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As some of you may know, I've played and/or coached soccer ever since I was about 4 or 5 years old, so approximately 38 years. For the last 12 years I've coached or co-coached anywhere between 1 and 5 youth soccer teams during any particular season. It's not a paying gig - I volunteer to do it because I love the game and because my sons love to play. I would guesstimate that I've coached or co-coached somewhere between 400-450 games since 2002. Over the years I've had a fair amount of my players get injured during a game or practice, but the worst I can remember was a torn ACL/MCL. That all changed at about 6:45 pm this past Sunday.
We are in the middle of the co-ed season right now and I have a U12 and a U14 co-ed team. It's a fun deal that Lake Highlands Soccer Association has every spring that's really more about having fun and socializing than it is about competition. In fact, they don't even have standings or give out trophies. This past Sunday both of my teams had games at the exact same time, but luckily I have a co-coach for my U14 team and they were playing at the same complex and the fields were very close to each other. While coaching the U12 game someone ran up to me and said 1 of my players in the U14 game had been seriously injured and that I needed to get over there immediately. I thought the person that told me was probably overreacting, but immediately told 1 of the parents to take over my U12 game and starting running to the U14 field. On the far end of the field I saw not 1, but 2 players on the ground with about 10 adults huddled around them. As I got closer I saw that 1 of the boys on the ground was 1 of my best buddies' (also my co-coach) son (also 1 of my oldest son's best friends and teammate on their select team) and the other was a kid that I don't know very well, but who goes to school with my oldest son. I was totally blown away when I got there and saw the extent of the injuries. My buddy's son's lower leg/mid shin was laying at about a 45 degree angle from the rest of his leg and had a huge indention in it, but not a complex fracture and the other boy was grabbing his side and gasping for air. It was clear that my buddy's son's leg was broken and I thought the other boy might have broken a rib or 2, but wasn't sure. Either 1 of those injuries alone would have been bad, but to have both at the same time and to know both kids was pretty tough to see. Someone had already called 911 and within a couple of minutes 2 ambulances and a fire truck were pulling into the soccer complex. Since the 1 boy was gasping for air, they scooped him up right away and rushed him to the ER at Preby Dallas (the closest ER). While that was going on the other EMTs were in the process of getting the air-cast thing setup and evaluating whether my buddy's son was in shock or had any other injuries. They were able to slide the air-cast under his leg with minimal additional pain, scoop him up and take off to the ER at Medical City Dallas (second closest ER). Once they were gone I rounded up both teams, briefly explained the injuries, told them that both boys were probably going to be okay but that they needed as much love, support and prayers (if so inclined) as they could give them. Another dad told them NOT to post anything on Facebook, Instagram, etc. out of respect for the boys and their families, which I thought was a great idea that 1 that I hadn't even considered being an issue. I thanked the refs for how well they handled the situation, grabbed my stuff and headed to the ER where my buddy's son was with my son and a couple of their mutual friends and teammates. I wanted get the kids out of there ASAP, so they went back first just to tell him that they were thinking about him and that they hoped he was going to be okay and then another parent came and got them and brought them home. I went back and very shortly thereafter they brought the x-ray machine into his room. He already had a fair amount of morphine in his system and was kind of out of it, but was still in pain. When they picked his leg up to take a few different angles of x-rays, he screamed like I have never heard a human scream. They had to move it a couple of times during the x-rays and his screams just got worse and worse, to the point to where everyone in the ER froze and were looking to see what in the hell was going on. I've seen a lot of messed up stuff in my life, but I don't know whether I will ever forget the sound of those screams - it was awful. It was clear from the x-rays that he had a broken tibia and fibula and that they were displaced, meaning they were no longer lined with with one another - both overlapping the other side. Turns out the other boy had 1 or 2 broken ribs and 1 of them actually punctured his lung. Within a couple of hours both boys were transferred to Children's Medical down by Parkland to be treated by pediatric specialists. They initially thought they might be able to reset my buddy's son's leg and cast it, but ended up having to operate and put rods & pins in to keep it together mid-day Monday. I stayed with my buddy and his son (mom out of town on business) all Sunday night/Monday morning, went home to slept for a couple of hours and then went back up to their until around 7:00 pm on Monday. He was finally released yesterday afternoon. I went and saw him last night and he's feeling okay, but pretty down about the whole thing and because his summer break is pretty much screwed as far as sporting activities he had planned. The other boy was able to go home Monday evening and is doing okay but is going to be in pain for a while.
I am drained both mentally and physically from that whole ordeal and hope I NEVER have something like that happen again. It's one thing to have that happen to someone in your presence, but I think the fact that I am the coach/adult in charge and it being 2 kids I know (1 of which I know really well) made it even more shocking. There are about 4-5 different "video clips" of things from that night in my head that have been playing over and over every time I take a break from something else or someone talks about it. Not to sound like a whiny bitch or to make it all about me, but it's been a while since I've had to go through something like this and it sucks! I don't feel guilty or responsible for what happened or anything like that - its hard to describe. Yes, it was a fluke, but 1 that in some respects I put into motion in a very weird and/or tangential way. I can't even imagine how those coaches that have a player die or get paralyzed feel - this was nothing in comparison and it's still kind of hard.
How it happened is this - my buddy's son was playing forward and the ball was between him and the keeper (the other boy injured). The keeper dove after the ball just as the other boy planted his left leg and kicked with his right. The keeper landed or rolled up on the the other boy's leg snapping it and at the same time either got kicked in the ribs or landed on the ball breaking his ribs. Neither boy was being overly aggressive or playing dirty - it was just a fluke.
Needless to say, it's been a crazy week and at times has been hard to concentrate at work and home. Not looking for sympathy or anything like that - I just felt compelled to tell my bruthas and sistas at DFWM about it. Sorry for rambling...
We are in the middle of the co-ed season right now and I have a U12 and a U14 co-ed team. It's a fun deal that Lake Highlands Soccer Association has every spring that's really more about having fun and socializing than it is about competition. In fact, they don't even have standings or give out trophies. This past Sunday both of my teams had games at the exact same time, but luckily I have a co-coach for my U14 team and they were playing at the same complex and the fields were very close to each other. While coaching the U12 game someone ran up to me and said 1 of my players in the U14 game had been seriously injured and that I needed to get over there immediately. I thought the person that told me was probably overreacting, but immediately told 1 of the parents to take over my U12 game and starting running to the U14 field. On the far end of the field I saw not 1, but 2 players on the ground with about 10 adults huddled around them. As I got closer I saw that 1 of the boys on the ground was 1 of my best buddies' (also my co-coach) son (also 1 of my oldest son's best friends and teammate on their select team) and the other was a kid that I don't know very well, but who goes to school with my oldest son. I was totally blown away when I got there and saw the extent of the injuries. My buddy's son's lower leg/mid shin was laying at about a 45 degree angle from the rest of his leg and had a huge indention in it, but not a complex fracture and the other boy was grabbing his side and gasping for air. It was clear that my buddy's son's leg was broken and I thought the other boy might have broken a rib or 2, but wasn't sure. Either 1 of those injuries alone would have been bad, but to have both at the same time and to know both kids was pretty tough to see. Someone had already called 911 and within a couple of minutes 2 ambulances and a fire truck were pulling into the soccer complex. Since the 1 boy was gasping for air, they scooped him up right away and rushed him to the ER at Preby Dallas (the closest ER). While that was going on the other EMTs were in the process of getting the air-cast thing setup and evaluating whether my buddy's son was in shock or had any other injuries. They were able to slide the air-cast under his leg with minimal additional pain, scoop him up and take off to the ER at Medical City Dallas (second closest ER). Once they were gone I rounded up both teams, briefly explained the injuries, told them that both boys were probably going to be okay but that they needed as much love, support and prayers (if so inclined) as they could give them. Another dad told them NOT to post anything on Facebook, Instagram, etc. out of respect for the boys and their families, which I thought was a great idea that 1 that I hadn't even considered being an issue. I thanked the refs for how well they handled the situation, grabbed my stuff and headed to the ER where my buddy's son was with my son and a couple of their mutual friends and teammates. I wanted get the kids out of there ASAP, so they went back first just to tell him that they were thinking about him and that they hoped he was going to be okay and then another parent came and got them and brought them home. I went back and very shortly thereafter they brought the x-ray machine into his room. He already had a fair amount of morphine in his system and was kind of out of it, but was still in pain. When they picked his leg up to take a few different angles of x-rays, he screamed like I have never heard a human scream. They had to move it a couple of times during the x-rays and his screams just got worse and worse, to the point to where everyone in the ER froze and were looking to see what in the hell was going on. I've seen a lot of messed up stuff in my life, but I don't know whether I will ever forget the sound of those screams - it was awful. It was clear from the x-rays that he had a broken tibia and fibula and that they were displaced, meaning they were no longer lined with with one another - both overlapping the other side. Turns out the other boy had 1 or 2 broken ribs and 1 of them actually punctured his lung. Within a couple of hours both boys were transferred to Children's Medical down by Parkland to be treated by pediatric specialists. They initially thought they might be able to reset my buddy's son's leg and cast it, but ended up having to operate and put rods & pins in to keep it together mid-day Monday. I stayed with my buddy and his son (mom out of town on business) all Sunday night/Monday morning, went home to slept for a couple of hours and then went back up to their until around 7:00 pm on Monday. He was finally released yesterday afternoon. I went and saw him last night and he's feeling okay, but pretty down about the whole thing and because his summer break is pretty much screwed as far as sporting activities he had planned. The other boy was able to go home Monday evening and is doing okay but is going to be in pain for a while.
I am drained both mentally and physically from that whole ordeal and hope I NEVER have something like that happen again. It's one thing to have that happen to someone in your presence, but I think the fact that I am the coach/adult in charge and it being 2 kids I know (1 of which I know really well) made it even more shocking. There are about 4-5 different "video clips" of things from that night in my head that have been playing over and over every time I take a break from something else or someone talks about it. Not to sound like a whiny bitch or to make it all about me, but it's been a while since I've had to go through something like this and it sucks! I don't feel guilty or responsible for what happened or anything like that - its hard to describe. Yes, it was a fluke, but 1 that in some respects I put into motion in a very weird and/or tangential way. I can't even imagine how those coaches that have a player die or get paralyzed feel - this was nothing in comparison and it's still kind of hard.
How it happened is this - my buddy's son was playing forward and the ball was between him and the keeper (the other boy injured). The keeper dove after the ball just as the other boy planted his left leg and kicked with his right. The keeper landed or rolled up on the the other boy's leg snapping it and at the same time either got kicked in the ribs or landed on the ball breaking his ribs. Neither boy was being overly aggressive or playing dirty - it was just a fluke.
Needless to say, it's been a crazy week and at times has been hard to concentrate at work and home. Not looking for sympathy or anything like that - I just felt compelled to tell my bruthas and sistas at DFWM about it. Sorry for rambling...
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