Just yesterday Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law a bill that requires coaches of youth sports to be educated about concussions. It requires that coaches receive education on how to recognize a concussion, that a player is removed from play if a concussion is suspected, and that the student athlete must be signed off by a medical professional before returning to play.
The law applies to coaches of all public and private middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, club, and recreation youth athletic sports.
"Most likely, kids this age do not have the knowledge to recognize themselves the symptoms of a brain injury," State Senator Nancy Spence (R-Centennial), a sponsor of the bill said. "This bill is one that will keep athletes active and safe."
The proposed bill is named in memory of Jake Snakenberg, who was a 14-year old freshman football player at Grandview High School when he passed away after suffering from what doctors diagnosed as Second Impact Syndrome. Doctors believe that in the previous week’s game, Snakenberg suffered an undiagnosed concussion and had not recovered before returning to the field and subjecting the brain to further injury. Snakenberg died of a closed head injury in September 2004 at the age of 14, a day after collapsing during a Grandview freshman football game. My son Drew was also 14 in 2004 when he suffered several successive concussions during sports activities, ultimately sustaining a large left-sided epidural hematoma. This bill, which becomes effective January 1, 2012, will hopefully prevent any further young Colorado athletes from permanent injury or death as a result of participation in youth sports activities.
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