“Public knowledge about the NFL and college-level head injuries
and trauma and the press … all had an effect [on the sport], and
athletes and parents have had to make more choices.”
Yet not everything is doom and gloom
in the world of football as is being
currently reported. There is room for
awareness, education and informed
decisions. One positive aspect has resulted from
the reported statistics that high schools
are either canceling their football
programs altogether or struggling to
recruit new members. Both Dr. Levine
and Dr. Jepson alluded to the fact that
the ongoing medical research and
reports of football-related concussions
has resulted in a greater awareness
of risks and preventative measures.

Parents are strongly encouraged to
do their research with their student
athletes and discuss findings together
before deciding whether to play high
school football.

EHSTOCK/ ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
Student athletes and parents have
many resources at their fingertips to
help them make informed decisions
on participation. One such resource
is the Heads Up initiative, created
by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, which disseminates
educational concussion materials to
scholastic sports programs. (See here
for more information: www.cdc.gov/
headsup/index.html). Another option? Have an informative
discussion with your child’s coaches.

Stefan Green, assistant coach for
Bishop O’Connell High School’s
JV football team, recommends that
parents “get involved and interrogate
the coaches.” Ask questions like
“How are you making football safer
for my child?”
Making sure coaches are actively
teaching methods to help protect their
players could be a good solution for
putting parents’ minds at ease and
increasing participation. In fact, Green,
who has two teenage sons who play for
O’Connell, took up coaching because
he didn’t like what coaches were
doing—he wanted to make it a safer
sport. Green says that he “stresses to his
players how to tackle without using the
head” and coaches his team this way.

He makes sure players practice safe
ways to tackle with minimum contact
during practice each week.

And part of the problem with football
injuries in high school is that parents
are waiting until high school before
they let their kids play football. Coach
Green says that when half the team
hasn’t played before, it becomes
dangerous. Middle school football is
controlled by weight and age, so he
recommends parents enroll their kids at
least one year in middle school to lessen
the chance for injury in high school.

Local coaches are urging student
athletes and parents to still keep
the positive aspects of the sport in
mind. Football has been weaved into
the history of the U.S. as a beloved
national pastime.

Coach Brown, head coach of the
Watkins Mill Wolverines, believes the
love of the sport and the benefits of
playing the sport outweigh any fear or
panic from the possibility of sustaining
concussions during football. “Football
gives kids the opportunity for hard
work and diversity. The world is a
better place due to football,” he says
emphatically. Coach Green shares a similar
sentiment, noting “[Football] is the
ultimate team sport. Unlike other
sports such as basketball, where you
can have one person running up and
down the court taking control of the
shots, football requires you to depend
on your teammates to be successful,”
says Green. Knowing how to work
together as a team is essential in life.

High School Varsity football coach
Trey Taylor from Fairfax High School
in Fairfax, VA is concerned that the