Given the start-up of spring soccer leagues as well as the recent media coverage of traumatic head-injuries, we hope to provide a public service announcement to the members of our community. Last October, our 11-year-old daughter was playing goalie for her recreational soccer team at the MTRA fields when wind blew the goal over to the ground, hitting her in the back of her head as it fell. She was diagnosed with a concussion by Kessler Memorial ER staff. Although her injury was serious and was cause for concern for several weeks to follow, we consider ourselves fortunate that the injury wasn’t worse. (It is worth noting that our 7 year-old’s team played on this same field, earlier on that same day.)
As a result of our daughter’s injury, we conducted some research on soccer goal tips and discovered that since 1979, approximately 30 people across the U. S. have died as the result of unsafe soccer goals. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 120 injuries involving falling goals are treated each year in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. Furthermore, in their current design, only 22 pounds of force can bring down a 400-pound goal.
The goal that toppled into our daughter was not anchored to the ground. We reported the incident to the Mullica Township Rec. Assoc. on the day it occurred and we are thankful for their assurance that they would properly address the situation to help prevent future accidents of this type. Prior to our daughter’s injury, we never considered that one of these goals could fall due to wind or player collision. The purpose in us sharing our experience is to strongly encourage all parents to ensure that soccer goals have been properly anchored to the ground prior to their child’s practices and games, particularly as the teams travel to fields in other municipalities. If any parent is interested in additional information on this topic, we found the websites of Anchored for Safety and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be particularly helpful.
Andy and Jean Schlee
4 comments:
Thank you so much for your wonderful advice. I'm so glad your daughter is ok now. Telling us about this incident might save a child's life or protect the children from serious injuries.
Thank you for making the community aware of the dangers. I had no idea this could happen.
Although concussion is classified as mild brain injury, multiple concussions can result in cumulative consequences.
For anyone interested, there is a Concussion in Sports Campaign in our state. This is a collaboration between the Brain Injury Association of NJ, and the Mountainside Health Foundation. Participating high schools have baseline testing software when the student first joins a sporting team. There are not any schools in our area (Atlantic or Cape May County) participating. There is also an IMPACT Concussion Managenent Program to assist schools and coaches regarding mild brain injury issues. Their website: www.sportsconcussion.com
Disabilities from irreversible brain injury can be in the categories of physical,cognitive, or emotional. These disabilities cannot be identified on intelligence (IQ)or academic testing. Still being intelligent does preclude that one is not brain injured or not disabled. Subspecialized testing is necessary by respective clinicians, often beginning with neuropsychologists who specialize in brain injury.
Sincerely,
An active member of Brain Injury Association of NJ
Re 3:13 pm
That is some great information to pass on. Thank you for educating us on this very important subject.
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