BOYS / GUYS KNOCKED OUT UNCONSCIOUS in SPORT (The Truth)

I've been knocked out multiple times in sports. I'll list my experiences from first to most recent. To start, I'm currently a 22 year old male.

Experience 1 - I was 18 years old and was competing in a local ski jump competition. I was on my 2nd out of 3 scheduled jumps of the night. The first jump had gone fine and I was happy with my score, but I wanted to go bigger on this next one. The last thing I remember was skiing down the hill and thinking that I was going much faster than I typically go, but that's what I wanted for this jump. That's where my memory of the event ends, however, I was told the story from my coach. I hit the jump a little wobbly and off-balanced so I under-rotated my spin and landed sideways which caught my ski sideways in the snow and slammed my head on the ground. I was knocked out instantly, helmet cracked and everything as I slid the rest of the way down the slope completely limp. I woke up about 5 minutes later with a nightmare of a headache and I was completely disoriented for half an hour afterwards.

Experience 2 - At 18 years old in my senior year of football at my high school just 6 months after my first experience, I was knocked out again. I was playing wide receiver for my team and was going for a catch and collided hard with another player on defense. I remember hearing a crunch and then blackness. This experience while I was unconscious was a bit different. In the first experience I was completely out cold, however, during this one, I was out but I could hear people around me. The voices were muffled and I couldn't make out what they were saying. I could also feel someone shaking me trying to revive me. After a couple minutes of being unconscious, I finally came to and sat the rest of the game on the bench.

Experience 3 - I was 20 when this happened. I was riding my Quad in my back yard going up the backyard hill into my driveway full speed to make a jump out of it. I had done this hundreds of times, but this time, I hit a rock at the apex of the hill and threw my Quad off balance and threw me off the Quad. I was wearing a helmet but the impact of falling and slamming my head on the pavement was enough to knock me out cold on my back. My step mother rushed over to me and slowly removed my helmet. She said I was completely motionless and that I was out cold. She tried to wake me up but had no luck. She called the ambulance. I woke up almost 10 minutes later shortly before the ambulance arrived. I was diagnosed with a grade 3 concussion. I have absolutely no recollection of that day, only what I was told by my step mom who saw the incident.

Experience 4 - This happened when I was 22, earlier this year. I had signed up for a local MMA competition. I had trained very little in MMA but I wanted to see what my talent level really was in true competition. I made it about halfway through the 2nd round. I was caught square on the side of the head with a kick that knocked me out cold immediately. My sister said I was out cold before I even hit the ground because I just flopped to the ground spread eagle and was motionless for the next minute before waking up. No concussion on this one, just a learning experience.

I've been involved in sports all my life and didn't experience my first knock-out until adulthood, but after the first one happened, it seemed to be more common happening 4 times in 4 years. I've also had quite a few fainting episodes. I'd say about 8 or 9 of them since I was 16. I've been out anywhere from just a few seconds to a few minutes. There are various causes to them all. I will say one thing, I'd much rather have a fainting spell rather than being knocked out. Waking up from fainting rarely has any side effects and you usually recover much more quickly than being knocked out.