Have you heard what happened to Damar Hamlin?

He was in critical condition, and he was in cardiac arrest. We spoke to student athletes such as Senior Jimmlly Williams. “That’s the risk of playing football, and it could happen at any level,” Williams said.

Junior Desmond Smith agreed. “It can happen to anyone, the way it happened was so surreal. It caught me by surprise.”

We spoke to Mr. Tillery. “I feel like that was a different experience, I never saw anything like it…they had to give him CPR to bring him back to life.”  Tillery remarked that it was very sad to see such a young, promising player suffer such a   Hillside teacher.

Mr. Harris expressed concern for Hamilin’s future, saying, “I think it’s messed up because he was in it for only 2 years.” 

We wanted to speak to student athletes about shoulder padding as well to get their point of view. We spoke to Senior Tahir Henry about whether or not safety equipment makes players faster.  “I think so, it’s all a mental thing. If you have the right mind space you look good, you play good.”

Senior  Kellyn Stallings said “Damar Hamlin had a terrible freak accident. It was so bad. I didn’t expect that to happen. All he tried to do was tackle the ball carrier. Damar was on the ground for 30 to 40 mins. He could’ve died on the football field.”