West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
The West Liberty Hilltoppers will play for an NCAA Division II men’s basketball championship for the first time in school history. The Hilltoppers knocked off South Carolina-Aiken 86-83 in Thursday night’s national semifinals.
West Liberty isi now 31-3 overall. WTOV-TV reports the 7th ranked Hilltoppers will face 20th ranked Central Missouri in the championship game Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Evansville, Indiana.
Last year, state legislators passed a bill requiring the Secondary School Activities Commission to draft rules aimed at preventing youth concussions. The legislation came as the national spotlight was shed on long term head injuries NFL players were suffering.
In West Virginia a 17-year-old football standout from South Harrison High School died after collapsing on the sidelines. The running back was unable to come out of a medically induced coma while undergoing surgery to remove a blood cot from his brain.
Whether it’s a concussion, a broken bone, or heart attack one program is meant to better prepare medical professionals before the big game begins.
High schools across southern West Virginia tested what’s called the Friday Night Medical Timeout during the 2013 football season.
“We’re playing game where obviously there can be injuries there can even be catastrophic injuries and we owe it to our athletes to be on top of our game,” athletic trainer at Princeton high school Keith Bowling said.
Princeton High school was one of several high schools across Southern West Virginia to use what’s called the Friday Night Medical Timeout. It’s a kit that basically includes a checklist and a video.
The idea is to “maximize the time and minimize the chaos” by bringing health care support staff for both teams together before the game to discuss things like equipment location, hand signals, ambulance location and more.
Dr. Jim Kyle is the EMS Director of Region one and creator of the Medical Timeout.
“Is there a backboard on the sidelines if you have a downed athlete that needs to be placed on the backboard and transported,” Kyle said. “If a concussion occurs and there is a brief loss of consciousness how do you remove the facemask to make sure that you can observe the athlete closely and prepare for an airway if needed.”
Keith Bowling says preparation and anticipation of the ‘what ifs’ is important for health officials to understand early. Bowling says the program was a helpful addition to game preps at Princeton.
“When an athlete goes down on the field we can’t be standing around at that point and time trying to figure out how we’re going to take care of them or what are we going to do,” Bowling said.
The Friday Night Medical Timeout is a product of The Kyle Group that will be available for purchase in February.
West Virginia’s men’s team is coming off of a season last year where they only won 13 games. It was the worst season in a decade for the program, and one of Coach Bob Huggins’ worst as a head coach.
One problem the team endured was an exhaustive travel schedule, traveling more than 30,000 air miles, since many of the Big 12 schools are in Texas. Huggins says an adjusted travel schedule this year, which allows for the team to stay in that state for two games instead of flying back and forth, has helped.
West Virginia’s women’s team is performing better than last year. Last year, they finished with 17 wins and 14 losses. This year, the women’s team is red hot, as they have won 13 games in a row.
The Martinsburg High football team made West Virginia high school sports history Saturday by beating Huntington High 9-7 to win the state AAA championship in Wheeling, W.Va.
It’s the first time in West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission history an AAA ranked school has won four state football championships in a row.
Martinsburg (13-1) was ranked number two during the season and Huntington (13-1) was ranked number one.
“Anytime you have number one versus number two it should be a tight ballgame and it was today,” Martinsburg Coach Davis Walker said.
“It was just a knock-down, drag-out brawl,” he said. “And fortunately our kids played enough to come out on top.”
Hundreds of supporters gathered at Martinsburg High School about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to welcome the team home. Player Troy Walker scored the only Martinsburg touch down.
“I’m just glad we won,” Walker said. “We made history, something not too many people get to do.”
“The game was kind of nerve wracking, but it was great,” Martinsburg Principal Trent Sherman said. “Our kids really played hard and their kids really played hard and we got the win, which was important.”
Sherman credited the Martinsburg football program’s success to the coaching staff.
Marshall’s football team will wear the number 75 on its helmets at its next game in memory of the victims of the 1970 team’s plane crash. Marshall (6-3, 4-1 Conference USA) plays at Tulsa (2-7, 1-4) on Thursday night. Thursday is the anniversary of the Nov. 14, 1970 crash just short of Tri-State Airport near Huntington. The crash killed 75 people.
There’s been a lot of attention on how head injuries are affecting football players, and athletes, on all levels—including when they are very young. Stakeholders concerned about this issue hope new protocols will sufficiently prevent serious injuries.
Last year, the state legislature passed a measure that provides protocols for head injury protections for student athletes in West Virginia. These guidelines require coaches to have course training on head injuries and concussions, as well as being mandated to remove players from competition who are suspected of having concussions. It’s something that State Senator Ron Stollings said there’s a specific mission with these new rules.
“I think this bill is a good bill, we will see it being implemented as we speak. Me, being a volunteer physician on Friday nights, I have to take that educational piece myself. It’s a good thing,” said Stollings.
Also under the guidelines, a concussion and head injury sheet must be signed and returned by the athlete and the athlete’s parents before practice or competition begins, to make officials aware of previous injuries. If a player has been removed from a game due to a head injury, that person may not return to action until he or she has written clearance from a licensed health care professional.
Gary Ray with the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission said these new guidelines give “teeth” to his organizations, and other interested parties, in protecting students. But he says parents must also play a role.
“I was guilty when I played sports, you didn’t want to tell mom or dad because you might not get to play the next day. You’ve got to let people know, you’ve got to communicate. Mom and Dad work with their child, they need to make sure they are in constant communication with the school if they feel this is an issue,” said Stollings.
Senator Stollings said he wants to make sure that all medical professionals like him, who administer to athletes during games, are protected from excess liability issues.
“I think just basically saying that volunteer physicians while at a volunteer event, Friday night football, that you would have coverage by the Board of Risk and Insurance Management,” said Stollings. “I’d like it to be spelled out in statute, that we’re covered, a volunteer physician.”
One final requirement of the new guidelines is that when students do suffer a concussion or head injury in a practice or game, a report must be sent from the school to the WVSSAC within 30 days of the injury. The report must state whether an evaluation, done by a medical professional, verifies that a concussion has occurred. This report must also state how many days it’s been between the injury and athlete’s return to competition.