A dislocated shoulder, a fractured ankle and multiple concussions are among the various injuries that have affected the Oak Park High School football team’s gameplay during the 2018-19 season thus far.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, football continues to be the most common participatory sport for boys in high school. It also accounts for 38.1 percent of high school sports injuries.

Senior and varsity player Dylan Rodgers suffered a severe injury during his sophomore year.

“I tore my labrum and rotator cuff when I went to block a linebacker at Carpinteria my sophomore year. After that, I played the rest of the year with my shoulder continuously popping in and out of place,” Rodgers said. “Since then, I had repair surgery to fix my labrum and rotator cuff and every practice and game I wear a shoulder brace to hold my shoulder in place.”

Senior and varsity team member Cole McCreary suffered a shoulder injury the second game of the season. Due to the dislocation of his shoulder, he will be out until the homecoming game on Oct. 6.

“Football is a tough contact sport, so there’s bound to be injuries, just like every other year I’ve played. It’s just unfortunate when it happens to you,” McCreary said.

The standard protocol for an injured player of any sport is to see the head athletic trainer, Brenda Pasqua, and have their injury assessed immediately. However, Rodgers said there have been more and more injuries each year.

“I think a big part of it is that so many players can’t tell the difference between a stinger and an injury,” Rodgers said.

The football team practices throughout the school week and has a zero-period weight lifting class that players are encouraged to take. According to Rodgers, the amount of lifting that is done in the workouts is a potential reason behind many of the team injuries.

“After telling my doctors the lifting I’ve been doing in high school, they all told me that the excessive chest lifting with no back workouts is setting the team up for shoulder injuries. And lo and behold, we have had a ton of shoulder injuries, including myself,” Rodgers said.

Varsity team captain and defensive end Luka Sarac has played three years in the football program at Oak Park and has not suffered from any major injuries throughout his football career. As a starting position on the team, he tries to avoid injury so that he is able to play.

“Most injuries happen when a player isn’t going full speed, therefore we always emphasize to go full speed so no one gets hurt. When injuries occur, we have to adjust because we have to find the next guy up in their position,” Sarac said. “It makes it hard especially when they play all sides of the ball.”

Due to the increase in injuries in the last seasons, changes have been made in the football team’s training regimen to try to prevent such occurrences.

“We finally got it figured out and got a separate lifting coach and we do a ton of back workouts and other lifts that help us prevent injury,” Rodgers said.

According to head football coach Casey Webb, the goal is for players to avoid injury by preparing their bodies prior to games.

“[The coaching staff tries] to help our players out by conditioning them and having them work out in the weight room,” Webb said. “The more physically prepared you are for football, the better chance you have of staying on the field.”

Pasqua said there have been preventative measures taken by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to avoid severe injuries in all sports. Examples of such precautions include limiting the amount of contact and practice time each athlete and team can have weekly, as well as adjusting rules to prevent kids from using their heads as hitting tools.

“The severity of injuries I treat in football are no different than injuries I treat in soccer, lacrosse, basketball, volleyball or even baseball and softball. CIF has instituted newer and stricter return-to-play guidelines that are protecting our student athletes,” Pasqua said. “Since the CIF has changed these rules and guidelines I have seen a slight decrease overall in injuries.”