Tag: sport safety

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Keeping young players safe on the football field

More than 1 million young athletes play high school football, and every fall Friday night, their hearts and bodies are laid out on the field.

For Eddie Canales, it’s bittersweet. He loves the game, but he also knows what it can cost. He is the full-time caregiver for his son, Chris, who suffered a spinal cord injury while making a play as a high school senior in 2001.

Canales remembers watching video of that moment: “It looked like a great tackle, but if you slow it down enough, you saw at the very last minute, he dropped his chin,” and Chris went helmet-to-helmet.

After father and son witnessed another player suffer a spinal cord injury, they knew they had to help support players and families in similar situations. Their organization, Gridiron Heroes, was created. In 2011, Eddie Canales was honored as a CNN Hero for his work. Still, headlines and calls keep coming from around the country.

A month into the new high school football season, Gridiron Heroes has already received calls from two families of athletes dealing with traumatic brain injuries in California, two spinal cord injuries in Tennessee, one in Texas and another in South Carolina. It also has gotten a report of a death from a spinal cord injury in Louisiana.

One of those calls was about Jasil Favors, a sophomore on the Stony Point High School junior varsity squad in Round Rock, Texas. Jasil’s mom, Deborah, rushed to the school in early September after a coach phoned her that her son had been injured in a game. She then hurried to the hospital.

“He didn’t have any feeling in his legs. He had feeling in his arm and upper body,” Deborah Favors said. “As soon as we got a (CT) scan, they said he broke (vertebrates) 3-4-5 and they rushed him up to surgery.”

Doctors told her that Jasil’s neck had been broken. He’s still awaiting rehab at Seton Medical Center Williamson in Round Rock. He had a tracheotomy to help with his breathing.

Until they get to rehab, his mom said, “We don’t know if he will walk again.”

Protecting players’ heads

Protecting players’ heads is a concern in football, from the Pop Warner youth organization to professionals. Eighty-seven of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science after deathtested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University. It’s a degenerative disease that’s linked with repeated head trauma and concussions, researchers said.

Just this year, thousands of former professional football players agreed to a settlement with the National Football League over allegations that the league hid the dangers of concussions from players, and a number of NFLers have retired at young ages due to concerns over concussions and how they might contribute to CTE.

Chris Borland was a star rookie who walked away from a $3 million, four-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers, telling ESPN, “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk. … I’m concerned that if you wait (until) you have symptoms, it’s too late.”

All 50 states have adopted some sort of concussion legislation with minimum return-to-play guidelines for students who have had concussions. Hits to the head are a concern even at the younger levels. In 2012, Pop Warner changed its practice rules to limit contact.

“People are starting to understand. It’s getting out there,” Canales said.

According to the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, there were more than 500,000 injuries related to high school football just last year. While muscle strains and sprains represented just over one-third of all the injuries, concussions were about one-quarter of all injuries.

Every year, the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill collects data on catastrophic football injuries. Last year, it found five high school fatalities directly due to football, three of them directly related to tackling or helmet-to-helmet collisions.

Advice for parents

So can young people play safe?

Canales said he thinks so. “This can still be a great game for our kids, if we do it the right way, ” he said. “We have to change the way we teach tackling. That’s a hard road for us to handle.”

Borland, the former 49ers player, said that playing football today is about weighing the risks. He tells parents, “I think you have to exercise some maturity and judgment and prioritize your child’s health.”

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, the NFL’s first chief health and medical adviser, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta this year, “I’m a mom and have a son who played eighth-grade football. If I had young children today, I would be asking: Is the team that my son is going to play on connected to USA Football? Is there a certified athletic trainer on the sideline? Have the coaches, parents, the players and the trainer been educated around sports injury — particularly head injury and concussion? What does my pediatrician think?

“I would ask those series of questions, then weigh the pros and cons and make a judgment accordingly.”

MaryBeth Horodyski of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association said parents should look for programs that “emphasize things such as keeping the head up during play, seeing what they hit, not using their head as a ramming rod when tackling. “

She said everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to safety. “Make sure officials are actually using the rules to protect the athletes,” Horodyski said. She also suggests parents sit down with their kids to talk about safety.

“Make sure that players understand that safety is their responsibility,” she said. “Put safety upfront so they don’t do anything to jeopardize their health. “

Horodyski points out that having proper-fitting equipment is key as well as a medical team on stand-by in case a player does go down. “I would hope that every high school have an athletic trainer and an ambulance with two paramedics on site,” she said. “That’s minimum. Having a team physician is excellent.”

According to the trainers’ association, while 70% of all high schools have some access to an athletic trainer, only 37% of all high schools have full-time athletic trainers.

All Deborah Favors can do for Jasil, she said, is hope and pray. “In my mind, to me, he’s going to walk,” she said.

ORIGINALARTICLE:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/health/high-school-football-injuries/index.html

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Concussion protocols heading in right direction in Indiana

It was the fall of 2013, and the Northeastern High School football team was in the middle of a run toward the program’s first Tri-Eastern Conference championship.

With an 8-0 lead against Centerville, Northeastern’s star quarterback Joey Claypoole was shaken up during a play and removed for the remainder of the game.

Claypoole stood on the sidelines, and to outsiders, looked perfectly fine.

The symptoms of a potential concussion were not visible to most spectators, and head coach Mike Roeder, Claypoole and the Knights took criticism, for it was the biggest game remaining in the conference season.

Eventually, Centerville rallied for a 34-22 victory over Northeastern, forcing what was at the time a three-way tie atop the conference.

Roeder maintains he made the right call.

“If a trainer or an official or a coach thinks there might be something there, you have to honor that,” Roeder said.

“Sometimes there is nothing there and it kind of frustrates you, but the other end of it is, if you do put someone back in, they could be harmed for the rest of their lives. Nobody wants to take that chance.”

Roeder’s coaching staff faced a dilemma seen too often from coaches and high school athletes.

Revelations from former professional athletes have shown concussions have potential for long-term damages.

The Indiana High School Athletics Association recently has implemented new standards and requirements to ensure players are cleared before returning to competition after a possible concussion.

The IHSAA also requires coaches at every level to take online courses on what to do in case of a concussion, while starting a new data collection study this past sports season.

“I think it’s very important. I think the responsibility of us collectively as an association, a staff, as a member school, administrators and coaches — I think we have a collective duty to ensure the health and safety of our athletes,” IHSAA commissioner Bobby Cox said.

“Everyone is responsible, we can do all we want with it, but if we don’t have cooperative parents, we’re not going to be successful. We can have cooperative parents, but if we have schools that don’t enforce these standards; if the association is not providing vehicles — it’s a collective effort.”

According to data provided by Cox and the IHSAA, there were a total of 2,194 instances of concussions reported to the IHSAA this past season among all sports.

Hamilton Southeastern topped the state with 65, followed by Bishop Chatard at 48.

Like the incident involving Claypoole, the symptoms of a concussion might not be visible right away, but it differs from other injuries because of the sensitivity of the brain.

“For us, obviously what makes it so bad, you’re messing with a person with a young person’s head and cognitive function potential cognitive ability. That’s one of those things there should be no gray area in regards to siding on the side of safety when it comes to concussions,” Richmond coach Matt Holeva said.

“Not to minimize other forms of injuries, but bumps and bruises are going to heal with today’s technology. Just 10, 15 years ago a torn ACL would ruin a young person’s career even at the high school level. Now with medicine — obviously no one wants to see those injures — but those injuries are repairable to some degree. Obviously, when you’re dealing with the human mind and the brain, there’s so much to learn.”

Hagerstown athletic director Gerry Keesling formerly coached football at Earlham College in Richmond. He cautions that helmets only can do so much.

“I think our football players are in the best helmets in the history of the game,” he said. “I think there’s no such thing as a concussion-preventing helmet, there’s nothing out there, because the helmet doesn’t protect the brain, it protects the skull, depending on the space between the brain and the skull. You don’t read anything about fractured skulls. We can’t protect the brain inside the skulls.”

To help prevent concussions, Keesling, Cox, Roeder and Holeva emphasize proper tackling techniques and teaching them at a younger level.

“The best thing is the way you teach tackling,” Roeder said. “We’ve taken the head completely out of it. We do not teach it that way at all. Pete Carroll (head coach) with the Seattle Seahawks has developed a style called ‘The hawkroll,’ where you teach these guys to come in and keep their heads out of it.

“It seems to work. Our kids took to it. They took some pride to learn how to do it right. As far as ball carriers, if a ball carrier lowers their head before impact, they can be penalized.”

Football gets the most attention, but it’s not the only sport where athletes suffer concussions.

A study from the University of Colorado was released earlier this week on concussions in soccer that demonstrated most concussions don’t come from heading the ball but from collisions among athletes.

“There has to be some correlation with long-term brain damage and doing that over the course of a lifetime if you continue to do it,” Richmond soccer coach Matt Haynes said. “People are more worried about dangerous high kicks, (but) head-on-head collisions are the worst.”

Haynes also alluded to a recent World Cup game where Germany forward Alexandra Popp banged heads with United States midfielder Morgan Brian.

Both returned quickly after being checked by doctors, despite the fact that Popp had blood soaking her head.

According to Germany’s coach, Popp had a laceration but no concussion.

“At that level, what does a coach say?” Haynes said. “At that level, a professional says, ‘I’m going back in.’ Kids at this (high school) level, you have a bit of authority, saying, ‘No you’re not.'”

For Courtney McCord, a two-year athletic trainer at Richmond High School, it’s taken time to adjust.

She says male athletes tend to fight back against leaving a competition more than female athletes do.

“It’s such a hot topic, I usually err on the side of caution,” she said. “They only do have one brain. High school sports are a part of their lives, but in the long term, I usually err on the side of caution. I don’t think that makes them too happy because they want to keep playing.”

When players hit their heads, or appear to be banged up, McCord checks for dilated pupils, dizziness, strange behaviors and thirst.

She also conducts memory exercises, such as asking them to recite the months backwards starting with December and giving athletes five words to check their memory recall.

There is no perfect cure for concussions, but from the IHSAA down to schools, coaches, officials and student-athletes, strides are being made to minimize the damage.

“I think that they’ve made a lot of good steps in the right direction,” McCord said. “Just seeing how old football players, old athletes are now having that problems from undiagnosed concussions, they’ve definitely made steps in educating everyone.

“… I think parents are more understanding of it, older generations of parents they’d be like, ‘Oh I did this many, many times.’ I think parents are more aware and understanding of when you want to hold their kids out.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2015/07/21/indiana-high-school-football-concussion-protocol-prevention-ihsaa/30455109/

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Football practice starts soon • Summer heat a big concern

It’s scorching hot, and once again as football practice time nears, coaches are concerned.

“Maybe we will get a break in it,” said Sam Pearson, head coach of the Marshall Academy Patriots.

At the same time, Pearson and other coaches in Marshall County know those hopes are a long shot. In recent years, the hottest temperatures of the summer have greeted them on the practice field and even at the start of the season. This year is stacking up to be no different.

“It could be hot all the way to October,” said Chris Daniels, head coach of the H.W. Byers Lions.

Pearson will be the first to put his team on the practice field, beginning in a week, Thursday, July 30.

He said, based on the August heat in recent years, he would be in favor of pushing the season back two or three weeks.

“We can talk about precautions and safety, but really there is only so much we can do once we get into it,” he said, “particularly on game night. You can monitor it better in practice.”

Pearson said his tentative plan is to practice an extended period in the evenings when preseason drills start.

“We will probably go about an hour and a half, give them a 30-minute or so break, and then go back for an hour,” he said.

The Patriots will play in a jamboree at Oxford High School Saturday, August 15, before opening the season Friday, Aug. 21, at Starkville Academy. He expects about 30 players this season.

The public schools in the county will open practice on Monday, Aug. 3, which is also the day teachers report for in-service training prior to the first day of school Thursday, Aug. 6.

Coach Daniels said he tries to get his Lions outside as much as possible during the summer (while school is out).

“That’s one of the reasons why seven-on-seven is so important,” he said. “We want to get them acclimated to the heat. But still, once they put on those helmets and shoulder pads (in August), it adds about 20 to 25 degrees to the temperature for them. We have to give them lots of breaks and keep them hydrated as best we can.”

His Lions will participate in a jamboree hosted by fellow county school Byhalia on Friday, Aug. 14. Action starts at 5 p.m.

Other schools participating are county school Potts Camp and Coahoma Agricultural High School.

Byers starts the regular season Friday, Aug. 21, at neighboring rival Benton County.

At Holly Springs High School, head coach Donald Deans said his Hawks may take to the practice field in the evenings, like at 7, when August 3 rolls around.

“We will just have to see what happens with this weather,” he said. “Safety is of utmost importance – keeping the kids hydrated.”

The Hawks will host Tunica Rosa Fort in a jamboree on Friday, Aug. 14. “Meet the Hawks” activities will begin at 6 p.m.

Holly High hosts rival Byhalia to begin the season on Friday, Aug. 21.

Deans said he is excited about the improvements being made at Sam Coopwood Park, like new fencing around the football field. He said he appreciates the support from the city and others who have helped.

“It’s looking good,” he said. “We’re trying to upgrade our facilities and continue to make good things happen.”

Potts Camp kicks off its regular season Friday, Aug. 21, by visiting Hatley.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

http://www.southreporter.com/index.php/sports/1104-football-practice-starts-soon-summer-heat-a-big-concern

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School District makes funding available for athletic training

San Dieguito Union High School District board voted 3-2 to increase the level of certified athletic trainer services at its four high schools. The board extended its contract with Rehab United Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy through 2018, increasing the level of service and the contract amount from $126,152 to $165,000 a year. For the first time since 2009, the district will be paying for these services out of the general fund rather than asking for donations to support the program from the high school foundations.

Trustees Mo Muir and John Salazar voted against the Rehab United contract.

Eric Dill, associate superintendent of business services, said that the agreement has expanded in scope to cover the growth of the athletic program (22 sports in total), additional hours, added a fifth trainer to cover absences or gaps in coverage, and to provide additional support such as strength and conditioning and nutrition should the teams request it.

Superintendent Rick Schmitt said asking for foundations to support the program began during the economic downturn. The district asked for $100,000 from the four foundations to be able to keep it.

“They stepped up, but it was never a forever strategy,” Schmitt said.

Dill said upon looking at the service last year, the district decided that it was time to assume the contract fully. The money is in the budget, and they have rebuilt the district’s reserves to be able to restore athletic directors as a district expense.

The board heard public comment from Paul Gaspar, a board member of the San Dieguito Sports Medicine Foundation, which held the athletic trainer contract with the district for more than a decade until a few years ago, when it was awarded to Rehab United.

“There were numerous problems over the last year with the new provider,” Gaspar said, referring to last fall when several parents expressed concerns that athletic trainers were contractually obligated to refer injured athletes to Rehab United.

“Those things I hope were written into the contract so this does not happen again,” Gaspar said.

Gaspar asserted that he was not making these comments because he wanted the contract over Rehab United. He said because of the way trainers were treated by the district and the district’s failure to make timely payments, he wouldn’t be interested in working with the district again.

As far as problems go, Dill said that the district does not feel anything remains as a serious concern. The referral issue was changed in the contract language — athletes are free to follow up with any care provider they choose.

Dill also apologized to Gaspar for the district’s previous payment problems. When he moved into the business services department, he learned that the district’s method had been waiting for donation money to come in to pay the contractor. He said they have since changed that practice.

Trustee Muir said she was upset that the district did not issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the contract, since it is such an important service for student-athletes.

“I think it would’ve been prudent to search and see if anybody else was interested in doing this,” agreed trustee John Salazar. “Especially for this amount of money.”

Dill said the district does not go out for RFPs every year on every contract it has. The district last issued an RFP for athletic trainer services in 2013, and the district received only one bid, from Rehab United. Before that, in 2008, the district received only three.

“There are not many providers that provide this service,” Dill said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

https://www.google.com/search?q=san+dieguito&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=702&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoA2oVChMIkKOmjd_xxgIVSZQNCh3uFQqP

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Margarucci named manager of player safety

Kevin Margarucci (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has been named manager of player safety it was announced today by USA Hockey.

Margarucci, who has more than 20 years of experience as a certified athletic trainer, has been involved in hockey in varying capacities (player, coach, certified athletic trainer) for more than 35 years. He will work with USA Hockey councils, committees, sections and staff in addition to external constituent groups, in all areas of safety, with a focus on education and research.

Since 2001, Margarucci has served as head athletic trainer and teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School in Monument, Colorado, where he worked with the school’s interscholastic teams and helped develop a concussion management plan for the district’s student-athletes. He has also served as assistant hockey coach at Lewis-Palmer since 2006.

Over the course of his career, Margarucci has also worked as an athletic trainer at Sierra High School, Colorado College, Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and the United States Olympic Committee.

Margarucci holds a master’s degree in athletic training from Indiana State University and a bachelor’s degree in physical education and athletic training from the State University of New York College at Brockport. He has been widely involved with the Colorado Athletic Trainers’ Association for the past 11 years, both as chair of the public relations committee (2004-07) and as part of the governmental affairs committee (2007-15).

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

http://www.usahockey.com/news_article/show/536315?referrer_id=752796

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Judge rules towson can’t bar football player from practice

Gavin Class, the Towson University football player who battled back from a near-fatal heatstroke, has won his bid to rejoin the team. A U.S. district judge ruled Friday that Towson must allow Class, a 22-year-old lineman, to suit up for the Tigers when they begin practice Aug. 9.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Class, a St. Paul’s graduate who had filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against the university in May after Towson barred him from outdoor practices with the team, citing the severity of his earlier injury.

In August 2013, Class collapsed during practice. His temperature rose to 108 degrees, which caused his heart to stop and his liver to fail.

After 14 surgeries at University of Maryland Medical Center, including a liver transplant, Class fought back into shape only to learn that Towson had determined he could not safely play for the Tigers.

On Friday, Judge Richard D. Bennett ruled otherwise.

“Despite the extraordinary comeback of Gavin Class, the Towson University football team physician [Dr. Kari Kindschi] has blocked his return to the field,” Bennett wrote. “The University shall be ordered to permit [Class] to return to active status as a full participant in its football program.

The judge stayed the decision for 10 days to allow Towson to file an expedited appeal, if it so chooses, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va. The university said Monday it intended to file that appeal this week.  “After thoroughly reviewing the judge’s decision and conferring with our colleagues in the Maryland Attorney General’s office, we have decided to appeal the ruling,” a university statement read. “We expect to file a formal appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. As an institution, our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our students. This decision to appeal is consistent with that core value.”

Class’ attorney, Andrew Dansicker, called the court’s decision “groundbreaking” on several fronts.

“This is the first case in the country, that we’re aware of, where a federal judge has ordered a university to allow an athlete to play any sport against the decision of the university — and the first case where a judge has ruled that heatstroke is a disability,” Dansicker said.

Class, at 6 feet 4 and 255 pounds, is 50 pounds lighter than before the heatstroke. He was working out at a private gym when he got the news at 5 p.m.

“I sent out a big text [message] about it,” he said, adding that he planned to celebrate this evening by “hanging out with all the boys on the team.”

Class said he knows the court ruling doesn’t assure him a place on the roster.

“I’ve got to fight for my spot like everyone else,” he said. “Whether I make it or not, I’ll be happy, and grateful to God that he let me play again.”

His father, Jon Class, said that nearly two years later, his son “has achieved his goal of returning to football. That in itself was his goal.”

In his ruling, Bennett wrote that none of the on-field accommodations Class has asked for, including high-tech protective abdominal padding that the athlete produced in court, would strain Towson’s manpower or resources. Prior to each practice, Class would swallow a “thermometer pill” to allow a trainer to wave a hand-held monitor over his abdomen for three to five seconds every five to 10 minutes to check his core body temperature.
Class’ family has offered to pay the cost of the pill and equipment. For the first two weeks of practice, the trainer would come gratis from the Korey Stringer Institute in Connecticut, a leader in heatstroke treatment for athletes and the military.

“The evidence at the hearing [Tuesday] indicated that Class is at no increased risk [of heatstroke] if his requested accommodations are provided,” the judge wrote.

His decision, Bennett opined, will ensure that “individuals like Gavin Class, who suffered a catastrophic injury but was able to recover and can once again safely participate in a program, have the opportunity to do so.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-gavin-class-20150717-story.html

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Increased Concussions Among Youth Soccer Players?

The question that so many parents of youth soccer players have on their mind is this: Can we better protect our children and make the game of soccer safer if we ban heading at the youth level?

While the answer to this question is yes–banning heading can reduce the number of concussions–the more important part of concussion prevention and reduction at this level would likely come from a change in the style of play and stricter adherence to game rules, the end result of better officiating to limit dangerous body-body contact.

Well, a recent study in JAMA examining the role of heading in youth soccer concussions essentially came to this conclusion: namely, that we need to do a better job of teaching a safer style of play, incorporating approaches and techniques for youth players to best avoid such risky body contact that can lead to soccer players colliding while they are attempting to head a ball—as opposed to the simple act of banning heading alone for concussion prevention.

In fact, the recent head-to-head collision at the Women’s World Cup between Morgan Brian of the U.S and Alexandra Popp of Germany, was a clear eye opener about the inherent dangers associated with head injuries in soccer, with attendant risk for concussions.
Scenes like this make all of us concerned, but this especially stirs fear among the parents of youth soccer players. In fact, there has been momentum in the past several years among many prominent sports physicians and advocacy groups, including the Sports Legacy Institute, to call for a ban on heading under the age of 14 for concerns of repetitive brain injury from so called sub-concussive hits from the ball itself– traveling up to 70 mph upon impact.
Specialized MRI scans (DTI or Diffusion Tensor Imaging) from players without documented concussions, but who have suffered multiple impacts from long term heading, have indicated structural changes in the white matter tracts of the brain. While some of these players have developed mild cognitive impairment, others have not demonstrated any significant long-term cognitive effects or headaches. The potential role of genetics and other causative factors are not clear at this time.

So the question is whether banning heading outright–as many such experts have called for—would essentially eliminate concussions and traumatic brain injuries at the youth level. But the more pressing issue, as the JAMA study illustrates, is that we have good data at the high school level, but not at the youth level when it comes to evaluating the source of concussions.

The lead author of the study, Dawn Comstock, reviewed data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, her online tally of sports injuries collected from certified athletic trainers throughout the U.S. This large database, evaluating high school sports injuries only, reports important factors related to injuries in practices and games, including symptoms after injuries and duration of time to return to play.

Comstock evaluated data encompassing nearly 3 million games and practices from 2005-2014, specifically evaluating how players diagnosed with concussions were injured, with specific attention to whether they were engaged in heading the ball at the time of injury.

One important piece of data they realized was that concussions in soccer games were increasing to a high degree, but it was not headers that were the primary cause of this observed pattern.

The data indicated that it was actually player-to-player contact–more so among boys–that was the main factor in observed concussions (68% among boys and 51% among girls).

Heading did play a role as well, responsible for about 30% of concussions in boys and 25% among girls. But the important distinction is that these concussions were associated with collisions among players, and it was the actual body contact that led to the concussion, as opposed to the heading itself.

Data indicated that direct impact with the ball itself accounted for about 17% of concussions in boys, and 29% among girls.

“This is an interesting and useful analysis of the incidence and causes of concussion in soccer,” said Raj K. Narayan, MD, Chair, Neurosurgery, North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY and LIJ Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY. “The authors have suggested possible ways to significantly reduce such injuries among players. I believe that such reductions can be achieved without compromising the enjoyment and popularity of this global sport.”

“Since we get only one brain and the effects of injury can sometimes last for a lifetime, anything that we can do to protect this organ is well worth considering,” added Narayan.

While a ban on heading would reduce concussions in high school soccer, the bigger effect would come from teaching techniques and ways to limit body contact, and calling fouls to enforce the rules more strictly. Better attention to the rules to limit player contact would likely result in a reduced number of concussions.

Stricter officiating to play by the rules, along with a greater emphasis from coaches and players to practice using finesse techniques in passing and dribbling would be a way to help make the game safer.

We know that soccer is inherently an aggressive game‎, so making players approach the game with a greater awareness about brain injury may be a step in the right direction.  We know that body-to-body contact can also produce a concussion as concussive force that can be transmitted from the body to the neck, and then to the head.

Specialized body foams and padding that can absorb impacts may be an important step in protecting athletes, adding an additional protective layer to reduce the force of a collision. Specialized headgear may also help to reduce impact forces when worn in practice and game settings. While there has not been any evidence yet that headgear reduces the risk for concussion, the use of such protection may help to reduce blunt impact forces and reduce other injuries such as lacerations or gross tissue injury.

An important limitation, as mentioned earlier, is that this study focused only on high school players, and the players deemed to be most at risk for heading are in middle school and elementary level. There are unfortunately no studies and a lack of data in this younger age group—the group with whom we are most concerned. That said, it will be important to engage in long term studies evaluating the effects of heading and concussions in this younger group of players.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:                                                                                           http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2015/07/21/is-heading-leading-to-an-increase-in-concussions-among-youth-soccer-players/

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Trustees Ignore community concerns for sports safety

Teton County School District No. 1 trustees agreed at their July 8 meeting that the district does not need to hire a full-time athletic trainer.

The announcement was made in response to a petition that was submitted to the board of trustees at the June 10 regular meeting.

“The petition policy we have requires us to take some action on the petition within 30 days,” Trustee Kate Mead said.

Each committee on the school board did research before trustees made their decision.

Trustees on the Planning and Development Committee, for example, decided to see if other schools that are in the same athletic division as Jackson Hole High School are staffed with full-time athletic trainers.

“The only school of our size that has a full-time athletic trainer is Star Valley,” Mead said. “That full-time athletic trainer is also a teacher.”

Mead said the committee learned that some of the schools have part-time trainers and that some of the trainers are volunteers, not paid employees.

“Some of them simply have volunteer athletic trainers,” Mead said. “There will be a person in the community who is an athletic trainer or physical therapist who donates their time.”

Trustees on the Performance Monitoring Committee studied the district’s budget to see what it pays to have a part-time athletic trainer.

The district spent about $22,000 to provide its students with an athletic trainer for fiscal year 2015.

Mead said it’s a little too late to change the budget for fiscal year 2016.

“This petition was brought to us very late in the game, when we were already budgeting,” she said.

Trustees also asked for input from Superintendent Gillian Chapman and Activities Director Mike Hansen. Chapman and Hansen agreed that right now the district does not need a full-time trainer.

“We could have done another budget exception,” Mead said. “It says a lot when the administration is telling us that they believe that the needs of the students are being met with a part-time athletic trainer.”

The discussion of whether to hire a full-time athletic trainer came about this spring when the board of trustees received a letter from parent and physical therapist Scott Harmon.

“He sent us a strident letter saying we are endangering the safety of our kids by not having a full-time athletic trainer,” Mead said.

Trustees feel confident that the district’s athletes are in good hands with their coaches and a part-time athletic trainer. Mead said the trustees and other district employees always take concerns of student safety seriously.

“When people talk about child safety it makes us nervous,” Mead said.

She said that right now the district does not have an opening for a full-time trainer.

“We simply haven’t had full-time athletic trainers,” she said. “I don’t think we will in the future unless our school gets much bigger.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:                                                         http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/trustees-will-stick-with-part-time-trainer/article_7f2dfc4d-f71d-510e-be15-62e357c47941.html

 

 

 

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Manning Passing academy well cared for

The Boy Scouts of America motto is “Be prepared.”

The sports medicine team at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center is taking that same approach for the Manning Passing Academy at Nicholls State University.

With more than 1,200 campers and 120 instructors — ranging from college players to coaches — arriving in Thibodaux today for the annual four-day camp, Thibodaux Regional’s sports medicine team has been hard at work for several weeks.

The athletic trainers and staff have been working behind the scenes preparing for the four-day camp, including bagging an estimated 30,000 pounds of ice.

“We have been working to get ready for this for about six weeks,” said Amelia Castell, assistant coordinator for the Sports Medicine Center. “We have been preparing to get our staff in line and figuring out what materials we need, such as bagged ice.”

All of this work is nothing new for Thibodaux Regional’s sports medicine team, as it has been involved with the Manning Passing Academy since it arrived in town.

The Manning Passing Academy — now in its 11th year at Nicholls and 20th overall — provides high school quarterbacks and wide receivers a chance to work on their skills with a pair of current NFL quarterbacks in Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos) and Eli Manning (New York Giants).

Larry D’Antoni, coordinator of Thibodaux Regional’s Sports Medicine Center, said his goal is to make sure everyone has a safe and fun experience.

“There is a lot of coordination that goes into it with the different facets of the game,” D’Antoni said. “We have to work with the Manning camp officials to figure out which fields they are going to use, so we can set up all of the tables and coolers. All of that has to be set up ahead of time because there is no way with 1,200 plus campers to do this in real time. We have to do it ahead of time.”

Castell said the biggest obstacle for many campers is the heat and humidity associated with southeast Louisiana.

“Although they are not wearing any football equipment, they are not used to our climate,” she said. “Many of them are from out of state or even out of the country, so they struggle with our weather and some even develop heat-related illnesses. They are not used to our heat and humidity, and running three practices a day in these conditions are just rough for them.”

Keeping Manning Passing Academy participants cool and hydrated is only the start for the sports medicine team.

Athletic trainer Annalise Himmel said each camper undergoes a premedical screening during the registration process to help in the evaluation process if any problem arises.

“This gives us a good idea if any of the campers have allergies to ant bites and bee stings or if they have asthma,” she said. “This helps us get a general idea of which we campers we need to keep an eye on during the camp.”

Thibodaux Regional’s Sports Medicine Center is always looking for ways to improve its overall work at the camp, and this year will be no different.

With numerous athletic trainers, volunteers and doctors working the camp’s 32 hydration stations, D’Antoni said communication is essential, so every worker will have Walkie-Talkies to relay messages on possible injuries and where ice, water and other supplies are needed.

D’Antoni said he is also working with Barry Keim, the state climatologist for Louisiana, to help provide accurate weather forecast during the duration of the camp.

“We want to be able give the Mannings and coaches the most up-to-date information and let them make a sound technical decision on how to alter practice or adjust practice in an effort to keep the kids safe,” D’Antoni said.

Castell has seen the Manning Passing Academy grow over the years since its first year in Thibodaux in 2005. Soon after graduating from Nicholls and being hired as a certified athletic trainer, she had an opportunity to work at the annual camp and did it for several years.

After spending a few summers working with a baseball team in the New England area, Castell is back in Thibodaux and is witnessing first-hand how much the camp has grown.

“I don’t remember how many campers it had in 2005, but it doesn’t feel like it was as many as we have now,” she said. “Because of that, we’ve had to up our staff, so it’s just a greater undertaking. But now I feel we are more prepared and better equipped to deal with it than we’ve ever been.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20150709/ARTICLES/150709733?p=1&tc=pg