
by Hiran Ratnayake
The Delaware News Journal
February 19, 2010
Just after halftime of Indian River's football game with Woodbridge, Tim Bokinsky lined up on offense.
The ball was snapped and the all-conference wide receiver bolted across the line of scrimmage and directly into a "substantially bigger" defender from Woodbridge, hitting him with his helmet.
"I remember hitting him and blacking out, but I never fell to the ground," the 17-year-old junior said. "I know I got really dizzy and had a really bad headache and going behind the huddle and bending over because it was such an awful hit. But I didn't leave the game."
He doesn't remember much else about the Oct. 2 game.
"There was one play where he didn't really even know where he was supposed to be. He was looking around dazed and confused," said teammate Timothy Wood, 17, a senior wide receiver. "Another time during the game, we were getting ready to go out on defense and he looked at me with this glazed look in his eyes and said, 'We're on defense?' "
Wood said he then made sure Bokinsky got off the field. Bokinsky was later diagnosed with a concussion and didn't return to the field for a week.
Had he remained and sustained another bone-jarring hit, Bokinsky could have suffered serious brain damage and possibly died.
The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association bars concussed student-athletes from returning to action without medical clearance. The rule is intended to protect them from a dangerous problem known as second impact syndrome, which can kill or disable.
But concussions aren't like other injuries where victims are noticeably hurt and often unable to get off the field -- or even stand up -- on their own. In many cases, a concussion is not easily and immediately identifiable and it can occur without a victim ever losing consciousness. Players also don't have to be in a competition to suffer a concussion. They also occur in practices, out of view of athletic trainers who can't be on the sidelines at every practice for every sport.