According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to 44 governors urging them to pass a law that protects young athletes from playing soon after they’ve suffered a concussion.
Washington state has already passed the Lystedt’s Law, which helps keep young athletes from returning to the field too soon after they’ve suffered a concussion. The law was named after Zackery Lystedt, a Washington young who suffered a brain injury in 2006 after returning to a middle school football game following a concussion.
The Lystedt law contains three essential elements:
_Athletes, parents and coaches must be educated about the dangers of concussions each year.
_If a young athlete is suspected of having a concussion, he/she must be removed from a game or practice and not be permitted to return to play.
_A licensed health care professional must clear the young athlete to return to play in the subsequent days or weeks.
I’ve made it a habit not to talk politics on this blog or in my everyday life for that matter. But this is a law that needs to be passed nationwide.
Young athletes are often so desperate to please their parent or coach that they’ll risk injury to prove themselves. They’ll tell someone that they’re fine enough to play and then the next thing you know, they could suffer a serious injury.
But if a coach or a parent has a checklist to go through before the athlete can get back onto the field, then it takes the guess work out of whether or not he or she is ready to start playing again. It’s a good law and it’s nice to see someone like Goodell strive to get it passed in all states.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
