For many families, back to school means back to sports… which means >> concussion awareness.
I know it’s true for my family this year. My son (A HIGH SCHOOLER, WHAT?!) is breathing, eating, and drinking ALL THE FOOTBALL KOOLAID.
My middle school daughter… cheerleader.
And my youngest is in the last bit of swim lessons… working on stroke skills, with her eyes on swim team.
A couple months ago I was contacted by the NFL to be part of their NFL Blogger Program on account of the fact that my son’s life is now football, football football. This is not a sponsored partnership, but rather an opportunity for me to share information with you… my readers. And I receive info straight from the NFL – the folks on the front line of this hot-fire passion in the soul of my son. I know not all of you have kids in sports, but I know many of you do. If I have an opportunity to share something valuable and something that helps our kids, I want to part of that.
So this.
Since football specifically… my life now involves a lot of: crossing fingers, gasping and gritting teeth during tackles, and praying daily my son is able to stay injury free in practice and game time.
Within even the first weeks of practice, more than a few teammates ended up with broken fingers, ankles, and concussions. Even my son ended up with a concussion and wasn’t able to play in his FIRST game.
THE FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON.
That was a really big bummer.
But I am learning about concussions and am thankful his team doesn’t play games with the danger of concussions.
Due to my partnership with the NFL, they sent this awesome infographic. It is stuffed with great information. Pay special attention to the concussion points. And then share it. As a new football mom, I had no idea how much I didn’t know…
My son had to wait a full week before he could play after his concussion. Some athletes are required to wait longer… noting the information in the infographic:
- • Most concussions occur without loss of consciousness (case in point: my son)
- • Young children an teens are more likely to get a concussion (and take longer to recover that adults)
- • A more serious concussion could last weeks, or MONTHS
- • A repeat concussion during recovery (usually within hours, days, or weeks) can slow recovery or increase the chances for long term problems.
Of course, I am already aware of the outstanding care program my son’s high school team has, but is YOUR team Heads Up? Heads Up Football is a national initiative to help makes sports safe following 5 key tenets (see infographic for tenet details). You can learn more about the program and how to get your team involved by downloading the USA Football App on iTunes or Google Play store. It’s free.
It’s even a great resource if you have a 9 year old daughter who, one evening, was walking around wrapped like a mummy in a large blanket… and tried to climb over the doggy gate to get to the stairs and tipped over and hit her head on the stairs and saw a large flash of light and… Who knew the USA Football app would have been a handy resource for researching concussions that night…
And for my son, he can download the app too and study better ways to tackle, see if his helmet is fitting right, and learn a little more about the benefits of adequate hydration. It looks like it’s a great app for athletes, their parents,as well as coaches!
What do you think? What do you think you know about concussions? Was there any info listed here that surprised you?
And one last thing… because I have to…
GO SEAHAWKS!!!
