Covid-19: HS Football Player Dies By Suicide After Leaving Note Saying He Felt Isolated

A 16-year-old high school football player in New England who died by suicide left behind a note saying he felt isolated amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joe Lombardi

12/09/2020 7:31 a.m.

Spencer Smith, of Brunswick, Maine, was having trouble coping with feeling isolated, his father, Jay Smith, told WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine.

Jay Smith started speaking out after Spencer's death on Friday, Dec. 4 so other families know the toll the pandemic is taking on kids.

Spencer kept busy during the summer regularly working out in preparation for the football season. But a shift to flag football only meant Spencer, a lineman, would have no opportunity to play.

"As soon as he found out it wasn’t going to be a regular football season, looking back, we noticed he stopped working out," Jay Smith told WMTW. "He stopped riding his bike as much to the point he didn’t even work out anymore. Instead of working out, he took naps."

Jay Smith noted that distance learning was also a challenge and that the one day a week Spencer attended classes in person, he felt isolated from his friends.

Click here to read the WMTW report.

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