When the media and general public discuss dangerous collisions in prep sports, they tend to focus on football. There’s good reason for that: Players start from a dead stop and accelerate until they make impact, setting the stage for blazing fast and dangerous impact. Still, this myopic focus on football obscures other dangerous sports like lacrosse, where players tend to accelerate while already in motion before colliding with opponents and teammates.

Imagine those lacrosse hits without pads, and one gets a sense of just how brutal prep rugby can be, especially when it’s played in the Southern Hemisphere, where rugby is local football, in a literal sense.

Watch enough rugby and it becomes clear that it, and not American football, provides the most brutal hits to young athletes. Case in point: The video you see above, which was captured in New Zealand.

As noted by a number of different global outlets and brought to Prep Rally’s attention by the soccer blog 101 Great Goals, the massive blind side hit featured in this particular clip was delivered by Ruslan Casey, a high school athlete at Wanganui (N.Z.) Collegiate School on Hamilton (N.Z.) St. Paul’s Collegiate School ‘s Kip Fawcett. The force delivered by Casey is absolutely astounding, making it a minor miracle that Fawcett could even collect himself and get up off the turf after being drilled into it.

Hits like this don’t come every day in rugby, but they do come more often than one might think. Before anyone criticizes Casey, it’s worth noting that his hit was completely legal, as he took off toward Fawcett from yards away while Fawcett was heading toward the touch line (think goal line). It’s not Casey’s fault that Fawcett turned to deliver a pass just as he arrived on the scene with force.

Obviously, such a blind side hit would draw a penalty in American football, not to mention scorn for the player who delivered it. That’s not the case in rugby. Why not? Some of that reason is surely due to cultural differences, both within the sports themselves and society as a whole.

At the same time, rugby does do things to discourage dangerous play that football could take a lesson from. As noted by one Prep Rally reader, a dangerous play doesn't just get a 15-yard penalty; it lands 10 minutes in the sin bin at the least, and often elicits an immediate removal from the game and two-match suspension. Because all tackles must be made by wrapping one's arms around the opponent, there's none of the flying spearing that goes on in football, and that's a very good thing.

After what can only be described as a "brutal beating" of their son during a Canadian youth hockey game and the perceived ensuing missteps by authorities, Wes and Julie Major have gone public to CBC News with video of what they consider an assault.

As first noted by Prep Rally's brotherly Canadian junior hockey blog Buzzing the Net, with a 7-2 lead at home in January over Ontario major midget 'A' hockey rival Brantford, Woodstock's Nick Major, 16, chased a puck into the offensive zone and stopped short as the Brantford net-minder covered it. Essentially, he "snowed the goalie," a hockey move where an offensive player rushes in on a goalie at full speed and sprays him snowy ice powder when the goalie leans over to cover the puck.

Even Woodstock manager Maria Velda admitted in a letter to Alliance Hockey, "I've observed many games where this very thing happens and the player receives an unsportsmanlike penalty or perhaps a shove by the goalie and it's left at that."

Only the teenaged Major didn't just get shoved. He got crosschecked, had his helmet removed and received a dozen blows to the head from a player with a history of fighting. Major did not fight back and somehow skated off the ice on his own volition.

Said Julie Major: "I felt, right from seeing it happen, my son has been assaulted."

Except, both Major and the unnamed Brantford player were suspended for fighting, according to the CBC report. The former received a two-game suspension while the latter earned a four-game hiatus as the result of a previous such incident on his record. Of course, Major also faced 2-3 weeks of recovery from concussion symptoms.

So, the Majors presented their video to both the league and police. While the league rescinded Nick's suspension, the instigator's penalty remained unchanged and police are yet to take action five months later, effectively condoning the fight as part of hockey.

"If this is part of hockey then we don’t want to be part of it," Wes Major told CBC. "I think that attitudes have to change."

There’s good news and bad news if you’re a University of South Carolina football fan. The good news: The Gamecocks just landed a key commitment to its Class of 2015, with Georgia defensive end Arden Key pledging his future to Steve Spurrier’s squad. The bad news? He belittled South Carolina’s academics in an underhanded way while committing, and said that was a key reason he wanted to be a Gamecock.

Georgia defensive end Arden Key committed to South Carolina in part because of easy academics — Rivals

As first reported by Palmetto Sports and brought to Prep Rally’s attention by The Big Lead, Key, a rising junior defensive end Lithonia (Ga.) High, cited USC’s coaching staff as a key reason why he committed to the Gamecocks rather than in-state power Georgia. Yet, he also said that the school’s ability to create an easy road for its athletes as a key reason why he wanted to head to Columbia.

"The academic part, it's like you have to try to fail," Key told Palmetto Sports.

That probably isn’t the best way for a young prospect to endear himself to a large body of alumni who will, in turn, spend their hard earned money to watch him play. It stands to reason that most of those fans probably spent more time ensuring that they would graduate than Key plans on doing himself.

Then again, maybe Key was just misunderstood. Perhaps he meant to cite South Carolina’s tutor program as the key to lifting up players’ academic performance. According to unverified reports, he took a tour of the Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center while visiting the campus shortly before committing, so that actually is a distinct possibility. Yet, if that was Key's intent, it raises secondary questions over whether athletes are students on an equal footing with their classmates if they know they're getting so much help they can't fail.

Addressing a room full of youth football players at Detroit's Sound Mind Sound Body Camp on Friday, NFL Hall of Famer Lem Barney described football as a "deadly" game in danger of becoming extinct over the next two decades, according to multiple reports.

"The game is becoming more deadly today," Barney told the youth football players while sitting on a panel with several Division I coaches, including Michigan's Brady Hoke. "It's a great game. I think it's the greatest game if you like gladiator-ism.

"It's the greatest game for yesteryear's gladiators, but I can see eventually, in the next 10-20 years, society will alleviate football altogether because of how strong it's becoming, how big it's becoming and the tenacity it already has. And it's going to only get worse."

Hoke, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, Western Michigan's P.J. Fleck, Eastern Michigan's Ron English and Wisconsin's Gary Andersen all sat beside Barney, and a few coaches countered that technological advances are being made to improve safety.

Still, Barney played 11 NFL seasons -- more than the rest of the panel combined -- earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 1967, seven Pro Bowl selections and an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

That career came with a price. He suffered "seven or eight" undiagnosed concussions, he told the youth football players gathered at the camp. An ophthalmologist recently diagnosed the head injuries when Barney could no longer read his bible.

"There are a lot of people that don't want to let the game go," Barney added. "But the game is going to kill a lot of people if (something doesn't change) soon. Maybe take the helmet out of the game, which I don't think they'll do (in the NFL).

"Bubba Smith left us, Dave Duerson left us, Junior Seau of late -- guys are killing themselves because of the head injuries they had. You hear about guys who played in championship games, Pro Bowlers, Super Bowl participants ... but you don't hear about the average Joe who played and is killing himself. The game is that deadly today."

Describing the panel that featured so many college coaches at a youth football camp as the wrong place to make such remarks, Barney apologized for his comments in this statement to the Detroit Free Press:

The other day at the Sound Mind and Body Camp I was asked about my thoughts on football and safety. While I made comments I believe to be truthful it is apparent to me now that the camp was not

It’s not often that families attend a high school graduation and are immediately presented with a perplexing riddle like the following: How can the nation’s best collegiate golfer be walking across the stage at a high school commencement?

Annie Park won the individual and team national titles as a freshman — AP

That was the bizarre scene in Long Island on Saturday, where Levittown (N.Y.) MacArthur High graduate and current NCAA women’s golf individual and team national champion Annie Park officially graduated with her former classmates. As one might expect, the attendance of a high profile USC golf star at a high school commencement inspired eligibility questions.

Luckily for Park and Trojans fans everywhere, the teenager didn’t violate any rules to compete for USC before she was eligible to do so. Instead, she finished her high school coursework and graduated from MacArthur early, in December, but couldn’t walk in a traditional commencement ceremony because the school didn’t host one then.

Instead, Park agreed to wait until the school-wide commencement in June and rejoin her classmates. Little did she know that she would do so as a dual national champion.

“The result was very unexpected for myself,” Park told USC sports information website USCTrojans.com immediately after her individual title. “I was just trying to play my best each round and each shot. It turned out to be good and feels great.”

That all became a reality in May, when Park and her teammates rolled to USC’s third consecutive national title, setting a team score record in the process; USC’s final combined score of 1,133 was 15 shots better than the standing record set by UCLA in 2004.

As for Park, her high school commencement was just the latest chapter in a whirlwind semester which could give way to an even more high profile professional future sooner rather than later.

An All-State swimmer and salutatorian from Belton (Texas) High who came out to his family, friends and classmates during his graduation speech last week is being lauded as "the strongest high school kid in the country."

Mitch Anderson had never told anyone in his life he was gay until breaking the news to hundreds of fellow students and their families -- including his own parents -- at a packed Bell County Expo auditorium, he told reporters afterwards.

"Once I got up there and started talking, I felt completely fine," Anderson explained to KTEM News Radio. "I've received so much support and kindness. Knowing that (people) found the speech inspirational has been really amazing."

The University of Texas-bound senior teamed with Austin Couillard, Ben York and Joey Martin to capture All-State honors in the 400-meter freestyle relay this past winter. The foursome set a school record with a second-place time of 3:12.71 in the Class 5A regional finals in February, earning Belton High's first ever All-State swimming recognition.

Of course, Anderson's reported 112.2 GPA and perfect PSAT score as a junior easily earned him Academic All-American honors in the sport as well.

"I started swimming in the second grade," Anderson told The Belton Journal last year. "It's always been a big part of my life and what I do."

However, the teenager's lasting impact on the Belton community will forever be tied to his graduation speech, which can be read in its entirety here. Anderson submitted a different version without the bombshell for administration approval, the reports said.

All-State swimmer Mitch Anderson came out during his graduation speech -- Facebook

I myself am guilty of self-doubt, relying on others to give my life definition. But that time has passed, and I feel the moment has arrived for me to be publically true to my personal identity. So now, I can say, I’m gay. It is both a significant portion of who I am and an inconsequential aspect. It’s as natural and effortless to me as breathing. I couldn’t change myself even if I wanted, and believe me, I have.

I have been bullied a lot. I’ve been called unspeakable things and relegated to a place of lower class. I have been made to feel worthless, unneeded, a blight on the world. People have mocked me, said that I was virtually subhuman. So, for a while, I was in a very dark place. I had no concept of self-worth, and frequently pondered suicide. I became so dejected, that many times I thought of killing myself not just because I saw no point to life, but because I had been convinced that doing so would actually make the world better. And so, for many years, I continued the cyclical, destructive thought patterns. This happened both before and after I thought about my sexuality. And after I had realized I was gay, I hated myself. I wished and prayed endlessly that I could just go on with life normally, that I could be like everyone else. Being different felt like a curse, an unfair sentence to the life of an outcast.

There were moments when I believed I was next to nothing. But I learned that what others think of you is not nearly as meaningful as what you think of yourself. You cannot owe the quality of your existence to other people. You must evaluate your life and give it purpose. You must recognize that you are an expression of the divine, a being made perfect through celebration of your perceived imperfections.

9-year-old Zach Adams shot a 58 over 18 holes — Mt. Pleasant Junior Golf Association

Justin Rose’s victory in the U.S. Open was the talk of the golf world on Sunday, as it should have been. After all, its not every day a man breaks through by edging Phil Mickelson in the final round of the U.S. Open (even if it has happened six times now). Still, what Rose achieved may be no more buzzworthy than what a golfer named Zach Adams pulled off last week in South Carolina.

While Rose deserves all the plaudits he receives, he can’t overshadow what Adams accomplished, shooting a remarkable 58 across 18 holes. That’s a remarkable achievement, yet it’s the age of the two golfers that makes it all the more unbelievable: Rose is a relatively spry yet traditional (by pro golfing standards) 32 and Adams is 9.

Yes you read that correctly: A 9-year-old carded a 58 on 18 holes in a recognized competition. As reported by the Charleston Post and Courier, that competition was a junior golf event -- the Mount Pleasant Junior Golf Open in South Carolina, to be specific -- but Adams’ 58 is a score that still puts him in rarified air. By comparison, David Duval is one of the few who have ever recorded a 59 in a competition before, let alone a 58. The lowest round Tiger Woods has ever recorded is a 61.

“It was pretty fun because I just kept on making putts and chipping it real good,” Adams told the Post and Courier. “The course was playing short and my putting was real good.”

Make no mistake: The yardage in the Junior Open is far shorter than that used in a professional event. The yardage Adams golfed across was 2,680 yards while the yardage at the Patriot Point Links course used for the event can reach upwards of 6,000 yards for a professional event. That shorter yardage means that par-5 holes on the junior course are approximately 215 yards long.

Adams was also helped by the pacing of his 18 holes. For the junior event, the 9-year-olds play a single full round across two days, as opposed to pros who play 18 in a single day.

Yet, even with the shorter distances and additional day, it can’t be underestimated how unprecedented the future fourth grader’s 58 was, even for Adams himself. The youngster had never scored below a 73 before, and used three eagles and eight birdies to reach the score at Patriot Point.

50 Cent and Christ the King boys basketball coach Joe Arbitello just chilling -- New York Daily NewsIn addition to da club, apparently you can also find 50 Cent at your local high school gym.

That is, if your local high school happens to be home to a Federation AA state championship winning boys basketball squad in 50 Cent's native borough of Queens, N.Y.

Of course, it helps when your assistant coach is a childhood friend of 50 Cent, too. That's the case for Middle Village (N.Y.) Christ the King assistant Mark McCarroll, according to a New York Daily News report of the rapper's visit.

“He came to some of my playoff games when I played at Christ the King,” McCarroll told the paper. “Since I’m an assistant coach at Christ the King I asked him to come down and see the kids and he said it was no problem, so he came down and met everybody.”

Back when he was Curtis Jackson, those previous visits to perennial prep basketball powerhouse back in the 1990s must have come some time between admittedly "bringing guns and drug money" to Queens (N.Y.) Andrew Jackson High and getting shot nine times on May 24, 2000, allegedly by Mike Tyson's former bodyguard Darryl "Hommo" Baum.

You know, just your average teenager's high school experience. While 50 Cent did not play basketball at the prep level, he reportedly boxed in the Junior Olympics as an amateur. He remains involved in boxing promotion to this day.

Meanwhile, McCarroll earned a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh after a brief stint at Milford (Conn.) Academy. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 3.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in his Panthers career, earning Most Improved Player honors as a senior.