Pros And Cons Of Concussions

Welcome to your adult life, where you have a child that plays multiple sports and loves being active. You are currently sitting at your child’s soccer game when, all of a sudden, your daughter takes a hit to the head with a soccer ball and starts crying. What do you do? Do you go out there and tend to your child yourself or do you let the league’s on-site trainer take care of everything? You start to question yourself, asking “who should be responsible for making sure my daughter is ok?”. The correct answer is you. Athletes and their families tend to rely on the sports leagues support when it comes to injuries often. However, those families who participate in athletics should be familiar with the consequences of concussions and not depend on

the sports leagues, who already are creating rules to address the issue, in order to protect their child.
Athletes and their parents are the ones that should be responsible for knowing the risks of concussions and should make their own decisions based off that information to help prevent concussions from occurring. For example, according to a 2013 poll by HBO’s Real Sports, “one in three Americans said knowing about the damage concussions can cause would make them less likely to allow their sons to play football” (Wilcox 66). Since these parents have previous knowledge about the horrific effects of a concussion on a child’s brain, they may prevent their child from being concussed by not allowing them to play the sport that most concussions come from. By doing this, they are also not completely relying on the sports leagues that may not have enough rules to prevent these injuries from happening. Also, while talking about concussions, “one study found that 66 percent of teen athletes who sustained a concussion did not feel it was serious enough to tell an adult” (Wilcox 74). This is a good example to show that these athletes have the choice to acknowledge the risks of a head injury and should be able to make decisions for themselves in order to keep themselves safe. They have the responsibility to make sure they aren’t putting their lives at risks; it is individual accountability, not the fault of the league. Lastly, according to a University of Washington study, “in girl’s soccer, more than half of the players who suffer concussions do not leave the game” (Wilcox 79). This is the protocol that many athletes follow when experiencing a possible concussion; therefore, athletes should be informed on concussion symptoms and have the ability to make the decision they deem appropriate to their situation and not solely rely on the league's concussion protocol. In the end, most athletes and parents have enough education on head injuries and can make their own decisions and prevent themselves from being concussed.
In addition to being knowledgeable about the symptoms and effects of concussions, sports leagues are also creating many more rules and regulations to prevent concussions from occurring.

For example, in Florida, the Florida High School Athletic Association, or FHSAA, adopted full contact sports limits for the first time in 2016 (Barnett). This demonstrates how sports leagues are actually making an effort to prevent concussions from happening; however, in addition, this proves that athletes should continue to be self-sufficient and be able to take care of themselves when injured. Secondly, the NFL has created a program called “Practice Like Pros” that establishes concepts used in drills to eliminate contact during the offseason (Gasper). As a result of this, many high school athletic associations have picked up on this and are engaging in this issue by going through more “no/limited contact” drills and doing everything possible to prevent younger athletes from having traumatic brain injuries. Lastly, according to USA Football, many leagues have also established different levels of contact. For example, the intensity 3 level is called “THUD”, which is when players can create contact during drills. However, it can only be above the waist and the players have to stay on their feet (USA Football). By having multiple intensity levels that restrict how much contact can be made during a certain drill and progress the amount of contact as the levels increase, these leagues are avoiding concussions in an effective manner while still allowing players to continue through drills. Overall, many sports leagues are participating in reducing the issue of concussion in athletes by the pro leagues creating rules and new regulations that the high school leagues take part in; therefore, the sports leagues are already engaging in the issue and bringing in new concepts to the best of their ability to prevent

concussions.
Now knowing this, what do you do as a parent who has a possibly concussed child on the soccer field? Since you know the traumatic effects of a concussion and shouldn’t be a burden on the sports league, you now make the decision to help the child and reduce the risk of them being concussed multiple times. Overall, concussions are a traumatic injury that should be taken very seriously, and athletic families should take initiative when protecting their child and not rely on the leagues.