Ending the ‘toughness’ culture
Concussion education program aims to compel Canadians to change thought process
TORONTO — It would take just one minute.
One minute for sport-team leaders in Canada, at all levels, to help end the lingering, Neanderthal culture that promotes the misguided, potentially life-threatening idea that a head-struck athlete somehow shows off his or her “toughness” by playing through a possible concussion.
That’s what the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada told a news conference Tuesday at Queen’s Park in Toronto, in launching a new education campaign called Team Up Speak Up. It aims to purge the mistaken mindset by imploring teammates to speak up when they think a fellow athlete might have suffered a brain injury.
“You’re changing the social norm from, ‘Hey, we’re supposed to be hiding concussions’ … to ‘You’re actually supposed to look out for your teammates,’ ” said Chris Nowinski, co-founder of Concussion Legacy Foundation, the American-based non-profit group dedicated to preventing concussions in sport through medical research, educational programs, advocacy and other ventures.
“We’re framing the idea of identifying concussions as being a good teammate. That’s why it’s called Team Up Speak Up.”
Team Up Speak Up began in the U.S. a year ago this month. Nowinski said three million athletes in 150 sport organizations, across 47 of 50 states, already have heard a one-minute message delivered by their coach, captain or team medical personnel.
American organizations participating in the campaign include USA Hockey, USA Rugby, NASCAR, the American Hockey Coaches Association, Major League Lacrosse and the National Federations of State High School Associations.
Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada hopes to eclipse American participation numbers, said executive director Tim Fleiszer, a CFL defensive lineman with five teams from 1998 to 2007. Rugby Canada is the first prominent sports body north of the U.S. border to sign on.
“This program is all about being a good teammate,” Fleiszer said. “Everybody understands ‘Take care of your teammates.’”
The program’s ambitious goal is that from now until Sept. 12, every athlete in Canada will have heard the one-minute speech’s three simple points.
“One, we’re a team, and that means we look out for each other,” Nowinski said. “(Two), if your teammate has a concussion, they need your help. And (three), I as your coach, or captain, I expect you to speak up if you think your teammate has a concussion.”
Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros is serving as the Canadian program’s first former pro-athlete ambassador.
Nowinski said the campaign’s impetus came from recent research showing that athletes young and old continued to be “concerned what their coaches and their teammates are going to think of them if they come out of the game.”
That is, they’ll think they’re weak, Nowinski said.
“The problem has been for the past 10 years we have been trying to educate athletes to raise their hands to take themselves out,” said Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and WWE pro wrestler who is one of the harshest, most outspoken critics of feet-dragging pro sports leagues and national sports bodies concerning concussion prevention, diagnosis and return-to-play protocols.
“The research has shown that we can teach (athletes) signs and symptoms — so now everybody knows when you get hit in the head and see stars, that might be a concussion. But we haven’t been able to convince them to come out of the game.
“It’s a lot to ask an 11-year-old to recognize when they’re suffering a brain injury, and to recognize the long-term consequences of their health and pull themselves out ... It’s also sometimes too much to ask a coach to spot every concussion on the field.”
Hence, the push for teammates to speak up.
Attending the kickoff news conference were Gord and Kathleen Stringer of Ottawa, whose 17-yearold daughter Rowan died tragically four years ago after suffering two rugby concussions in the same week. A new provincial law named in her honour soon will make Ontario the first Canadian province or territory to set up protocols governing the management of youth concussions suffered in all levels of organized sport (club, academy, school or otherwise).
Gord Stringer said Tuesday he believes the Team Up Speak Up program can be “a difference maker” in Canada:
“Rowan’s situation was one where, it could be argued, that had this been in place, her outcome may have been different. She talked on social media with her friends about the possibility of having a concussion. She never mentioned it to a coach, parents, anyone else.
“Teammates sometimes see things happening during a game that coaches and others don’t pick up on. So we encourage organizations to follow the lead of Rugby Canada and sign on to this program. Get your coaches and your team leaders out early in the season talking about the importance of standing up for your teammates, and speaking out when something happens that not maybe everyone, or not anyone else, has seen on the field.”
More detailed advice as to crafting the one-minute speech, along with submitted videos of American coaches delivering it to their athletes, can be found at TeamUpSpeakUp.org. That’s where Canadian teams can sign up and submit videos, too.