The importance of concussion education, management and treatment is a cornerstone of Heads Up Football. More than 5,500 youth leagues and nearly 1,000 high schools made a commitment to spread that message in 2014 by signing up for the USA Football program.

Still, according to studies, up to 50 percent of high school athletes – across all sports – admit to not reporting concussion symptoms when they occurred and 16 percent of high school coaches disclosed that they are not familiar with the process to identify concussion signs in players.

So the work continues.

During the recent Collaborative Solutions for Safety in Sport National Meeting, speakers representing the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Korey Stringer Institute, American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and other medical organizations offered these recommended practices for youth leagues and school districts to develop their own plans.

• Every school or youth organization should develop an emergency action plan for handling potentially life-threatening injuries, including a referral plan for concussions.
• Enforce the standard use of sport-specific equipment, including proper fit and re-certification.
• Pre-participation exams should include concussion-specific questions.
• Preseason education for coaches, players and parents should teach the basics of concussion, including that helmets do not prevent concussions.
• Athletes suspected of sustaining a concussion are not permitted to return to a practice, game or activity on the same day.
• Athletes suspected of sustaining a concussion are not permitted to return to participation until receiving written clearance from a qualified medical professional.
• No child or adolescent should return to sport or activity unless he or she has managed a return to school.
• Implementation of a graduated return-to-participation protocol should include at least five steps with no more than two in a single day.
• All schools and organizations should construct a comprehensive medical-management plan for acute care of potential head or cervical spine injury.

All of these best practices are supported by USA Football and its programs.