Texas teen basketball star collapses during timeout, dies shortly after

Texas teen basketball star collapses during timeout, dies shortly after
By Cameron Smith


Just as a small town in Michigan begins to recover from the tragedy of losing a favorite son, a South Texas community is beginning the grieving process after another teen basketball player dropped dead during a basketball game on Saturday.

According to the Associated Press, Roma (Texas) High junior Robert Garza collapsed during a game at an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournament Saturday in Austin, falling just after taking a sip of water on the bench during a timeout. The McAllen Monitor reported that paramedics attempted to revive Garza at the scene, but failed to do so. He died approximately an hour after collapsing at Brackenridge Hospital in downtown Austin.

"During pregame warm-ups, he was dunking the ball and laughing with his teammates. Everything looked good," Valley Hoopsters coach Arnold Martinez told The Monitor. "It's unexplainable. He got a glass of water. He high-fived Pablo Adame and then it just happened. He collapsed."

The circumstances surrounding Garza's death are eerily familiar to those who have followed the tragedy that enveloped Fennville, Mich. after its basketball star Wes Leonard died on the court following his team's 20th victory of the season. Both Leonard -- who died of cardiac arrest from an enlarged heart -- and Garza had appeared completely healthy moments before collapsing and were unresponsive to all attempts to revive them. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Texas-teen-basketball-star-dies-during-a-timeout?urn=highschool-333499

they start playing?

16 years old. He had a physical (for a school activity) two weeks before his death. He had a seizure and collapsed and died in class. We still don't know why. Even with physicals things can happen.

My heart goes out to these families.


edited to add: My nephew never didn't have a history of seizures. It was the first time.

nt

die right after a match last year. Are we exposing them to risks?

went into cardiac arrest in a lecture hall chatting with her friends waiting for class to start. She's in the midst of along recovery. She'd been checked out the week before by a cardiologist for fainting spells, but they don't have the expertise yet to catch intermittent problems with heart rhythm.

drink constantly these days may have some impact on heart rhythms??

Better medical screenings could identify at risk players. One of local heart center using a cardiac CT slice scanner to take pictures. The scan takes seconds and they have a complete picture of the heart. Its quick painless identifies problems. They offer it free to public service workers and those with high risk jobs.