Steve Christilaw: Risks of concussion deserve top attention

I still remember a memo my former boss sent around to the staff working the sports section of this newspaper.

It included a simple, declarative statement: High school football is king.

It wasn’t a surprise. Football is the most popular high school sport. That was true back in the day and it remains true today.

Yes, they play games on Thursday nights, and there is the occasional high school football Saturday contest. But those Friday Night Lights still shine the brightest, and a lot of people pay close attention to the scoreboard.

There is always a buzz around the start of a new school year, and with it a new high school football season. Every team’s goal is to win a state title, and everyone’s record is an identical 0-0.

Every team in the state is out on its practice field today, with players competing for spots on the varsity roster and a place in the starting lineup. There is an electricity in the air.

Those first few Football Friday nights are special. A late summer evening watching the kids play their hearts out isn’t just a game, it’s an event laced with school spirit and fueled by cheerleaders, drill teams, spirit squads and pep bands. Parents are excited and alumni are nostalgic and everyone is there to support their team.

You feel it when you’re a student. You feel it as a parent. And it’s something you want your kids to experience when it’s their turn to don the school colors.

The last thing I want to do is to quash that enthusiasm and joy at watching high school football. I feel it, too. In more places than I can remember – from Clark Fork to Garfield, from Reardan and Ritzville to Cusick and Selkirk and all the stops in between, from 8-man football fields to big-school stadiums.

But over the years we’ve learned that the game of high school football must be taken seriously and attention must be played to ensure player safety.

Gone are the days when the biggest worry was the risk of a knee injury or a broken bone.

Tragically, we’ve lost young men to a variety of causes. Heat stroke. Cardiac arrest. And in the last few years we’ve learned about the critical dangers presented by concussions, especially concussions left untreated.

At the highest levels, repeated head trauma and concussion presents a life-threatening problem, but I will leave that discussion for another time and another forum.

At the youth level, football now requires that coaches, administrators and parents must be armed with a solid, working understanding of what to look for in their players and, for that matter, our children.

Concussions aren’t unique to football. For that matter, they aren’t unique to sport. They happen every day from myriad causes – from slipping on the ice to falling off a bicycle. Please don’t allow the fact that you or your child wears a helmet to prevent you from being cautious when it comes to concussions. Helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures and do little to keep the brain from being injured on impact.

Which makes it all the more important to arm yourself with an understanding of how to recognize them and how to treat them.

Symptoms of a concussion include: headache, dizziness, memory loss, confusion, loss of balance and nausea, among others.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has taken a proactive stance on the situation. It offers training to ensure that every coach understands the profound risk that comes with missing the key signs of a concussion, because players are at their greatest risk of life-altering injury after they’ve received a concussion.

It’s a condition called second-impact syndrome. The brain swells catastrophically if it receives a second concussion-level impact before the symptoms of the first concussion have subsided. This syndrome is why it is critically important to recognize the first concussion and prevent the player from returning to the game and risking a second impact.

The WIAA website offers a good deal of helpful information on how to recognize and treat concussion. Other websites offer good information on what to look for and what to do if you spot symptoms.

The good news is that 90 percent of people suffering a concussion recover fully in just a few days. All it really requires for a full recovery is rest and avoiding the risk of a secondary impact.

Head injuries aren’t something you can shake off. You prove nothing by ignoring the symptoms and attempting to play anyway.

And no game is worth risking anyone’s life.