I recently found a helpful website for parents and coaches interested in more information about concussions and youth sports. I have previously written a great deal about how the risk of concussion in youth football is affecting parents’ decisions about their child playing football and could put the very future of the sport at risk. Put together by a New Jersey law firm, Cordisco & Sale (no endorsement intended), the Concussions in Youth website appears to be a well-researched and comprehensive resource for parents concerned with concussions in youth sports.
Starting with definitions of concussions and traumatic brain injuries in youths, the site provides signs and symptoms of a concussion to assist parents and coaches alike. About midway through the website, the conversation shifts to Concussions and Sports. There are discussions of concussions associated with specific sports. For instance, under the Football section, I found these statistics interesting:
According to the CDC, 49 percent of concussions occur during running plays, and 63 percent happen during tackling. Linebackers and running backs sustain the highest number of concussions.
This is useful information for parents and coaches to identify and attempt to mitigate the risk of concussion in youth football.
Along these lines, scrolling down the website, there are Safety Tips/Prevention recommendations for parents and coaches. The recommendation for coaches is, upon recognizing the signs of a concussion in the young athlete (which are described elsewhere in the webpage), to remove the athlete from the activity, notify the parents, and not allow the player to return until their doctor has cleared the child. This recommendation is echoed in the special section near the bottom of the website ‘Returning to Sports and Activities’.
Each section of the website is cited identifying from where the definitions and recommendations are derived. Sources include: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Stanford Children’s Hospital.
Overall, I am glad I was pointed to this website. It is a solid one-stop collection of the tips and recommendations associated with understanding and dealing with youth sports concussions. I have bookmarked it as a solid reference and recommend other youth sports coaches do so, as well.
Hustle & Attitude 