Conditioning or Punishment - Are Your Kids Safe?
When Discipline by Coaches Causes Injury or Death
Jun 28, 2009
Young people participate in sports for a lot of good reasons including having fun, learning new skills, improving existing skills, exercising, and building friendships. Character traits are also taught including discipline, responsibility, respect, and integrity.
Ideally, coaches are involved in the arena of sports to build up and develop young people. However, the title of “coach” can also bring with it an abuse of power especially if money and/or prestige (win/loss records) are involved.
Conditioning drills should be used to enhance the physical capacity of young athletes. However, they are also used as a tool for punishment. Conditioning drills are commonly used by coaches when athletes are late for practice, not performing well, or have broken team rules.
If used with care and caution, conditioning drills can send a message to young athletes. However, when abused, “conditioning” drills can injure or even cause the death of an athlete.
When Conditioning Drills Cross the Line
A 21 year-old football player, Devin Adair, died on August 28, 2006 (USA Today, June, 12, 2008). His parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university accusing the university of being negligent in three areas including:
- Negligent in providing adequate health care
- Negligent in formulating a policies and procedures manual for the treatment and well-being of student-athletes
- Negligent in supervising its coaching staff and other university employers, including , but not limited to, allowing coaching staff and employers to perform inappropriate punishment drills on student-athletes
According to David Harper (April 12, 2008) in his article Parents Sue TU Over Death, Devin Adair was one of several athletes being disciplined by the coaching staff. The athletes were ordered by an assistant coach to “roll the length of the field while in less than full uniform”. Keep in mind that this took place in the middle of August on a turf field in Oklahoma and that the athlete was not fully clothed.
The athlete died one week later from the day he participated in the “conditioning” drill from a condition called necrotizing fasciitis (also known as “flesh-eating” disease). The athlete allegedly sustained an abrasion on his chest during the drill (Harper, April 12, 2008).
Important Questions to Ask Athletic Personnel
This case has not yet been to trial, but the questions that arise are important and should be considered and discussed by personnel involved in athletics and sports at all levels. Questions to be discussed might include:
- What is the definition of conditioning?
- When does “conditioning” become dangerous to the athlete?
- What types of conditioning drills can be used as punishment, but are safe for the athletes?
- When does punishment go too far?
- Who has the power and authority to protect the athletes from a coach?
- Are there policies in place to protect the athletes?
- Is there an emergency medical plan in place to protect the athletes?
Parents have the ultimate authority in protecting their children. Parents need to confront their child’s coach if they feel their child may be in jeopardy of injury from a drill that appears to be carried too far. No athletic program is worth the life of a child. Parents can choose to take their child out of a particular program and walk away.
The dilemma is when a parent releases his/her child into the hands of a college/university program. The expectation is that personnel hired by a college/university will be competent in their knowledge of their sport and will take reasonable precautions to protect and care for the student-athletes.
Lessons Learned
The lessons learned by the death of this athlete include a) candid conversations need to be had by all personnel working in and around athletics focusing on the care and protection of student-athletes, and b) parents need to ask the tough questions before releasing a young athlete or student-athlete into the hands of any coach.
