Increasing knowledge about the health risk posed by multiple concussions has caused the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to institute preventative measures to protect athletes against brain injury.
By Dick Dornan / Special to The Malibu Times
As the Malibu High School Sharks football team prepares for the season kick-off game at Fillmore High School next week, some parents are filled with worry and concern. Football is a collision sport and, despite protective equipment and rule changes to emphasize safety, head injuries remain common.
According to the Sports Concussion Institute in Los Angeles, an estimated 15 percent of all athletes participating in contact sports suffer a concussion each season. There are an estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions that occur each year. In any given season, 10 percent of all college players and 20 percent of all high school players sustain concussions, with high school players being three times more likely to sustain a second concussion.
Concussions are considered a mild brain injury caused by a bump or a blow to the head. Most athletes who suffer them do not lose consciousness. The effects of concussion, while temporary, can include problems with headaches, concentration, memory, judgment, balance and coordination, according to the Mayo Clinic. While most concussions are mild and people recover fully, public concern has risen sharply in recent years due to the knowledge that multiple concussions can result in permanent brain injury.
In response to that concern, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District mandated in 2009 that all coaches, physical education instructors and first-aid personnel must be certified in concussion awareness.
“There was a rising concern in the media about concussions,” Gary Bradbury, risk management specialist for the SMMUSD, said. “It’s not just football but all sports. We want to make sure all our coaching staffs are certified. We will continue to monitor concussions and its affects.”
Marie Zweig, in her 11th year as athletic trainer at Malibu High School, said communication with parents of athletes is crucial when dealing with concussions.
“Parents should always be made aware of what is going on,” Zweig said. “Doctors are finding out more things, mostly about the adolescent brain, which is different than the collegiate athlete because it is still developing.”
Each spring, Zweig has her athletes take the ImPACT test. The test provides Zweig with an individual assessment prior to any potential injury. Should an injury occur during the course of the year, Zweig will refer an athlete to the Sports Concussion Institute for an additional test called the Baseline Test.
Kelly Griffin is the mother of three sons who play tackle football, including Ryan, 21, the starting quarterback at Tulane University. Griffin said she is more aware of concussions now than when Ryan played youth football.
“I remember when Ryan was in the sixth grade and we pulled him out of tackle football strictly because there were so many injuries,” Griffin said. “Concussions really weren’t big back then. As years have passed, it’s become a bigger deal. I think the last five or so years parents are a lot more aware. They know more of the symptoms and you think about it more now.”
Griffin’s younger sons Charlie, 13, and Mac, 11, currently play for the Westlake Braves. Her daughter, Molly, 16, plays volleyball at Chaminade High School.
“I’ve always just been more concerned with injuries in general,” Griffin said. “Concussions are more prevalent now. I didn’t realize about the variant degrees of a concussion, from the lighter side to the heavier side.”
Former NFL player Brian Bosworth’s son Maximillian, 13, plays football for the Westlake Braves, despite Bosworth’s mixed feelings about the dangers.
“I’m not crazy about him playing because I know the downside of playing football, but I understand the upside of playing football,” Bosworth said. “It’s immeasurable in growing young men in their values of life. You can play the game within the boundaries of the game and still come away as a good quality human being.”
Bosworth, the only two-time winner of the Butkus Award for the nation’s top college linebacker while at the University of Oklahoma, was a fierce and tough player known among fans as “The Boz,” who delivered many hard hits to opponents. Now, the former Malibu resident is a parent on the sidelines trying to teach his son proper technique.
“I try to tell him to not lead with your head,” Bosworth stated. “You try to avoid helmet-to-helmet contact [as much as] possible because that is where your danger comes from. If you can teach them early the good techniques of tackling, hitting and absorbing blows so they don’t put themselves in immediate danger, this is where they need to learn it when they are young.”
Ray Humphrey, head coach for Malibu High School, said he feels fortunate to have Zweig on staff and that his athletes are in good hands.
“She has done a great job with the kids since I have been here,” Humphrey, now in his seventh season, said. “Between Marie, our team physician [Dr. Michael Gerhardt], the Sports Concussion Institute where our kids go each year, as well as the new top-of-the-line helmets, we have become really aware and conscious of it.”