USA TODAY International Edition
More awareness of abdominal injuries urged
At Taylor Haugen’s first game of the 2008 season, the Niceville ( Fla.) Eagles were playing their rival. The sophomore wide receiver reached up to catch a pass and was pummeled from the front and back. He tried to join the huddle on the next play, but his coach saw him struggling and called him off the field.
“He lost consciousness in the ambulance and never regained it,” said his mother, Kathy Haugen, her voice trailing off.
Taylor had suffered a massive liver rupture. Their son had died playing the sport he loved.
The Haugens were forced to relive their family tragedy as they heard about the death of Warren Hills ( N. J.) Regional quarterback Evan Murray after a game Friday. The Morris County Medical Examiner’s office said Monday that Murray’s death was caused by a massive abdominal hemorrhage and that he had an enlarged spleen. Teammates said he took a helmet to the stomach earlier in the game before he went down and later collapsed on the sideline.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to their family and team in their loss. It reaffirms our facts that abdominal injuries are more common than people suspect,” said Brian Haugen, Taylor’s father. “My thoughts went immediately out to the parents because I can’t wrap my head around what they’re going through.”
The Haugens are on a mission to warn others. They don’t want parents to prevent their children from playing sports, just to equip them. They have formed the Taylor Haugen Foundation and Youth Equipment for Sports Safety ( YESS) to raise awareness of abdominal injuries.
The Haugens think these are the “third wave” of injuries brought to the public’s consciousness: after heatstroke and concussions have been acknowledged and treated as serious problems, now abdominal injuries in sports should be considered.
“I believe the issue is here, looking at the way tackling is go- ing,” said retired NFL kicker Matt Stover, an investor in a product the Haugens support called EvoShield, a molded shirt that helps provide protection. “The types of tackles are getting lower, in avoiding hits to the players’ head, players are dropping down. It’s less at the shoulders now.”
Running backs and wide receivers in college and the NFL are wearing rib protectors, back plates and other equipment that used to be reserved for quarterbacks to help absorb hits. Those added pieces are less common in high school and youth football.
“What defensive coaches in the NFL call the ‘ strike zone’ or the ‘ hit zone’ has been reduced. It’s like a baseball strike zone from the shoulders to the knees. There’s a lot more contact in that area,” said Terry O’Neill, a former NFL executive who founded Practice Like Pros, a program that brings coaching techniques used in college and the NFL to high schools.
Kathy Haugen says she gets calls “all the time” hearing about athletes’ abdominal injuries, including in lacrosse or rugby, and acknowledges the lack of available data on high school athletes’ abdominal injuries.
“Some doctors may report a liver laceration, and some not,” said John Todorovich, department chair for health, leisure and exercise science at the University of West Florida. “The trouble is in getting data, seeking out and figuring out a protocol. When does ( the injury) become a reporting issue? For a bruise? For a visit to the ER?”
Safety is at the forefront of the Haugens’ minds. The couple said they paid $ 150 for Taylor’s cleats. They question why they didn’t know they could’ve also gotten a shirt, too, to help protect Taylor down to his waistline.
“I’d just like to see every secondary school athlete in contact sports protected,” Kathy Haugen said. “That would be a great thing to happen.”