All Articles by Brooke de Lench

Gender Gap in High School Sports Opportunities Widening, Reversing Previous Gains, Says New Study

The gender gap in high school sports opportunities widened over the past decade while the number of schools without any interscholastic sports has doubled, finds a new study, which raises troubling questions about the future of interscholastic sports at the secondary school level.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Head Games Movie Review: Most Appreciated My Candor

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Wed, 10/03/2012 - 18:26. | comments


As I expected, my review of Head Games: The Movie has generated a lot of mail in the last two days, many from respected health care professionals and experts around the country.  Most wrote to congratulate, thank, and/or applaud me for having the courage to post such a thorough, candid, and critical review, one which was informed by my years covering the concussion issue, not by all the media hype surrounding the film. Just as predictably, some of the mail I received was not quite so flattering.

As I expected, my review of Head Games: The Movie has generated a lot of mail in the last two days. Most wrote to congratulate, thank, and/or applaud me for having the courage to post such a thorough, candid, and critical review, one which was informed by my years covering the concussion issue, not by all the media hype surrounding the film.  Just as predictably, some of the mail I received was not, to be honest, quite so flattering.
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Head Games Movie Review: Not The Film I Was Hoping To See

Head Games: The Movie paints the sports concussion picture largely in black and white terms, eschewing a more nuanced approach in favor of the sensational. It is a movie that is intended to evoke in viewers an emotional, not rational response but, in the end, it is the movie that is playing games with our heads.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Another Concussion Book Review

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sun, 09/30/2012 - 21:39. | comments

Because I didn't blog about it, some of you may have missed my lengthy review last week of Dr. Bob Cantu's new book, Concussions and Our Kids: America's Leading Expert on How To Protect Young Athletes and Keep Sports Safe, which he co-authored with sports journalist Mark Hyman, the latest in a slew of concussion books that I have read and reviewed over the past couple of years (that will teach me; if I really want people to read what I write, I better at least mention it in a blog!). 

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Buyer Beware (Part Two): NFHS Has NOT Endorsed Use of Football Helmet Covers As Reducing Concussion Risk

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sun, 09/16/2012 - 17:28. | comments

In recent weeks I have written a number of blogs about claims by equipment manufacturers that their products prevent or reduce the risk of concussions.  

First, it was to call attention to a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Brain Pad, a mouth guard manufacturer, barring the company from claiming that its mouthguard reduced the risk of concussion.

Next, it was to deconstruct some carefully-worded claims in a press release by a company named Unequal Technologies touting supplemental helmet protective pads utilizing so-called CRT (concussion reduction technology).

Beware of claims that external football helmet pads, now permitted in high school football, actually prevent or reduce the risk of concussion, says MomsTEAM founder, Brooke de Lench.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Exertional Heat Stroke: A Must-See Video

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Thu, 09/06/2012 - 14:32. | comments

Since our launch in August 2000, MomsTEAM has been educating parents, coaches, athletic trainers and players on the dangers of heat illness, how to prevent exertional heat stroke - particularly among football players who are most at risk during pre-season practice - and how heat stroke should be treated if and when it occurs.  

MomsTEAM and the Korey Stringer Institute have been educating parents, coaches, athletic trainers, and athletes for years on the dangers of exertional heat stroke and how to prevent the sudden death of athletes. Here is a great new video from KSI that every parent of an athlete, regardless of sport, should watch.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

MomsTEAM's Summer of Football (Part Two): List of N.F.L./USA Football Health & Safety Initiatives Is Impressive

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 08/27/2012 - 18:25. | comments

 

"I spend more time on health and safety than any other issue."

~~ Roger Goodell, National Football League Commissioner

 

Last week I attended a luncheon in New York City hosted by the National Football League and its youth football partner, USA Football. In Part Two of my "Summer of Football" blog series, I will focus on some of the important information I took away from the luncheon. N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell and youth football player

While much of what the speakers at the N.F.L./USA Football luncheon I attended last week in New York City was concussions and football safety advice MomsTEAM has been giving parents for years, what impressed me the most was what we were told about the ongoing efforts by the league and its youth football partner to improve health and safety for football players from the pros down to the youth level, a topic which takes up more of N.F.L. commissioner Roger Goodell's time than any other.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

King-Devick Testing Kits For Chicago Schools: Just One Tool In Concussion Tool Box

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sun, 08/26/2012 - 15:50. | comments

Last week's announcement that a foundation named in honor of the late Chicago Bear Dave Duerson had donated a King-Devick test kit to each of Chicago Public School's 80 high school football programs for use in assessing athletes for suspected concussion on the sports sideline, and that the foundation will work with CPS and the K-D Test manufacturer to implement system-wide testing, was welcome news.

So too was that the Dave Duerson Family Foundation, thru individual and corporate sponsors, plans to roll out its program in other cities in the U.S.

The announcement that the Dave Duerson Foundation was donating a King-Devick test kit to all 80 Chicago high school football programs was welcome news, but it isn't a magic bullet in sideline concussion assessment.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

MomsTEAM Celebrates 12th Anniversary with Summer of Football (Part One)

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Thu, 08/23/2012 - 19:24. | comments

Today is MomsTEAM's twelfth anniversary! It was on this day in 2000 that our website went live.

On our anniversary in years past I have blogged about what happened in the previous 12 months in youth sports, but this year the focus will be on youth football.

Why the narrower focus? Well, for two big reasons.

This has been the summer of football for MomsTEAM for two big reasons: first, we have been working on an exciting concussion project focusing on a football program in Oklahoma, and second, we have just returned from a visit to the Mecca of football: the New York City headquarters of the National Football League.
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