SHELTON, Wash. — The Shelton School Board has accepted the resignation of the Shelton High head football coach months after an unsanctioned drill left several students with serious injuries.
Shelton High School parents and an attorney said in a span of 30 minutes during a surprise drill on Jan. 31, at least five students were injured.
They said football coaches came into a weightlifting class and took the students to a wrestling room to practice a new tackling drill without pads or helmets.
"I was trusting my coach and as it kept going it got worse and worse and more aggressive and I thought it was unsafe," said Masyn Gard, a player at Shelton High School.
"I saw someone get their head slammed into a wall and then after that my finger got dislocated. The doctor told me the bones were shaved together and it could not work the same for rest of my life," said Marshall Gard, who also plays football at Shelton High School.
Some players suffered serious head injuries like 15-year-old Jackson Leth, who said he's recovering from a concussion.
"Coach told the other players no one was tackling me and they needed to do better. I was running to the other wall and got off a tackle from another kid and another kid grabbed from the back and picked me over his head and slammed me on my head," said Jackson Leth.
At a Shelton School Board meeting Tuesday night, board chairman Matthew Welander confirmed that head coach Mark Smith's resignation had been accepted. The district superintendent said the search process has already begun to find a new leader for the program.
Many in the district were hoping to get more information about what happened at that Jan. 31 practice, but Welander said that is not possible at this time.
"I get that everyone wants information and I almost vomit on a daily basis because I would love to give people updates," Welander said. "We're actually not allowed to give any confidential information which any of this would be so, I'm sorry but the investigations are ongoing and that's where we have to leave as much as we don't want that either."
No information on the status of any other members of the football staff who were part of the unsanctioned drill was available.