TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — After multiple incidents of football players dying during practice or games, it’s leaving some to wonder if there is anything that can be done to ensure players’ safety.
Over the weekend, a high school football player in Florida collapsed and later died. In August, a player at New Brockton high school also collapsed and later died during practice. Just one week later, a player in Selma passed away from a head injury after being tackled during a game.
Dr. Robert Mathner, a professor at Troy University, has experience in the world of sports. When he heard about the two local football players’ deaths, he thought about their loved ones.
“Your thoughts and prayers go out to the families and communities these players were involved with,” Mathner said.
As a former athletics director, Mathner says the next step was to look for any preexisting problems or risks.
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“Was there anything that could have been done to prevent those types of injuries and/or deaths,” Mathner explained.
Mathner thinks situations like these gives schools across America the opportunity to enhance their players’ protection.
“We should be going over our risk management plans on a regular basis and making sure we’re utilizing best practices, in the industry, to minimize those opportunities where students can get injured.” Mathner told TrojanVision.
When it comes to the collegiate level, Mathner says colleges and universities have the money and resources to minimize the risk of players getting seriously injured.
“At all divisions, you have, probably, a few more resources, monetarily, to screen student athletes so that they would be looked at a little more closely,” Mathner said.
Although Mathner believes there are things that can be done to protect student athletes, he wants people to know that there is not a way to completely eliminate the risks of playing any sport, not just football.
According to a report made by NPR, there were seven high school football player deaths in August.
