This link will be coming. The school board is currently working on a written school policy for concussions.
|
School Policy
Procedures and precautionary measures should be established in each school. Concussions are real and the do affect many student athletes. These effects can be lasting as evident in the story of Kort Beckenridge. On October 7, 2005, Kort Beckenridge, a senior at Teton High School, stepped on the field to help his teammates win their senior night game, even though he was still experiencing symptoms of a concussion. Kort played a remarkable game, but after a tackle at the end of the third quarter everything changed. He dropped to his knees as he suddenly became very dizzy. His coaches had to help him to the sidelines, where he began seizing and lost consciousness. Medical personnel arrived and transported him to a nearby hospital where he was stabilized and then flown to a hospital in Idaho Falls better prepared to treat his case. Kort’s brain was rapidly swelling, so doctors had to remove the right side of his skull. After two weeks in a coma, Kort awoke. Even to this day, after therapy necessary to relearn how to walk and talk, this young man will always live with the effects of his choice. He will always have a limp, slurred speech, less energy, attention issues, and almost no short-term memory (“A catastrophic”, n.d.).
As a community, school, and state we can and have learned from stories like Kort’s. Sometimes it is more important to think about a player’s safety than the results of a game. Kort often looks back on the decision he made to walk onto the football field, “‘If I had it to do all over again, I’d still play football,” he says, “but I’d just play it more safely. Even if I got just a light knock on the head, like just a buzz, I would tell someone. I definitely wouldn't go back in the game’” (“A catastrophic,” n.d., ¶10). Ray, Kort’s father, feels some regrets. He realizes it is ““easy to say that ‘it happens all the time’ or ‘it’s just a ding’. I did. But looking back now I wish I would have known more. I wish I had done more. The warning signs were there.” Ray now hopes to see other’s learn from Kort’s story (“A catastrophic,” n.d., ¶10). Athletes and their parents need to be educated about concussions. Making this information accessible and common knowledge in our community may help someone make the right decision when facing a situation like Kort’s. |