CarrIsMyHomeboy

May 14th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^

I went to a small, Catholic HS. It was so small that only ~18 kids comprised Varsity boys' and girls' track. As such, each of us were given a great variety of event responsibilities. I ran the 800, 4x800, 1600, and 3200 as specialties, but I was also asked to run the 100, 4x100, 400, 4x400, shotput, discus, high jump, and others with frequency. Not all in the same meet, mind you. We had some limit of like 6 things we could do per meet. Anyway, shot put and discus were the least specialized of all of my high school's events. And we sucked at them unsurprisingly. This is relevant to this thread because, as a result of that lack of practice and ability, one kid--as a function of said lack of practice and his own goofiness and poor decision making--managed to get hit in the head twice. Once with a shot. Once with a discus. He never even went to an emergency room.

/ridiculousandunimportantaside

 

Anyway, I hope this kid is ok. Clearly his story was at least some amount different; perhaps because the shot that hit him traveled farther and higher than my classmates'.

Humen

May 14th, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^

I used to drive by (though it is not typically a school where drive bys occur) Whitmer H.S. every day, and I believe I can stipulate that if UM leads for Wormely, they will continue to lead.  Being on the border, and less than a couple miles away from Michigan, that part of northern Toledo is divided as far as Michigan-OSU. Assuming Wormely is a Michigan fan, and given the OSU sanctions, he's probably more of a lock than T-Rich (sorry if my abbreviation is offensive). 

 

Edit: Best of luck to the boy and his family. Brain injuries are rarely simple

dinoking

May 14th, 2011 at 8:27 PM ^

I happen to have some first hand knowledge on Fred. He had brain surgery and its looking like he will be ok. But this is a very serious injury and the extent is not yet known. The way this story is stated GREATLY underestimates the damage.

gajensen

May 14th, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^

Jesus.  I'm surprised that they didn't cancel the shotput event for that meet, and am surprised that Wormley could focus enough to win the event!

heffman

May 14th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^

It can be pretty dangerous especially in warmups with multiple throwers throwing at the same time. Especially in high school when people are learning new techniques and shots tend to go everywhere. During my high school days the rule was to never walk with your back to either the shotput or discus rings just in case but it's pretty easy to slip once and get nailed.

bronxblue

May 14th, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^

Wish the student the best.  A similar accident happened at my HS a couple of years before me and the student was apparently never the same - bad migraines and some memory issues.  This sounds less serious, but definitely reminds you to never let your guard down when the equivalent of small cannon fodder is being flung around.

JR's Flow

May 15th, 2011 at 12:42 AM ^

I go to St.Francis deSales (Toledo) and wasnt paing attention when it happened but it was shocking. Wormley is the City LEague champion shot putter