The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A rugby player tries on some head gear during Fridays game. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Les fun?railles de Rowan Stringer, d?c?d?e ? l'?ge de 17 ans, lors d'une partie de rugby ? l'?cole, ont eu lieu, le samedi 18 mai 2013, ? Ottawa. CHRIS HOFLEY/OTTAWA SUN/QMI AGENCY
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Copy photo of Rowan Stringer's high school portrait at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Copy photo of Rowan Stringer's high school portrait at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A Gloucester rugby player got hurt during the game Friday, Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. The womens rugby players wore purple in memory of Rowan Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Notes written for Rowan's family members. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. The womens rugby players wore purple in memory of Rowan Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A player from Lisgar tries to get the ball before it went out of bounds Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
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Rowan Stringer was the young girl all of her peers wanted to be like.
With her bubbly personality, her infectious smile and her easygoing approach to life, her friends gravitated towards her like moths to a lamp.
She was bursting with energy, always steaming full speed ahead, ready to jump from one activity to the next.
But what really set her apart was the way she meticulously balanced her life.
She was beautiful, a veritable fashionista in her own right, her father Gordon admits, but sports were always her true passion, the driving force behind her life.
Captain of her rugby team, a seasoned athlete in half a dozen other sports, she wasn?t content unless she was weaving, deking, tackling or checking.
Yet her boisterous, high-octane lifestyle came to a sudden and screeching halt last week when she took her final tackle on the rugby pitch at John McCrae Secondary school.
Landing headfirst into the unforgiving ground ? the second, perhaps even the third such fall in the same week ? the bright light behind her eyes slowly dimmed.
She fell into a coma, her head injury so severe she wouldn?t wake. After four days, her parents knew they wouldn?t truly see their daughter open her eyes ever again, and chose to do what she?d always insisted on ? donating her organs to patients in desperate need.
The knee-jerk reaction to her sudden and tragic death is obvious to many.
Lock up our children after school; forbid them from ever enrolling in contact sports; encase them in protective bubble wrap to let the minds of parents rest easy.
Some school boards are considering outright banning rugby from their sports programs.
Other parents insist extra padding ? even helmets ? should be enforced in all high school sports.
But Gordon and Kathleen Stringer, who this very weekend are putting to rest their beloved daughter ? surrounded by the sports memorabilia she held most dearly ? insist these impulsive decisions must be put aside.
Gordon asserts it?s education that?s lacking in high school sports ? learning the true toll head injuries can have on even the healthiest athletes ? and there needs to be a shift in the way students approach concussions.
As a nurse, Kathleen has seen her fair share of concussion symptoms at work. And with Rowan playing every sport under the sun, they?ve have brushes with concussions even closer to home.
?We were always aware of (concussions), but this one was a bit over the top,? said Gordon, thinking back to the afternoon Rowan was hit.
?Kids just want to shrug it off and keep playing, they hide their symptoms from their coaches.
?That was Rowan, and that was a lot of her friends,? he said. ?They?re kids, they?re teenagers, they feel like they?re invincible, but sometimes they?re not completely ready to go. The adrenalin is going and everything at that time, but they really do have to take care of themselves.?
The school board is reviewing the incident, but the Stringers hope they would never cancel rugby at school.
?That?s not where we want to go with this at all,? he said. ?We?re not pursuing anything like that, that?s the last thing Rowan would have wanted.?
He added this is a real opportunity to teach students about the risks of concussions and open up the lines of communication between them and coaches and their parents.
?But as far as demonizing the sport, that?s something that?s going way, way out of bounds,? he said.
?What happened in Rowan?s case, it was an accident. It was a horrible accident.?
Their daughter was torn away from them, but she?s become a powerful beacon shining her light into the darkest corners of this insidious condition.
?I just want to raise awareness with the athletes, the kids and their friends,? he said. ?There can be serious consequences they have to be aware of, and I hope she can help save the lives of others just like her.?
Sports injury stats
There are 4 million sports-related concussions a year in North America.
15% of kids take longer than a month to recover
About 1 to 20 people die each year from second-impact syndrome across North America
About 10-12% of high school athletes have suffered a concussion
1 in 5 sports-related injuries are brain injuries
18,000 Ontarians suffer a brain injury each year
Brain injuries are the No. 1 killer and disabler of people under 44 in Canada
Repeated concussions could lead to brain degeneration with symptoms similar to Alzheimer?s and Parkinson?s disease
Twitter: @ottawasunmaubry
Do you think more should be done to prevent teen concussions?
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/05/18/they-think-theyre-invincible
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