A woman named Gina Shaw recently wrote a strong piece for the Washington Diplomat about why she’s decided not to allow her son to play football. While she grew up in Nebraska (“where football is a religion” according to Shaw), her childhood was punctuated by going to, and following, both High School and College football games, and watching her dad root religiously for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers.
Shaw made the somewhat difficult decision to not allow her son play football. She is not alone – recent polling shows over 50% of parents won’t allow their children to play football with the rise of concussion and head trauma injuries involved. Adding to parent’s worry is the fact that most schools are not concussion educated, and aren’t always on point when trying to diagnose if a student should be allowed to play.
What Shaw outlines – and what we talk about on our website and social media accounts – is that the long term risks of repeated concussions isn’t worth allowing your child to play a sport that puts them in repeated danger. Not surprising, football is the #1 cause of concussions among youth athletes. No parent wants to give the OK for putting their child in harm’s way, and more and more parents are becoming educated on how poorly prepared many school sports are for injury. While 50 states have instituted a “return to play” law that requites an athlete who has sustained a concussion to be removed from play, and only allowed to return after getting clearance from a doctor, many schools do not follow through. Parents think if the school is OK with their child being back in the game, they should be too.
The article really rang true to me because, having sustained more than one concussion during soccer play, I don’t feel that I was properly protected by my school. It was my parent’s tenacity that helped me get in the hands of the right doctor who helped me get well. I attended a wonderful school, but they just weren’t prepared. Hopefully, with more discussions like this one becoming public, this will no longer be an issue in High School and College sports.
