Focus story

Pete Stenhoff’s life didn’t go as planned. Once a 210 pound football player, the Chula Vista High School senior is now 172 pounds, confined to a wheelchair, and pursuing his diploma through correspondence classes.
While playing in a football game during his junior year, Stenhoff cracked his vertebrae in his spine when he rammed his head into a ball carrier’s chest. He was wearing a helmet.
Stenhoff is just one of 20,000 injuries sustained in high school football each year -- 12 percent of them permanently disabling the victims. Thirty-five percent of the injuries are to the neck or head. Thirteen youths died last year. Most critics blame the helmet.
Stenhoff says that he knew the risks when he got involved, but adds, “I wish I had known just how bad it could be.” He did not graduate with his class.