Editorial: Safety comes first for NJ student-athletes

North Jersey Editorial Board Published 5:20 a.m. ET Aug. 21, 2018

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) has received its fair share of criticism over the years while managing the often conflicting goals of its member schools. But the NJSIAA shines in the most important policy area of all, receiving the highest ranking of any statewide organization in the nation for its health and safety policies for high school student athletes.

That designation comes from the Korey Stringer Institute, named after the former Minnesota Vikings lineman who died from exertional heat stroke in 2011.

The institute considers prevention and treatment efforts in five main policy areas: sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat stroke, appropriate medical coverage and emergency preparedness. It’s the second annual Stringer report; New Jersey rose from fourth to the top spot this year.

There’s no better place to be No. 1, and for that, the NJSIAA, and the lawmakers and other advocates who have supported the cause, deserve high praise.

We hear the stories every year, often at this time of year, in the heat of summer. An athlete collapses from heat stroke and dies. Another drops dead from an undetected heart defect. Such deaths are always a shock, in part because they sometimes seem so preventable.

At the University of Maryland, football player Jordan McNair died of heat stroke in June. College officials laid blame on training staff mistakes. McNair might well have survived if his temperature had been taken immediately after his collapse, or if he had quickly been immersed in cold water. Neither happened — and this was at a major, Big Ten university with vastly more resources at its disposal than the average New Jersey school.

Imagine that happening to your child, a life hanging in the balance, at the mercy of the diligence of a particular school district’s leaders and personnel to ensure that the proper medical training and equipment have been made available. Tragedies will still occur, but every death that’s averted justifies the time and expense that have gone into maximizing lifesaving opportunities.

We saw the benefits of such efforts in January, when a Colonia basketball player collapsed in the Edison High School gymnasium. Coaches and trainers reacted swiftly, with the help of an automated external defibrillator (AED) posted nearby. State Sen. Patrick Diegnan, D-South Plainfield, was a leading proponent of requiring AEDs at schools, along with the necessary training to use them, and has also successfully championed other athlete health and safety measures.

Diegnan can take a bow for his efforts, but we also need him and others to continue enhancing safety protocols. More knowledge about brain injuries and concussions, for instance, should lead to additional changes in how such injuries are handled, and in the rules of play in several sports.

There will always be risks involved in playing sports. But New Jersey’s parents and players should take comfort in knowing their young athletes are better protected than any others in the nation.

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NJSIAA: Cooper: Student-athletes give the NJSIAA the real deal

Waldwick: Waldwick honors Sean Fisher, who died on football field at age 13

 

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