Michael Byerline, 18, plays Varsity Football and Varsity Baseball for Grossmont High School. He is the son of one of our part-time freelancers and suddenly due to a sports injury during the beginning of one of his baseball games during warm-ups, he was hit in the mouth with a baseball that knocked out his two front teeth. One tooth was re-implanted, but not expected to stick. And they are probably right. My son had the same thing happen on a Boy Scout outing at a much younger age and the odds of the tooth embedding back into the bone structure are nearly impossible odds.
The family was told in the first couple of days that the Amateur Athletic Union’s accident coverage only covers the players during off-season playing and school only covers if the player does not have insurance and even then you have to buy insurance through them prior to the season.
As of now, the family is looking at $7,500 to $10,000 in cost of one or two (more than likely two) implants for permanent replacements. This is an unbearable cost to the family and Byerline has already lost 15 pounds due to the soft diet he is restricted to now.
Byerline is not only a varsity athlete, he is an honor student who has already been asked by the Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox to join this year’s Draft. But he has made the decision that his education is more important and has been accepted at Northern State where he plans to study chemistry and medicine.
This is a young man with drive, passion and a level head. Not many would pass the chance of the Draft at such an early age, but he is smart in looking towards his future.
It is apparent that the high school and the AAU have embedded loopholes in the system that keeps them from the responsibility of caring for their athletes and this needs addressing. It is proven that contact sports of all kinds have serious repercussions through years of playing with many hopeful athletes knocked out early in life due to injuries. But this situation is a disaster for a family with three children with only one parent that is able to work. These loopholes need to be closed or overridden.
This falls on the shoulders of Grossmont High School and the AAU and they should be held accountable. If this situation were my child, there would be a lawsuit already pending. Grossmont High School, the Grossmont Union High School District and the AAU need to address the cost of these injuries and not place the burden on an already struggling family.
The family has started a GoFundMe account and has only raised $706 out of the low-end cost of $7,500 they are attempting to raise. If the school or the AAU cannot work around these ridiculous loopholes, which need to be changed to protect the care of its players, they should at minimum be finding a way to fund his way to recovery anyway that they can. It is the right thing to do and anything less is unacceptable.
This puts a dark cloud over the safety of our children that play school athletics and many parents and students should pay attention to just how much your school is willing to protect your child. I am nothing short of appalled at the lack of neglect towards a student displayed here.
To help, donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/rbzyhe6 (Michael’s Dental Repair Fund).
This is a start, but there are other things we can do. First, share the link on your social media sites and do not forget to mention that this crowd funding is a result of educational and athletic institution neglect. E-mail, call or write to the school, the District and the AAU and pressure them to make this right, not only for Byerline, but also for all student athletes.
I am outraged by this lack of protection and it tells me that students are not a top priority in at least one of our school districts. I do not like lawsuits, as many of them are frivolous, but in this case, I would hire one immediately.
