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SIMI VALLEY, Calif. () — A high school football coach in Simi Valley was fired after a video surfaced showing him kicking a ball into a student athlete’s groin during a recent practice session.
After reviewing the incident, the Simi Valley Unified School District decided to fire Adam Brubaker as the football coach of Royal High School. The firing happened just hours before the school’s season-opening game Friday.
A school campus camera recorded the incident and Eyewitness News obtained the video. It appears to show a visibly upset Brubaker advancing toward a player and suddenly kicking a nearby football, striking the player in the groin and causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
“I kicked the ball and it hit him in the groin area and instantly I felt like I was going to pass out,” Brubaker told Eyewitness News. “I feel obviously a great deal of remorse for what happened. It’s a one in a million shot.”
Brubaker said the incident captured on video was an accident. He added that he became upset after one of the players violently pulled a running back to the ground, something he says is not allowed during drills because of risk of injury.
The video also shows other adults confronting the coach as they tend to the player.
Brubaker says he was not aiming at the player.
“When we finished practice, I went back over to him. I apologized,” Brubaker said.
A statement provided to Royal High School football families by the school’s principal on Friday says:
“I want to provide you with an update regarding our football program. The District has completed its review of the incident from earlier this week. As a result, the leadership of Royal High School’s football program will immediately change. Cody MacArthur will serve as Head Coach for the Royal High School football team tonight. An interim head coach will be named shortly. Our focus now is to support our student-athletes, provide stability for the program, and help the team move forward together. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding throughout this process and look forward to supporting our players and coaches for the remainder of the season. Go Highlanders!”
Brubaker says he understands the Simi Valley Unified School District’s decision to fire him.
“Nothing has been harder in my life than the last three days. It has been an absolute trying time for me, my wife, my kids,” said Brubaker.
A look of the school’s football coaching roster shows that the photo previously associated with Brubaker is no longer displayed on the team’s staff page. In its place, an empty image frame appears alongside the position typically listed for the varsity head coach, bearing the word “Vacant.”
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