YOUTH SPORTS STATISTICS
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Athletes aged16 to19 sustain 29% of all sports-related concussions, estimating 136,000 to 300,000 recorded concussions per year.
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A 2011 study of U.S. high schools found that concussions accounted for nearly 15% of all sports-related injuries.
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62% of organized sports-related injuries occur during practice. 78% of youth-related concussions happen during a football game.
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There are 3x as many catastrophic football injuries among high school athletics as college athletics.
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Youth accounted for the largest proportion of heat-related injuries at 47. 6%.
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Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SAC) is the leading cause of death in exercising young athletes. Just
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1 in10 U.S. student-athletes who suffer SCA survives.
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Only 42% of high schools have access to athletic training services.
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47% of national schools fall short of the federally recommended nurse-to-student ratio. Many schools have no nurse at all.
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The sport most commonly associated with Traumatic Brain Injuries for children taken to the ER and admitted is football at 24.7%.
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Between 2010-2012, Pop Warner, the nation's largest youth football program, saw a participation drop of 9.5% with a loss of 23,612 players. This is the largest 2-year decline since Pop Warner began keeping statistics decades ago.
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"Friday Night" high school games across the nation are being canceled due to the schools' limited roster of players.
IS FOOTBALL AT RISK?
THE STATS
According to Safe Kids World Wide 2013 safety fact sheet. There are no reliable statistics on the number of fatal ties involving sports among younger children.
However, researchers believe that traumatic brain injuries and sudden cardiac arrest are
the leading cause of death in young athletes.
North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy's report: The dynamic interplay of risk factors during sport and their relationship to injury needs additional investigation.
THE RESEARCH
"We are really in the trenches of a new medical experience," said Richard Ginsburg, at Massachusetts General Hospital's youth sports concussion clinic. "First of all, there's some hysteria, so a big part of our job is to educate people that 90 percent of concussions are resolved in a month, if not sooner."
“It is inexact, a science in its infancy," said Dr. Michael O'Brien of the sports concussion clinic at Boston Children's Hospital. "We know much more than we once did, but there are lots of layers we still need to figure out."
THE MEDIA
"Agenda setting" argues that the media promotes selected topics to prominence through heavy coverage and causes the public to thus perceive those topics as important. Media coverage of concussions made the issue of concussion injury salient.
The "cultivation theory" approaches media influence in manners similar to agenda setting. However, the cultivation theory focuses on influencing what viewers think, not what they themselves think about it.
THE COACHING
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Two volunteer coaches of the eight and nine-year-old football players featured on the reality TV show "Friday Night Tykes" have been suspended for encouraging dangerous play or bad behavior, league officials said on Tuesday.
THE SOLUTION: THE RETIRED NFL PLAYER
The question at hand is “Who does one trust to best educate, advise, coach and protect our
children and young men while playing football?” The obvious answer to this question is trust someone who knows, with actual “hands-on” experience - the retired NFL player.
Who has the more experience of playing football than a retired professional football player that has gone up through the ranks of Pop Warner to the NFL?
Who spent more time on the field and knows what to look for and how to protect themselves from injury?
Who understands the conflict of a young player that will sacrifice his personal health in order to stay in the game?
Who knows more about the individual football positions than someone who has played that position?
Who has had the longest interaction with coaches, trainers, team doctors, athletic departments and owners to understand their motivations in relation to the game?
Who in their life after football is aware of the physical price they paid to play the game?
Who has pushed for accurate medical research, media attention and litigation for their colleagues and our children to be aware of football-related injuries?
Who in the 1950s and '60s formed together to create the NFL Players Association to better the working conditions for the active players?
Who in 2013 formed once again to create an organization to improve the quality of life for the retired players and offer services to aid our children and society?
The Answer is The member of the Retired NFL Players Congress!
SAVE GAME FOUNDATION - THROUGH EDUCATION
To every action, there is always a risk. To every challenge, there is always a solution. The way to mitigate the risk and come to a solution is through knowledge and experience.
Many of the Retired NFL Player Congress officers and members, either collectively or singly, have aggressively worked behind the scenes as forerunners to create awareness on football-related injuries. For some of them, it has been a 60-year scrimmage. The fruits of their labors have to some degree contributed to adjustments in the long-standing football related injury stance of the NFL.
More importantly, as the forefront advocates in the retiree health-related issues, they
recognized the current system of youth football was jeopardizing our children's safety.
From the current media hysteria and lack of medical research on traumatic brain injuries, heat-related injuries and sudden cardiac arrest there has been a knee-jerk reaction-parents removing their kids from youth football.
To that extent the Retired NFL Players Congress created SAVE THE GAME FOUNDATION to promote sportsmanship and safety for the game of tackle football on all levels-youth, high school, college and professional football, including the National Football League.
The Retired NFL Players Congress Speaker/Appearance Bureau provides a variety of services: speaking engagements, coaching, and outreach liaison programs for parents, high schools, colleges, and the community. The agendas of these educational endeavors include practical insights and first-hand experience to better inform parents and youth players on safety measures, sportsmanship, and financial protection while playing football.
Retired NFL Players Congress members also serve as paid Coaches and/or Speakers at coaches’ clinics, sports camps, and other community youth sports programs. These clinics and events can be in conjunction with other agencies like the NFL Heads Up Program, or directly sponsored by the Players Congress. Their goal is to educate and help foster a "culture change" in football locker rooms that emphasizes player safety and wellness.
Save The Game Foundation promotes rule change suggestions based on current medical research and retired NFL player 's practical experience to help alleviate and resolve head and other injuries prevalent to tackle football.
SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS
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Corporate Logo on Retired NFL Players Congress’ Annual Summit and Save The Game event signage.
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Recognition as sponsor internationally, nationally and local media for Save The Game Foundation media coverage.
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Exclusive structured access to RNFLPC membership list.
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Sponsor receives multiple Associate Memberships (up to 10) with the Retired NFL Players Congress, including all related communications.
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Company identification on all Save The Game press materials (releases, media alerts, updates, fact sheets, etc.) distributed to national media sources.
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Branding and integration in all advertising, marketing materials as Save The Game Sponsor.
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Promotional Photo Opportunities.
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Prominence on Save The Game Foundation website as Sponsor. C
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Inclusion in all Save The Game Foundation press materials. Product Placement opportunities tailored to the sponsor's requests. Ability to utilize own media/retail distribution for promotion.
Save The Game Foundation
Executive Director/President
Ron Brown
Directors
Ron Brown – Marvin Cobb - Bob Grant - Bernard Parrish - Jane Arnett
Woody Campbell - George Kunz - Charles Detwiler
