Sente Continues Mission of Increasing Youth Safety, Collaborates on Reducing the Risk of Brain Injuries in Youth Sports

VERNON HILLS, Ill. – State Representative Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills, and Geoff Meyer, President of The Chicagoland Youth Football League (TCYFL), furthered efforts to mitigate the risk of concussions and sub-concussive hits to the head in student athletes by meeting with the Illinois High School Association’s (IHSA) Board of Directors last week.

“As a strong advocate for youth safety and an avid sports fan, finding a solution that helps protect our youth, while providing them with the benefits of participation in team sports, has been very important to me,” Sente said. “TCYFL has been a leader in this field with mandatory advanced concussion training, Heads Up blocking and tackling training and reduced full contact for many years now. I truly appreciated how receptive the IHSA has been to our recent proposals and am looking forward to working in close partnership with them to increase awareness of this issue and reduce the risk of concussions and repetitive sub-concussive hits to the head.”

“It is an honor to work together with the IHSA, as we have both always cared deeply for all of our children's health and safety and have worked hard to continue to keep our players safe and achieve an even better and safer game. Rep. Sente has proven to be an invaluable resource as we have worked to increase the education and awareness in regards to repetitive sub-concussive and concussive hits to the brain in our young athletes,” said Geoff Meyer. “It is amazing how much difference a year of hard work can make and therefore we greatly appreciate her tireless efforts to bring this issue to the forefront of discussion for everyone in the State.” 

Sente has held public forums with a variety of experts and stakeholders to identify ways to prevent common sports-related head injuries. Sente and the IHSA will now work in close collaboration to pass legislation requiring the creation of an IHSA developed online certification to reduce these dangers. Completion of this new certification would be required of all Illinois high school coaches and athletic directors. In addition, the IHSA and Sente are both proposing a reduction in the amount of full speed, live contact hitting during football practice via by-law changes. 

 “I am also very pleased to announce that retired Chicago Bears player, Kurt Becker, a football coach at East Aurora High School, has agreed to serve as an active voice in favor of our new approach by testifying in Springfield,” Sente said. “By having a well-known name and role model in professional sports involved, I hope we will be able to generate the awareness we need to move this initiative forward.”

“I appreciate Rep. Sente’s continued leadership on this issue in the General Assembly and her willingness to work in partnership with our organization to develop a policy change that is mutually acceptable,” said Marty Hickman, Executive Director of the IHSA. “The IHSA is looking to make this by-law change a high priority this year and welcome Rep Sente’s input and endorsement of the proposal as we take it to our members this spring.”