All Articles by Brooke de Lench

Reforming Interscholastic Sports and Physical Education Programs

Fundamentally altering the outmoded model that most schools follow for interscholastic sports and increasing physical education opportunities will be a monumental undertaking.  It will require the effort of a large and vocal group of committed parents.  But it can be done.
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Sports: Respecting Human Rights of Child Important

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere should enjoy, not only in health care, education, and legal, civil, and social services, but in sports as well.
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Reforming Youth Sports: Community, Grass-Roots Parent Activism Needed

Because parents come and go and because change at the national level is unlikely, reforming youth sports is most likely to occur at the grass roots, community level. It is there that concerned parents can make youth sports as much about having fun as about winning, make sports safer, and give every child a chance to play.
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Having Fun More Important Than Winning For Most Kids

Children aren't born competing; it's something they learn. The best thing we can do for our kids, as parents and coaches, is to keep the amount of competition in youth sports from becoming excessive, to make having fun and learning the sport as important, if not more important than winning, especially for younger children. They will have a lifetime of competition soon enough. 
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Equal Playing Time: Using A Substitution Grid Makes It Easy

The best way to ensure that all players get equal playing time is for the coach to set up a substitution grid and have an assistant coach or team parent keep track of the time with a stopwatch (or, in the case of baseball and softball, keep track of the innings played).
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Concussion Return to Play Guidelines: Longer Recovery Time Needed, Says Doctor

If it was up to Dr. Lester Mayers, young athletes who suffer sports concussions would be not be allowed to return to play (RTP) for 4 to 6 weeks after injury, a significant departure from current concussion guidelines which allow RTP 1 to 2 weeks after an athlete's concussion signs and symptoms clear, both at rest and during exercise.
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Setting Boundaries But Supporting Independence Work Best For Sports Parents, Study Says

Parents who set boundaries and expectations for their teenage daughters but encouraged independence within those limits were better able to gauge their child's mood, provide feedback on their child's sports performance at the right time, and maintain open lines of communication, a Canadian study finds.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Dealing with the Cost of Sports in the Tough Economy

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 17:41. | comments

Last week, I spent an interesting hour as a guest on the "Charlotte Talks" show on Charlotte's National Public Radio station. The show was titled "Youth Sports and The Law."

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

North Carolina Moves To Require Athletic Trainers for Every High School

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 16:05. | comments

Add North Carolina to the growing list of states that is getting serious about high school sports safety.

During the past school year, five North Carolina student-athletes died, including football players Matt Gfeller, Atlas Fraley, and Jaquan Waller (the last from second impact syndrome), and two basketball players.

In the wake of the deaths, the state is taking four important steps to improve the safety of high school sports.

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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

High School Sports Safety: California Poised To Jump on the Bandwagon

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 12:48. | comments

A new day, a new state high school sports safety bill.

Or so it seems.

Last week, it was the state of Washington passing bills to improve concussion safety by requiring pre-season concussion education of athletes and parents, and adoption of the strictest return-to-play concussion guidelines in the country. The bill awaits the governor's signature.

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