A beloved Florida high school football player died after he collapsed during a game Friday night, school officials say, bringing the number of recent known deaths among high school athletes to seven.

They haven't released this poor kid's cause of death yet but....

The National Federation of State High School Associations said last week that six high school student athletes died within the past month, four of them from heart issues and two from being hit, according to the Associated Press. Gainer’s death brings that number to seven.

I feel like high school football players dropping dead with heart issues isn't normal. But maybe I'm the weirdo. shrug-outta-hecks

  • quarrk [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    The heart issues are probably undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. HCM is inherited and often starts symptoms during adolescence. And it’s often what causes random cardiac arrest during high school sports. It’s why many programs require echocardiograms as part of the screening physical exam.

    A surprising number of people have it, about 1 in 500, and go their whole lives with no significant issue. But sports like football seem to be better at “finding” the problem with repeated brief bursts of exertion.