Concussion Courses Required for Va. Student Athletes
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WUSA) — Monday is the first day of football practice for most schools in Virginia. It’s also the start of the first school year that Virginia’s new concussion law will be in effect. Senate Bill 652 — The Student Athlete Protection Act — applies to students in all sports, but especially football.
“I was running the ball. I got tackled. And it was a helmet-to-helmet contact hit,” said Jaquez Jeter, a junior at Edison High School in Alexandria.
“It’s just a big boom at first,” shared fellow Junior, Malcolm Sherman. “They started asking me questions. I couldn’t remember where I was, my name, what happened. I couldn’t remember anything.”
Both Sherman and Jeter were sidelined almost all of last season by a concussion.
“Last year was probably our most severe year here. Between our freshman, JV, and varsity, we had probably over 20 concussions,” said Head Coach Anthony Parker.
Parker is now required by state law to ensure that all of his players are concussion conscious. Before the season opener, his players and their parents must take a 25-minute online concussion course with the National Federation of State and High School Associations. Its main goal is to help them spot the warning signs of a concussion.
“We have mixed feelings on it,” said Coach Parker. “Obviously, we want the kids to be safe. We just don’t want every kid to get rushed to the hospital when they don’t need to be.”
“I think it’s a good idea because I guess it teaches us and our parents how to be more aware,” said Jeter.
Jeter’s father, Craig Jeter, is also a football coach. Yet, he still says his son’s concussion was a wake-up call.
“I think anything they can do to raise awareness of the concussions is good. You can never have too much information,” said Craig Jeter.
Another change under the new law is that any player suspected of suffering from a concussion must be removed from play. That player then cannot return at least until the next day, and only after being checked out by a doctor.
Virginia is just one of 29 states that currently has some kind of concussion law, including Maryland and the District of Columbia.
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