Alameda high school grieves student who died after football practice

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- An Alameda High School is grieving following the death of a freshman football player following conditioning practice Tuesday.

The Encinal Jets football team will have the next few days to concentrate on their fallen teammate and celebrate his life rather than worry about practice.

"Practice is cancelled for the rest of this week," Susan Davis a school spokesperson.

RELATED: Encinal High School student in Alameda died at conclusion of football conditioning

Giovanni Pulido, 15, collapsed and died Tuesday as players were finishing spring conditioning drills. The coroner's office is trying to determine the cause of death. In the meantime, school officials tried to make sure that students and staffed were cared for.

"Gio was my friend. I talked to him at school sometimes and it's just hard to believe he's gone," said teammate Kyle Mallow.

"So we immediately called grief counselors in early this morning and they are available to students and staff," Davis added.

Tuesday was unseasonably warm in Alameda, with highs in the mid-80s. No one knows if that factored into Gio's death, but sports doctors say heat related injuries are common this time of year.

"We see a lot of kids coming in who haven't necessarily done a lot of the conditioning who are basically going from very low activity to very intense activity and they don't necessarily have conditioning yet," said Nirav Pandya of Oakland Children's Hospital.

School officials say they are launching their own investigation into what happened and will check into whether protocols were followed. Meanwhile, teammates will try to cope.

"I think that we should appreciate what we have and just thank God that we're here and send all our prayers to Gio," Mallow added.