Making Youth Sports Safer: Moms Have The Power!

Submitted by Hal Tearse on Wed, 09/18/2013 - 03:39. | comments

Another high school football player dies after a head on head collision. A young ilfe cut short way to soon. A tragedy for sure. Education, better coaching, and impact devices in helmets can only do so much. Officials can only do so much, but in many cases not enough. Moms cheering at football game

One of our three high school hockey goalies has already gotten a concussion during "Captains Practice." The official season starts in November. Hope he recovers in time.

Unless those with all the power in youth sports intervene to demand changes, the status quo will continue, and more and more kids will be seriously injured, some lasting for a lifetime. Who has the power to make youth sports safer? Moms, says longtime hockey and lacrosse coach, Hal Tearse.

NATA Re-Releases Position Statement on Crown Of Helmet Violations In Football

The National Athletic Trainers' Association has re-released an official statement regarding the calling of crown of the helmet violations in an effort to ensure sports safety at every level of football participation. Re-issuance of the statement by the NATA comes in the wake of at least two deaths of high school football players from catastrophic cervical spine injuries in 2013.

Cheerleading: High Rates of Catastrophic Injuries and Concussions

Cheerleading:carries the highest rate of catastrophic injury in sports, accounts for fully two-thirds (66%) of all catastrophic injuries in female athletes has experienced a sharp rise in the number of emergency room visits since 1980, with cheerleaders ten times more likely to sustain concussions in practice than in competition

Gretchen Rose

From Son Up to Son Down: A Middle School Football Game-Day Diary

Submitted by Gretchen Rose on Thu, 09/12/2013 - 18:50. | comments

The big day finally has arrived! Who is ready for some Tuesday night football? After a summer of workouts, drills, and tournaments, it is finally time for my son to use all the skills he has learned on the football field.

After 8 years of playing against the other neighborhood school teams, the 7th grade is finally together as one team. The first game is a big one. The schedule has 7th grade as the away team, so it comes with the added bonus of traveling on a bus with 100 + of your favorite 12- and 13-year-old boys. Just bless the coaches right now!

So here is the game-day journal of just another football mom, navigating her way through the waters of 7th grade football!

After 8 years of playing against the other neighborhood school teams, a Texas youth football player begins 7th grade football. Want to know what it's like for his mom? Well, here's her game-day journal.

Tracey Wright, D.C.

Wanderlust Festival: Seven Reasons Why It Is A Not-To-Be-Missed Experience For the Entire Family

Submitted by Tracey Wright, D.C. on Mon, 09/09/2013 - 20:59. | comments

Once again this year, I had the privilege of attending on behalf of MomsTEAM the fabulous Wanderlust Festival, a 4 day adventure combining yoga, music, nature, and inspiration. Although I am not yet a parent, I returned from Colorado more convinced than ever that Wanderlust is a not-to-be-missed experience for parents and their children.

The Wanderlust Festival is a 4-day adventure combining yoga, music, nature, and inspiration. After attending again this year, MomsTEAM blogger Tracey Wright shares her list of 7 reasons why attending the festival is a not-to-be-missed experience for the entire family.

Limiting Contact Practices In High School Football: Proceed With Caution, Study Concludes

Limiting or eliminating contact practices in football would result in an 18% to 40% reduction in head impacts respectively over the course of a high school football season, reports a new study, which urges policymakers to proceed with caution in imposing such limits.

Young Pitchers Should Start Season or Return From Injury By Throwing From Flat Ground Before Mound, Study Says

Pitching from a mound causes increased stress on the shoulder and elbow of adolescent pitchers as compared with that from flat ground finds a new study, which recommends that pitchers begin their season or return from injury or surgery by starting their pitching progression on flat ground before progressing to the mound.

Brooke de Lench

Improving Football Safety: Is It Up To Parents?

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 09/02/2013 - 14:48. | comments

Now that the concussion lawsuit filed by retired National Football League players has apparently been settled (remember: the judge still has to give her approval), it's time to focus on the upcoming football season, and working to make the sport safer at every level of the game. Missy Womack

Sincerest form of flattery

We could sit back and wait for the N.F.L., National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), USA Football and Pop Warner to lead the way on football safety.

Football safety is largely up to parents, argues Brooke de Lench, working with all other groups in their community with a stake in making football safer, including independent football organizations, school boards, school superintendents, athletic directors, coaches, school nurses and psychologists, and other health care providers, to improve football safety at the grassroots level.

Coaches Can Play Important Role in Encouraging Athletes To Report Concussion Symptoms, Studies Find

A growing number of studies challenge the conventional wisdom that inadequate athlete concussion knowledge is the principal barrier to increased concussion symptom reporting. Because educating youth about the dangers of concussion is unlikely to improve concussion reporting, they say other ways need to be found to increase reporting, among them being to enlist coaches to help create an environment where athletes feel safe in reporting.

High School Sports Participation Increases for 24th Consecutive Year

Participation in high school sports increased for the 24th consecutive year in 2012-13 and passed the 7.7 million mark for the first time, according to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Sports