Concussions Taken Seriously By Local HS Teams

October 28, 2009

by Cliff Judy (WICHITA, Kan.)

The game is flat violent. Let's face it. You can do things to your fellow man on the football field that would get you arrested on the streets.

While Congress focuses on hits in the NFL, local coaches and athletic trainers say they're focusing on prep concussions now more than ever. A University of Michigan study found retired and pro football players are 19 times more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than the average person.

Bill Fargo, athletic trainer at Wichita Heights High School, says he's seen players take head shots and try to stay in the game.

"They'll just say, 'I'm okay. I'm okay,'" says Fargo. "And then they'll stumble away and then you'll look at them. Sometimes, they'll say some things right. They'll answer some questions right, and then they'll say something really off the wall."

Wichita High Schools have athletic trainers at all practices and games, and doctors are also on the sidelines Friday nights. They're the ones who have a say in whether the player gets to stay in the game. The coaches and the players don't get to make that decision.

This year, Via Christi updated the way head and neck shots are evaluated with a system called SCAT2. It's a four-page evaluation sheet that makes sure any player with a concussion gets follow-up care.

Trainers in Wichita are instructed to keep players out of a game even after the most minor concussions.

"We're all here for the kids and we all like football and the contact and it's fun for all of us," says Fargo, "but when it comes to head and neck...we don't take risks."

Fargo says when it comes to those players who want to stay in the game after a concussion, one of the first things he was taught was to simply take their helmet away.

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