A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's a high school football parent's worst nightmare - their son gets tackled on a routine play and doesn't get back up. That's what happened to a 16-year-old quarterback in Selma, Ala., last Friday night, and it's the second death this month of a high school football player in the state. Here's Troy Public Radio's Kyle Gassiott.
KYLE GASSIOTT, BYLINE: On Friday night, Caden Tellier was playing for his small private school, John T. Morgan Academy, when he went down in the third quarter. Tellier suffered a head injury, according to a statement from the Alabama Independent School Association, and died in a Birmingham hospital that night. The next day, his family confirmed his death on Facebook, saying Caden Tellier had met Jesus face-to-face. Tellier's faith was a recurring theme in a memorial service Monday, where Morgan Academy headmaster Bryan Oliver spoke.
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BRYAN OLIVER: He was No. 17, but, y'all, Caden was not defined by a number. He was not defined by a jersey. He was not defined by a math class. Caden was defined by his love for the Lord.
GASSIOTT: Tellier's father was a volunteer assistant coach for the football team. Through tears at the memorial, he vowed to continue coaching as his son would have wanted him to do.
Kei Katawa (ph) is an assistant professor of clinical neuroscience at Indiana University Bloomington and a former sports medicine practitioner. He's studied the effect of tackle football on high school players. It can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, possibly leading to memory loss, aggression, depression and problems with balance.
KEI KAWATA: The brain is still developing. And if you sustain thousands of hits - you're not supposed to use your brain for that kind of movement.
GASSIOTT: And there are concerns with noncontact incidents, too. Katawa (ph) also says that playing in the heat could increase the risk of brain injury.
KAWATA: At that point, your brain has already a symptomatic heat exhaustion - pre-heat exhaustion. And then on top of that, you sustain head impact. It has a potential of amplifying head impact effect.
GASSIOTT: On August 13, also in Alabama, 14-year-old Semaj Wilkins in the small town of New Brockton collapsed at practice. He later died, and his death is still being investigated. The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina said three high school or youth league players died in games in 2023 and several others in football-related activities. Katawa (ph) says that across the country, there are over a million high school student football players ready for the new season. And while they may not get the awards and salaries of their older counterparts, with the risks to their health, there's a lot more at stake.
For NPR News, I'm Kyle Gassiott in Troy, Ala. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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