New Virginia Law Makes Parents, Student-Athletes More Aware of Concussion Symptoms

High school football programs around Virginia will begin practice this week with new athletes, new plays and a new law.

Senate Bill 652, which went into affect July 1, requires each local school division to develop policies and procedures regarding the identification and handling of suspected concussions in student-athletes. The student-athletes, their parents and coaches must know what concussion related symptoms to look for. Student-athletes and their parents will have to take a 25-minute concussion course given through National Federation of State High School Associations.

“The new law requires a sign-off that they have been made aware of the signs of concussions,” said Tom Dolan, assistant director of the Virginia High School League, the governing body of the commonwealth’s 312 public high school athletic programs. “Anytime you can give information to parents and athletes, that’s a great thing. Our concern at the VHSL is helping the member schools get on board.”

All student athletes on any interscholastic team must adhere to the new rule regardless to sport. Student athletes and their parents must complete an online informational session and sign off before the start date of the sport. Both the house and Senate signed senate Bill 652 in March 2010. There have been several studies on concussions and their long and short term affects. Common symptoms of concussions are but aren’t limited to headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, confusion, loss of consciousness and a dazed appearance, according to sportsconcussions.org. According to a December 2010 story in Science Daily, a total of 544 concussions were recorded by the High School Reporting Information Online surveillance system during the 2008-2009 school year.

For some Virginia schools this new law won’t be anything new. Tom Horn, athletic director and head football coach at in the City of Falls Church, said the school has offered the ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) testing program to their athletes for years. The program, developed in the early 1990s, is a 20-minute test that has become a standard tool used in comprehensive clinical management of concussions for athletes of all ages, according to their website. Horn said the program has helped coaches monitor student athletes whom have been concussed as to not allow them back onto the field of competition too soon.

“Symptoms going away doesn’t mean you’re ready to play,” Horn said. “In the past we’ve offered this but now it’s mandated.”

Horn said the same courses coaches have gone through at Mason in the past is the same parents and student athletes will go through this year. A passage from a letter that went out to the parents of student athletes at Mason about the testing read: “The exam takes approximately 20 minutes and is non-invasive.  The program is essentially set up in a “video-game” format.  The program, in effect, gives the athlete’s brain a preseason physical for cognitive and visual processing abilities.  It tracks information such as memory, reaction time, processing speed, and concentration.”

Falls Church City Public Schools Board Chair Pat Riccards said he is glad the new law exists. He said young student athletes often want to return too early and this law, along with the online training component, will make sure that doesn’t happen.

“FCCPS wants to make sure all of our student athletes are safe,” Riccards said. “This is still an evolving field.”

Robin Harris, Ivy League executive director, applauded Virginia’s decision to enact a law that makes both parents and student athletes aware of concussion symptoms. The Ivy League itself has made headlines for their decision to shorten the number of full-contact practices football programs from member schools can have a week. According to Harris, the NCAA says football programs can hold five full-contact practices a week. Starting this year, Ivy League schools will only have two full-contact practices a week. Harris said the decision came after she and the presidents from the Ivy League’s eight institutions have been following studies and stories about the affects of concussions.

“To hear states are doing this on their own is great,” Harris said during a telephone interview. “I think it’s a very needed step.”

Dolan said educating people about concussions and their affects is one thing but getting accurate data on them is another. He said getting accurate information about the number of concussions sustained by VHSL athletes is almost impossible because of the mentality of athletes to want to compete. He is hopeful that with the new law that student athletes, their parents and coaches will be able to identify concussions better.

“What you get as far as the numbers stated doesn’t reflect the actual number,” Dolan said. “It’s good to know but they don’t give an accurate number.”