USC Basketball: Bronny James Inspires Other Athletes To Talk About Health In Sports
The news of incoming USC freshman point guard Bronny James' cardiac arrest on Monday has inspired a broader conversation about screening for health problems in college athletics.
Annika Johnson of The Los Angeles Times unpacks the situations of a few other local NCAA players who recently dealt with big health scares.
Former Occidental College lacrosse player Haley Jones underwent a mandatory EKG screening ahead of her junior season three years ago that caught a genetic condition called long QT syndrome, which adversely impacts the electric current in her heart.
“Essentially, I was told if I didn’t do this test, I could have died at any second in any of the sports or workouts or anything I’d ever done,” Jones told Johnson. “A very surreal moment for me.”
Though doctors dissuaded Jones from ever competing again, she was able to return to lacrosse as a senior upon being put on beta blockers, and prepping a plan of treatment should she have an event while playing.
“Everyone was aware that should I faint or should I have an issue, you have those two precious minutes to get to me and to use the defibrillator,” Jones noted. “I think it’s just really important to be aware with your body... Because as we’re seeing an increase in health issues within athletes, whether professional or collegiate, you never know when that could be you and I guarantee anybody in an emergency situation would say, if you could ask them, they had no idea it would be them."
Kiran Kruse, who played basketball at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, retired from competitive play after dealing with severe pain and "crunchy joints." He spoke about the Bronny heart event, too.
“It’s obviously a scary thing when you have these athletes who are some of the best athletes on the planet just kind of dropping in the middle of practice and games in a life-threatening situation,” Kruse said. “I can’t even imagine what I would do if that happened in one of our practices,” he added. That was never something that even crossed my mind.”
