Smashing into the Safety of High School Football
Sure, smoking can lead to cancer. We've known that for years. Also, under age drinking can lead teens to drug abuse. Research also shows us that receiving multiple concussion's at a young age can lead to amnesia, depression, and suicide. But hey, we can't give up football just because of a few surgeon general and CDC warnings, right?
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| Computer Assisted Reporting: Kent State University |
Omalu likens concussions to smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. We know they're bad for us, and have a government that set clear laws to prevent children and teenagers from harming themselves with it. According to Omalu, research proves that damaged brain cells cannot be repaired, and multiple concussions have lasting negative effects on a student athletes brain. The CAR class set out to ask principals, school board presidents, and in my case, parents, whether or not they had seen Omalu's Op-Ed piece before we shared it to them, and whether or not they disagreed with it.
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| Streetsboro High School Football Field |
The assignment turned out to be more arduous than expected, as eight of the fifteen student reporters found their respective principals and/or school board presidents unavailable for comment or unwilling to respond.
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| John Kelly - Streetsboro School Board Presdient |
John Kelly, the Streetsboro school board president, was difficult to contact and impossible to reach for comment. Three secretaries (Joyce in Streetsboro high school, Arlene in the Streetsboro school dispatch office, and Sue in the superintendents office) declined my request to receive a direct number to John Kelly, each encouraging me to E-mail him instead. It took several phone calls and two emails across 13 days for Mr. Kelly to reply. When I explained that I needed his number to make the call via Skype, and set a final date for us to speak on this public safety issue, Mr. Kelly stopped responding. My final attempt to reach Mr. Kelly took place via E-mail on October 4th, 2016, and as of this blog post, have not received a response.
I
was, however, able to speak with Streetsboro Principal, James Hogue, about this
issue. Hogue also facilitated my public records request to view all of Streetsboro high school's concussion documents.
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| James Hogue - Principal - Streetsboro High School |
"Winning isn't our priority; safety is. We're always playing to win, but we're not going to compromise safety."
"if you play in a program, like Streetsboro high school's program, there is so much value. The risk outweighs the reward."
Principal Hogue disagrees with Dr. Omalu's findings, but to a certain degree. He follows the belief his father instilled in him as a kid, that kids shouldn't play football until the 9th grade level, and that they shouldn't tackle what-so-ever before that age.
"The [Cleveland] Browns didn't tackle as much as we did." said Hogue of a younger football league he pulled his son out of.
Streetsboro's eight page concussion policy that spells out the symptoms, monitoring techniques, and post-injury assessment of a player. Hogue went on to say that safer helmets might encourage players to use their heads more, increasing the odds of a concussion. He expressed his desire to add better mouth-guards into the Streetsboro program, citing that a proper mouth guard can do as much to prevent a concussion as a helmet. The policy, and documents required by the Ohio Revised Code are all suited to make the players, players, and coaches as informed as possible. Hogue is worried about the possibility of high school football leaving the public school system in place of private clubs because he doesn't think they'll have the same restrictions. Having a son that has suffered multiple concussions and since retired from wrestling and all impact sports, he believes that policy and safe practices are just one area to focus on.
"I think there have been a lot of steps taken, that help protect our kids."
"During the week now, there's no hitting...There have just been a lot of things we've done, where I feel like we're being active in protecting our kids."
I also spoke with the parent of two student football players, Stacy Marinelli, about Dr. Omalu's Op-Ed. Marinelli also disagrees with the finding that kids shouldn't play football. Her oldest, Alexander, played for six years, and her youngest has played for four. Her stance is that the coaching and parent staff are so sensitive to the potential injuries a student can endure, that the chances of a missed diagnosis are small, preventing secondary impact syndrome. Marinelli feels that the worst thing a parent can do is push their kid into sports when they don't want to be there. To her, that is the most dangerous position a student can find themselves in.
I was surprised to learn that the decision for Alex to stop playing football prior to middle school, came from Alex.
"He was concerned about getting hit and getting hurt," said Marinelli of a conversation with Alex. "Knowing that he was going against these boys, that are young men, that might be 140 or 150 pounds...he chose to do cross country instead."
Taking a moment to unpack the weight of that statement from a middle school student is daunting. We can look at Omalu's research. We can look at the CDC statistics log. We can talk about tradition and safety. But when it comes from the mouth of a player, stating the conflictive choice between his personal safety and the idea of letting his team and community down, that is a strong indicator of just how big of a conundrum this safety vs football discussion is. As much as the role of the adult and administration in it.
The goal of the high school football reporting project was to share and gain information involving student safety in a high impact athletics program. It was enlightening to us to see the amount of people that refused to comment what-so-ever, and how the ones that did seemed certain that football was okay since it was as safe as possible. We will follow this story going forward and you can be sure to see some safety legislation surrounding high impact sports in a public setting in years to come.
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"The [Cleveland] Browns didn't tackle as much as we did." said Hogue of a younger football league he pulled his son out of.
Streetsboro's eight page concussion policy that spells out the symptoms, monitoring techniques, and post-injury assessment of a player. Hogue went on to say that safer helmets might encourage players to use their heads more, increasing the odds of a concussion. He expressed his desire to add better mouth-guards into the Streetsboro program, citing that a proper mouth guard can do as much to prevent a concussion as a helmet. The policy, and documents required by the Ohio Revised Code are all suited to make the players, players, and coaches as informed as possible. Hogue is worried about the possibility of high school football leaving the public school system in place of private clubs because he doesn't think they'll have the same restrictions. Having a son that has suffered multiple concussions and since retired from wrestling and all impact sports, he believes that policy and safe practices are just one area to focus on.
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| Stacy Marinelli - Parent |
"I think there have been a lot of steps taken, that help protect our kids."
"During the week now, there's no hitting...There have just been a lot of things we've done, where I feel like we're being active in protecting our kids."
I also spoke with the parent of two student football players, Stacy Marinelli, about Dr. Omalu's Op-Ed. Marinelli also disagrees with the finding that kids shouldn't play football. Her oldest, Alexander, played for six years, and her youngest has played for four. Her stance is that the coaching and parent staff are so sensitive to the potential injuries a student can endure, that the chances of a missed diagnosis are small, preventing secondary impact syndrome. Marinelli feels that the worst thing a parent can do is push their kid into sports when they don't want to be there. To her, that is the most dangerous position a student can find themselves in.
I was surprised to learn that the decision for Alex to stop playing football prior to middle school, came from Alex.
"He was concerned about getting hit and getting hurt," said Marinelli of a conversation with Alex. "Knowing that he was going against these boys, that are young men, that might be 140 or 150 pounds...he chose to do cross country instead."
Taking a moment to unpack the weight of that statement from a middle school student is daunting. We can look at Omalu's research. We can look at the CDC statistics log. We can talk about tradition and safety. But when it comes from the mouth of a player, stating the conflictive choice between his personal safety and the idea of letting his team and community down, that is a strong indicator of just how big of a conundrum this safety vs football discussion is. As much as the role of the adult and administration in it.
The goal of the high school football reporting project was to share and gain information involving student safety in a high impact athletics program. It was enlightening to us to see the amount of people that refused to comment what-so-ever, and how the ones that did seemed certain that football was okay since it was as safe as possible. We will follow this story going forward and you can be sure to see some safety legislation surrounding high impact sports in a public setting in years to come.
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| Devon D. McCarty - Reporter KSU Dmccar13@kent.edu |
I learned that there is as much tradition as there is research in the area of high school football. We aren't just dealing with high end researchers, we're dealing with fourth and fifth generation football players. The content becomes difficult to be object about when your dad's dad's dad coached the first football team.
Personally, I get the dilemma. You want your kids to play a game, learn team work and discipline, but you also want them to be safe. This is an ethical case of right vs right. It is right to want to hold onto your history. It is equally right to favor the safety of your child. Which is why I find it so frustrating that a matter of safety goes unanswered by the school board president since there is such a split.
Personally, I get the dilemma. You want your kids to play a game, learn team work and discipline, but you also want them to be safe. This is an ethical case of right vs right. It is right to want to hold onto your history. It is equally right to favor the safety of your child. Which is why I find it so frustrating that a matter of safety goes unanswered by the school board president since there is such a split.
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