In my novella, Book 5 of the Sybil Norcroft series entitled Decisions, my main character, Sybil Norcroft, M.D., PhD., F.A.C.S. makes an impassioned plea to have the United States protect its young athletes. She goes so far in the book to launch a fight against head injuries and concussion to get rid of football in high school. In an announcement on May 29, 2014, President Obama made a sweeping presentation of what his administration will do to protect our youth. Since I belief in what my protagonist had to say—so, guess who put the words into her mouth—I feel somewhat vindicated. The information quoted below comes from White House Concussion Summit Puts Focus on Youth Sports, Emily Lea Berry, May 29, 2014:
“President Barack Obama announced today [May 29, 2014] several new partnerships that will put around $86 million toward funding new research and development in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of traumatic brain injury, especially in young athletes. The Healthy Kids & Safe Sports Concussion Summit at the White House was attended by members of Congress and senior leadership from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League, US Soccer, and the National Football League (NFL), as well as brain experts and physicians from across the United States.
Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“We [at the White House] decided, Why not use our convening power to help find more answers” to many questions posed by parents and coaches, as well as the military, Obama said. The new partnerships announced include:
- The NCAA and Department of Defense will commit $30 million for concussion education and a study that Obama called “the most comprehensive clinical study of concussion ever,” involving up to 37,000 college athletes.
- The NFL will give $25 million during the next 3 years to test strategies such as creating health and safety forums for parents and to get more trainers at high school games.
- The National Institutes of Health, in its partnership with the NFL, will dedicate $16 million of the NFL’s previous donation to studies and clinical trials on the chronic effects of repetitive concussions.
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology will invest $5 million during the next 5 years to explore the development of lighter, more responsive equipment to protect athletes.
- New York Giants Chairman Steve Tisch will personally donate $10 million to expand the BrainSPORT Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, which does research on treating sports concussions in youth.
Obama said the leaders of the concussion summit can agree on 2 things: Sports are vital to the United States, and it is their responsibility as leaders to make sure young people play sports safely.
“Bravo,” says Carl Douglass.