Football: Accidents happen, especially in weight room
If nothing else, high school ballers, learn from this freak accident. It can happen to anyone at any time. Our Scott Wolf writes ....
By Scott Wolf, Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- USC tailback Stafon Johnson was in emergency surgery Monday night after a weightlifting accident when a weight bar he lifted fell on his throat.
"He's still in surgery, it's serious," USC coach Pete Carroll said late Monday.
A spokesperson at California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles said Johnson was in "serious but stable" condition. Johnson underwent surgery for more than six hours after being taken to the hospital from the Heritage Hall weight room at USC.
"I saw him when he left here," USC safety Drew McAllister said. "He might have been in a little bit of shock at first but he looked like he was getting better and better."
Johnson was working out Monday morning, a routine occurrence for football players on the first day of the week, when he began bench-pressing.
Carroll did not know how much weight Johnson lifted. The bar, according to Carroll, slipped out of Johnson's right hand and fell on his throat.
CLICK ON THREAD TO CONTINUE READING
"He did get hurt," Carroll said. "He was OK when he left. He wasn't able to say anything."
Carroll said Johnson was not bleeding when he left USC. He said players he coached lost control of the weight bar before but never had it fall on their throat.
"You can miss the (weight) rack, it just slips," Carroll said. "This one just hit him wrong. This was right at the end of his set, and he wasn't putting the bar down on the rack yet."
According to sources, Johnson was being spotted by an assistant strength coach but it did not prevent the injury.
"I was surprised," tailback Allen Bradford said. "It was like a freak accident. He had a spot and the weight fell out of his hands."
Carroll said the injury was not "life-threatening," but said Johnson would be "out for a while."
The senior is the Trojans' second-leading rusher this season with 157 yards in 32 carries. He leads USC with five touchdowns.
"The guy's been an integral part of our program for years," Carroll said. "We all feel a bit damaged today. It's a bad deal. We feel horrible for him."
Carroll said Johnson's absence would create more opportunities for junior tailback C.J. Gable, a Sylmar High product who played sparingly this season. Gable has only 10 carries in four games.
"This obviously changes things. Stafon is a centerpiece for us," Carroll said. "It would call on C.J. to step up more."
Another candidate, sophomore tailback Marc Tyler, remains out with a fracture in his big toe.
"It feels better but I still can't run," said Tyler, who hopes to return by the Notre Dame game Oct. 17.
Barkley better
Quarterback Matt Barkley's bruised shoulder felt better Monday, although it wasn't 100 percent.
"He says it's not even close to before," Carroll said.
"He feels so much better than a week ago. He really exceeded our expectations against Washington State."
8 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
 |
|
Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
The equipment in all gyms should be modified. The bar with the weight should have metal u shaped guides to keep it in line and a stop at the bottom to prevent it from injuring the lifter.
Absolutely and completely preventable in all weight rooms.
In these type situations any spotter is worse than useless because as in this instance and many others, before the spotter can act, the damage has been done.
The first two posts get it right. Anonymous and Powerback 9.
Gyms everywhere, let us please prevent this.
Prayers for Stefon and his family and the USC family.
why not do the bench press training in a power cage & eliminate the danger?
Fault on trainer??? Please. I've to and involved in over 50 powerlifting events in the past 20yrs.. Weightlifters get hurt. PERIOD. What spotter or 2, or 3 can stop 300-400lbs from falling without warning? NONE! Ive seen it... 3 spotters on anthony clark 6yrs ago, 565 bench press...4 broken ribs.. It was an accident. NOT a black eye for trainers and spotters.. Bottom line.."lift what you can handle".. Some of you must blame the Highway patrol if there is a fatal crash due to speeding..
STEFON,
YOU ARE DEFINITELY IN OUR PRAYERS. STAY POSITIVE AND GET BETTER.
I have been a strength coach for over 30 years and must agree with the previous post. If the spotter is doing his/her job properly, there is no way that this accident occurs. No way! That is what a spotter is for: to prevent this from happening!
Open grips while lifting may not be the cause of all accidents in the weight room but they certainly can contribute significantly. I can only speculate, as the previous coach has, but that certainly can be the contributing factor to this unfortunate accident.
I believe that accidents do occur from time to time, to remind us of how important paying attention to detail can be! This athlete’s season is over and the loss lessens the firepower of USC's offense perhaps, but the saving grace is that this young man is alive and according to reports, will recover fully in time.
Let us not lose sight of what is most important here and that is the young man’s life! Everything, including football, is secondary to life and it’s during these times that we should thank God for His mercy in answering our prayers. I pray for his full recovery!
Let's hope everyone learns from this unfortunate accident and takes the necessary precautions to assure it doesn't happen again!
I am a strength and conditioning coach and have worked in a D1 college weight room, in the pac 10. Bench press accidents happen but based on the reports, the weight slipped out of the athlete's grip,this occurs when using a thumbless grip, which should never be used by athletes even if they are doing a sub max lift. With an assistant spotting and the head coach no more than 10 ft from the athlete, fault falls directly on the coaches. The head coach is said to have 25 years of experience, well I can tell you this unfortunate accident could have been avoided had the coach used some of his 25 years of experience... This is a black eye on all strength coaches especially at a program such as USC......
Stafon,
This Bruin family has you and your family in our prayers.
Be patient and fight hard. We look forward to seeing on the field you when you get through this.
God speed.
Stafon,
This Bruin family has you and your family in our prayers.
Be patient and fight hard. We look forward to seeing on the field you when you get through this.
God speed.