How a Boy's Concussion Death Changed British Sports

After a high school football player in Oregon was concussed in a game, his condition elevated to a traumatic brain injury when he was sent back in to play without proper rest. To combat this lapse in judgment from happening again, the state passed legislation that "set out guidelines that a coach must follow in the event that he or she suspects a player has received a blow to the head or body and then exhibits signs or symptoms consistent with a concussion."

Dartmouth College's football team reduced injuries and began winning more games after the coaching staff implemented non-contact tactics into practices, such as using robotic tackling dummies in place of the players themselves. The practice was already gaining recognition from other schools, but amid the coronavirus, the NFL is now trying out similar protocols too.

To reduce risk of concussions in high school football, high school coaches in Oregon are reducing the amount of impact time allowed during practices. Using the parameters established via the USA Football five levels of contact, high school coaches keep their players under 90 minutes of contact per week and instead work to "create higher-level intensity contact, without hitting each other, that is safe for the athlete."

Kick-off soccer academy provides young people with mentorship, education, and talent development. It was created by a group of young friends during the COVID-19 pandemic after they noticed many young people getting into drugs and alcohol while out of school during pandemic-related shutdowns. The team, who mobilizes parents and caretakers so that they buy into the program’s benefits, serves almost 100 young people. The program develops the athletic skills of the young people but also increases their self-esteem and responsibility.

To prevent concussions during sports, some conferences are changing rules, while others are turning to technology to create new kinds of helmets and mouth guards that do a better job at protecting the brain. The innovations thus far have shown success at protecting the wearer from injury, but they do have to be fitted precisely to work the best.

College athletes created a social media and digital campaign to publish a list of health and labor demands, some of them related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also advocated for racial justice and elevated the Black Lives Matter movement. “Already, the NCAA met two of the player demands: requiring rigorous player COVID-19 testing and standard health protocols, and guaranteeing an additional year of eligibility."

Grassroots initiatives are empowering Muslim women to bring their faith onto the court. Across several universities in London, new clubs are offering a safe and inclusive space for Muslim women to participate in sports like netball. The ISOC club team, started by students at the London School of Economics, accepts Muslim women from other universities and participates in matches against other university clubs. Several other initiatives provide Muslim women with access to sports clubs, from kickboxing to fencing.

To better the health of their high school football athletes, Morgan County High School in Georgia implemented a program that focuses on ensuring the school's athletes are eating enough to compensate for the physical activity they're enduring. The program, which implements ideas from college models, provides players with breakfast, lunch, and a pre-practice snack or pre-game meal, while also monitoring each individual's nutrition.

In an effort to create more effective helmets, developers and consumers have come up against both cost and technological concerns. Building helmets that protect against concussions is challenging, and those that have been promising come with the additional concern of working so well that players aren’t able to recognize when they’ve been hit too hard. Furthermore, safer helmets cost more – as much as $200 per helmet – making it hard to afford for schools with limited budgets.

In Oregon, school are required by law to remove a child from play if they have been concussed, but not all schools have athletic trainers to assess the situation. Although it's still up to each individual school district to make the decision about hiring athletic trainers, the schools that have chosen to do so, have found success through creating partnerships.