Increasing attention has been paid to concussions and especially sports-related concussions in youth. To prevent an inappropriate return to play while symptomatic, nearly all states have now passed legislation on youth sports-related concussions.
This study was conducted with high school football and girls’ soccer athletes playing in fall 2012 and their coaches and parents in 20 urban or rural high schools in Washington State. Among the 778 athletes, the rate of concussions was 3.6 per 1000 athletic-exposures and was identical for the 2 sports studied. The cumulative concussion incidence over the course of the season was similar in girls’ soccer (11.1 percent) and football (10.4 percent). Sixty-nine percent of concussed athletes reported playing with symptoms, and 40 percent reported that their coach was not aware of their concussion. Most measures of coach concussion education were not associated with coach awareness of concussions in their athletes, although the modalities of a video and quiz were associated with a lower likelihood of coach awareness.