IHC player ‘critical’ after collapsing at basketball game

PHILADELPHIA — An Immaculate Heart Central School basketball player is in critical condition after collapsing during a game Tuesday afternoon at Indian River Central School.
The player, identified by IHC varsity football and softball coach Paul Alteri as Jack Valentine, 13, was resuscitated by school personnel, taken to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown and transferred to Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, according to Indian River Athletic Director Jay Brown. Valentine was listed in critical condition Wednesday night. The nature of his illness was unknown.
Mr. Alteri said he had not spoken with the boy’s parents but heard he “is getting better.”
Valentine had just returned to the bench after playing the first quarter when he collapsed, Mr. Brown said. The incident occurred about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday during a boys modified seventh-grade basketball game.
School nurse Theresa M. Leeson and athletic trainer Ashley N. Naklick, both at the school at the time, performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator, or AED, on Valentine until an ambulance arrived. He had a pulse before he left, Mr. Brown said.
“They did a fantastic job,” he said. “The boy is still with us today because of them.”