2017-18 Report Shows Fewer Concussions
August 8, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Concussions are down, according to data compiled by the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its third year of collecting head injury reports from member high schools.
The work is not done – but this year’s data reinforces trends that emerged during the first two years of reporting and will assist the MHSAA as it explores solutions to continue reducing the incidence of head injuries in school sports.
The 2017-18 concussion report found a 9.6-percent decrease in the number of confirmed concussions from the previous year. Student-athletes at MHSAA member high schools encountered during 2017-18 a total of 3,580 head injuries – or 4.8 per member school, compared to the 2016-17 average of 5.2. Total participation in MHSAA sports for 2017-18 was 284,920 – with students counted once for each sport he or she played – and only 1.3 percent of participants experienced a head injury, down from 1.4 in 2016-17 and 1.6 percent the first year of the study.
As first mandated in 2015-16, member schools are required to report head injuries to the MHSAA identifying the sport that each student-athlete was participating in and whether the injury was sustained during practice or competition. Schools also are required to designate at which level – varsity, junior varsity or freshman – the injury occurred.
The full report of all head injuries experienced during 2017-18 by student-athletes at MHSAA member high schools – including percentages by sport (per 1,000 participants), gender and team level, as well as data tracking when athletes returned to play – is available by clicking here.
Consistent with the first two years of the study, the MHSAA received data from more than 99 percent of its member high schools after the fall, winter and spring seasons and continued to track each injury report through its conclusion this summer. Member junior high and middle schools also were allowed, although not mandated, to report their potential head injuries; and those findings are not part of the published report.
The decrease in overall head injury reports collected for 2017-18 follows a similar reduction from 2015-16 to 2016-17 – and brings the total decrease to 19.6 percent fewer reports since the first year of the study.
MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts noted that the decreases in reports, both year to year and since the first year of the survey, likely have some relation to year-to-year fluctuation, refinement of the follow-up reporting process and a better understanding by schools of what is not to be included for the survey – including head injuries not diagnosed as concussions and head injuries that did not take place during MHSAA-sponsored activities.
However, the findings of this year’s study – and their similarities to the findings from the first two surveys – has begun to clarify the identification and understanding of trends. Continuing to emerge perhaps most prominently is the higher incidence of concussion reports from girls sports – and pertinent questions about physiological and social causes behind those results.
“With three years of reporting by virtually 100 percent of our high schools, what we’re learning is no longer anecdotal; the results are beginning to identify valid trends and genuine issues that need to be addressed,” Roberts said. “For example, it’s even clearer than before that girls are reporting three times the number of concussions as boys when comparing similar sports – soccer, basketball and baseball versus softball. As a result, we’ve already begun to incorporate these gender differences into our coaches education, and the writers of high school playing rules are obligated to focus on these gender differences as well.”
Although the total number of confirmed concussions was significantly lower again in 2017-18, a number of findings detailing those injuries fell in line with results of the first two surveys.
Boys experienced 2,373– or 66 percent – of those injuries, the same ratio as 2016-17, and not surprisingly as boys have a much higher participation in contact sports. More than half of head injuries – 56 percent – were experienced by varsity athletes, which for the second year also fell within a percent difference of the previous year’s findings.
A total of 2,330 head injuries – or 65 percent – came in competition as opposed to practice. More than half took place during either the middle of practice or middle of competition as opposed to the start or end, and 52 percent of injuries were a result of person-to-person contact. The MHSAA also asked schools to report the number of days between the head injury and the athlete’s return to activity – and the two largest groups, both at 24 percent, returned to activity after either 6 to 10 days of rest or 11 to 15. All of these findings were within 1-3 percent of those discovered from the 2016-17 data.
Contact sports again revealed the most head injuries. Ranking first was football, 11 and 8-player combined, with 41 head injuries per 1,000 participants – a decrease for the second straight year, this time from 44 head injuries per 1,000 participants in 2016-17 and down from 49 head injuries per 1,000 football participants shown by the first study in 2015-16.
Ice hockey repeated with the second-most injuries per 1,000, with 32 (down from 36 injuries per 1,000 from 2016-17 and 38 per 1,000 in 2015-16), and girls soccer and wrestling tied for third with 25 head injuries per 1,000 participants – girls soccer down from 28 head injuries per 1,000 participants and wrestling down from 26 per 1,000 in 2016-17.
Also consistent with 2016-17, the next five sports (after football and hockey) to show the highest incidences of head injuries were girls sports – girls soccer followed by girls basketball (22 per 1,000), girls competitive cheer (20) and girls lacrosse (20). Boys lacrosse (17), girls gymnastics (16) and boys soccer (12) were the only other sports to show double-digit head injuries per 1,000 participants.
Females again reported significantly more concussions than males playing the same or similar sports – soccer, basketball and baseball/softball. Female soccer players reported more than double the concussions per 1,000 participants as male soccer players (25 to 12), while female basketball players also reported more than double the number of concussions per 1,000 participants (22 to 9). Softball players reported seven concussions per 1,000 participants, and baseball players reported three per 1,000. Although the percentage differences vary from year to year, the results of all three comparisons remained consistent with what the survey found in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The MHSAA in 2018-19 is directing its sport committees to focus on a pair of questions – how to increase participation and how to make their specific sports safer – the latter aiming to put some of what has been learned from concussion reporting into practice. The MHSAA also is continuing to invite Michigan’s universities, health care systems and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to take part in analyzing the data and resulting questions that have arisen during the past three years.
“Regrettably, I do not see a nationwide head injury reporting effort likely,” Roberts said. “First, it’s hard to coordinate 50 states’ efforts. And second, if left to medical professionals, the survey tool might become so cumbersome that schools would be reluctant to participate – and certainly, it would not get the 99.9 percent cooperation that we’ve enjoyed from schools over these three years.”
Schools report possible concussions online via the MHSAA Website. Reports are then examined by members of the MHSAA staff, who follow up with school administrators as those student-athletes continue to receive care and eventually return to play. Student privacy is protected.
The reporting of possible concussions is part of a three-pronged advance by the MHSAA in concussion care begun during the 2015-16 school year. The MHSAA completed in spring 2017 the largest-ever state high school association sideline concussion testing pilot program, with a sample of schools from across the state over two years using one of two screening tests designed to detect concussions. The MHSAA also was 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 and at no cost to either schools or families.
Previously, the MHSAA also was among the first state associations to adopt a return-to-play protocol that keeps an athlete out of activity until at least the next day after a suspected concussion, and allows that athlete to return to play only after he or she has been cleared unconditionally for activity by a doctor (M.D. or D.O.), physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.
In addition, the MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program – which includes courses that must be completed by all varsity head coaches hired for the first time at a member school – provides substantial instruction on concussion care. Separately, rules meetings that are required viewing for high school varsity and subvarsity head and assistant coaches at the start of each season include detailed training on caring for athletes with possible head injuries.
Scholars and Athletes 2015: Class B
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 9, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Michigan High School Athletic Association has selected eight student-athletes from Class B member schools to receive scholarships through its Scholar-Athlete Award program.
Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 26th year of sponsoring the award, will give $1,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals who represent their member schools in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; also, there are two at-large honorees which can come from any classification.
Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball Final game March 28 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing. Commemorative medallions will be given to the finalists in recognition of their accomplishments.
The Class B Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Kirstin Anderson, Charlotte; Kelsey Cushway, Big Rapids; Kalabrya LeBrae Gondrezick, Benton Harbor; Amanda Paull, Cheboygan; Jonathan Krug, New Boston Huron; Stephen Luckoff, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Dane Miller, Dearborn Divine Child; and Francis Misra, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the Class B Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay also is included:
Kirstin Anderson, Charlotte
Played two seasons each of varsity volleyball and basketball and will run her fourth this spring of track and field; also ran varsity cross country as a sophomore. Served as co-captain of both the volleyball and basketball teams as a senior and earned all-conference honorable mention in the fall in addition to all-state all-academic honors. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and this school year as vice president. Attained level of AP Scholar with Honor based on her scores on College Board Advanced Placement exams. Served on student council all four years of high school and also performed four years in her marching, concert and symphony bands; named drum major two years and section leader in the symphony band as a senior. Also participated in Harvard Model Congress, MyLead Leadership and the Rotary International Leadership Camp, and co-created her school’s chapter of the Rotary Interact teen service organization. Will attend Hope College and study business and political science.
Essay Quote: “Sportsmanship, at its heart, is not about the person exhibiting it. It is about the effects it has on the people around him or her. Sportsmanship is an intangible quality that makes an athlete instantly admirable and recognizable.”
Kelsey Cushway, Big Rapids
Played two seasons of varsity volleyball, varsity basketball as a junior, and will play her fourth season of varsity softball and first of varsity soccer this spring. Will serve as softball captain for the third season and earned all-league honors in that sport. Helped volleyball team to a District title in the fall. Serving fourth year in student government with terms as mayor and secretary of the executive board. Played in marching band and chamber ensembles all four years and is a two-year section leader; received division one performance ratings at district and state levels. Participated in National Honor Society the last two years, serving as president, and in Key Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions and her school’s “Climate Crew” community outreach group. Will attend either the University of Chicago or Western Michigan University, and plans to study biomedical sciences.
Essay Quote: “When dealing with all of these experiences, we are given the chance to develop our character in a way that produces a confident yet humble competitor. The ability to embody not only a gracious winner but an equally accepting loser is one that signifies the importance of sportsmanship within educational athletics.”
Kalabrya LeBrae Gondrezick, Benton Harbor
Playing fourth season of varsity basketball, played one of varsity volleyball and ran one season of varsity cross country. Served as basketball team’s captain three seasons and has earned all-state honors after her first three. Also has earned academic honor awards three times and served as the cross country team’s captain. Has served as her class president all four years and participated all four in National Honor Society; is on pace to graduate as her class’ valedictorian. Named semifinalist for the national Coca-Cola Scholarship Program award. Presented at national seminar as part of Michigan’s Safe and Supportive Schools initiative and served on the Benton Harbor Teen Advisory Council. Also served as a peer mediation leader all four years and participated in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Delta Gems for four years. Will attend Michigan State University to study communications and has signed a letter of intent to play basketball.
Essay Quote: “I honor competition by being an ambassador on and off the court. Compete like a warrior with the class of a lady. … The character of sportsmanship will lose its identity if student-athletes don’t wear sportsmanship in their performance and voice of leadership.”
Amanda Paull, Cheboygan
Ran four years of varsity cross country and will play her fourth season of varsity soccer this spring; also played on the varsity hockey team as a sophomore. Finished among top two in her conference every season of cross country and placed among the top 48 of her MHSAA Finals all four seasons with a best of 28th as a freshman. Made all-state in soccer as a junior after earning honorable mentions her first two seasons. Also earned academic varsity letters all four years of high school and is a two-year member of the National Honor Society. Served on her school’s student council her first two years of high school and on the MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council the last two years. Selected for Rotary International’s leadership camp. Competed on a national-qualifying DECA business club team as a junior. Will attend Ferris State University to study biology with an emphasis on pre-dentistry; also has signed a letter of intent to play soccer.
Essay Quote: “Whether it be shaking your opponent’s hand after a game, encouraging a fellow runner or rallying and coming together as a sports community, sportsmanship is important on all levels reminding us why we play: because we love it.”
Jonathan Krug, New Boston Huron
Played three seasons of varsity football and will run his third season of track and field this spring. Captained the football team to District and Regional championships in the fall and led the team in tackles in earning all-state honors. Served on student council the last three years and participated in National Honor Society the last two. Also participating in Quiz Bowl and Students Against Destructive Decisions this school year. Served as a middle school mentor for three years as part of his school’s Fuel Youth Group and also served as a team leader on various youth group mission trips and for the Downriver Middle School youth group. Will attend of the University of Michigan at Dearborn and study engineering.
Essay Quote: “This past season I had 65 tackles, and for every single one of those tackles, I lent a hand and picked up the person who I tackled. When I would do this, the other team would be surprised and actually thanked me for helping them. I did this because I wanted to show the other team that I am human too, and I understand what it means to get knocked down.”
Stephen Luckoff, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Played four seasons of varsity soccer and will play his fourth of varsity lacrosse this spring; also played varsity basketball as a junior. Served as soccer team’s captain and earned all-state second-team honors. Served as president and lead facilitator of Bridge the Divide Club uniting those living in Detroit and its suburbs and is participating as a youth intern for the second year for the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion. Founded Motor City Lacrosse and volunteered four years for the Miracle League Baseball Organization. Served as head student leader of Horizons-Upward Bound tutoring program and volunteered four years for Feedom Freedom urban farming program. Will attend the University of Michigan and study finance.
Essay Quote: “For many, many years, I was blinded by the final results of my games and matches, blinded from the true meaning of my athletics. My tunnel vision made it very difficult for me to step out of my own shoes and fully embed myself with the morals and knowledge that athletics can teach. … As I move forward with my life, I seek to cherish every moment I have, every relationship I create, and every step I take.”
Dane Miller, Dearborn Divine Child
Ran four years of varsity cross country and will run fourth of varsity track and field this spring. Served as cross country team captain the last two seasons and helped it to three Regional titles over four seasons while earning all-area and academic all-state honors the last two. Helped track and field team to a Regional title in 2012 and earned all-area recognition last season. Attained AP Scholar with Honor and National Merit Scholar Commended Student recognitions and achieved a perfect score (36) on his ACT college entrance exam. Also named a National Hispanic Recognition Program scholar and participated two years in Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica. Tutored all four years at Kumon Math and Reading Center and raised nine puppies for Leader Dogs for the Blind. Will attend the University of Michigan and study electrical engineering.
Essay Quote: “I have always had an idea of what sportsmanship is and the importance for it in athletics. However, I was never able to fully wrap my mind around what it really meant until I experienced a devastating failure as a freshman. … This experience taught me a valuable lesson about sportsmanship: the importance of putting others before myself.”
Francis Misra, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Swimming his fourth season on his school’s varsity, this winter as captain. Qualified for the MHSAA Finals his first three seasons, helping the Cranes to their first MHSAA team championship, in Lower Peninsula Division 3, last season. Earned all-state honors in seven events over three seasons; swam as part of the winning 200-yard medley relay in 2014. Also swam to four individual league titles and as part of four relays that won championships. Founded a team for National Kidney Foundation walk that raised more than $18,000, and also recruited a combined 180 walkers for multiple fundraising events. Volunteered for Horizons-Upward Bound as a swim instructor and academic tutor, and as a swim instructor for his local Make a Splash program; also volunteered for Special Olympics Swim-a-Thon. Earned his school’s Shin/Welch Award “for outstanding leadership and citizenship.” Will attend the University of Michigan and study film production.
Essay Quote: “I thought that winning feeling I shared amongst my teammates was the best I could ever feel. But I was wrong. … My teammates and I realized that sportsmanship extends beyond the athletic arena.”
Other Class B girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Kendall Latshaw, Battle Creek Harper Creek; Shelby Bowers, Coldwater; Riley Blair, Dearborn Divine Child; Rebecca Piron, Escanaba; Raven Jefferson-Brinkley, Ferndale; Morgan Ketola, Freeland; Rachel Money, Grayling; Courtney Vande Vorde, Hamilton; Kikel Sekoni, Haslett; Kristen Marsman, Holland Christian; Jenna Davids, Portland; and Kelsey Metzger, Sturgis.
Other Class B boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Samuel Swem, Buchanan; T.J. Baker, Cadillac; Derek Sturvist, Cheboygan; Tyler James Burkhardt, Fowlerville; Andrew Olesak, Gladstone; Bradley Madsen, Manistee; Tyler Horn, Marshall; Chandler Biggs, Midland Bullock Creek; Jacob Almeda, Plainwell; Trenton L. Monroe, Plainwell; Mark Williamson, Spring Lake; and Garrett Bondy, Yale.
Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
The Class C and D scholarship award recipients were announced Feb. 3, and the Class A honorees will be announced Feb. 17.
Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of 450 agents serving nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.