For players and coaches, “football” is synonymous with “dedication.” Hard work, training, discipline, competition, strength, determination, all of it. We know the drill. But the drills got to be too much for the players at Rockwall-Heath High School in Rockwall, Texas.
The parent of a player has filed a lawsuit against the football coaches after her son and other players were hospitalized after performing 400 push-ups during a workout.
One of the coaches created an off-season training program that required the team to perform 16 push-ups for any individual infraction during their exercise period. During a practice session in January 2023, the team accrued dozens of “infractions.” The coaches therefore ordered every member of the team to perform 398 push-ups as punishment. They did the push-ups for about 40 minutes.
A few days later, several players exhibited symptoms of potentially life-threatening rhabdomyolysis (“rhabdo”), which is caused by overexertion that results in muscle breakdown. When muscle breaks down rapidly, proteins and electrolytes are released into the bloodstream. This can lead to kidney failure, permanent disability or death.
A physician reported that 12 students could be accurately diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. It’s possible that some additional players might have had the symptoms but they did not seek medical treatment at that time.
Should the coaches have known better?
Rhabdomyolysis is not unheard of for student athletes. In September 2024, lacrosse players at Tufts University in Boston were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis after a strenuous workout with a guest alumnus who was also a graduate of Navy SEAL training.
In 2017, three Oregon football players were hospitalized with rhabdo. They’d performed strength and conditioning workouts similar to military basic training, including up to an hour of continuous push-ups and up-downs.
Lawsuit against Rockwall-Heath coaching staff
Valencia Smith, the parent of one of the players who suffered from rhabdo, filed a lawsuit against current and former coaches of the Rockwall-Heath football team. The coach who developed the training program claims he did not know about rhabdo when he designed it; he further claimed the athletic director told him not to include punitive exercises.
The coach’s attorney’s defense is that Texas law does not hold a school employee liable for acts within the scope of their duties, with the exception of excessive force in student discipline or negligence that results in bodily harm.
However, Smith’s attorney argues that the coach has a responsibility to care for the players. He was quoted as saying that avoiding rhabdomyolysis by designing a program properly is the minimum level of reasonableness. Although the coach was directed not to assign “punitive and corporal” activities, he did not consult with a certified strength and conditioning coach as part of his plan development.
However, the coach and assistant coach would often penalize students for failure to clap on a whistle, having a foot over a starting line during drills, performing exercises incorrectly or poorly, and similar. As the players were penalized with push-ups, if they did not do the push-ups correctly, they would be required to restart.
A few days after the players were required to do 400 push-ups, a hospital nurse emailed the school, concerned about the number of football players in the ER with rhabdomyolysis.
Ultimately, school officials determined that the coach failed to consult with athletic trainers about the risks of punitive push-ups.
Are the coaches liable for the players’ rhabdomyolysis?
As this case winds through the court system, a variety of questions will arise.
The first question will be whether the coaches’ liability is limited under the state education code. Since one of the exceptions allows an individual to be liable for negligence resulting in bodily harm, the judge or jury will determine if this absolves them of responsibility.
The next question will likely be whether the coach was negligent.
Negligence is when a party (in this instance, coach or school district) breaches their duty of care to avoid a reasonable risk of harm. That breach results in injury and financial damages.
Certainly, the coaching staff and school have a duty of care to the football team’s players. For one, they are adults in a school-related capacity who are charged with supervising minors. Second, they’re hired in that role because of their presumed expertise, not only for game strategy, but for conditioning and training teen athletes.
The school was responsible for ensuring that the coaches had the appropriate training and certification to educate student players on how to safely condition and strengthen their bodies for football. That the head coach hadn’t heard of rhabdomyolysis or its association with strength training suggests the school did not do its due diligence in vetting coaches for the role he had or the program he developed. The plaintiff’s lawyers might argue that there should have been more oversight from the district’s athletics department as training plans were developed and implemented.
If the court finds the coaches liable for the student’s injuries, the student might be entitled to damages. This depends on how severely he was injured, whether he suffered related conditions as a result of the rhabdo, and how it affects his daily life—present and future. For instance, if the affected student had already been recruited for a college team but is no longer able to play because of the injury, that would factor into a damage award. If he misses a significant amount of school, enough that he requires outside tutoring or special assistance to pass or graduate on time, that might also be taken into consideration.
Damages could include costs for:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Future lost wages (if the injury limits the youth’s ability to work in the future)
- Property damages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
If your child was injured while participating in youth sports, you can read more here: