by Chip Erekson
Friday night, under the lights is the place a lot of young men dream about being. In front of their friends and family, representing their school. Getting a chance to shine as they take to the field, ready to clash with their opponent.
Prior to the game, as the team gathers in the locker room, some listen quietly to their iPods, while others talk about how they will destroy their opponent, or break through the line and streak down the sideline, fans screaming their name as they cross the goal line for the winning score.
No matter their pregame ritual, they all still take the time to put on their pads. They pull on their lower body gear, consisting of 7 pads. Then place their shoulder pads and team colors over their head strapping them down tight. The last thing to go on is the helmet. The last thing going on in that young mans mind is getting injured.
The game of football, and it is just a game, can be violent. Despite all of the protective gear, the preseason training, the quality coaching, and the techniques learned to avoid injury, unfortunate tragedies occur.
Friday night at Green Valley High in Henderson, once such incident took place. A collision happened, just like it does on thousands of fields every weekend, but this time 17 year old LaQuan Phillips didn’t bounce up off the grass. In fact, he couldn’t. The hit left him with no feeling in his extremities.
After several minutes passed and the injured young man was taken from the field on a stretcher, the game, and it is just a game, continued. Green Valley, swarmed by emotion and thoughts of their injured teammate and friend, fell 24-20 to Centennial. The loss of the game will mean nothing to these young men. The loss of their friend and teammate will mean everything.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to LaQuan Phillips, his family and friends as he recovers from this tragedy.
For more on this story, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal…
http://www.nevadapreps.com/boys/football/stories/27961134.html
http://www.nevadapreps.com/boys/football/teams/27981389.html