Matt James, a 17-year-old Notre Dame football recruit, was "drunk and belligerent" according to authorities when he fell from a fifth-floor balcony on his high school spring break in Florida. James fell from the balcony at the Days Inn Motel in Panama City Beach over a week ago.
According to officials, James was on the trip with 40 fellow classmates and about a half-dozen parents from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. The hotel's balconies were up to the normal height standard, but two questions must be asked from this tragedy.
Why were the kids allowed on the balconies on spring break and what parents allowed James to get drunk while in Florida?
I recently went on my college spring break to Daytona Beach a few weeks ago and stayed in a hotel similar to the one James was in. But unlike the Days Inn Motel, my hotel locked their balconies during spring break. It is no secret that young students go on spring break to escape from school and enjoy the ability to live care free and drink themselves into oblivion. It makes no sense to me why hotels in all the spring break hot spots would not have the policies to lock their balconies. Keeping balconies open only creates a huge liability issue for these hotels.
Although some blame must be put on the motel, much of it must go on James himself as well as the parents who were supervising the trip. For starters, James is underage, and as a future collegiate athlete he should have known better than to get drunk and put his future at risk. Many young people feel invincible, but these stories are not uncommon and prove that kids make mistakes and sometimes pay the ultimate price, especially on spring break.
But James could have had help. James somehow found a way to get alcohol in his system, and because he was "drunk and belligerent", there were most likely plenty of classmates around that noticed his disturbing behavior. There were most likely a few parents who noticed his demeanor as well. As soon as James opened the balcony door, someone should have grabbed him and made him realize what harm he was in.
This story isn't about sports. James was a talented athlete and had a bright future ahead of him. He was not just a football player but a varsity basketball athlete as well, but being an athlete alone does not make you invincible.
I feel bad for his parents and for his friends. Cause at the end of the day, James was the one who chose to drink and chose to go on the balcony. And unfortunately, his decisions cost him his life. And many friends and family probably feel like they're solely to blame, but they're not.
Too many times we see athletes in society think they are free from the rules that everyone else adheres to. Just look at athletes like former Net Jayson Williams and NFL player Donte Stallworth. Both men killed innocent civilians while under the influence of alcohol.
The death of Matt James can be a lesson to many people. It should open the eyes to students who go away on break and think they won't get hurt, it should open the eyes of high school coaches around the country to teach their players that there are consequences for drinking, and it should open up the eyes of parents to teach their kids how valuable life is.
My heart goes out to the James family and the St. Xavier school.
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