Football Participation Down in US; Still on Georgia’s Mind
Boom! “ I don’t remember it” says Shockley, “for that one all I know is what I’ve been told.” On a fall night in 2015 in Locust Grove, Georgia, the then senior in high school received a hit which caused his last concussion, and he would never play the game of football again.
As has been the case for the past decade, the game of football is under attack from many as a dangerous sport to play due to its connection with concussions and the development of chromic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). While head injuries and concussions have always been attached to the game of football, not until recent years have studies shown the true dangers and effects of reoccurring hits. In 1994, the NFL acknowledged the dangers of concussions and formed the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee; however, throughout the years since, it has been shown that the NFL’s committee contradicted other private studies, and they down played concussions. Since the topic has garnered much national attention through new studies of information and the actions of the NFL, there has been a steady decline in youth and high school football participation for the nation as a whole and some individual states such as California and New York; however, some states such as the state of Georgia have shown stability in their participation levels, and those involved with the sport are hopeful that new studies and safety guidelines will help keep the game moving forward.
From the mid 2000’s and on, the national media began to cover the developments in the concussion studies and litigations more closely, and even those consumers who did not watch football became informed of the potential dangers. Concussion began to be a word thrown around in association with football. According to studies and research gathered by Dr. Jake VanLandigham , neuroscientist and former member of the FSU Medical School, on average at least one player sustains a mild concussion in nearly every football game, and there are approximately 67,000 diagnosed concussions in high school football every year.
A trend began to form across the nation as year after year, fewer athletes began to register for football leagues. Shae Wilson, CEO of the Athens YMCA, says their league has seen a stabilized decline due to the culture surrounding concussions and football. Wilson says, “Other Y’s are doing away with their leagues all together. It just depends on the location. Some areas its unheard of to offer contact ball for children and others its acceptable.” Wilson added that their league has done away with 1st and 2nd grade contact ball and now only offer flag football to those ages.
On the national stage, According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, participation in eleven man football across the US was down 25,901 players from the previous year, and there has been a drop off of
Some states such as California and New York have shown a steady decline in football participation. In a survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations, the state of California had 97,079 football participants for the 2016 season compared to the 103,740 they fielded in 2014. New York showed a similar decline with 31,470 players participating in 2016 compared to the 35,552 in 2014. However, some states such as Georgia are not showing a decline. From their 2014 season to 2016 season, the state of Georgia has increased from 32,979 football players to 33,758 while also adding football programs at five high schools.
“I think football is more than just a sport in Georgia,” says Tommy Whittle, “It’s a way of life in parts of our state. I’m pleased we’re not showing decline.” Whittle serves as the Associate Director for the Georgia High School Association and directly oversees football, and although Georgia has not shown an overall decrease in football interest, Whittle says the Georgia High School Association is still trying to stay ahead of the curve with injury prevention and keeping their kids safe.
“We at the GHSA have put in a lot of procedures to lessen concussions and other injuries” says Whittle. Some of these procedures include changes to the heat and humidity policy which governs practice regulations during warmer seasons as well as a change in wording in the NFHS rule book.
The rule book which gave officials the ability to remove a player who was “unconscious or apparently unconscious” now says, “any athlete who exhibits symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion shall be immediately removed from the contest and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional.” This adopted change was sparked by research which showed players do not have to lose consciousness to get a concussion. The rule also takes pressure away from coaches and officials in regards to diagnosing a concussion. That responsibility has instead been reallocated to an appropriate health care professional, as it should be.
Whittle says, “We have great cooperation locally with paramedics being present at our ballgames. [That’s key] since not every school has a certified athletic trainer that can clear a player for rentry.”
Whittle also made the comment that officials and athletic trainers have gotten better at recognizing and diagnosing players with concussion related injuries, and the inclusion of impact sensors, accelerometers, in helmets are helping researchers better understand these hits.
Jody Burnette, the athletic trainer at Tattnall Square Academy in Macon, Georgia, says, “with (helmet accelerometers) it allows athletic trainers to see exactly how much of an impact someone takes from lick to lick…the accelerometer is helping us look at these numbers and determine if it’s the big hits or accumulation of hit after hit.” While these types of sensors help Whittle, Burnette, and others across the state and nation monitor their players, younger leagues are more dependent on the fundamentals of the sport to keep their children safe and in the game.
There are a few football leagues in the Athens-Clarke County area including the Northeast Georgia Youth Football. The conference requires its coaches to complete the USA Football Heads Up certification. This program which started in 2012 has now been used by more than 7,000 youth and high school programs. Coaches Nate Curry and Cortez Smith of the AYO Lions in Athens, Georgia, have both been certified by the Heads Up program, and each agree its essential for other coaches to experience the same training.
“Some organizations have coaches that aren’t certified, and that has an effect on the way kids prepare,” says Smith, “that’s where you see kids getting injured.”
The program gives coaches hands on training with properly fitting equipment, managing players, teaching proper fundamentals, and concussion recognition and response.
“The main thing for me is teaching the kids to keep their head out of the play,” says Smith, “We teach them the fundamentals of tackling and not using their head as a helmet.”
Coach Smith also mentioned their organizations implementation of a new preseason protocol. “We’ve begun implementing a pre-contact concussion test so that we have a baseline to go off during the season.” This safety guideline helps ensure coach Smith and Curry that their players are healthy before reentering a game. Coach Curry says, “Now we can recognize the signs through the training and base line test so that when we deal with kids that wont admit their injured, we can see they’re not okay and make the decision.”
Coach Smith says, “Our concussion rates are low. We’ve held out one of our better players before just because its not worth the risk”
Both Coaches say they have not seen participation drop in their organization since getting involved, and they take pride in the way their organization caters to its kids. Coach Curry says, “to be a great a coach we believe you also have to be coachable. We believe you have to adapt to the new policies and information and keep the parents informed.”
Sam Shockley can’t tell you the exact number of concussions he received in high school. “If I had to guess maybe 8” says Shockley. The now sophomore at North Georgia in Oconee says following his fourth concussion he met with four different doctors to get cleared for play. Shockley says, “We did some brain scans up in Atlanta…what an NFL retired players brain looked like is what mine looked like.” Shockley says the concussions effected his performance in school, but he has gotten progressively better since his time away from football.
As far as going back and reliving the football glory days, Shockley had mixed responses. In an initial interview, Shockley said if he could relive high school he would play football again; however, in a followup Shockley backtracked and said, “I would never put myself in a position to get my head or brain hurt again.” Shockley’s reasoned that he changed his mind because he felt a game wouldnt be worth him risking his own life and well being.
Shockley is still a fan of the game; he believes the game needs to be taught the fundamentaly right way, and in that, the game will always survive.
