It’s no comfort that death seldom visits the active sportsman or the keep fit enthusiast. When it does happen, it hits like a left hook from a heavyweight. Late last year, it happened twice in a couple of weeks to student-athletes contesting high school sport in Jamaica.
The families of St George’s College footballer Dominic James and Spot Valley High basketballer Saymar Ramsey are probably still in shock at the heart related deaths of the pair. The stories sound the same.
James felt unwell and collapsed early in a game against Excelsior and died in hospital. Ramsey felt ill after a game and died later.
ISSA, the governing body of high school sport in Jamaica, has quickly ramped up the health related rules and a kind sponsor, Team Jamaica Bickle has donated machines designed to revive patients whose hearts have stopped. Yet a nagging question remains. How could two fit young men literally die on the field of play?
Speaking to those two cases, fitness consultant Kevin Nelson of KDot Fitness says, “If you have heart related issues, 10:1, you will perform well at one level of fitness but you will not perform well at another level which tends to be more advanced and more arduous on the body.”
James and Ramsey aren’t the only instances of such tragedy. Legend has it that the 40 year-old Greek soldier Philippides ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to bring news of his country’s victory over Persia in battle in the year 490 BC. Philippides delivered the great news and died from exhaustion. In 1984, 52 year-old Jim Fixx went for a run in Vermont. Fixx, the leader of the exercise running boom in the USA, died of a heart attack when he returned. The blame fell on clogged coronary arteries.
2 years later, University of Maryland’s star basketballer Len Bias died at age 23 of a cocaine overdose. Had he lived, he would have played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics.
4 years later at Girls Championships in Jamaica, a relay runner collapsed after a red line effort in the last race of the meet. Her twin sister stood over her, aghast. Fortunately, Vere Technical team doctor Paul Auden literally beat life back into the body of the stricken twin and she lives happily today. His actions jump started a heart that had stopped.
Appropriately, ISSA now requires schools to have preliminary round games much nearer to medical care facilities and has ambulances on hand for games later in its tournaments. Nelson agrees and goes back to the basics. “I recommend that any athlete at all, whether it’s a schoolboy even to adult, do a full medical examination before they get involved in any physical activity”, he offers, “and even during the physical activity, they have medical examinations as well.” This should include ECG scans.
Before he starts get-fit programmes with his clients, he has them fill out a fitness lifestyle questionnaire that explores their physical condition. This can often raise red flags and dictate the type of workout and workload the client can handle.
Since tragedy can also happen in training, he advises coaches and team managers to equip themselves with first aid skills. He also believes coaches should design their training programmes with respect to each individual’s health profile. “The coach”, he says, “is going to make referrals to the doctor and get feedback so he can know how to go about training the athletes.”
“If the coach doesn’t have information on any problem the athlete may have health wise,” he continues, “he doesn’t know how to formulate a training procedure or a training directive as to how he’s going to deal with that athlete.”
To continue reading, purchase Vol.8 #10, 2017 Issue.
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It’s no comfort that death seldom visits the active sportsman or the keep fit enthusiast. When it does happen, it hits like a left hook from a heavyweight. Late last year, it happened twice in a couple of weeks to student-athletes contesting high school sport in Jamaica.
The families of St George’s College footballer Dominic James and Spot Valley High basketballer Saymar Ramsey are probably still in shock at the heart related deaths of the pair. The stories sound the same.
James felt unwell and collapsed early in a game against Excelsior and died in hospital. Ramsey felt ill after a game and died later.
ISSA, the governing body of high school sport in Jamaica, has quickly ramped up the health related rules and a kind sponsor, Team Jamaica Bickle has donated machines designed to revive patients whose hearts have stopped. Yet a nagging question remains. How could two fit young men literally die on the field of play?
Speaking to those two cases, fitness consultant Kevin Nelson of KDot Fitness says, “If you have heart related issues, 10:1, you will perform well at one level of fitness but you will not perform well at another level which tends to be more advanced and more arduous on the body.”
James and Ramsey aren’t the only instances of such tragedy. Legend has it that the 40 year-old Greek soldier Philippides ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to bring news of his country’s victory over Persia in battle in the year 490 BC. Philippides delivered the great news and died from exhaustion. In 1984, 52 year-old Jim Fixx went for a run in Vermont. Fixx, the leader of the exercise running boom in the USA, died of a heart attack when he returned. The blame fell on clogged coronary arteries.
2 years later, University of Maryland’s star basketballer Len Bias died at age 23 of a cocaine overdose. Had he lived, he would have played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics.
4 years later at Girls Championships in Jamaica, a relay runner collapsed after a red line effort in the last race of the meet. Her twin sister stood over her, aghast. Fortunately, Vere Technical team doctor Paul Auden literally beat life back into the body of the stricken twin and she lives happily today. His actions jump started a heart that had stopped.
Appropriately, ISSA now requires schools to have preliminary round games much nearer to medical care facilities and has ambulances on hand for games later in its tournaments. Nelson agrees and goes back to the basics. “I recommend that any athlete at all, whether it’s a schoolboy even to adult, do a full medical examination before they get involved in any physical activity”, he offers, “and even during the physical activity, they have medical examinations as well.” This should include ECG scans.
Before he starts get-fit programmes with his clients, he has them fill out a fitness lifestyle questionnaire that explores their physical condition. This can often raise red flags and dictate the type of workout and workload the client can handle.
Since tragedy can also happen in training, he advises coaches and team managers to equip themselves with first aid skills. He also believes coaches should design their training programmes with respect to each individual’s health profile. “The coach”, he says, “is going to make referrals to the doctor and get feedback so he can know how to go about training the athletes.”
“If the coach doesn’t have information on any problem the athlete may have health wise,” he continues, “he doesn’t know how to formulate a training procedure or a training directive as to how he’s going to deal with that athlete.”
To continue reading, purchase Vol.8 #10, 2017 Issue.
Share this post: