A flag football game hosted by the NAACP Long Beach chapter ended early after a student injured her knee on the fifth drive of the game in a tied match on Thursday on the Liberal Arts Campus A quad.
Theater major, Christie Brooks, felt her knee hyperextend and dislocate while running and trying to pull the flag of a fellow player.
Brooks laid on the ground, clutching at her knee while a group of students, an ambulance and campus security arrived on the scene to aid her.
After examination, paramedics determined that she had no external injuries or broken bones.
“I feel fine. Just like a little bit of a minor ache in my right knee,” Brooks said.
“I feel like I was kind of being a little bit irresponsible pushing myself because I hadn’t done any physical activity in for a while,” Brookes said.
ASB president, Priince Bass, called the game off quickly after realizing the extent of Brooks’ injury.
“She’s a friend of mine, so I wanted to make sure she wasn’t in pain. You know, how could I alleviate any pain from her?” Bass said.
The immediate concern for Brooks by other students and the rush to help her demonstrated a strong sense of community.
“It made me feel warm in my heart that everybody in the game was more concerned about helping out Christie as opposed to keeping the game going or scoring,” Bass said.
“You know, when it comes to sports and stuff, people are very competitive, even if somebody gets injured. So it’s good that students were able to put the student first and that just shows how close we are as a community,” Bass said.
The game was canceled after a 7-7 deadlock between the Nfluencers and the Panthers.
Justin Torres, a kinesiology major, participated in the game for the first time.
“There is no harm in trying new things. If you’ve never failed, then you haven’t really been trying. So, at some point, if you fail, that’s also succeeding because you’re learning things that you haven’t learned before,” Torres said.
Brooks was taken to urgent care shortly after and is expected to make a full recovery and is looking forward to playing again soon after having a knee brace fitted.
Brooks said she still had fun with the game and that she’ll be more careful next time.
The next flag football game is scheduled for Thursday, May 21, at 2 p.m. on the A quad of the Liberal Arts Campus.
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