B.C. high school football community rallies around top quarterback who broke his neck jumping in lake

A 16-year-old football star was visiting family in Kelowna on Wednesday when he was seriously injured in a freak accident. Now his teammates are standing by his side while he recovers.

Sixteen-year-old Gavin Kamoschinski honed his football skills in his hometown of Kelowna.

But the talented left-handed quarterback spent his grade 11 year living in Vancouver and training with the top-rated Notre Dame Jugglers, preparing to become the team’s starter this coming high school football season.

“He was so looking forward to this year, cashing in on his talent and his dedication to the game and being our starting quarterback and pursuing a college opportunity,” said Notre Dame head coach Denis Kelly, who called Gavin a dream player. “He’s very team-oriented, extremely popular with his classmates and teammates and very very focused on what he wanted to do.”

The teenager was back in Kelowna visiting family on Wednesday when he was seriously injured in a freak accident.

“Unfortunately just a hot summer afternoon, innocent trip to the beach turned into this,” said Gavin’s father Jeremy Kamoschinski.

The young football player dove head-first off a dock into Okanagan Lake, something he had done countless times before. But this time, he didn’t come back up. “His brother was there and noticed he was under the water too long, pulled him up got him above water, he was spitting up water. And at that point, he couldn’t feel his legs,” said Jeremy.

Gavin was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital where he underwent a five-hour surgery to fuse his vertebrae and stabilize his broken neck.