KEAAU — Kamehameha Schools sophomore quarterback Kaimi Like walks to the sideline during a game against Kealakehe High and visits the trainers’ table, flexing his left hand. ADVERTISING KEAAU — Kamehameha Schools sophomore quarterback Kaimi Like walks to the sideline
KEAAU — Kamehameha Schools sophomore quarterback Kaimi Like walks to the sideline during a game against Kealakehe High and visits the trainers’ table, flexing his left hand.
A few series later, Like is back in the game, but it’s not long before he’s injured again, this time after taking an apparent blow to the head.
Once Like mentions to the athletic training staff that he feels soreness in his head, the Warriors’ coaches no longer have control of their quarterback situation.
“I’m told he isn’t available the rest of the game,” coach Dan Lyons said. “That’s not a good thing, that’s a great thing.”
Even if Lyons wanted to be a greedy coach who throws injured players back in the game — the kind Hollywood stereotypically depicts as trying to win at all costs — he couldn’t. Not with athletic director Kimo Weaver and at least one and usually two members of the athletic training staff watching intently from the sidelines.
“The way we watch games, it’s totally different from the way other people do,” Kamehameha athletic trainer Amy Shirk said. “I’m watching for big collisions and making sure everybody is getting up. I’m looking to see if there is somebody left on the ground after the big pile.”
On a game day roster, Lyons’ name is listed first among the staff, while athletic trainers Shirk, Zeny Eakins and Jose Saucedo are listed last. But if an injury occurs, the roles are reversed.
“If they see a helmet-to-helmet (hit) or a kid comes out with a head injury, they pull me aside and they come tell me that so-and-so is in the concussion protocol,” Lyons said.
“I have no control over who is in the protocol,” he said.
If Shirk sees even the hint of a helmet-to-helmet hit, she’ll make her way to the player involved and either engage him to see how he’s feeling or watch from nearby to see how he’s acting.
In an unscientific baseline test of sorts, Shirk compares a player’s behaviors with her previous interactions with him.
“I know the kids,” she said. “If a kid is acting funny, I’ll usually notice a difference.”
Like is held out
In Like’s case, he misses the second half of the game — the Warriors suffer their first defeat Sept. 16, losing 3-0 — but does well on his concussion test, scoring 24 out of 25, Lyons said.
However, the Warriors have another game in six days, on a Thursday night at Keaau High. Like ultimately isn’t diagnosed with a concussion, but he still doesn’t play as Kamehameha errs on the side of safety.
“He would not have missed a game if it was the (following) Friday because he could’ve gotten through all his protocols,” Lyons said. “We weren’t going to rush him through protocols.”
The offense struggled without Like at Keaau in miserable conditions, grounding out a 19-0 victory in which it only completed one pass.
The on-the-field product was never a concern, Lyons said. Like probably could have visited a doctor the prior Saturday or Sunday to rush the process.
“There was never a thought that we were going to get him in the (next) game,” Lyons said. “There is no phone call from me, no ‘Hey, we need him on Thursday, get him sped up.’
“When he’s ready to play, our athletic trainers will let me know. I get a list of who’s ready and who’s not.”
Lyons, who also coaches girls water polo, another sport in which participants go through baseline testing, is a realist.
The fact his quarterback ended up missing six quarters even though he wasn’t diagnosed with a concussion won’t stop the next one from happening, nor is it proof positive the system works.
“It bothers me when I hear people saying football is evil,” Lyons said. “You hear the horror stories and there is that component. But football is doing a lot of things to manage this and try to make it better.”
Rule changes
Shirk said she holds her breath on punts and kickoffs as players run full bore at each other looking for a highlight reel play.
“I’m always hoping for a fair catch,” she said.
Looking to decrease full-speed impact in games, Pop Warner eliminated kickoffs in its three youngest age divisions this season.
Lyons is not in favor of eliminating kickoffs on the high school level, at least not yet.
“First, I think we need to look at ways we can make those plays safer and we need to do a better job from a teaching standpoint,” he said.
From a player’s perspective, Kamehameha senior Israel Bowden said eliminating kickoffs would take away one of his favorite plays.
“That’s what gets me pumped up and gets me going when a game starts,” he said.
Pahoa eight-man football coach Chris Midel often favors using an onside kick as a way to enhance player safety.
“I don’t have many players to begin with,” he said. “I need to protect them.”
Better gear might help
At $300 a pop, Kamehameha ordered high-tech shoulder pads for some of its players to combat a spate of collarbone injuries suffered last season.
It’s not easy, Shirk said, to find a quick fix for head injuries.
“The jury is out on how well you can prevent concussions,” she said. “Even with some of the new helmets, you’ll never reduce it down.”
Lyons can envision the day where new, expensive helmets are just the cost of doing business, even if they look goofy in the macho game of football.
“We’ll use them for a year, and then everybody will get over (the look),” he said. “We’ll just have a bunch of bobble heads running around out there.”
Email Matt Gerhart at mgerhart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
