Concussion
 

I do a handful of MS games each season. Tonight was one of those occasions. V20 commits a foul under the home basket and goes down, hits his head on the floor, shakes it some, is kind of woozy stumbling to his feet, and all the while, my fist is up. I motion for the coach to check on his player, go report the foul, and then tell him what I saw and that I am directing him to leave the game. The coach asks his player if he is okay and then says he is fine to stay in. I tell the coach he is going out of the game and he needs to be cleared before returning. (In FL, this responsibility ultimately ends up with the coach if the player returns. We are to assume the player was cleared for play). The kid comes back into the game a couple of minutes later. At halftime, I wrote and signed a note in the home scorebook as to what happened and when and that I directed the player to leave the game.

Now, if anything happens, the coach has taken the responsibility. He already proved he was a knucklehead.

Just the Opposite......
 

I had a kid in a B13U game hit a padded wall under the basket (after a layup/foul), very hard and awkwardly with his head and neck. He was down for a bit before coming out of the game. I explained the situation to the coach and his mom (a friend for many yrs). The player sat out the rest of the game and against HIS best wishes, his mom took him to the doctor's office right after the game.

FHSAA sanctioned event? If so, I'd send a report to Gainesville. If not, a note to the county athletic coordinator or MS league head wouldn't hurt either.

From my CYO league rules:

"According to WA/OR laws, any player who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury must immediately be removed from the competition or practice. Any athlete removed from competition/practice because of a suspected concussion/brain injury shall not return to play until the athlete has received written clearance from a licensed health care provider trained in the evaluation and management of brain injuries."

And that's how it should be.

It was not FHSAA sanctioned. I sent an email to my assignor when I got home. Each school has an AD. Guess who wears two hats for the visiting school?

Our MS league has a coordinator that acts like a commissioner...rules, schedules, disputes, etc. He gets reports about ejections, unsafe court equip etc. i assume they have him in place because of knuckle head coaches that act as AD. These guys seem to thrive on poor judgement and worse decision making skills.