Quote:
Originally Posted by Kodos
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I thought this -
School said son suffered a concussion; parents sued to get him back on field - The Washington Post - was the more interesting link over there. People understand "concussions" are bad now, but people don't really know what concussions actually are. And as a high school coach, none of this matters if the kids won't buy in and be honest about their symptoms. Not sure if it's statewide, but our school gave every athlete "baseline" cognitive tests a couple falls ago, with a policy that they had to sit out a minimum of 2 or 3 weeks if there was a suspected concussion, then they had to pass their tests again. Year 1 we had a kid who desperately wanted to get back on the field that seemed fine in every respect that just couldn't pass his test like 8 different times, and others who probably weren't concussed that sat out and missed weeks of games... so year 2 of this wonderful policy every single returning varsity lacrosse (and soccer, and hockey, and probably football) player basically tanked their baseline tests and would refuse to talk to the trainer. We joke that we should be getting extra money for coaching all these special ed kids, but I've also had kids tell me they had to leave class because of headaches and felt out of it all day that they don't tell the school nurse, or the trainer, or even their parents or the head coach. So even though the school would probably fire me for not following procedure, I told the kid he wasn't playing that day, told the head coach he couldn't play that day, told his parents to take him to a real doctor, and told the kid we'd talk every single day and he'd be honest with me or I'd go tell the trainer. And he missed a couple more practices and one more game, and then was the best player on the field as we upset the #1 team in the state 8 days later, and that's the game tape we sent to colleges where he'll probably be starting for a top 5 team this spring.
I guess my overall point is that concussion awareness has succeeded. Everybody (I hope, although I'm sure you can find some somewhere) is aware that brain injuries are bad at this point, and wants to protect long-term health to the extent we shouldn't see kids with the obvious bad concussions (a.k.a. loss of consciousness) callously put back in for the next play. But for the rest of it we need better data, we need to do a better job of explaining the current scientific consensus to people, and we need to accept that people will do things that are bad for their long-term health. I've gone back in to a meaningless men's league game when I knew I had a concussion (and whiplash) because my team didn't have any subs, but I've also played with a separated shoulder, a broken foot, a fractured wrist, and I've had some sort of bicep tendon or rotator cuff injury since August that I've been ignoring even though it means I need to skip certain exercises at the gym and I've been shortarming or throwing everything sidearm for 6 months. And I'm not even someone who was good enough to play D1 sports! So while I think certain aspects should/will change (is there really any reason not to make Pop Warner strictly a 7v7 passing league, or at least make it so until maybe 7th grade? Heck, as a coach of different sports I can't even imagine trying to get a bunch of 9 year olds to repeatedly line up in formation correctly and then not false start) I'm certainly not going to shed any tears for NFL players, because the only difference between them sacrificing some long-term health as opposed to weekend warriors, or cigarette smokers, or people who drink alcohol, is that they're getting fame, glory, and 6 figures+ for making that sacrifice. Which almost all at this point do with their eyes wide open.