InvestigateWest (http://www.invw.org/series/rattledinoregon/)
Oregon lawmakers concerned about the potential for long-term injury from sports-related concussions passed a law in 2009. Since then, school sports coaches and trainers have been required to follow strict return-to-play strategies to make sure athletes with head injuries don’t return to sports too soon.
What have we learned from these protocols since 2009? That’s among the questions this series aims to answer.
Rattled: Oregon’s Concussion Discussion is a joint project of InvestigateWest, the Pamplin Media Group and the Agora Journalism Center, made possible in part by grants from Meyer Memorial Trust and the Center for Cooperative Media. Researcher Mark G. Harmon from the Portland State University Criminology & Criminal Justice Department provides statistical review and analysis. The New York-based Solutions Journalism Network provided training in solutions-based techniques and support to participating journalists.
Jonathan Boland went from star quarterback to state inmate. Did concussions play a role? Boland suffered four concussions in his 12-year football career in Oregon, leaving him mentally and physically changed. “What’s portrayed in these robberies is not my son,” his mother Renee said.
Jonathan Boland was once a rising star in Oregon football. After suffering four concussions over the course of his career, Boland was left unable to continue on the field and with little motivation for his education.
Due to three tragic cases showing the impact of recurrent concussions on the sports field, many states now have protections for kids in sports. But often forgotten are the kids off the field. In today’s story, InvestigateWest and Pamplin Media Group explore four programs that provide brain injury education for the teachers and school staff who help kids in the classroom.
BrainSTEPS is a concussion and brain injury education program from Pennsylvania is a modular way for school staff to think about brain injuries and disorders of all types. Trainings such as these help make it possible for teachers to feel confident managing concussion recovery as students return to the classroom.
The death of a high school football player after back to back concussions inspired a Colorado school psychologist to develop a holistic program to ensure that any student with a concussion had a support team and an action plan involving their parents, coaches, medical professionals — and teachers.
When her six-year-old son Westen suffered a fall in September leading to a concussion, Stephanie Shimp-Taylor turned to her school for help. In need of accommodations for her son, Shimp-Taylor found herself under pressure for her son’s low attendance. Although Oregon law has measures in place to support student athletes, it’s often up to schools to fill in the gaps in the classroom for non-athletes. Oregon is offering an online course for educators called “In The Classroom After Concussion.”
For Sue Casey, wife of former football player Randy Casey, the link between concussion, her husband’s future behavior, and his eventual death will also never be certain. But it’s one that she attributes to the numerous concussions he suffered in his early career. Such risks to young athletes are mostly unexplored. And as reporter Kerry Eggers writes, “Although their stories typically don’t make headlines, they — and their families — are left wondering about how all those collisions on the gridiron impacted the rest of their lives.”
Hunter Holmes, an active teen and the goalkeeper for Redmond High School’s soccer team suffered a life-changing blow to the head. Less than two months later, he committed suicide. Hunter’s grieving parents will never know the reason he took his own life. But they work to promote teen suicide and concussion awareness in tandem.
Increased concern about brain trauma in youth sports puts soccer at a confounding crossroads. As athletes, parents and coaches look to limit head contact from their games, soccer enthusiasts are debating headers. They’re a dramatic part of play. But are they necessary?
Ireland Gomes spent most of her seventh-grade year in sports sitting on the bench, sidelined with a severe concussion. Her recovery took more than a year, and she still struggles with reading speed and comprehension, headaches and neck pain. Her parents now support more concussion education and awareness.