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Published: 8/8/2010

<br> Bedford player's near death raises issue of prevention

BY JOHN WAGNER
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

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Seventeen-year-old Christopher Campbell was participating in a conditioning drill with his cousin Dan in the early moments of a captain's practice at Bedford High School late last month.

In a matter of seconds, Christopher was on the ground, hands clenched, with no pulse. His heart stopped and only quick action by coaches on the scene and by a sheriff's deputy with a defibrillator saved his life.

He was later diagnosed with a genetic heart condition, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, something nearly undetectable by screening.

One doctor said Christopher's condition usually results in a tragic outcome.

When a seemingly healthy high school athlete collapses and is battling for his life rather than the opposition, inevitable questions of prevention arise.

To compete, athletes in all sports face formidable challenges to their well-being, whether it be particular physical defects of their own, sometimes hidden, or the conditions in which they must participate.

Since 1931, 128 football players on the high school, college, and professional levels have died of heat stroke or complications from heat stroke, according to research compiled by the National Center of Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. Last year, three high school players and one college football player died of heat stroke.

Local high school deaths from workout-induced heart trauma include Robert Lewis, a Central Catholic freshman who died after a light practice in 2004, and Drushaun Humphrey, a Rogers High School junior and Ohio State recruit who collapsed during a pickup basketball game in 2001.

A survey by The Blade shows that most area high school football programs have a defibrillator on the sidelines at football practices and games. The home school also has an ambulance on hand at games.

But the first step taken to ensure athletes remain safe on the field of play is the preseason physicals that all schools require before letting athletes participate.

"In my opinion, physicals do a mediocre job of determining whether an athlete can play sports safely," said Bill Anderson of Delta Physical Therapy Clinic. "Unless you do a CAT scan, a complete ECG [electrocardiography], and a number of other tests, you really can't diagnose everything.

"It's a tough situation for doctors because they have a limited amount of time and a limited amount of information. You try to be as thorough as you can, but you can't diagnose everything."

A study conducted by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University said ECGs, which test a heart's electrical activity, often result in a "false positive" - an indication of a problem when none exists - that would subject athletes to additional costly testing to rule out a heart ailment, not to mention potential lawsuits by athletes who are held out of competition by a false-positive reading.

Dr. Barry J. Maron, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, which tracks sudden deaths of athletes, said the United States does not have enough physicians to conduct nationwide ECG testing.

He led a 2007 study conducted by the American Heart Association that concluded it would cost about $2 billion annually to screen and evaluate ECG results for the 10 million Americans who compete in high school and middle school sports.

Mike Yoder, who is in his ninth season as the trainer at Evergreen High School, said preseason physicals at his school do a solid job of catching kids with physical problems.

"We've only had a couple of seasons where we've had every kid pass our physical," Mr. Yoder said. "With a complete health history you can pick up stuff, and we can do an orthopedic screen and check a kid's weight and things like that.

"Things like a cardiac stress test aren't feasible based on the time and the expense."

Fortunately, area schools have trainers such as Mr. Yoder monitoring practices. Mr. Yoder, who has spent 15 years as a trainer, has a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a master's degree in biomechanics and athletic training, both from the University of Toledo.

"I believe this area is blessed with a lot of fine trainers," he said. "Schools have seen a need for trainers to take care of kids and to take the load off of coaches."

Schools provide the trainers with a variety of equipment, including defi-brillators.

Ottawa Hills Athletic Director Tim Erickson, who was an athletic trainer on the collegiate level for eight years, also stressed that coaches are required to earn a "pupil activity permit."

The permit is an Ohio Department of Education requirement for any school-based activity that involves athletics, routine or regular physical activity, or activity with health and safety considerations.

"The program involves learning CPR, first-aid training, and information on concussions," Mr. Erickson said. "The permit also must be renewed every three years."

One requirement of the program is completion of a Red Cross class on sports-injury prevention and first aid, a six-hour-plus class that focuses on topics such as choking, CPR, shock, and severe breathing, among others.

Such training has made coaches more responsive to athletes' physical needs.

"For coaches, the importance of drinking fluids, dealing with concussions, and treating injuries has really sunk in," Mr. Yoder said. "A lot of coaches grew up in a time where you had to be too tough and play through injuries, or too tough to drink when you're hot. Those attitudes are steadily slipping away."

Another step many teams take to decrease the danger of excessive heat is to hold practices in the early morning or early evening to avoid the midday sun.

For example, Mr. Erickson said Ottawa Hills holds two-a-day practices that start at 7:30 a.m. Practices end no later than 1 p.m. and include a midpractice break.

At Southview, Athletic Director Glen Gillespie said trainer Scott Carver is involved with practice planning.

"[Carver and the coaches] talk about what time of day to practice," said Mr. Gillespie, who installed tents to provide shade for athletes training on school property. "If it gets to a certain temperature with the heat and humidity, [Mr. Carver] advises them to take more breaks.

"The coaches respect him, so they listen to him," Mr. Gillespie said.

Bedford football Coach Jeff Wood explained that the "captain's practice" is a recent school tradition that allows fall athletes to get in better shape for the season.

"We had 125 athletes at that practice, including a number of volleyball players, a golfer, and a swimmer," Mr. Wood said. "Our senior athletes lead everything, and I think it brings us all together - not just the football team, but the entire athletic department."

Bedford held four "captain's practices" this year, meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays the past two weeks. The focus was on conditioning, not skill development.

"It's divided into three segments: After we stretch, the first segment involves agility stations; the second is for sprinting, and the third is for distance work."

Coaches watch the "practice" but are not involved. Mr. Wood stressed that the "captain's practices" were not mandatory and that after Christopher was stricken, no athlete was allowed to take part until he or she had completed a physical.

The practice period for football teams in Michigan, whose season begins one week after Ohio schools, starts tomorrow.

Mr. Wood said Michigan schools are allowed 12 days in which to practice football in the summer. Bedford uses five days for seven-on-seven work, four for game situation work, and three for participation in camps.

For many football followers, a "captain's practice" means an unofficial practice run by players that works on specific game skills such as running pass patterns.

New Woodmore Coach Britton Devier, who has spent time at Patrick Henry and Otsego, said "captain's practices" are common.

"After lifting, the quarterback will go out and throw," Mr. Devier said. "It's not a full-blown thing.

"There is a fine line. Here we're starting from scratch, so what I did is I gave [the players] a list of passing routes. They only did it once a week. You just can't coach them."

First-year Rossford Coach Todd Drusback, who has built playoff teams at Edgerton and Fremont St. Joseph, said most programs encourage players to do some throwing and running of routes in the summer.

"The kids organize it," Mr. Drusback said. "It's not a high-intensity deal when no one is around.

"The kids will throw on their own and work on their own. A lot of the time that stuff is out of your hands."

Not everyone uses "captain's practices" to get in shape or prepare for the coming season.

"If we have any type of football activity, my coaches and I run it because of the liability issues," Northwood football Coach Ken James said. "And we tend to run our kids like crazy, so they're not inclined to have practices on their own."

Perrysburg Athletic Director Ray Pohlman said Ohio High School Athletic Association rules allow teams to hold 10 summer practices between June 1 and July 31.

"During that period, they can coach technique and everything," said Mr. Pohlman, who previously served as the school's football coach.

Mr. James decided to use three of those days just before the start of fall drills on Aug. 2.

"As part of our 10 [summer] days, we went to Bluffton University for three days - the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before practices started," Mr. James aid. "We had two practices Thursday, three on Friday, and then one more on Saturday.

"After that we encouraged our kids to go home, get off their feet, and just rest and relax."

Bowsher Athletic Director Terry Reeves said his coaches are not allowed to encourage captain's practices.

"A coach's hands are tied with the 10-day rule for the summer," Mr. Reeves said. "A coach who breaks that rule can get in trouble with the state, enough trouble that a coach can get suspended for a game.

"That's why we don't have captain's practices."

Blade Sports Writer Mark Monroe contributed to this report.

Contact John Wagner at:

jwagner@theblade.com

or (419) 724-6481.

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