Concussion Story
March 22, 2016
“The national narrative is not our story.” That’s been the mindset of the Michigan High School Athletic Association on many sports issues; and it’s never been more necessary than now, on the topic of concussions.
Hollywood’s December release of the movie “Concussion” and revelation after revelation of diseased NFL veterans tend to condemn professional football. But, in spite of its bad press, the NFL product roars on, setting records for its reach and revenue. Apparently the NFL is “too big to fail,” so critics of football attack an easier target – amateur, and especially, youth football. Other critics call for an end to football but swallow their whistle regarding boxing and even more barbaric ultimate fighting.
In sharp contrast, we hope, to the hypocrisy of the national narrative is the story of school sports in Michigan. We cannot speak for levels above or below us, but school-sponsored football has never been safer, for obvious reasons – the equipment has never been more protective; coaches have never received more health and safety training; playing rules have never been more safety-oriented; and officials have never had more authority to penalize unsafe play.
But in our story, football is not the only topic. Our health and safety narrative addresses all sports and both genders; and the 2015-16 school year provides three significant examples.
Mandated Concussion Reports – The MHSAA required for the first time this year that member high schools report possible concussions by their student-athletes. This is in all sports, both practice and competition, for both girls and boys. While reports are tentative for winter sports and it’s very early in the spring sports season, it is likely that in each case it will be a girls sport that has the most concussions, underscoring that school sports must be concerned about concussions in all sports and both genders.
Sideline Concussion Detection – The MHSAA last fall became the first state association to offer pilot sideline concussion testing, with 62 schools taking part in one of two programs. Among the objectives of the pilot programs was to increase awareness of concussions and improve sideline detection; and preliminary results indicate that the average number of possible concussions reported by pilot schools exceeds the average reported by schools outside the pilot group.
Concussion Care Insurance – The MHSAA also is the first state association to provide all participants at every member high school and junior high/middle school with insurance intended to pay accident medical expense benefits – covering deductibles and co-pays left unpaid by other policies – resulting from head injuries sustained during school practices or competitions. This coverage is at no cost to either schools or families.
While the insurance program will produce additional data about the frequency and severity of head injuries, the principal purpose of this initiative is to assure that families with no insurance, or insurance with high deductibles or co-pays, will not delay in seeking prompt, professional medical attention if their child shows signs of concussion after a practice or competition.
Again, this insurance is for all sports, both practice and competition, for both boys and girls; and it’s for all MHSAA member schools, grades 7 through 12. It will apply to the 6th grade for those school districts which join the MHSAA at the 6th-grade level, which is possible for the first time in 2016-17.
Best Practices
June 28, 2016
Two-thirds of concussions reported in Michigan high school football last fall occurred in games. Even though there are at least five times more hours of exposure during practices than games, there are half as many concussions during practice, according to the mandated concussion reporting requirement of the Michigan High School Athletic Association that is unmatched in the country in terms of its depth and breadth for a statewide requirement.
Michigan was among the handful of states to restrict contact in practice, in 2014, a full season prior to recommendations from the National Federation of State High School Associations and later action by most other statewide associations.
Some of those statewide organizations continue to operate without limitation on contact in football practices, while their counterpart organizations in other states have gone so far as to limit contact to a certain number of minutes in a day and/or week.
Entering mostly uncharted waters for high school football in early 2014, an MHSAA task force recommended that the number of practices be limited where collisions between players could occur – no more than one per day during preseason, no more than two per week after the first game.
This change was embraced by this state’s football coaches association and adopted by the MHSAA Representative Council. All parties liked the ease of administration of this policy, and all distrusted the idea of limiting the number of minutes of contact during practices.
If there is a 30-minute limit on contact in a day or a 90-minute limit on contact in a week, is it the same 30-minute or 90-minute period for all players, even if many are not involved in one or more of the contact drills? Or does the limit apply to each player individually; and if so, how is that tracked, and by whom?
These and other questions made coaches and administrators question how effective a limit on minutes might really be. Nevertheless, a 90-minute per week limit during regular season has been made an MHSAA recommendation for the 2016 season. This will provide an opportunity to address and possibly answer some of the questions that have been raised.
The MHSAA will survey schools this fall about their practice plans and the actual time spent in contact drills by players, assessing how that differs according to offense, defense, player position and grade in school, and determining best practices for how to track player contact minutes.
When Michigan acted in 2014 to limit contact in practice, it was one of the first states to do so. As Michigan takes additional steps to limit contact in practice, it will be one of the first states to do so after researching the best ways to actually do it.