Sentinel 1-9-13

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Sentinel The Shorewood

Wednesday, Januar y 9, 2013

ONLINE More news at shorewoodsentinel.com

Enterprise Publications • www.shorewoodsentinel.com

Vol. 18 No. 5

Point of no return Area schools exercise zero tolerance with head injuries By Robin Ambrosia and Laura Katauskas Staff Reporters

A

blow to the head is nothing to take lightly, and as national sports organizations have toughened policies, area school districts are following suit. The days of an athlete “blacking out” on the sideline or field and resuming play after a few minutes came to a close beginning last fall, in the NFL as well as in high schools across the country, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations’ website. Due to the increased education regarding concussions, an athlete getting his or her “bell rung” no longer can result in getting an order

to “shake it off and get back in the game” from the coach. “I wish they would take the word ‘concussion’ out,” said Bob Flynn, longtime athletic trainer for Minooka High Schools.“People hear the word concussion,and they think nothing of it. Just a person getting their bell rung.Then I tell them it’s a traumatic brain injury, and they say, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’” Flynn said there have been as many as 20 concussion cases in the school district since the beginning of the school year. “I’m dealing with two right now,” he said this week.“One in wrestling and one from cheerleading. … Cheerleading, which is classified See CONCUSSION, page 2


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