An entire Florida high school football team is being certified to perform CPR in the event a teammate has an on-field incident.
Delray Beach first responders taught spent about four hours with the Atlantic High School Football team, training them on everything from chest compressions to how to use an AED, and what to do in critical health situations.
"Knowing the kids will have the knowledge and the preparation for it will be extremely important," football coach Jamelle Murray told WPBF 25 News.
The training was made possible by Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins who ran into a group of Atlantic athletes who were training at a local boxing gym. Dawkins told the students he wanted to help coordinate a CPR training course for high school students.
"With those situations like that, like those freak situations, knowing what you’re doing and being calm is the best thing you can do. So, having that knowledge so I can just be calm, do what I can, I’m grateful for this opportunity," said Lincoln Graf, the quarterback for Atlantic High School.
Cardiac arrest has become a topic of conversation among athletes since Bills' Damar Hamlin suffered from an on-field accident last season.
"One day, it can be any one of us. Just like the Damar Hamlin situation ... it can happen to any one of us at any moment," Murray said. "Or inside of a stadium, and if it happens inside of a stadium we are in, we’ll be knowledgeable and be able to take care of that situation."
