LJ g soccer: Devitt retires from the sport

Gloria Devitt, in red-striped jacket,
sits on the end of the bench
with her Viking teammates
during the second half
against OLP.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"Did you see where the ball went?" asked Gloria Devitt.

"No," I said, looking around, taking a break from snapping photos on the La Jolla sideline during the Vikings-OLP soccer game Thurs., Feb. 6. "I don't see one. Are you sure one went out?" 

"There's a ball somewhere." Devitt, sitting with her team, the Viking varsity, had offered to be the ball chaser.

"Maybe it's on the other side of the high jump pit, where we can't see it," I offered. This is the most conversation I had ever had with Devitt, a standout left back on defense, even though I had covered her team's games both her freshman and this, her sophomore, seasons.

Later I joked, "You could do this as your job--chase down the balls that go out of bound." We both laughed.

I asked her as she continued down the sideline looking for the errant ball, "How's your head?"

"It's fine," she said, smiling.

The ball was on the other side of the high jump pit in the northern end zone of Edwards Stadium. Devitt retrieved it.

When she came back toward her team's bench, I struck up a conversation.

To inform you, her father announced Thurs., Jan. 30, before the Vikings-Scripps Ranch game at Scripps Ranch, "Gloria retired."

He said she headed a ball in December for her club team, and sustained a concussion. She had headaches.

Then, in January, in a school game, an opponent in front of her and she collided, the opponent's head bashing into Gloria's face and nose. It, apparently, wasn't conclusive that there was a concussion. But it was enough to send Devitt to the sidelines permanently.

Gloria was not in attendance at the Scripps Ranch.

So, knowing this, I asked her at the OLP game how she was doing.

"I am trying to think of other things," she said. "It's hard. I've played soccer since I was seven years old."

I cited statistics that said head and neck injuries in girls youth soccer had been high, to the point where heading the ball was outlawed. She listened.

I said, "I played basketball. I had to quit in my early 20's (because of my health). It's hard, when it's something you're good at and you enjoy." It's a way to express yourself.

"Are you going to (continue to play) golf?" I asked her.

"Yes."

She said, "Enrollment at our school is dropping, so it's hard to get enough students to go out for teams."

Coach Trent Painter, in his second year at LJHS, has used different players in Devitt's familiar left back position.

We chatted about soccer and high school sports before she made her way back to her team's bench.

Her retirement is remarkable. It's a sign of the day and age we live in. To decide not to play soccer any longer, a sport she has played for eight or so years since she was in early elementary school, as a sophomore in high school is not something that you ever heard about back in the day.

To fill out her profile, Devitt wasn't just a run-of-the-mill member of the soccer team. In a rare occurrence, she was named a team captain--granted, Painter's team overall is young--as a 10th-grader. That's saying a lot, in addition to the obvious regard she has been held in as a mobile, athletic defensive player.

Her premature retirement shows the perils of some sports--the danger of head injuries. It also shows how our athletic science has improved: During our conversation on the sidelines, I told her about a friend, Steve Myerchin, who played football and sustained eight concussions. At that time, he joked about his injuries. I'm sure he stayed in the game, or went back in, after many of the concussions.

Back then, people used innocuous terms for concussions, like, "He got his bell rung." "He's seeing stars."

Nowhere in there was an awareness that staying in the game with the danger of sustaining further injury was a particular peril.

We didn't have the medical science to tell us this, as far as I know.

Now, fortunately, for Gloria and other young athletes, we know it's not healthy to put them at risk for further head injury.

So, after two concussions in 30 days, she made the decision to "retire".

I told her I think the decision she made is a "great" one. Though disappointing to lose her favorite sport, one in which she excelled in, she made the right decision to protect her head and brain, and more importantly, her life and future.

I had a student in my classes in juvenile court and community schools, a girl, who boxed in the Mexican Olympic program. She never pursued treatment that I helped arrange through Dr. Steve Hayden, a team doctor with the La Jolla High football program. At least, Steve gave me the information for the student to be evaluated, but she never returned my call.

At age 18, her brain injury had already reached the point where her brain "froze"--everything stopped for a moment. She told me about it once while she was in my classroom seven or so years ago. It occurred right there in my classroom. She said, "Piper, did you see that?" I said, "What?" She said, "Everything stopped."

It was scary. Yet she continued in the Mexican Olympic program. She had a coach who, prior to this, urged her to quit high school, with only a few courses left, so that she could devote more time to her training. Not a good situation.

I fear for her present status and future. We haven't had contact since she left my program. She was scared, I think, to find out what her actual condition was.

The other case I think of involves Trey Enloe, the JV football player at La Jolla who sustained a concussion and continued to have symptoms for some time after October 2014. I believe he settled with the school district over a suit his family submitted in which they claimed he was sent back into the JV football game, even though he was experiencing concussion symptoms.

Gloria Devitt has fared better than either of these two. Thank God for her wellness. We want to protect Gloria, Trey, my former student, and all other young people.