High school football player collapses from heat, dies

<p>A 15-year-old Rockdale County High School student died Tuesday morning from heat stroke after collapsing one day earlier following an off-season football workout session, Coroner Stephen Boyle said.</p><p>The Rockdale County coroner's office and the school did not immediately release the boy's name, at the request of his family.</p><p>The rising junior was taken to Rockdale County Medical Center before being transferred to Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Egleston, where he died, Boyle said.</p><p>Rockdale County is in the eastern suburbs of Atlanta.</p><p>James Ginn, spokesman for the Rockdale County Public Schools, said the district is investigating the death, and the school has canceled all football-related activites "until further notice."</p><p>Monday's workout session was voluntary because formal football practices do not begin statewide until Wednesday, Ginn said.</p><p>The football players lifted weights indoors for about an hour before heading out to the field to perform running and passing drills. Water was available to them throughout the training session, and they were outside with frequent breaks from about 5 p.m. to about 6:45 p.m., he said.</p><p>After practice, the players returned to the locker room, where the boy collapsed, Ginn said.</p><p>The school has brought in grief counselors to work with students, faculty and staff, he said.</p><p>Georgia, like much of the rest of the nation, has been sweltering under blistering heat.</p><p>Temperatures hovered in the mid-90s throughout the state Monday and Tuesday, with the heat index between 100 and 105 degrees. Temperatures are likely to cool slightly by the weekend with small amounts of rain in the forecast, said Gary Beeley with the National Weather Service station in Peachtree City, Ga.</p><p>Normal temperatures for this time of year are in the upper 80s, Beeley said.</p><p>Renaldo Davis, 28, a parking meter fee collector for the city of Atlanta, said, "It's summer in Atlanta _ what do you want me to say? It's hot. It's always hot."</p><p>Concerning Atlanta's typical mixture of heat and humidity, he added, "When it gets this hot it don't matter."</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/8/119511