Power of the Permit: Improving Youth Sports Safety One Municipality at a Time

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Fri, 07/24/2015 - 13:23. | comments

If you are involved in a private youth sports program which plays on publicly-owned fields, diamonds, rinks, or courts, or are in local government, you have probably been hearing a lot lately about what is being dubbed the "power of the permit": the authority municipalities and towns around the country are using to condition use of their athletic facilities by private programs on compliance with state concussion safety laws from which they would otherwise be exempt, or, in an increasing number of instances, to fill gaps in their state's law.

A growing number of municipalities are using the power of the permit to require private sports programs to comply with state-mandated concussion safety laws, or impose additional conditions beyond those required by state law, but, as MomsTEAM Institute Executive Director explains, it isn't an isolated or new phenomenon. It's been a growing trend for years.

Brooke de Lench

MomsTeam Awarded NCAA-DOD Mind Matters Challenge Educational Grant

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Tue, 07/21/2015 - 15:46. | comments

On July 15, the NCAA and Department of Defense (DOD) announced the selection of MomsTeam Youth Sports Safety Institute as a recipient of a Mind Matters Challenge grant for our application, Creating a Safe Concussion Reporting Environment: A Multi-Media Approach.

The NCAA and Department of Defense (DOD) have selected MomsTeam Youth Sports Safety Institute as one of six winners of a Mind Matters Challenge grant for our application, Creating a Safe Concussion Reporting Environment: A Multi-Media Approach.

Multiple Concussions More Prevalent In Athletes With ADHD and Learning Disabilities

High school and college athletes with a history of developmental disorders such as attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disability (LD) are 2 to 3 times more likely to self-report having experienced multiple concussions than those without such history, a first-of-its-kind study finds.

Brooke de Lench

Chris Borland Retirement Decision: 3 Lessons for Sports Parents (Full Blog)

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Fri, 03/20/2015 - 20:45. | comments

The decision by San Francisco 49er Chris Borland to retire from the NFL after just one season out of concern for the long-term effect of head trauma has predictably generated a media firestorm. But lost amid the hoopla is what it means for sports parents.

Here are two lessons I think parents with kids playing -- or considering playing -- football or other contact and collision sports can take away from the Borland retirement, and one lesson they shouldn't take away:

The decision by San Francisco 49er Chris Borland to retire from the NFL after just one season out of concern for the long-term effect of head trauma has predictably generated a media firestorm. But lost amid the hoopla is what it means for sports parents. Here are two lessons, parents with kids playing -- or considering playing -- football or other contact and collision sports can take away from the Borland retirement, and one lesson they shouldn't take away.

Ben Utecht Joins MomsTEAM Institute Board of Directors

MomsTEAM Institute's Executive Director, Brooke de Lench, announced today the election of Ben Utecht to the Institute's Board of Directors. A former NFL tight end and Super Bowl champion whose career was cut short by a fifth diagnosed concussion, Utecht has become a passionate and tireless advocate for raising awareness about sports-related concussions, and for supporting research about concussion and traumatic brain injury.

New Study Claims Strict Rest After Concussion May Not Speed Recovery

Strict physical and cognitive rest in the five days immediately after concussion does not help teens recover more quickly than taking it easy for one to two days after injury and then returning to school, finds a new study.

Illinois Concussion Class Action Lawsuit: More Questions Than Answers

A longtime high school sports administrator argues that the Illinois high school concussion class action lawsuit raises many questions that shouldn't be decided by the first lawyer to get to the courthouse but only after careful consideration by state legislatures and high school sports administrators of all the issues arising from concussions and other aspects of athlete safety.

Brooke de Lench

Improving Concussion Safety In Youth Sports: Why I Opt For Grass Roots Activism Over Class Action Lawsuits

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 12/08/2014 - 21:29. | comments

Last week was chock full of news on the youth sports safety front. Nocsae decertified two men's lacrosse helmets, and I fielded some troubling emails about child sports safety advocates who allegedly spend their time monitoring social media, especially Twitter, for reports of youth sports injuries to take to plaintiffs' personal injury lawyers.

MomsTEAM continues to believe the best way to make sports safer is not by filing class action lawsuits, spending our time scouring the Internet for media reports of catastrophic injuries to send to personal injury lawyers, but through education and grass-roots activism.

SmartTeams™ Talk: NCAA's Hainline Sees Overspecialization and Overuse Injuries As Signs of Broken Youth Sports Model

In a powerful SmartTeams Talk, the NCAA's Chief Medical Officer discusses two major NCAA-funded research studies on sport-related concussions and its efforts to address mental health issues among college athletes, and sees in the trend toward sports specialization and the overuse injury epidemic clear signs of a broken youth sports system.

NFHS Recommendation To Limit Full-Contact Practices In High School Football Gains Traction

Recommendations by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) designed to minimize the risk of concussions and head impact exposure in high school football, especially limits on full-contact practices, have been implemented by an increasing number of state associations.

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