Don’t let fear of concussions ruin kids’ sports
The movie Concussion, featuring Will Smith and Alec Baldwin, will open on Christmas Day. The movie focuses on the challenges of head injuries in football and the difficulties faced by doctors, researchers and league officials in preserving the game while keeping the players safe.
Make no mistake: The problem of head injury is not confined to football. Other sports such as soccer, hockey and basketball are grappling with this serious issue. In my practice as a neurosurgeon, I see the effects every day.
But as we move to protect athletes from head injuries, we must make sure we don’t go overboard and discourage our kids from taking part in competitive sports — even contact sports such as football and hockey. Imagine no more kids playing street hockey, pretending to play for the Stanley Cup. No more kids playing soccer and emulating Ronaldo, Messi or Abby Wambach. Kids would find it easy to fill the void with even more video games and social media. Obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure would be the new norm.
Sports provide kids an opportunity to exercise their bodies and minds. Discipline, teamwork and character-building are all an essential part of sport. Sport provides dreams for our children, heals communities and unites people of all backgrounds.
For too long, though, professional sports ignored or downplayed the problem of head injuries. Finally, that’s changing. Social media lights up the moment fans suspect a concussion, and fans are holding the professional leagues accountable.
As a result, the pro leagues have adopted stringent concussion protocols and have invested in research and development to promote player safety. But what about children playing at the grassroots level? They look up to their heroes and emulate the pros. That’s why we must continue to make sure that the extra attention to head injuries now being paid at the pro level is carried out throughout sports. When the progress the pro leagues are making trickles down to children in our communities, we can change the culture of sport starting from a child’s very first game and reduce exposure to these cumulative injuries from the very beginning.
Sports will survive the concussion epidemic. And rather than deny our children the opportunity to play, we should focus on education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Fortunately, there’s great support among Ontario’s leaders for taking action on this issue. My team has discussed it with members of all parties at Queen’s Park, including Premier Kathleen Wynne and Patrick Brown, leader of the Progressive Conservatives. All want to see action. On Thursday, the first concussion legislation in Canada for young athletes will come up for debate in the legislature.
Rowan’s Law is named for 17-year-old Rowan Stringer, an Ottawa teen who died after being knocked unconscious while playing rugby. The law is a private member’s bill designed to promote education on sport-related concussions to coaches, athletes and parents, and has support in all parties.
Rowan’s Law is a good first step to address issues surrounding concussion, but much remains to be done. The bill would not set aside any money to accomplish the goals it sets out. So we also need to develop legislation that would fund and support education and prevention throughout the province. It appears there is support among all parties to advance this initiative. Ultimately, we may position Ontario as a global leader in how to protect the brains of our children and athletes in both schools and organized sport.
If we can successfully do that, we can keep encouraging kids to play, and play hard. But we can do it while knowing that we’ve done everything possible to keep them safe.
Let our kids play, but let’s protect them.