first-hand after suffering a season-ending injury during a game earlier this season.
“The other team was shooting free throws,” Zastrow said. “I was going up for the rebound, I got bumped and landed straight-legged on my left foot and heard a pop.”
Zastrow’s injury required a MRI and six weeks in a brace before being reevaluating by the athletic trainer for a physical therapy program to regain normal strength and mobility.
While serious game-stopping injuries like this do happen, Johnson is confident in East’s training staff and safety procedures.
“All of our sports medicine or student-athlete safety policies are implemented by the district in partnership with the University of Kansas Health System,” Johnson said. “So we have the same doctors and plans as the Chiefs and the Royals.
These policies for injuries are a result of an Emergency Action Plan. Along with injury procedures for all kinds of injuries from concussions to heart attacks, the EAP details the layout of the building and practice fields, contact information for coaches, SROs, emergency medical services and the athletic director.
Gilshiemer believes the SMSD EAP leads in prioritizing player safety.
“[The injury policy] is 10 times safer than what I had at the collegiate level,” Gilshiemer said. “It forces you to slow down, it forces you to self analyze what you’re doing when at a majority of the collegiate levels they don’t even have a return to play form.”
The Damar Hamlin incident illuminates the truth that while these kinds of media captivating injuries don’t happen on a regular basis, they’re frequent enough that players step onto the field knowing that they could suffer an injury that will prevent them from coming off without assistance from the athletic trainer and coaches.
“Students playing in a sport know there’s always going to be risk. There is risk just walking down the hall or crossing the street,” Johnson said. “That’s why we have these preventative measures in place to help kids stay safe.”
While the EAP allows the training staff and coaches to be prepared for serious injuries on the field, Johnson believes that the players should do their part to be open about their injuries and communicate with coaches before they become a bigger problem.
“My whole career before [being hired as athletic director] I coached football and basketball, and you’d have kids try to hide their injury and not tell you if they had a head injury or bum ankle because they didn’t want to miss time,” Johnson said. “Instead of trying to play through or tough it out leading to further injury, they need to talk to the trainer and get help so their injury doesn’t prolong and get worse.”
Junior Jack Kessler, who broke his leg playing a football scrimmage against Bishop Miege this summer, had accepted this risk, but his preconceptions severely underestimated the dangers of football.
“We’re all told we are making a sacrifice to play football or any other sport and I always considered myself willing to make it,” Kessler said. “Then once I actually made the sacrifice playing like that, it was kind of a wake up call to ask myself serious questions of whether my leg would even be back to 100% and ‘Is this worth sacrificing my future for?'”
Contact sports naturally have higher injury rates, but according to the Journal of Athletic Training, effective communication and medical staff oversight will improve player safety.
“At the end of day it’s about how much you love the game and what you’re willing to do,” Kessler said. “For me, I’m glad I played high school football and I’m glad I made it out with an injury that could have been way worse.”
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