ST. LOUIS — Bills' safety Damar Hamlin's condition kept the world on the edge of its seat on Friday.
The 24-year-old suffered cardiac arrest during the Monday night football game but showed improvement on Tuesday.
Parents of kids who want to be in his shoes one day and coaches that oversee these aspiring athletes have expressed concern, along with the young people themselves.
“Terrible and it's hard to watch on any scale you know after going through some injuries myself. I think it makes it that much harder and I think it makes me that much more empathetic,” Faith Montandon, a Lindenwood University Soccer forward who grew up playing various sports, said.
She said she participated in basketball and volleyball, swimming, and dancing. She tore her ACL twice.
“There's nothing you can do to prevent something that serious, but I think training definitely helps combat it a little more,” Montandon also said.
Her journey is one of the reasons former athlete Dale Huff opened Athletic Republic St. Louis 26 years ago.
A part of their mission is to help young athletes pursuing any sport get prepared for what they may face.
"It can happen. As sad as it is we all want our athletes to improve to get better to get out on the field and do what they love to do," Huff said.
High school athletes account for an estimated two million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations a year, according to the National Council of Youth Sports.
Mercy Hospital's director of sports medicine Dr. Brian Mahaffey advised that while an incident such as Hamlin's was rare, team support should always be ready to provide care.
He also said that parents or aspiring athletes should not be fearful of playing because of the uncommon incident.
"The benefit of sports very much outweighs the risks," Mahaffey said.
He stressed that care and guidance after a health scare is even more critical.
“We talk about those risks and benefits in what sports they should do and what sports they don't and there's a very specific game plan out of that,” Mahaffey said.
Mercy Hospital has yearly training episodes before high school starts and reiterates those lessons every three to six months.
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