What Minnesota's New Sports Concussion Law Means for Lakeville's Hockey Players

Editor's Note: This story is the first in a three-part series examining the new state law on sports-related concussions in Minnesota youth sports. Look for parts two and three on Thursday and Friday.

Looking back, Activities Director Neil Strader said he probably received a number of undiagnosed concussions.

"I played college football, and looking back, even through my youth sports, I had my bell rung a number of times," he said. "And now, when I can't remember something, I kind of wonder if those concussions have anything to do with it."

While Strader was partly joking, he was partly serious. Concussions have come to the forefront of athletics in recent months, and, as a result, lawmakers have begun looking at the issue.

Within the last decade, both sons of Minnesota state Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) suffered severe concussions while playing sports.

One, who ran head-on into another baseball player at home plate, had lingering effects for a year and a half, making it hard to concentrate in school. The other, who suffered an injury while playing football, had to give up the sport.

My son “would just keep repeating phrases,” Bonoff said. “He sounded like Rain Man. It was very scary. We didn’t know what was going on.”

Now, a new state law co-authored by Bonoff, should make students, parents and coaches more aware of the dangers that concussions present to young athletes—and not just in football. Gov. Mark Dayton’s signature on the bill in late May came during a period of increased awareness of sports-related concussions nationwide.

The law went into effect for high school athletics in mid-August and for youth sports Sept. 1.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that changes the way the brain functions and is often caused by a blow to the head, according to Heather Bergeson, a sports medicine physician at the TRIA Orthopedic Center in Minneapolis. In Minnesota athletics, football is the leading cause of concussions, but head injuries are common in all forms of competition.

“How many concussions is too many? We don’t know,” said Bergeson. “We do know that youth tend to develop more long-term symptoms than adults.”

A Minnesota Department of Health study by Dr. Leslie Seymour and Jon Roesler showed that  during competition between 2004 and 2007, male athletes in Minnesota annually suffered 130 concussions in football, 84 in hockey, 45 in baseball and 38 in basketball and soccer. For girls sports during the same time period, there were 16 concussion in hockey, 15 in soccer and eight in basketball.

"Every year, a number of Lakeville student-athletes suffer concussions," Strader said. "It's a problem, but I can only recall one of them being a really serious injury."

Strader said three years ago, a lacrosse player suffered a concussion severe enough that the boy was sidelined the rest of the year.

"We see them mostly in football, lacrosse and hockey," Strader said.

The bill originated in August 2010, when the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota brought the issue to Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, whose own nephew, as well as the son of a close friend, suffered from a sports concussion.

“It’s hard for kids to know if they have a concussion,” Benson said. “We want them to know it’s OK to step back for a bit.”

The new law pertains to the high schools and the organized youth leagues in Minnesota.

What the law means for youth sports:

• Information about concussions should be made available to high school and youth league coaches, officials, athletes and their parents. This is intended to help everyone involved in sports become more aware of concussions, so parents such as Bonoff can better deal with the injury.

• Coaches and officials participating in organized sports programs must complete an online training exercise provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which discusses the risks, treatment and potential effects of sports concussions.

• A player who has been removed from a sport with a possible concussion must be examined by a physician, and must be certified as having no symptoms of the concussion before returning to the sport. This is meant to reduce the frequency of second concussions before an athlete recovers from the first, which can cause more damage.

Strader said a certified trainer is also on the sidelines for most of Lakeville's sports at South and North.

"We're very lucky," he said. "I think we were ahead of the game a bit, but this new law, it really solidifies what we should be doing. It's a good thing."

Check back Wednesday and Thursday for parts two and three of this series:

Wednesday (Part I): The origins of the new Minnesota concussion law
Thursday (Part II): Why proper recovery steps are important to an athlete’s long-term health
Friday (PART III): How one young woman’s testimony helped get the law passed, and how it affects youth sports