Good one kdf5, I had almost forgotten about our "cool eyeshield" young man.

About 3 seasons ago, kid makes a tackle on a punt, is knocked out cold. Can tell he's out as he fell with his arm underneath him at a wierd angle and he never attempts to move it once he's down.

There's an EMT on our crew that day, but there is a doctor present (league rule) and he examines him and summons the ambulance. They unscrew his facemask and start to administer an airway as he starts making a snoring sound (the EMT later tells me that when that happens it means their airway is obstructed and they are about to stop breathing). The entire team is behind me on the sidelines on one knee, most openly crying as they believe this boy is dying. Weeks earlier, a boy had collapsed and died at a scrimmage, so it was the first thing I thought of and I'm sure they did too. One of the assistant coaches with the player is yelling the boy's name at him imploring him to wake up and try to squeeze his hand. As he keeps repeating himself, it just makes the situation seem more deperate as you can tell he's not responding.

They get him stabilized and on his way to the hospital. Now we have to regroup and play the rest of this game. I'm pretty shaken up at this point, as are most involved.

The player ended up having suffered a pretty bad concussion, but plays i the state championship game that year and makes something like 15 tackles (he was a freshman) in a win for his club. He will be going to Syracuse this fall. Happy ending for him but a pretty scary moment back then.

This was a JV game and the field we played on is harder than concrete. The QB does a draw and is met at the LOS by their linebacker who picks him up at the thighs and puts him on his back. When he hit the ground his head bounces. As they are unpiling, the QB is bent over, grabbing the back of his helmet.

I called an OTO, and told the kid to leave the field. His coach sees this and starts yelling at me, wondering what the he#*. As the QB starts towards the sideline, he runs at a 45 degree angle towards the sideline, leaning like he was drunk. The coach immediately understood. Kid stayed out the rest of the game. Head injuries scare me to death. Unlike a broken arm, you might not be able to tell right away there's a problem.

This one is from back when I was playing in high school.

We were on defense and there was an injury. Our coach went out and finally came back saying that our starting linebacker couldn't move. The defensive coordinator was freeking out thinking that our linebacker had a broken back or neck. However it was the running back who was injured and had a broken leg. His leg was laying across our linebacker's chest and the bone was sticking out. Nobdy wanted to move it so they just left him there for a while until they got the proper equipment to stabilize everything.

Pee Wee championship game for the 6TH graders a couple years ago. Back tackled on a sweep and broke his thigh bone (whatever it is called). He was in a lot of pain. The ambulances are normally 1/4 mile from the field but they were both out and another was called from 15 miles away. It was the longest 25 minutes on record. Good news he was playing Jr High the next year.

REPLY: It's called the femur. It's the largest bone in the body. That kid must have taken some shot to break it. A friend of mine worked a game as U where a kid broke his on an off-tackle play. Friend said it sounded like someone broke a branch over his knee! I've also heard that the healing of that bone is also a real ordeal.

good thread many different angles
 

I have seen injuries in sports from many different angles. When I played, I broke some one's leg, I broke ribs,and in my first game a kid did a head first tackle and had to be carted off with some type of neck injury. Someone that worked at the park said something like "so this is your first game, I hope it doesn't scare you away from it." And now I am a paramedic and I've seen about every type of bone break (nice big open ones) and its amazing some people's tolerance and the body's ability to cope.

Head injuries are a very scary thing if you don't know much about them, here's a few articles about head and neck injuries in football and other sports, it has some good information about mechanisms of injury <html> http://www.medco-athletics.com/body/Free-CEU.htm </html> this also could help you in penalizing certain "head tackles."

Also This is a question for any other health professionals who also officiate. When and how do you or should you intervene/take command of medical situations during contests you are officiating? This may also extend to the stands in some cases where you have a low-level, rural, not well staffed game. I haven't really had to be in any of these situations, but I'm bound to be in someday, especially officiating 4 sports, so I'm looking for anyone who has been there.

First year of officiating (oh so many years ago), freshman B game, only two of us working it. Kid gets up from a play and starts walking to the sideline with his arms outstretched, looking at his left arm and kind of groaning. I glance over at his left arm, too, and see shoulder, elbow, elbow, wrist.

Wait a minute, I think, 2 elbows? He had broken both bones in his forearm and there was an extra 90-degree bend between the elbow and the wrist. I still can't figure how he was walking to the sideline- I simply said "wait here" and ran for the coach- the look on that guy's face was priceless, too, as in "What do I do with this?" Kid continues off the field under his own power, is attended by other coaches and we resume play. Not sure the rest of teh players even knew what happened.

Being involved in Canadian University Football I have seen alot in my 7 years there. During my first year we had our teams head CAT break her leg in 4 places when she was crashed into on the sidelines while attending to a player.

The other one was when the CherryPicker that contained the endzone camera crew tipped over crashing to the ground during the 2nd quarter of a game. The best part was the conference comissioner calling the crew to continue the game, while the mess was still being cleaned up as there was no debris on the field. Good news only one was injured with a broken leg.

[Edited by tiger49 on Jun 18th, 2005 at 03:37 PM]

Saw a nice one this past weekend in an arena game. I was working the chains and a defender made a great move and was going to make a tackle for a loss on the RB. However the defender went very low and the RB decided he could just run through him. The defender's arm must have gone right across the RB's knee when he was bringing it forward. The defender went straight down and his left arm just looked very wrong. As soon as he went down like that I was, by instinct, waving toward the bench for an injury. He had to carry his arm off the field because it didn't work at all. Apparently he dislocated his elbow. At least their defensive coordinater thought it was dislocated and not broken.

We're very lucky in our crew that our umpire is an emergency room nurse. He does not usually get involved but he will identify himself as such to the trainer/doctor or coaches before the game if they need his help. He leaves injuries up to them unless they specifically ask him for assistance.

The worst I've seen was a running back who got hit from two sides just as he was planting after stepping thru the line. He got a twist fracture of the hip. Entire leg is point in bad directions.
He screaming the he'll never walk again, etc. I'm right there so I tell him to be quiet, the doctor's will fix you up. He's says OK and calms right down. For about a mionute. Then he starts up again. So I start telling he stories about "bad" injuries and how he's gonna be just fine. Calms down again. Another minute goes by and now the EMTs are there and he starts up again. This time I said "Hey that's about enough of that! These guys are gonna take good care of you until they get you to the doctors who are gonna fix you right up... SO ZIP IT!" him "OK sir"
I later got a thank you note from the kid and his coach for "my assurance, and help keeping him calm.

Second worst was a pass receiver running patterns in pre-game in Cupertino, Ca about 27 years ago. He went airborne to catch one. Hit the ground and started screaming. At the time I was an EMT and ran over to him. Looked down at his knee. The patella was around the back side of the knee, completely detached. Having had knee injuries I don't blame the kid for screaming his head off!

A couple years ago, during the last varsity game of the regular season, a player from the visitors dislocated his hip. He was flat on his back with his right leg about 60 degrees out to the side, with his toes down in the grass. Seeing the paramedics move him onto a board was bone chilling, especially with the kid crying like he was. He caught a pass and was hit on the thighs from the side and wrapped up while running and twisted down to the ground. The tackle was text book and looked harmless. I swear I could feel the kids pain.

hey Guy's
I am currently playing varsity football with a team in stl. This happened to me this year. Was playing Tightend and went across the field about 10 yards deep, and the ball was thrown to me very slowly and high. The middle linebacer and I both go up for it and since the mlb was in the way I ended up having to lean to catch it. I out jump him and get the ball, as soon as i catch it i am hit by the safty in the ribs. I pass out immediatly. turns out I broke 4 ribs. and tissue( i dont no the tech terms) inbetween 3 of those ribs I only know the details from watching the game tape. As it turns out I was able to convice the doc and trainer to let me play after sitting out 1 week. Just thought I'd share.

Fonzy,

Did you make the catch?