Is your coaching staff prepared to handle an athlete with a concussion? No we have not recorded our first injury but I did run into a very interesting situation this week with one of my athletes.
The night started off as normal with the wind whippin’ and targets breaking. As one of our female athletes moved station to station we noticed she was shooting progressively worse. This got our attention and as she entered the last post we noticed that she could barely stand up. Immediately we stopped the round to ask how she was feeling. She replied that she was very dizzy and had blurred vision. After pulling her off the line we learned that she had suffered a minor concussion the previous night. Minor or not, the signs were there that she was definitely in need of a physician.
Our assistant head coach talked with her mother and she apologized for not saying anything to us at the start of the night. The girl had been in a capture the flag accident and was in no shape to be taking the recoil of the shotgun. We sent her home and began to do our homework on handling the situation. As unprepared as we were for this type of situation I am glad to say that the MSHSL has some excellent information on concussion guidelines. I recommend to all head coaches that you download a copy and keep it with you as a guide for instances like ours. I am hopeful our athlete can return but we need to make sure it is doctor approved and that we are not putting her or anyone else in danger. Take a few minutes and read through the following so that you can be prepared when a situation takes a turn for the worst.
MSHSL Concussion Guidelines
http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/publications.asp#5