"It's raw": Emotions still high as freshman football player struggles with recovery

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- There is no playbook for this kind of trauma.

"It's somber for sure around school," Chad Nyberg, Activities Director at Jefferson High School lamented to WCCO. "It's your own reality that this could happen to you because it's happened to someone close, and that someone else is going through this you know."

The reality remains grim for Ethan Glynn, the 15-year-old freshman who was severely injured in his first football game last week. 

In a blog posted Wednesday, Glynn's parents said "Last night Ethan had a long night trying to get comfortable and regulate pain.. He learned to use the communication board which has helped him tell us what he needs and how he's feeling. Also today, physical therapy made a visit to work out his arms and legs and keep him limber."

In addition to football, Glynn loved playing baseball and hockey; he was the captain of the youth hockey team that went to the state championships.

"It's real, it's fresh, and it's raw, and it's hard," Nyberg explained. "This is all just freak accident stuff. There's nothing any one person did or cause or anything. There are raw emotions in that huddle too over the stuff they saw."

Several counselors have been made available for students at the high school. Nyberg added that coaches have stressed the message that it is a sign of strength - not weakness - for friends and teammates to share their emotions.

"It's good to be vulnerable, and on your terms. You need to talk and process."

A spokeswoman for Chaska High School, whose freshman team played against Jefferson last week, told WCCO:

On behalf of our 9th grade team, our football program, the Chaska High School community, and the entire Eastern Carver County School District, our thoughts are with Ethan and his family after last week's horrible accident.  Our 9th grade players are sending cards and messages and our Touchdown Club will be making a donation to the family. Our coaches and administrators have also been in regular contact with their colleagues at Jefferson to offer our support and will continue to do so.  We are all rooting for a full recovery for Ethan.