InvestigateWest (http://www.invw.org/series/rattledinoregon/page/2/)
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.
Ready. Set. Hike: Nearly two decades ago, during a high school football game, a 17-year-old quarterback named Max Conradt lined up under center and began a snap count. Now, a namesake law protects student athletes from the kind of tragedy that unfolded for the Waldport, Oregon player.
Over the past six months, reporters working on a series about high school sports concussions in Oregon have made 235 requests for records — or rather, the same request 235 times. Oregon has one state law to govern how local jurisdictions handle public records. But the responses to this same request are wide and varied across the state.
We sought concussion records from 235 public high schools participating in sports organized by the Oregon School Activities Association. Here’s how they responded.
The Oregon School Activities Association oversees everything from track meets to choir championships in Oregon. OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber and Assistant Director Brad Garrett sat with Lee van der Voo, of InvestigateWest, and John Schrag, of Pamplin Media Group, to talk about Rattled, the news groups’ collaborative investigation into Oregon high school concussions.
While we now know that football tops the list of concussion injuries per sport, the focus on football skews concussion discussions about other sports risks of concussion. We explore how to evaluate those risks alongside the benefits of physical activity for kids.
Sami Howard’s last concussion, captured by a student videographer, looks bad. But it’s the sound — something like a dropped bowling ball — that turned the crowd’s cheers into a low moan and then near-silence. A contested rebound. A fall to the ground, and Sami Howard’s life changed forever. The concussion was her fourth.
One in five American teens reports having suffered at least one concussion. For most students, it’s a relatively tame tale: a headache, some rest, and then back to a normal routine.
But for others, it’s a life-changing event. Reporters for Rattled: Oregon’s Concussion Discussion compile unique data on concussion injury from 238 public schools in Oregon. This series examines what they learned.
Reporters are looking for high school students interested in sharing their stories or digging up the truth about concussion risk in their schools or on their teams. Want to join Rattled: Oregon’s Concussion Discussion? Here’s how.
InvestigateWest, the Pamplin Media Group and the Agora Journalism Center are teaming up with high school students and others to investigate concussions among high school athletes. If you’re interesting in contributing to this effort please get in touch. We’d especially like to hear from high school students.