An injury to a McComb High School football player has sent the player’s father looking for changes in the school’s guidelines for having trainers present at sports practices.
Junior linebacker Michael Myers was injured Monday during the Tigers’ spring practice.
According to his father, David Myers, Michael was injured during a “box drill,” which calls for one player to jump over a wooden box held by a teammate. The exercise is designed to improve a player’s cardiovascular fitness.
Myers said his son was injured when the box Michael was using during the drill moved, causing his fall.
Michael Myers sustained a fractured C-6 vertebrae, which controls a person’s hands.
McComb athletic director Samuel West declined comment Wednesday other than to say that the accident did occur in the school’s football field house.
After his fall, coaches told the player to stay on the floor until someone could check his condition.
However, according to Myers’ father, the player was on his feet five minutes after sustaining the fall.
Myers said his son drove himself to nearby StatCare for an examination. He was then taken by his sister, Lakisha, to the emergency room at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center.
Michael’s neck is in a neck brace, where it will remain for the next seven weeks, David Myers said.
David Myers, a member of the state Legislature, said he is planning a visit either today or Monday with West and McComb head football coach Malcolm Jones in hopes of preventing such injuries in the future.
“Nobody was there to make an educated medical decision on Michael’s condition,” he said. “I want to know how I can help them. We need to put a policy in place to handle this type of situation.”
According to N.Z. Bryant, deputy director for the Mississippi High School Activities Association, the decision on whether to have an athletic trainer at a school-sponsored athletic event is left up to the school.
“That’s the school’s responsibility. They make that decision,” Bryant said. “At the state level, we have an athletic trainer at every event. Otherwise, it’s up to the school.”
Myers said he plans to see what it would take for the school to have an athletic trainer capable of dealing with different types of injuries present at all events.
“Medically, there is no one at the school trained to take care of the kids,” Myers said. “I let them have my most prized possession, my son, during the day. I expect them to take care of my most prized possession during the time that they have him.”
