Bay Village Lacrosse player dies after sustaining injury during game

 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Very sad. I have not seen a lot of details but he took a hit to the neck.

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fox8.com
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What an incredibly sad story.

My younger two sons play middle school and youth lacrosse the past few years. I'm still relatively new to understanding the intricacies of the game; however, one thing is very apparent, officiating is extremely inconsistent in lacrosse. It's like no sport I've seen, and it appears to be the worst at the high school level. One game is called very tight, following the rules on contact exactly. The next game is the wild west where quite literally anything goes.

Lacrosse has a bigger shortage with officials than other sports too. But tightening down the rules and getting more consistency could help prevent a future tragedy like this and allow players to know exactly what is legal and what's not, because when it's different each game, they don't learn very well.
 
cincifbfan said:
What an incredibly sad story.

My younger two sons play middle school and youth lacrosse the past few years. I'm still relatively new to understanding the intricacies of the game; however, one thing is very apparent, officiating is extremely inconsistent in lacrosse. It's like no sport I've seen, and it appears to be the worst at the high school level. One game is called very tight, following the rules on contact exactly. The next game is the wild west where quite literally anything goes.

Lacrosse has a bigger shortage with officials than other sports too. But tightening down the rules and getting more consistency could help prevent a future tragedy like this and allow players to know exactly what is legal and what's not, because when it's different each game, they don't learn very well.
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My son played one year - his senior year in HS, because he was done with club soccer. He got really good at the position they had him playing, but he took so many more bumps and bruises in one year of HS lacrosse than in 4 years of HS soccer (including a dislocated shoulder). When I saw the news, I couldn't help but think about all the shots we had blocked during that season just by putting his body in harm's way.

All that being said, this doesn't sound like it's in any way related to officiating - rather, just a freak injury that was incredibly (and tragically) bad luck. It wasn't like he was hit by a rogue stick or a player - he must have just turned at the wrong time and the ball just hit right underneath his helmet. A couple inches either way and it either hits his helmet or hits him somewhere in his back.
 
soccerdad72 said:
My son played one year - his senior year in HS, because he was done with club soccer. He got really good at the position they had him playing, but he took so many more bumps and bruises in one year of HS lacrosse than in 4 years of HS soccer (including a dislocated shoulder). When I saw the news, I couldn't help but think about all the shots we had blocked during that season just by putting his body in harm's way.

All that being said, this doesn't sound like it's in any way related to officiating - rather, just a freak injury that was incredibly (and tragically) bad luck. It wasn't like he was hit by a rogue stick or a player - he must have just turned at the wrong time and the ball just hit right underneath his helmet. A couple inches either way and it either hits his helmet or hits him somewhere in his back.
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Gotcha, I must've misread the article or skipped something. I took it as a hit to the neck, like a slash or check of some sort.

I hate hearing about freak accidents, especially in sports. And yes, the kid that shot it is probably a mess. I can't even imagine.
 
I know some guys who have picked up officiating lacrosse having officiated other sports and they all enjoy it. I would try it as well if I had time. Very high demand

This sounds like a complete fluke. Lacrosse balls are very hard. Almost like a baseball. I'm surprised this type of accident doesn't happen more in hockey
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
I know some guys who have picked up officiating lacrosse having officiated other sports and they all enjoy it. I would try it as well if I had time. Very high demand

This sounds like a complete fluke. Lacrosse balls are very hard. Almost like a baseball. I'm surprised this type of accident doesn't happen more in hockey
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The balls are actually harder and more dense than a baseball. My son in his first year (5th grade) took a shot off the meat of his forearm. There was an inprint from the logo of the ball on his arm for over a week. It bruised perfectly that you could read it. Never seen anything like that.
 
I read somewhere that the shot ricocheted off another player before hitting him in the back of the head. So really a freak accident. I was thinking that he made the mistake of turning his head when the shot was taken, but it doesn’t sound like it.
 
This is such a sad story. I don't know what the data is on lacrosse injuries and deaths as a national figure. Obviously it's blown up the last 5 years in Ohio with many, many more kids playing, and obviously most are just picking up the sport. So you have some novice players with newer officials and there's going to be some growing pains.
 
Bay Village announced today that their lacrosse season is officially over, cancelling their final two games (there was already one or two cancelled before today) and, I assume, their playoffs as well. Not surprising, given what those players have gone through. :(
 
14Red said:
This is such a sad story. I don't know what the data is on lacrosse injuries and deaths as a national figure. Obviously it's blown up the last 5 years in Ohio with many, many more kids playing, and obviously most are just picking up the sport. So you have some novice players with newer officials and there's going to be some growing pains.
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Catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse among youth, high school and collegiate athletes: longitudinal surveillance over four decades (1982–2020) - PMC

To determine the incidence rates (IRs) of catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse athletes. Catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse in the US among youth or amateur, high school and college athletes ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Looks like 25 fatalities at the youth / HS and College levels, but this is just data from 1982 to 2020. Not sure about the past 5 years.

I just glanced through this study, but it seems to indicate that the fatality / injury numbers generally are similar to other sports. I assume they're comparing lacrosse to other contact sports for that study.
 
soccerdad72 said:

Catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse among youth, high school and collegiate athletes: longitudinal surveillance over four decades (1982–2020) - PMC

To determine the incidence rates (IRs) of catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse athletes. Catastrophic injuries and exertional medical events in lacrosse in the US among youth or amateur, high school and college athletes ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Looks like 25 fatalities at the youth / HS and College levels, but this is just data from 1982 to 2020. Not sure about the past 5 years.

I just glanced through this study, but it seems to indicate that the fatality / injury numbers generally are similar to other sports. I assume they're comparing lacrosse to other contact sports for that study.
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And lacrosse has really exploded at least in the midwest the last 5-10 years. So I'd guess the numbers are up. It's certainly a contact sport with sticks and a really hard ball. The cage helmet, shoulder pads certainly depict protection is necessary.
 
14Red said:
And lacrosse has really exploded at least in the midwest the last 5-10 years. So I'd guess the numbers are up. It's certainly a contact sport with sticks and a really hard ball. The cage helmet, shoulder pads certainly depict protection is necessary.
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Possibly, yeah. Although it's likely that equipment and other protection has probably improved a lot since the 80's and 90's.

It's a really physical sport, but obviously an incident like this is really rare.
 
soccerdad72 said:
Possibly, yeah. Although it's likely that equipment and other protection has probably improved a lot since the 80's and 90's.

It's a really physical sport, but obviously an incident like this is really rare.
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No doubt, although football equipment has got so much better and yet we have more reported concussions than ever. And I'm sure myself and alot of kids my age in the 70's and 80's played with concussions and other injuries that just wasn't diagnosed. It was just the cost of doing business.
 
14Red said:
And lacrosse has really exploded at least in the midwest the last 5-10 years. So I'd guess the numbers are up. It's certainly a contact sport with sticks and a really hard ball. The cage helmet, shoulder pads certainly depict protection is necessary.
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Another interesting aspect about lacrosse is the differences between boys and girls. Compared with other sports boys/girls lacrosse have some pretty significant rule differences. Girls lax has no stick checking allowed and helmets are not mandatory
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Another interesting aspect about lacrosse is the differences between boys and girls. Compared with other sports boys/girls lacrosse have some pretty significant rule differences. Girls lax has no stick checking allowed and helmets are not mandatory
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yea, they just have to where those cage googles over their eyes
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Another interesting aspect about lacrosse is the differences between boys and girls. Compared with other sports boys/girls lacrosse have some pretty significant rule differences. Girls lax has no stick checking allowed and helmets are not mandatory
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Yes ..having watched my daughter play in HS ,the girls game is very different than boys games. 95% of the shots are taken from very close to the goal . STILL, I believe girls should also wear helmets like the boys and now its time to redesign the boys helmet s as well to give full protection down through the back of the head .
 
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