Saw an article that got my attention, being that I'm the dad to a few young athletes. "Athlete concussions eyed," an AP article published October 6, 2011 mentions PA House Bill 200, which if passed would be:
"An Act establishing standards for managing concussions and traumatic brain injuries to student athletes; assigning duties to the Department of Health and the Department of Education; and imposing penalties."
The sponsor, Rep. Tim Briggs, is quoted as saying "Over the years, the mentality of head injuries in sports wsa to shake it of and get back in the game..." And I think most people who've been involved with sports know exactly what he's talking about. Like a neighbor, whose sixth grade son was dinged in a football game and the coach put him back in. "You'd better check him," a friend told his mom, "He's not o.k." And his mom did, and she pulled him off the field, and the coach was angry and her son was angry and she did the right thing. It was his third concussion in three years of 'little kid' football.
What I don't understand is why it takes legislation to put the brakes on this attitude. There was something of a controversy a few months ago when a local high school girl lacrosse player sustained a seriously damaging concussion--and the coaching establishment closed ranks to say that girls lacrosse players don't wear helmets because helmets aren't a part of the game, and properly coached players don't need helmets.
The rational boggles the mind. Good coaching won't deflect an errant ball the way a helmet will.
So legislation like HB200 (the PA Senate has a similiar bill in SB200), which puts the responsibility on the coaches, apparently IS necessary.
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