12-year-old boy dies after he collapsed during football practice

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A family is demanding answers and pushing for youth sports coaches to be trained in CPR after their beloved 12-year-old son Elijah Jordan Brown Garcia collapsed and died during football practice in New Jersey.

12-year-old Elijah Jordan Brown Garcia dies during football practice

Garcia died Friday, Feb. 10th after collapsing near his younger brother during a light football drill on the field at West Side Park in Newark. The brother called their mother, Raven Brown, to alert her of the situation.

“I said, ‘What are they doing? What is anybody doing?’ And he said, ‘They are pouring water on him, and they are fanning him.’ And that’s when I got my kids together and I said, ‘I’m on my way,'” Brown told News 12 New Jersey.

The head coach of the Essex County Predators youth football team had left. Another coach and parents were in charge.

Unfortunately no one knew CPR, but several people called 911.

A police precinct is right next to the park, but 911 calls on cellphones can go to dispatchers countywide.

No one knew CPR

Elijah’s mother says it took up to 30 minutes for EMS to arrive. By then, it was too late to save him. He was taken to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

As the family mourns Elijah’s untimely death, they are urging sports coaches to be required to get CPR training, reports ABC 7.

The sixth grader at KIPP Rise Academy is being remembered as an athletic child who meant so much to his family.

“He was so happy to be there. He didn’t know that it was going to be his last day,” Raven Brown, told News 12 New Jersey.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help Elijah’s family pay for a funeral.

No cause of death has been disclosed.