Concussions worry parents at girls’ rugby championship
As the players from Bell High School and Gloucester High School battled it out on the rugby pitch Tuesday afternoon at the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association championship, some parents cheering on the sidelines had something else on their minds: concussions.
“It is because my daughter is on concussion No. 3, and she wants to play next year and I told her No,” said parent Heather Hearn, whose 16-year-old daughter Siera is taking the season off. “The next one you never know, right?”
The parents’ concern is heightened as an inquest winds down into the death of Rowan Stringer, a 17-year-old rugby player from John McCrae Secondary School who died in hospital four days after hitting her head during a match on May 8, 2013.
Stringer had told friends before her death that she thought she might have already had a concussion. She died from “second impact syndrome,” which is relatively rare but young people, particularly girls, are susceptible.
Witnesses at the inquest have said there is no mandatory concussion policy in Ottawa schools. Recommendations from the inquest — perhaps as many as 53 — are expected on Wednesday.
There are also calls for a Rowan’s Law that could make concussion education mandatory in schools, force coaches and referees to remove players suspected of being concussed, and require medical clearance for injured players to return to play.
Ellen Gagné’s daughter Jamie, 16, was playing in Tuesday’s championship game between the Bell Bruins and the Gloucester Gators. Gagné’s older daughter Emma had suffered a concussion when she played for the Gators in high school, shortly after Rowan Stringer died.
At the time, a possible head injury wasn’t treated with the same seriousness.
“It wasn’t a huge deal. You just played,” Emma, now 20, recalled.
But on Tuesday, parents and coaches said concussions were top of mind. Some parents had their own recommendations, and coaches had guidelines they followed in the event of a head injury.
Ellen Gagné’s key recommendation is that parents are always kept in the loop, especially since they aren’t at all games.
“Someone’s responsibility is to notify you that your daughter was hit in the head,” she said.
Nikki Fitzpatrick, whose 18-yearold daughter, Sarah, was playing, agreed: “You have to listen to the kid, but they don’t always tell you.”
For Fitzpatrick, it comes down to education, both about concussions and the sport itself. “Not just for the school, but the parents and the kids. It’s important, especially in this sport, to know how to hit and how to fall.”
Coaches, too, were thinking about head injuries.
“All the time,” Gators coach Carrie Vincent said after the game, adding that if there are any rattled heads, she informs the school, which passes along the information to parents.
In the stands, Matt Kosabeck, a coach with Cairine Wilson Secondary School who has also completed his paramedic training, said he already operates under a strict removal policy when it comes to head injuries.
“Whenever somebody hits their head, we pull them off,” Kosabeck said. “If there’s any doubt that they might be concussed, they’re done for the day.”
Hearn said she worries about injured kids getting proper access to medical specialists, and said it’s important that everyone from coaches to doctors understand how serious head injuries are.
“They have to be adamant that they don’t play until they’re cleared,” Hearn said, echoing recommendations at the Stringer inquest that schools cultivate a “When in doubt, sit them out” culture.
The Gators took the championship with a score of 36-15, and a thrilled Katia Maxwell-Campagna accepted the trophy for the team. Two players were ejected from the game for hitting above the shoulders — a dangerous hit, but overall, coaches said, it was a clean game.