Sports Commentary: High School Athletes Overlook Safety Measures

ANGELYNE CHU
Sports Editor
For both high school athletes and their coaches, it is impossible to foresee all the dangers that can derive from being in a sport. Most often, the majority of these athletes end their day feeling good about their progress. In other cases, they are accidentially injured, or worse, killed. To prevent these unforeseen tragedies, some necessary precautions should be taken to ensure the safety of the athletes.
Nearly two months ago in Sherman Oaks, 16-year-old Conor Lynch, a Notre Dame High cross country runner, was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he was jogging across a busy street during practice.
Things could have ended differently if a few careful actions were taken, one which could be adult supervision. According to Athletics Director Jerry de Santis, the school’s policy toward the athletic department states that coaches should be with athletes at all times. They need to be aware and have some provisions, such as knowing when to cancel practice in extreme weather and educating the athletes on safety precautions specific to their practices.
According to varsity runner Ramona Stadler, Steve Morales, Head Coach of the cross country team, usually gives them orders to run certain distances without him. Even if a coach told the team on which streets they should run on, should a coach be with the runners at all times?
“Morales has been very competent throughout the years with his number one concern of his athletes: safety,” said de Santis.
Although Morales has tried his best at keeping watch of his runners, it is still impossible to watch all sixty kids with just one coach. Each sport has captains for a reason: to watch over the teams when the coach cannot be right by their side.
Nonetheless, coaches are there to ensure that the players have the highest level of safety around them, on and off campus. If the coach were not there for any reason, everyone should watch out for each other.