The medics were there, but they weren’t visible.” says a student council president of his college’s experience with the medical personnel that were assigned for this year’s Intramurals. The medics he speaks of were members of the Red Cross, sent here at the request of the University Athletics Office and the Clinic, to oversee the safety of the athletes. This group of volunteers did do their part in treating the injured during the Intramurals proper. That is not to say, though, that they were there all the time. During the advance games, which happened two weeks before the Intrams was opened, there were complaints from athletes and council members alike that the medics could not be found at some of their stations. The event organizers at the Pelaez Sports Complex even had to call the Athletics office to send some of the nurses at XU during one of the games. Then there was the negligence of some of the medics on duty. “Someone got injured in the soccer field. Now what happened was… the medics were sleeping and the students had to bang [on] the ambulance [to wake them up].” says the council president. The organizers themselves admit that there really was a shortage of medics during the advance games. “As far as the advance games [go], I think there were no medics because we thought there would [be] very few games in soccer and basketball.” Mr. Eliodoro Ferenal, head of the Athletics Department says. Considering that the coordinators had taken measures to lessen the amount of technical and other difficulties during the duration of the Intrams, they left out one very important detail: the health and safety of the athletes themselves. This problem leads us to the following questions: Shouldn’t there be a committee assigned to the medical facilities to be used throughout the event? Why does XU have to outsource its medical personnel when we have a Red Cross Youth organization? And why didn’t the medics have their own booths at their designated stations, for athletes and organizers alike to easily spot and approach when in need. Advance games or not, the safety of the players is crucial and cannot be overlooked. And if they DO overlook this in the future, maybe we’ll see a new meaning to “sacrificing bodies for the game”. C
