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As our sons and daughters begin a new school year and the fall sports season, I wonder whether we are truly doing everything we can to reduce the risk that they will be seriously injured or, even die, playing sports. Are those that run the nation's youth sports programs, town recreation directors, and school athletic directors doing every thing they can to make sure that children don't become a statistic in the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research Center.

On July 25, 2001, an 18-year-old University of Florida freshman from Lafayette, Louisiana, Eraste Autin, collapsed during a football fitness test and died of heat stroke.

I heard the tragic news as I was preparing dinner for my family. I bet every mother of a child athlete who heard the news paused to think about all of the times that their own youngsters have been expected to play in practices, games and tournaments during brutally hot and humid days during the sports season from May to October.

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One week later on August 1, 2001, 17-year old Travis Stowers of Kirklin, Indiana died of heatstroke, the same day as Korey Stringer, a Minnesota Vikings football player. Three days later, Rashidi Wheeler, a starting safety on Northwestern's college football team, collapsed during preseason conditioning drills and died shortly afterward. Asthma and the heat were blamed for his death.

Eraste Autin did not have to die. Neither did Travis, Rashidi or Korey.

We hear time and again that football is the most dangerous of all sports. But football can't be directly responsible for any of these fatal football injuries. There were no collisions. No brain injuries. No cardiac insults. What troubles me the most about these deaths is that the heat strokes and fatal asthma attack could very easily have been prevented. As a matter of fact, over twenty sports related deaths a year in this country are preventable.

Two-a-days or "hell week" are in full swing in many states and are getting ready to start other parts of the country. Do we really know what goes on in this "forbidden no-moms Land"? Are we encouraged to ask questions? Is there always a parents meeting before the season starts? Are we getting our questions answered? No! Parents continue to be smirked, shrugged or even laughed at when asking basic safety questions. Administrators try to placate moms when they tell us, "Don't worry, football and lacrosse are safer sports than soccer." Other parents try to curry favor with shrugging coaches during pre-season discussions on water availability by stating "our kids need to be responsible for bringing their own water to practices."

Gosh, what should your kid do when another kid forgets his water and asks if he can take a sip, or two from your kids' bottle so that he is then is left with out his water?

It would be wonderful if we knew that our schools are doing everything that they should to protect our kids' safety while playing sports, but the sad fact is that many are not. Many programs are in fact exceeding expectations. They are in the forefront of safety with many additional precautions. Adults who put safety at the top of the list run many programs. However, twenty-three states do not even require coaching education of any type for interscholastic sports coaches. Most states do not require CPR training or even basic first aid classes before an individual is permitted to coach. Many athletic directors can't be bothered with modern day necessities such as walkie-talkies or cell phones for all coaches, stating that "coaches are racing to the field and don't have enough time to pick one up from the trainers room.”

Knowing how a child can die as a result of a even seemingly minor collision with another player or from being hit by a ball, and how almost all of those deaths can be prevented if an automated external defibrillator (AED) is available, it is amazing that we still hear "It's so rare, it won't happen here." Just tell that to a parent who has lost a child to commotio cordis.

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Read more about this subject in Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (Harper Collins) by Brooke de Lench. Brooke is also the founder and editor-in-chief of MomsTeam.com.

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Article Updated: August 25, 2007

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