“One of the downsides of the instant information age is that we increasingly expect and demand instant explanations, before all of the information is gathered and processed.” So testified the Yamill Valley News-Register’s Carl Dubois, a day after it turned out a further 3 McMinnvile High School (OR) players were hospitalized after a prior 7 kids were admitted for medical treatment. Of the furor over coach Jeff Kearin “total immersion” football camp (and resulting procedures to drain toxic fluids from the boys’ arms), Dubios warns, “In the instant information age, there is a rush to post, a rush to be first, a rush to tell and a rush to judgment.” As such, I feel much better about being really late with this story.
In high school athletics across the country, coaches ask a lot of their players. Parents place a lot of trust in the coaches. And the three-way relationship can break down at any of a number of points along the way.
The reality is that teenagers aren™t under supervision 24 hours a day, at least not most of the year, so parents and coaches have to hope the young people in their family and on their team are doing the right things when they™re on their own.
Are they eating a diet appropriate for high-stress and high-level football camp? Are they hydrating often and extensively enough? Are they getting enough sleep?
Are they, away from those with the wisdom of experience, drinking or consuming anything that offsets their hydration schedule? Combined with strenuous exercise and hot temperatures, could that tax their kidneys?
Mac High football has been mediocre or worse for a long time.
The new coach is trying to change the culture to one of winning, and that™s often a painful process.