Girl's soccer-net death should not 'be forgotten'

The father of a five-year-old Yukon girl who died after a portable soccer net fell on her says he hopes changes can be made so that his daughter's death will not have been in vain.

Jaedynn Amann Hicks died July 4 after the net fell on her, hitting her head while she was playing on a school field in Watson Lake, Yukon.

"We don't want our daughter to be forgotten tomorrow," her father, Paul Amann, told CBC News Wednesday. "We want an example set out of this so that no other family has to go through what we're going through."

Amann said one of the other children playing on the field bumped the steel-frame net, knocking it on to the girl while her parents stood nearby.

"My wife ran up and there was blood in her nose and she was gurgling," Amann said.

The child was rushed to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries a few hours later.

Her father says Jaedynn was kind, charming and at a special time in her childhood.

"She was just getting into soccer and started taking swimming lessons. Every day was a new milestone with her."

Not anchored

Amann said the goal post was old, rusted, and not anchored to the ground.

The Yukon Ministry of Education is responsible for equipment on school property.

Ministry spokeswoman Michelle Royle said staff, "are removing all moveable nets from across the territory to do a safety assessment of each and every net."

A U.S. organization called Anchored for Safety lists 38 deaths — including six in Canada — and many serious injuries from falling portable soccer nets since 1979.

None of the deaths occurred in B.C.

The B.C. Soccer Association says it has guidelines stipulating that nets must be checked to be stable and secured.

"In most cases local soccer leaders, the coaches, the parents can help by double checking. It doesn't need to be onerous. It'll just take a few moments."