Health & Safety

Tamara C. Valovich McLeod, Ph.D., ATC, FNATA, Chair of the Sports Medicine and Athletic Training Program at A.T. Still University, provides an overview of the SmartTeams program which implemented best youth sports health and safety practices in six pilot programs around the country in the fall of 2014.

In a fact-filled and informative SmartTeams Talk™, a leading expert on gender and concussions reviews the research finding differences in concussion risk and outcomes between female and male athletes, and how MomsTEAM's SmartTeams™ program is designed to increase concussion reporting through education.

In a powerful and frank SmartTeams Talk, a two-time Olympic swimmer and sexual abuse victim talks about the steps required to prevent abuse of athletes by coaches.

The godfather of modern sports medicine injury prevention and treatment, Boston Children's Dr. Lyle Micheli, provides a fascinating overview of the history of sports medicine from ancient Greece to modern times, and says that if there is one population we should try to keep safe and healthy it is youth athletes.

A practicing sports concussion neuropsychologist and leading concussion researcher, Dr. Rosemarie Moser, talks about why it is so important for student-athletes to get cognitive rest after a concussion, what cognitive rest means, and why she urges athletes to "love their brain, love their sport," which means not returning to sports for around 3 weeks after their concussion symptoms are gone.

In their SmartTeams Talks, both Drs. Brian Hainline and Dr. Jim MacDonald said sleep deprivation among youth athletes needs to be addressed to reduce sports injury risk.

A leading researcher on sport specialization says data shows that there is only one sport, gymnastics, in which early intensive training/specialization before the age of 12 is necessary for success at the elite level.