Getting on the same page
Unfortunately, there are still far too many coaches in this country - whether it be in youth gymnastics, football, field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, basketball, or skiing - who berate and ostracize players complaining of concussion symptoms, who call them "wimps," who yell at doctors and athletic trainers for refusing to let a player with concussion symptoms go back into the game, and have kicked kids off of the team for refusing to play for two weeks because of a concussion. I hear these stories all too often.
Parents have a right to expect that, when they entrust their children to a sports program that it will take reasonable precautions to protect them against harm. In other words, parents have a right to expect that the entire team to whom they entrust their children's safety — including the national governing body for the child's sport, the state association, the athletic or club director, the athletic trainer (if there is one), and especially the coaches - are part of the concussion solution, not part of the problem.
In my view, because the signs and symptoms of concussions are not as obvious as a broken leg or a sprained ankle and are often very subtle, because most don't involve a loss of consciousness, and because self-reporting by athletes is critical to the detection and treatment of concussions, the only way parents can sit in the stands without worrying sick about what might happen if their son or daughter suffers a concussion is if they know the program, and especially the coach, takes concussions very seriously, and that every member of the team is using the same concussion safety playbook
For the most comprehensive, up-to-date concussion information on the Internet, click here.
Brooke de Lench is the Founder and Publisher of MomsTeam.com and a long-time concussion safety advocate
Posted March 14, 2011; revised June 25, 2013
