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Athletics increases safety measures for players
Photo Credit: Francine Gollub
Sophomore Michael McGee and junior Bryce Simmons get heated in an intense practice. So far three North football players have suffered concussions this season.
Written by David Tauber, Sports Editor
Junior linebacker Josh Davis was told he was about to tackle the opponent before he and a teammate had a helmet-to-helmet collision. He doesn’t remember. “I remember seeing the trainer looking down at me. It was like the movie Inception, I had no idea what was going on,” Davis said. Three players suffered head injuries during the football game against Gardner-Edgerton. Two days after the game, Davis continued to struggle to regroup his mental faculties. “It’s hard to go to sleep. Whenever I try, my ears ring,” Davis said. “Sometimes I’ll be walking down the hallway and people ask me, ‘Do you know who I am?’ They could be my good friends, but I really just don’t know.” Davis’ doctor identified his injury as a severe concussion; a seven out of 10 on a damage scale. Davis was rushed to the hospital, but levels of treatment in school sports vary. New injury technology and state policy focus more on high school concussions, but their prevalence is increasing as fast the physicality of contact sports. Concussions aren’t limited to contact sports, though. “Last year during pole-vault season, I went up and my head hit the bar. When I came down, everything was black. The coach and team didn’t even come to help me for a bit because they thought I was just upset about missing my run,” senior Jeffrey Appelbaum said. “ Afterwards, I just sat out the rest of the meet.” Appelbaum thinks many athletes are unaware of the precautions that they can take, and worries coaches may not either. According to one student, players at North often return to the game before the conclusion of precautionary recovery time. Davis admits, he too, would understate the effects of his injury to return to the field. Other football players declined to comment. “The decision to play athletes after an injury really depends on what they tell you,” former football head coach Jason Jones said. “As a player, I can say a lot of the time you don’t want to sit out. So, it’s hard as a coach to make the right decision when players might not be telling you everything they’re feeling.” The school athletic trainer, Jared Norman, offered ImPACT neurocognitive assessments to athletes in conjunction with Shawnee Mission Medical Center SportsCare at the start of the school year. The ImPACT technology is a tool doctors and trainers are beginning to use to assess athletes’ ability to return to play after suffering head injuries. Over 200 free tests are left for any athletes interested in marking their baseline levels. Researchers’ hope they can easily identify the trauma and impact of head injury by comparing pre-injury baseline levels to post-injury assessments. Through computer testing, ImPACT evaluates brain function by timing recognition and basic skills. “I looked into multiple options and attended multiple conferences about ImPACT, concussion, and baseline tests. There’s a bunch of theories about concussions and even though the state doesn’t mandate any test, we wanted to offer it to the community,” Athletic Director Mickey Masterson said. “Ultimately, I’d like to see all our athletes take a baseline test.”
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