Here it is another Sunday night and I managed to get in a couple of football games.
Well, by “get in” I really mean I was able to sneak in fifteen minutes here and there between soccer, cleaning around the house after Thanksgiving, raking leaves, etc. but it’s more than I normally get to watch.
And so much attention focused on concussion, too.
Jeepers, after each big hit the announcers were talking about how they need to take extra caution and direct the injured player off to the side where he’ll get some kind of test to see if it was a concussion and if he can return. Amazing what a hundred million dollars will do to address an issue.
I wish my daughters got this kind of attention when they were playing soccer over the weekend.
Each study tells us that girls’ soccer is only second to football for concussion and our daughters take longer to recovery than boys.
Tremendous focus is now on treating and preventing concussions in girls and Heaven knows how many have actually been prevented as a result.
The missing gap (does that make sense?) is when they are not being reported and dismissed on the side lines – or not recognized at all.
SEE MORE: treating soccer concussions
How about we treat our daughters as the professional football players are treated? Why don’t we ask her to sit out for a bit after hitting the goal post, colliding with another player or slamming her head into the turf? She may not even have concussion symptoms (and/or they may develop later) but she should be removed nonetheless.
Each of us has a responsibility to make this happen. Talk to the coach, trainer and other parents.
Apply the pressure and ask our daughters to be sidelined after a hit and tell her it’s OK to sit out for a couple of plays or longer. Heck, if a massive football player making several million dollars a year can walk over the to the sidelines shouldn’t she feel comfortable to do so also?
Wouldn’t you agree her future is much brighter than his?
Maybe all high schools offer this but my daughter and all teammates on her soccer team needed to go for a baseline concussion test during the summer before they started – this way if it’s suspected they have a soccer concussion during the season they can be retested and the results are compared.
Just thrwing it out there – thanks!
Thanks. My daughter told me that some kids on her winter league team appeared to have the typical symptoms of a soccer concussion BUT YEAH they have not told the coach. I know one of the girl simply heads the ball at every damn opportunity and THAT can’t be good.
Not sure when these girls will get the message!