Everyone is familiar with the tragic stories of the young, impossibly healthy athletes who have dropped dead on the field after routine exertion. There was the high school basketball player who fell to the floor during the game and had to be shocked back to consciousness. There was the young Russian ice skater who died after a routine practice. An autopsy revealed no drugs, no alcohol and no physical anomalies that would explain his death at such a young age. There have been runners, football players, soccer stars – all gifted athletes, all in peak, physical condition – all of them dead or near dead because of a phenomenon called SCD, also known as Sudden Cardiac Death. There are several conditions associated with SCD as well as some factors that can increase its risk. These include: