Yesterday I came across this article for the first time and was frankly stunned by the information contained within.  Nationally submitted data from multiple high school sources was gathered and summarized by the NFHS, the National Federation of High Schools (yes, the same organization that the FHSAA relies on in so many ways except this one).  It’s conclusions, which run through the 2011-12 season, COMPLETELY contradict the small data points used by both Orange County and the FHSAA in their now infamous rush to judgment. As the reader goes through this article they will note places I highlighted that are pertinent for the FHSAA and Orange County to consider.  I hope that the FHSAA and OC voters are willing to look at this data in the thoughtful way it deserves to be seen.  As those who have read my previous articles are aware, I am open to head gear if the US Lacrosse studies recommend one; I am not open to it as a ‘fait accompli’ of a broken process that fooled those who actually voted for it. The author of this article is James Watts (‘Jay’).  The author’s background is as follows: Jay Watts is the Assistant Director of Athletics at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, GA.  He has served in his present capacity at Westminster since 2000 and received his CMAA certification from the NIAAA in 2010.  His duties at Westminster include assisting with the day-to-day operations of an athletic program that has over 80 interscholastic teams and 25 varsity sports.  He is also the content manager for the school’s athletic web site and the school’s varsity girls lacrosse coach.  In past years, he has served as a coach for junior high cross country, eighth grade football, and both varsity boys and varsity girls basketball. Outside of his work with Westminster, he served on the Board of Governors for the Women’s Division of US Lacrosse from 2005 until 2009 and has also been the chair of the organization’s Safety Education Committee.  He has served on the rules committee for girls lacrosse with the National Federation of High Schools since 2007 and is the current committee chair, a term he will hold until 2015.  He has also been a state sport coordinator with the Georgia High School Association since 2002.  In 1996, Watts worked in the Guest Services division for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and was the administrative assistant for the head of the Federation of International Basketball during the summer games. Watts has presented at conferences for US Lacrosse, the Southern Association of Independent Schools, and the Georgia Independent Schools Association.  His writings have been published in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance as well as Interscholastic Athletic Administration.  In 2007, he was inducted into the Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame for his work as a coach, volunteer, and high school administrator. A graduate of the College of William and Mary, Watts received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the College in 1994. In 1999, he completed his Master’s Degree in Education/ Sports Administration at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He teaches economics in the Junior High at Westminster during the day.   http://gamedayeveryday.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/rule-changes-and-safety-emphasis-make-a-difference-in-girls-lacrosse/  

Rule Changes and Safety Emphasis Make a Difference in Girls Lacrosse

  Next to football, which always attracts the most attention in the national media for issues involving player safety, few sports have been under a greater microscope for player injury and concussion awareness over the last decade than girls lacrosse.  Special reports on ESPN and other news outlets have highlighted the cases of several girls who have suffered the devastating results of a concussion while playing high school or youth lacrosse.  In the last two years, the state athletic association in New York has considered passing a rule requiring girls that play high school lacrosse in the state to wear a hard helmet like the boys, even though the US Lacrosse rule book for the sport forbids it.  As the sport continues to grow in “non-traditional” areas, there are many parents that are new to the game that ask why the girls do not wear the same equipment as the boys even though they play by a different set of rules. Active volunteers and administrators in the women’s game have pushed hard in the last four years to protect the integrity and uniqueness of the women’s game while also making their sport safer for its competitors.  Rule changes have been made that increased the severity of the penalties for rough play.  US Lacrosse, the national governing body for the sport, has stepped up its push for coaches education, promoted safe play with a “Be Fierce and Fair” sportsmanship campaign, and fostered a close relationship with the Positive Coaching Alliance.  Umpire training has included specific points of emphasis to protect competitors from dangerous stick checks around their head. What Online Casino has been the effect of all of these efforts?  It appears that girls lacrosse has gotten dramatically safer.  Consider the most recent National Federation of High Schools Injury Surveillance Study (ISS) which was released in the fall of 2012.  The study showed a decrease in the total number of injuries in girls lacrosse for the fourth straight school year.  The NFHS collects injury data from a random sample of US high schools each year as a part of the ISS conducted by a research group led by Dr. Dawn Comstock from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  The sports covered by the ISS include football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, volleyball, baseball, softball, and cheerleading.  While the ISS has been conducted for seven years, boys and girls lacrosse has only been included in the study for four. In the NFHS study, data is collected from certified athletic trainers around the country.  When defining injury rates for each sport, the researchers look at the number of injuries that occur per “athlete exposure”.  An athlete exposure (AE) is defined as one athlete participating in one practice or competition where he or she is exposed to the possibility of athletic injury. Since the first year that girls lacrosse was studied in the 2008-2009 school year, overall injury rates in girls lacrosse have fallen from 1.72 (per 1000 AE) in the first year to 1.23 in the 2011-2012 school year, a decrease of  over 28%.  Injuries occurring in competition occurred at a rate of 1.55 during the last year compared to just 1.09 in practice.   Each of those categories has seen a drop in the last four years as well.  The most common injury reported in the study each year was a strain or sprain. In addition to the decrease in injuries overall, the study reported a significant decrease in the rate of concussions in competition for high school girls lacrosse players over the same four-year period.  Concussion rates in girls lacrosse are down overall from the 2008-2009 school year from an incident rate of 3.94 per 10,000 athletic exposures to 3.81 in the 2011-2012 school year.  The rate of concussion in competition has fallen significantly in that same time period.  In 2008-2009, the rate was 9.93 per 10,000 AE.  By last year, the rate was only 6.30, a decrease of over 36%.  These figures are even more impressive when you consider that the overall concussion rate for all sports has almost doubled in the same time period.  Furthermore, the concussion rate in every other girls sport tracked by the study has risen over the last four years with the exception of Girls Track and Field.  Concussion rates during the 2011-2012 school year were 7.89 and 4.34 for girls soccer and girls basketball, respectively.  In competition, the concussion rate for girls soccer was 21.41, a rate almost 240% higher than girls lacrosse. The falling numbers in concussions in girls lacrosse has occurred during a time period when concussion awareness and diagnosis is on the rise in almost every other sport.  The NFHS reports in a recent study that it is likely that the increase in concussions overall reflect “an increase in the diagnosis and reporting of sustained concussions given the recent focus on concussions in the sports medicine community as well as the lay media”.  During the first year that girls lacrosse was added to the ISS, its concussion rate was almost twice the average of all other girls sports.  In the most recent year, girls lacrosse’s concussion rate is 9% below the average, another telling sign of the increased relative safety of the sport. It is good to see that the efforts to clean up the women’s game in lacrosse have had their intended effect.  Given the rise in concussions in other sports, it is interesting to ponder what other sports and administrators could learn from girls lacrosse going forward to reverse the overall trend of increasing concussions.   ———-   Author’s note:  The ball is now in the FHSAA and OC’s court.  It is clear to anyone with a sense of fairness that neither Orange County nor the FHSAA voters were provided with this data.  Because if they had they would have voted to wait for the US Lacrosse studies to be completed.  Is there any real conclusion that can be drawn other than data was either not sought out, or even worse, found and suppressed?  It better not be the latter.  I don’t believe for one second that the proponents of the rule change hid information.  But if they had this information and did not share it with the other voters they need to be roundly condemned and not be allowed to participate in any FHSAA position again.