Karen Tucker has plenty of concerns about her son, Jyles, playing football.
She worries about him breaking his leg. She worries about him becoming paralyzed. But the Dover, N.J., resident never thought she had to worry about the weather – until yesterday.
That’s when Tucker and thousands of parents just like her around the metropolitan area heard about Viking offensive tackle Korey Stringer dying of heat stroke after a football practice.
Now they have to question: Could their son be next?
“It makes you wonder,” Tucker said. “This is bringing a new light for parents to be concerned about the heat. When the weather is too hot, I will show concern to the coaches.”
Jyles is a defensive lineman/tight end at Morristown-Beard School. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound rising senior is ranked as one of the top players in New Jersey by several recruiting services, and is being recruited by several Division I schools.
His mother said she will sit down with him and have a long talk about how to handle rising temperatures, overbearing coaches and making sure to communicate when he feels something wrong.
“I’ll tell him that it’s very important to let me know if you’re not feeling good and make sure he knows how important it is to keep fluid in his body and not overexert himself,” Karen Tucker said.
Most parents interviewed expressed faith in their sons’ coaches to pay attention to how many water breaks kids need, and that players are feeling OK when the mercury gets up over 80 degrees.
James Allan of Long Valley, N.J., said he has gone to his son Keith’s practices at West Morris Central High School and is confident the coaching staff there would not let a tragedy like this happen.
“I’ve been to many, many practices,” Allan said. “I trust my coaches’ judgment. They’re going to camp at the end of August, and I would trust them not to let the kids go full contact if it’s too hot or make them do extra running.”
While concerned, none of the parents interviewed said they would prevent their sons from playing football. Allan’s son, Keith, is a quarterback at West Morris, and James Allan said he thinks Stringer’s death could be more related to the Viking’s 335-pound size than the sport of football.