Doug Andreassen on Concussions and TBI
Concussion Awareness and Brain Trauma Extending to the Soccer Field is Not New – but now in the news more than ever. With the recent resolution of the youth soccer concussion lawsuit which brought to light that a dedicated youth player might sustain 1,000 headers per year, and a high school player more than 1,800 headers — there has been an outcry in the media. While soccer is a physical game but rarely thought of as a violent one, people wonder if U.S. Soccer has gone to far with eliminating headers for our youngest of players.
People need to hear what trailblazer Doug Andreassen has to say on the topic.
One of the initial stakeholders in the Zachery Lystead Concussion law in Washington State, Doug Andreassen has been an advocate of concussion awareness with Concussion Legacy and Safer Soccer. Andreassen served as Washington Youth President for 8 years and has participated on various soccer boards/clubs and organizations for 24 years. Currently Chair of the USSF Soccer Diversity Task Force, Andreassen is the parent of four boys, all whom played soccer. Here is what Andreassen has to say on concussions and the new sweeping safety regulations from U.S. Youth Soccer following the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against six of the largest youth soccer organizations and the elimination of heading for soccer’s youngest players.
Related Article: Youth Soccer Heading For a Big Change After Concussion Lawsuit
The dialogue on concussions is not new. We need to call it what it is A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. What begin with the injury of a football player in Washington State, who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury at age 14, Zachery Lystead has has his life greatly compromised. In a effort to help other children, a task force was formed for the sole purpose of creating legislation that will protect these youth athletes. We have now passed legislation in all 50 states in regards to youth concussions.
While the Washington State law was intended to be used as the model for the other states, we quickly found that compromises of all shapes and sizes occurred across the USA, as each legislature reacted to the public’s demand for action to occur. We ended up with an assortment of laws that at the end of day, provide protection for youth in sports activities, whether that be at their schools or in their private club sports.
As we move ahead to the recent mandates from US Soccer in regards to heading in youth games, this is but a small step on the way to providing protection for youth soccer players. While the issue surrounds the heading of the ball, the real issue we are solving is repetitive hits to the head. Every one reacts differently to these repetitive hits. Some incur Traumatic Brain Injuries,quickly, others can take multiple hits before a recorded TBI occurs.
The analogy we use in this effort goes like this: Each human head can be related to an egg, for purpose of this discussion. If we place that egg in the center of the table and provide each person sitting around the table with a butter knife and ask them to tap the egg until it breaks, we know what occurs. While one individual can tap the egg once, others can tap the egg multiple times before it breaks.
What we know, is that the egg will break. With each hit the egg develops fractures or cracks that will lead to the breaking of the egg, thus the TBI occurs.
With our youth soccer players, they do not need to receive the balls in the air at these younger ages to develop their skills in this repetitive manner, when the scientific data has demonstrated that these years are the formative years for cognitive developments in their lives.
The larger question is recovery, and Return To Play.
Medical Science does not have an answer when RTP occurs. Some can recover quickly, others can take weeks and others months. What we do know is that once a concussion occurs, the second one, third one and so forth occur much easier than the first.
To answer those questions that this is radically changing the game, I would disagree. The soccer authorities, such as Taylor Twellman, Brandi Chastain, Cindy Cone, and others tell us that by keeping the ball on the ground, players will develop far superior skills on the pitch and better development of the game.
While some of the main focus has been on American football, and the impact of concussions on players, the issue is really much larger than that. As we know, football is played across the USA at every age level, staring at age 4 in many states.
The youths who play American football are outfitted with helmets and pads necessary to “protect” them from injury. We now find that these repetitive hits in PRACTICE cause as much damage as the games, if not more so. Back to our egg analogy, the constant hits in a football practice are causing the head to react in this negative manner.
If this child starts at the young age of eight years old in youth football and continues to play until he/she enters high school, I ask what chance do they have for a successful academic career in later years in high school much less college events?
To extend this thought, what are the future jobs they can hold? What quality of life will they have and how will it be affected by possible concussions?
Today, we have had eight children across the USA who have lost their lives to Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) while playing youth football since the season begin in September 2015.
If this does not bring the issue to the forefront of our discussions, I ask what will? In addition, we ask this — how many more children have to die, before we take further actions to prevent these deaths?
What is the number of loss of life that can you live with?
Is it 1, is it 5, is it 20, what is the number, because to me, ONE is too many. Let’s stop the madness.
In closing, lets be sensible about protecting our children. If you are a coach, an administrator or a parent, one of our main responsibilities is safety and stewards of the game. Let’s fulfill that role, and give our children a chance at life.
Just for easy reference: U.S. Soccer Sports Medicine CONCUSSION GUIDELINES are simple and recognize that medicine is evolving on this important issue. “As the science of evaluating and managing concussions has advanced, key findings emphasize the need for education of players, their families, coaches, medical staffs and the public at large on the signs and symptoms of concussion. There is also a critical need for early identification and proper management of a concussion. Concussion Defined
Related info: U.S. Soccer turning to overlooked youth to discover next wave of talent is an interesting article on SI that explores how Andreassen is working on a plan for reaching underserved communities in the role of chairman on the Diversity Task Force. The article explores how most Americans aren’t familiar with Nacogdoches, Texas, and if they are it’s probably because of Clint Dempsey. Nacogdoches is a small town of less than 35,000 people in East Texas, roughly 150 miles from Houston and Dallas. Dempsey, the only American ever to score in three World Cups, grew up playing soccer on dirt fields against Hispanic immigrants in his town. The question is – how many more fabulous soccer players are playing in the dirt or fields somewhere needing to be discovered? More on this in another article.
Related Article: DR. RON QUINN ON ARE WE HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AFTER USSF CONCUSSION LAWSUIT
References for TBI: Mayo Clinic, CDC on TBI, NINDS Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI and Taylor Twellman – Career Cut Short By Concussions
