Monday, January 26, 2009

Football Coach Goes on Trial

Kentucky made it into the national news this weekend, but not in a good way.

(Photo by Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal)

David Jason Stinson, the head football coach of Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville, has been charged with reckless homicide in the death of a 15-year-old player who collapsed from heat stroke at practice. You can read the story here.

I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand I think the coach should have arranged to have practice late in the evening. Also, another boy collapsed before the 15 year old, so I think practice should have been suspended to protect the other players.

But on the other hand, the boys father was at practice. Why didn't he do something sooner? According to info released this weekend, 911 was not called for 20 minutes after the boy collapsed. Where was the father during all this?

What does everyone think? This is such a sad case, but I can see both sides.

2 comments:

Julia Phillips Smith said...

The presence of the father at the game isn't really a good indicator of the father's ability to intervene, since he's in the bleachers and not directly on site to assess his son's situation. He would consider the coach to be acting in good faith as to his child's physical safety. Quite obviously, the coach did not have his players' true conditions in mind, if they were allowed to get into a state resulting in death. A father expecting his son to get through a sports practice alive is not unreasonable. A coach who dismisses and ignores the physical complaints of his athletes to the point of death is solely responsible, in my humble opinion.

Lisa Brawner said...

not sure what to think about it. I do know if my daughter had collasped ..i would of been by her side in a second...taking care of 911 myself