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Post by airraider on Sept 15, 2009 6:03:23 GMT -6
Last Friday on our second series.. my QB gets slammed down to the ground onto his throwing shoulder.. He comes to me to get the play and I can see he is in pain..
I ask him.. what happened.. and he tells me that he thinks he broke his collar bone..
Well.. I say "what?? are you sure?" and he says he doesnt know.. so I ask him.. well can you go? Just hand this one off and we will punt..
So he does.. then we get him to the sideline.. and I ask him if he can throw.. and he says he will try..
So him and another kid are on the sidelines throwing.. and he is in pain.. but is throwing the ball fine..
So.. I keep him in..
Well he plays through the first half..
At halftime the paramedics take a look at him.. and they say it is indeed broken..
Well he refuses to leave the game.. so parents take him to the emergency room after the game..
We ended up playing a WR there.. because I was too scared that my freshmen back up wasnt ready..
Well long story short.. he is having surgery this morning to repair a complete break in his collar bone..
The doctor told him that if he would not have continued to play.. then they might not have had to do surgery.. but playing made it actually move one side up on top over the other 3cm..
He is only a sophomore.. but still.. he threw for 260 yards in game 1.. and had a chance for a great year..
I cant help but thinking I screwed up for not pulling him as soon as he said he thought it was broken...
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Post by amikell on Sept 15, 2009 6:11:46 GMT -6
I take it you guys do not have a trainer for games and only paramedics?
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Post by coachroberts99 on Sept 15, 2009 6:20:46 GMT -6
How old is he?
Don't beat yourself up too bad about it, he said he was ok, and from the sounds of it he was able to play and contribute which from my point of view would probably make me think it wasn't broken... turns out the kid is just darn tough!
Luckily it sounds like the Parents are supportive enough, but I think what it does show is the need for a proper process to be in place, maybe from someone outside of the coaching staff with medical training to take that decision out of the players, parents and your own hands as truth be known I bet a lot of us would have done the exact same thing; when clearly he shouldn't have continued to play.
Hope the kid heals up ok, I'm sure he will; but chalk it down to experience and just remember next time your in that situation, remember how you feel now and sit the kid down.
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Post by rcole on Sept 15, 2009 7:02:05 GMT -6
Shouldn't be your call, there should be trainers. I lost my starting varsity qb, a senior, in the first scrimmage. Third play. First play he threw the post for 50 yards, second play he threw a corner for a TD, we flipped it around and he ran zone read and ran for 15....broken collar bone, complete break. He had surgery and he may be back by game 6. Doctor said the surgery would get him back quicker than a collar bone break that did not need surgery. It seems crazy to me that he would be back at all, but that is what the doctors are saying.
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Post by olinecoach61 on Sept 15, 2009 7:03:23 GMT -6
You have to have a trainer or doctor on the sideline to handle those issues.
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Post by airraider on Sept 15, 2009 7:36:28 GMT -6
I take it you guys do not have a trainer for games and only paramedics? Well.. it was a LONG (2 hour) away game.. we have one for all local and home games.. I think we end up without a trainer for only 2 games this season.. Last week we had the actual orthopedic on the sidelines.. when we lost a kid to complete knee blow out.. and a kid to a complete shoulder dislocation.. This week we had no one.. and lost two.. one looked really bad.. but only ended up being a bruised patela.. and strained calf.. I thought for sure it was a blown out knee after the hit. |
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Post by amikell on Sept 15, 2009 7:53:43 GMT -6
so, the home team doesn't have one either? It's not unheard of for your trainer not to travel, but the home team should have one.
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Post by airraider on Sept 15, 2009 8:18:49 GMT -6
so, the home team doesn't have one either? It's not unheard of for your trainer not to travel, but the home team should have one. That is what my trainer said.. that the other team would have one there.. When the QB went down.. he popped right back up.. so no one on the other side was alerted to the fact.. nobody even knew he was hurt until I saw his face.. Now.. when the kid went down with the knee injury.. It looked REALLY bad.. and myself and another coach went out to midfield.. and I had to hollar across the field to see if they had a trainer.. then some guys calmly walked their way over.. but nobody introduced themselves as a trainer.. |
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Post by blb on Sept 15, 2009 8:49:26 GMT -6
When you go to an away game without your trainer, you'll have to ask opposing coach pre-game if they have one, let him know you don't.
Your last opponent may have assumed you had one on site or a coach with training to handle injuries.
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Post by rcole on Sept 15, 2009 9:17:17 GMT -6
Yep, screws...initially they were talking much longer.
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Post by coach4life on Sept 15, 2009 9:28:30 GMT -6
Tough kid! Man he had to be hurtin'... Once the paramedics said it was broken I would have pulled him. Don't beat yourself up too much about it though, my experience agrees with dcohio, it's 4-6 weeks regardless.
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Post by airraider on Sept 15, 2009 9:35:41 GMT -6
Tough kid! Man he had to be hurtin'... Once the paramedics said it was broken I would have pulled him. Don't beat yourself up too much about it though, my experience agrees with dcohio, it's 4-6 weeks regardless. They didnt actually look at him until Halftime.. the only hint that it was broken early was when the QB said he thought he broke it.. then after he was able to still throw.. I thought there was no way it was broken.. Heck the kid was even over throwing people on fade routes.. He was 9-20 in the first half.. was 1 of 1 prior to the injury.. so the kid completed 8 passes with a broken collar bone.. |
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Post by k on Sept 15, 2009 10:03:05 GMT -6
IMO You needed to have him see the trainer the second he said it was broken. Liability and all that.
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Post by poweriguy on Sept 15, 2009 20:55:33 GMT -6
Damn. There isn't a trainer in our whole league. A trainer is a luxury that the school board won't pay for. So if a kid gets hurt bad, it's an automatic to call the medics.
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coachriley
Junior Member
"Tough times don't last; Tough people do."
Posts: 406
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Post by coachriley on Sept 15, 2009 21:03:30 GMT -6
Dont beat yourself up coach, use it towards experience and be thankful you obviously have one tough SOB at QB
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Post by khalfie on Sept 15, 2009 21:16:55 GMT -6
You have to err on the side of the player coach...
And though we all want that tough kid, we have to save him from himself...
Kid gets hurt... pull him... take the "L".
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Post by coachinghopeful on Sept 15, 2009 22:47:44 GMT -6
You didn't ruin the kid's season. You didn't break the kid's collar bone anymore than a coach ever causes any other injury.
Without a trainer or SOMEONE with medical expertise there to tell you otherwise, you made the best possible decision you could based on what you saw the kid doing. For all you knew it was just a bruise that would've been fine in a week and you were trying to teach the kid a lesson in toughness while doing what you felt was right for your team.
That doctor sounds like a jackass. He wasn't there. He didn't have a real-time X-ray going of the kid for the whole game. He can't say that continuing to play the kid was what really f'ed up that kid's collarbone. It could've happened on the initial break, or as the kid was getting up, or as he was throwing so you could try to judge the severity of the injury, etc.
I know you're having the season from hell there, but sometimes you run into things are out of your control and you just have to do the best you can to deal with them without the luxury of planning. You didn't do anything that at least a dozen other coaches on here wouldn't have done in the exact same situation.
Have you spoke to the kid or his parents since? There might be some legal CYA stuff to worry about, but right now my big concern would be for them. You did nothing wrong here and the kid will heal just fine, but you never know how the gossip mill will spin things or if the kid will look at this as a sign he should give up football.
Good luck, Airraider.
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Post by goldenbear76 on Sept 16, 2009 3:08:16 GMT -6
Not coaching this season, but last 2 years we were fortunate to have a doctor on the sideline for us. (Friend of the coach). I think its kind of crap that schools won't pay for a trainer or medical professional to come to the games. Larger schools usually have the budget to have one..but smaller schools usually go without..and that sucks.
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Post by onthemarkfootball on Sept 16, 2009 13:13:15 GMT -6
We are fortunate to have a trainer on site 2 days a week for practices. On Home game days we get a doctor/trainer sent from the local hospital to be on our sidelines and there is generally two of them.
But on the road we always are asking about trainers and medical staff. Most of the time the other team has one for their home games, but the rural areas end up being 50/50.
It is a tough situation to be in as a coach. I think it is appropriate to feel bad, but know that the blame does not fall directly on you. Besides that doctor can't measure pressure and impact from the extra exposure of being in the game. He is assuming.
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flog62
Freshmen Member
Posts: 32
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Post by flog62 on Sept 16, 2009 17:17:24 GMT -6
Trainers are nice. But when you are playing football in a town with a population of less than a thousand and all you have is 1 clinic and the PA lives in another town, all you have available are first responders. No offense to first responders, but I am probably as capable as they are to make a diagnosis. I think you made the best possible decision at that time, especially since the kid said he was good to go. How many times have we had a kid come to the sidelines with a stinger in the shoulder?
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Post by alneufeld on Sept 16, 2009 21:22:22 GMT -6
I am in a school of 460 in a town of 4600. I brought in two girls that are lifeguards in town to be our trainers and they are awesome! They have totally embraced this and are actually bringing other on board and teaching them what to do. We get off duty paramedics or volunteer doctors to come to our games. It a shame that budget is the issue when it comes to kids health and safety.
Don't sweat it coach! Even the pros miss it obvious things too. My trainer missed a broken fibula by thinking it was a pulled muscle. Ultimately, the player needed surgery as the bone started breaking through the skin! I would always ere on the side of safety though. Do you have your first aid/cpr? What about you other coaches?
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