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Community gathers to remember 15-year-old Max Gilpin

Monty Webb's blog explaining heat index

Some players, coaches re-examining practice policies to prevent heat-related illness after player’s death

Report: Kids denied water breaks at PRP football practice

(WHAS11) - Louisville Police are now taking a closer look at the death of PRP football player Max Gilpin after people near the practice came forward saying players were denied water.

Gilpin was laid to rest Wednesday afternoon.  Hundreds of friends, family and students attended the service for Gilpin at Valley View Church in Pleasure Ridge Park.

He collapsed during practice on August 20th, and died of complications from heat exhaustion three days later.  More questions are being raised about what happened on the football field.

Metro police are reviewing the case and JCPS has launched a formal investigation.  They say they're taking a closer look into what exactly happened during that practice August 20^th after questions are coming up about whether coaches pushed their players too hard.

JCPS's security and investigations committee has the case.  They will be interviewing more witnesses, all players and football parents at that practice August 20th.  They say their office had four phone calls from witnesses.  Some witnesses quoted in the Courier-Journal said heard coaches deny the players water during that practice.

KHSAA rules say that when the heat index is under 95, which it was on August 20^th, players must be given optional water breaks every 30 minutes for 10 minutes each.  The rules also say athletes must have ample amounts of water available throughout practice.

The school's investigation hopes to come up with a timeline for what exactly happened during those "sprint runs" after 5:30.  They are mandatory following regular practice.

EMS records show the 911 call came in from PRP High School at 6:17 from a coach at the scene.   HIPPA rules won't allow WHAS11 to hear the recording of the call, but it lasts 3.5 minutes.  Records go on to show that the ambulance arrived on scene 7 minutes after being dispatched.  They spend 14 minutes on the scene and then take off to Kosair Children’s Hospital at 6:40 p.m.  They arrived to the hospital at 6:58 p.m.

Metro Police, at the request of the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, is also reviewing the case. 

**STATEMENT FROM WITNESS TO INCIDENT**

I arrived at PRP at 5:25pm that Wednesday to watch my daughter's soccer game.  The football team was practicing on the field right next to the soccer field.  My son and I ended up sitting closer to the football players than the soccer game, because the sun was so bright and it was extremely hot so we sat under the only shade tree on the field.  After being there for about 10 minutes, I heard one of the football players call out to one of the coaches to ask if he could stop to get a drink of water.  He was dripping with sweat and breathing very hard.  The coaches response was to yell "(Boy), did I tell you that you need a drink of water?  You don't tell me when you need something, you got that? We are the professionals here, we'll tell you when you need a drink or a break or anything else.  Keep at it! You'r still sweatin' so you're no dehydrated yet!"  I couldn't believe how harsh the coach was being.  About 5 minutes after that, two players assisted another player (the senior who ended up going to Kosair in the ambulance also) to the bleachers because he couldn't catch his breath.  Many soccer parents were watching with concern to make sure he was able to get his breathing under control, one offered her inhaler. 

My mother arrived about 5 minutes later and I was telling her about the coaches behavior and the problem the player had when I noticed he had been sent back out onto the practice field!  About that same time, maybe just a couple of minutes later, we heard some of the players yelling for the coach.  We turned around just in time to see Max go completely limp while 3 other players lowered him to the ground.  There didn't seem to be any warning, he just went completely unconscious which really concerned me.  My first thought was a heart problem.  I walked over to where the boys had carried Max.  There were at least 2 coaches by him, one was by his side holding him in a sitting position, the other was behind him holding a bag of ice on his neck and talking to him.  When I saw they were talking to him I asked "Is he awake?"  The coaches assured me that he was and one of them said "He's fine, I poured some water on him.  He's just overheated, he'll be fine".  Feeling sure that these coaches must be trained for these situations and probably had a lot of experience with this, I went back to my seat.  I watched for another minute or two until they lifted the boy onto a trailer and rolled him away, I assumed to get him inside to wait for and ambulance.  I continued to watch the soccer game. 

At least 20 minutes later (it was half time for the game), my mom pointed out to me that they still had the football player that collaped on the field!!! We could not believe it.  They had him on the trailer by the water fountains, still in the open sunlight, hosing him down.  He was not moving at all, his head was fallen to the side.  I remember saying "Oh my God, I cannot believe he is still out here."  A moment later an ambulance pulled in with no sirens on.  Two EMT's got out and walked over to the trailer.  While they were looking at him I noticed two more players helping the senior that had the breathing trouble walk over to the trailer, once again struggling for breath.  No one seemed to be in a hurry.  After a few minutes, the EMT's and one of the coaches lifted Max to the stretcher and they took him over and put him in the ambulance.  Then, astonishingly, one of the EMT's came back to talk to the boy who was having trouble breathing.  At least 5 minutes went by and I was saying to my mom "What are they doing?  They need to quit messing around, that boy is gonna die!  They should send another ambulance for the other boy, he doesn't even act like he wants to go to the hospital."  Finally the first EMT walked back over and said something to them and then everyone seemed to get in a hurry to leave.  When they finally drove away, it had been at least 30 minutes since Max had collapsed.  That is crucial, precious time when someone has possible brain swelling from a heat stroke, or possibly a lethal heart rhythm. 

I don't know what the normal protocol is for heat exhaustion or what the rules are exactly, but I can tell you that those players were being pushed way too hard on that extremely hot day, and the problems the players had were taken way too lightly.  It should be an obvious rule that if a child loses conciousness during any type of activity, an ambulance should be called immediately.  There are too many possible causes of this, and many of them can be fatal if not handled promptly.  I also feel like there should always be an AED readily available.  This was a terrible tragedy, and I feel that the death of this 15-year-old boy was most certainly preventable.  Feel free to contact me by e-mail if you have any questions.  I hope my information will at least get the Board of Education to look closely at all athletic departments and implement guidelines to prevent this from happening to anyone else's child.