High Schooler Dies After Football Head Injury

Another football-related death fuels debate about the safety of the sport

  • Share
  • Read Later

Charles Youvella, a senior wide receiver on the Hopi High School football team in Arizona, died Monday in the hospital after falling hard on his head during a playoff game. Just a few plays before, Youvella — the son of the school’s athletic director — scored his team’s only touchdown, according to the Associated Press.

Just two weeks ago, in response to the growing outcry over head injuries in football, the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council called for a national system to track sports-related concussions in youth athletics. The report said that 250,000 people 19 and younger were treated for sports-induced concussions in 2009 alone, up from 150,00 in 2001.

[AP]