Vacaville high school football player recovering after getting hit, blacking out during game – KCRA Sacramento

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Will C. Wood High School varsity football player Josiah Chavez said he is still recovering after he got hit during a home game last week and blacked out.
KCRA 3 footage from the game shows that when Josiah jumped to catch the ball, he collided with a player from the opposite team. The player’s foot hit Josiah’s chest and Josiah fell to the ground on his back, hitting his head on the field. He briefly rolled around but then stopped moving.
“I remember just going up for the ball and then getting hit and then everything going dark,” Josiah said. “They said I was just going in and out of consciousness, and that’s pretty much all I remember until waking up in the ambulance.”
Josiah’s family said someone called an ambulance to the school to take Josiah to the hospital. Josiah said doctors told him he had a mild concussion and that his heart had stopped. He said he is feeling much better now, and he will never take another day for granted.
“I was almost gone, and looking at life now knowing that I got a second chance is basically making me look at life a little different,” Josiah said.
Josiah’s father Joe was on the sidelines during the game and said it was hard watching his son get hurt.
“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy to have to see their child lifeless from the field like that,” Joe said. “I think our biggest issue was trying to figure out why his heart stopped.”
The other question Joe had was why there was no ambulance at the game, to begin with.
“I would think, especially how dangerous the sport is and can be, yes, I believe an ambulance should be onsite,” Joe said.
KCRA 3 brought that concern to the California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, the governing body for high school sports across the state. Will DeBoard, the CIF San Joaquin Section assistant commissioner, said the rules do not mandate ambulances at high school sporting events in California.
“It’s not required to have an ambulance,” DeBoard said. “Our current rule regarding medical personnel — this is a CIF rule — is that the home team shall endeavor to have a doctor at the game.”
However, DeBoard said several school districts do provide ambulances at home games, but to make that a state-wide requirement is out of CIF’s hands.
“That’s really up to our schools. If our schools want that rule, they can definitely propose it,” DeBoard said.
Josiah said he is still waiting for medical tests to come back. He is also not allowed to do any physical activity, including getting back on the football field, until his heart gets checked out.
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