For high school guys, especially the larger and more physically-oriented ones, high contact sports have huge appeal. They wear helmets and body armor. And they look forward not merely to out-scoring their rivals, but also to delivering some pain and humiliation in the process. Likewise, they are willing to risk some pain and humiliation in the process. The most manly-sounding exploits bragged about during morning and lunch breaks at Hermes High School happen in the high contact sports.
The most followed high-contact sport in high school is Football which is played during the Fall Season. In the Spring Season, the high-contact sport is Lacrosse. All but two of the Lacrosse players at Hermes High School are also Football players. Philip is one of those two exceptions. For a freshman guy, Philip is far above average in height at 5’8” but below average in weight at only 130 pounds. Philip knows Football would not work for him. But Lacrosse leverages his speed, wind and agility. And it doesn’t hurt that Philip has been playing Lacrosse since the fifth grade. Despite his above average height, Philip is one of the shortest players on the Hermes High School Lacrosse team. And he is certainly the lightest player by at least fifteen pounds.
Despite his size, Philip has quickly earned the respect and admiration of his teammates. During scrimmage time at one of early practices, Philip delivered more than one perfect assist to Bruce, the team’s star player and Erica’s ex-boyfriend. After scoring a second perfect goal from an assist by Philip, Bruce nick-named Philip The Boss and the name has stuck.
The game against Cabrillo High School was the first official Friday “under the lights” game of the season. We did not know any of the Cabrillo players or their names, but by the end of the game we knew who Jacques (Cabrillo’s #20) was. Early in the third quarter Philip had the ball at the Cabrillo goalie’s two o’clock about fifteen yards away. Two opposing players were headed in Philip’s direction. The first was Jacques who was coming to check him on the right. In a split second decision, Philip decided to take the check from Jacques rather than dodge it. He planted his left foot and leaned to the right. Their bodies slammed. Jacques helmet was low as they collided. The check was harder than Philip had expected and his left ankle seemed to absorb the energy in a way that strained some of the tissue. Philip then took on the cross-check of another opponent before passing the ball to a teammate who was uncovered due to the double-team on Philip. But then the referee blew his whistle hard to stop the action.
Jacques had fallen to the ground after checking Philip and was laying there not moving. As things went quiet, it sounded to Philip like Jacques was struggling to breathe. The referee ordered all players to take a knee and Jacques coach walked onto the field. Philip was kneeling closest to Jacques. From the bleachers I could hear the Hermes players saying “Philip” over and over in their conversation and I realized the Cabrillo player had gone down after colliding with Philip. At that moment I did not know if the rival player was paralyzed, dying or merely had the wind knocked out of him. But as Jacques continued to lie there not moving I began to fear the worst. Were we witnessing this year’s high school sports tragedy? Would my son have the paralysis or even death of another player weighing on his conscience for the rest of his life? Even if there had been not a foul that was a lot for me to carry, let alone a fifteen-year-old boy.
But soon the words reaching me sounded hopeful. People were saying Jacques was having a seizure, and that Jacques had to take medicine to manage his epilepsy. Nonetheless, an ambulance arrived and Jacques was carried off the field on a stretcher. The referees canceled the rest of the Junior Varsity game out of respect for Jacques and to ensure the Varsity game could be played and end at an appropriate time. Philip was visibly shaken by the experience and his left ankle was sore from Jacques’ extra-hard check, so I took him home. We qualified Jacques’ full name so we could call the local hospital and find out if Jacques was recovering well or not.
We were all fortunate that evening. Jacques was released from the hospital three hours later and went home. But it was a sobering reminder that high contact sports must be played with skill and with caution.
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