When Tom Cutinella, a 16-year-old football player from Shoreham-Wading River High School, was involved in a tragic on-field collision that took his life, there was no athletic trainer on the sideline. That was Oct. 1, 2014. A lot has changed since then on Long Island and across the country at large.
Much of the research conducted on concussions in the early 2010s led to a similar conclusion: returning to play without allowing for enough time to heal leads to harm. Stephen Tozer, an athletic trainer at Syosset High School, said, “Back then, concussions were graded on a scale from one to three. One was dizziness. Two was blackouts. Three was unconsciousness for more than 30 seconds.”
The shift from grading concussions to monitoring brain function and longevity of symptoms has been, according to Diego Garcia, an athletic trainer at Cold Spring Harbor Junior and Senior High School, “much safer for the high school athlete.”
Another change that continues to aid athletes appeared in 2017 when the New York State Public High School Athletic Association introduced the “Tommy Tough Standards.” Named after Cutinella, these much stricter return-to-play protocols are read to all players and coaches before each game.
Tozer says these rules have played a significant role in changing the way the game is coached and played on Long Island: “Teaching proper hitting and proper tackling became even more of a priority,” he said. “All contact drills were retaught.”
A head football coach at a Nassau County school, requesting to remain anonymous, said, “The emphasis when teaching tackling drills is on keeping the head up.” While agreeing that concussion awareness has increased “by a factor of a thousand” and that equipment is “the best it’s ever been in terms of safety,” the coach has seen a change in how players tackle within the past ten years or so. “It’s all about protecting the head and always seeing what you hit.”
Cameron Weiskopf, a Syosset High School sophomore and football player who was pulled up to the Varsity for the playoffs, emphasized the importance of safe tackling techniques. “Because I trust the proper form my coaches have taught me,” Weiskopf said, “my risk of injury is at a much lower probability.”
Among coaches, trainers, and even players, there seems to be a consensus that the focus is on preventing CTE’s long-term effects. In addition to newer standards and increased education, the reduction of the number of allowable “full-contact” minutes has played a meaningful role. Of course, athletic trainers see their share of student concussions each year. “This year we’ve treated about eight concussions,” said Tozer.
Garcia offered a similar estimate, adding that it obviously fluctuates. Tozer noted that the number of athletes playing contact sports definitely declined at a point but has since steadily risen. He attributes some of the initial decline to the impact of the film “Concussion,” but he believes the substantial changes that have been made have created a much safer landscape and culture.
In the past, it seems, players were way more likely to lie about their concussions, so they could stay in the game. “I find that most students today are honest because they have a certain amount of fear regarding their brain health, especially when they’re not feeling ‘right,’” Garcia said. “The protocols are meant to take time and prevent early return to play. Using a cognitive test also allows for an objective measurement for the return of the athlete to ‘normal’. This helps limit the subjective part of the reporting of symptoms.”
It is certainly not subjective to say that education is the most important aspect of concussion prevention. Although coaches and players are mandated to learn, parents are not. Perhaps, this should be the next change. Tozer says that there’s an informative meeting at the beginning of the school year that isn’t always attended well. Maybe this should be mandatory in all districts.
Still, that’s not the only way for families to learn more, so they can make informed decisions about whether or not to allow their children to play contact sports. There’s also a helpful, comprehensive, and free computer course called “Heads Up.”
Alternatively, anyone seeking more information for concussion preparation would find excellent resources through the Brain Injury Association, including Concussion Outreach Prevention Education sessions.
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. There will be an in-person and virtual Brain Injury Symposium on March 6 and many other events, including the annual conference in June. Additional information on brain injuries, the organization, and its events can be found at the Brain Injury Association of New York York State.
A lot has changed since Cutinella’s tragic death, and it’s not just that there’s an athletic trainer on every sideline now. There’s much more knowledge and understanding and many more opportunities to find it.
Jack Newman is a 10th grade Syosset High School student interested in studying sports medicine. Newman is a health advocate who aims to raise awareness around concussion safety.
