As the fall sports season approaches, some districts are urging – and at least one is requiring – student-athletes to take a test.
But this exam doesn’t measure what they learned in school. It measures their memory and reaction time and is considered crucial to measuring the effects of a possible concussion.
Schools are finding the base-line test increasingly important to protect the health of their student-athletes. A state law on youth concussions that went into effect July 1 requires students who have experienced or are believed to have had a concussion to be immediately removed from activity. Student-athletes are prohibited from returning to sports until they have been without symptoms for 24 hours. They also must receive a written and signed authorization from a doctor clearing them for activity.
In response to the new law, Excelsior Foundation of Western New York and Laux Sporting Goods announced Wednesday at Sweet Home High School that free base-line testing will be offered this summer at the Sports Concussion Center at Excelsior Orthopaedics in Amherst to those age 10 to 18. Certificates for the testing will be available at all six Laux Sporting Goods locations from Saturday until Labor Day.
Some area schools – such as Williamsville, Amherst, Orchard Park, Sweet Home, Canisius and St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute – already have been offering testing. The Excelsior program will make the test more widely available.
Dr. Jason M. Matuszak, director of the Sports Concussion Center, said some districts like Grand Island aren’t able to offer the testing to their student-athletes because of a lack of resources. And this program gives those students the opportunity to take the test, which usually costs $20, for free.
But what does the base-line test measure?
It is a roughly 30-minute test of a student-athlete’s cognitive function that focuses on brain processing skills, like speed, memory and visual motor skills. It is administered before the sports season and after a suspected concussion.
“It’s a snapshot in time. And if they suffer an injury, they go back and take it again,” said Matuszak, noting that Excelsior’s Sports Concussion Center has worked with more than 1,500 athletes for base-line testing since launching last year.
Billy Major took the base-line test but never saw the hit coming that made the online exam so important for him.
While playing for the East Aurora Little Loop Football team in October, the 12-year-old took an illegal hit to the back of his neck and spine, causing his head to whip back and forcing him awkwardly to the ground.
The result: spinal cord trauma and a concussion.
But the latter injury was the one that ended up being more of a headache for Billy and his family, as he wasn’t cleared to start training again until January.
“We realized he’s going to be OK – the spinal cord is going to be fine – but he’s got a really bad concussion,” said Andy Major, Billy’s father. “I’m thinking the old-school thing, ‘Oh, he’ll be OK in a week or two. Shake it off, get back in there.’ But learning this whole process, it’s a lot different.”
“The concussion really did impact him in school, and it made a difference and took a while for him to recover,” said Sherry Major, Billy’s mother.
And through that experience, Billy, now 13, understands the significance of the base-line test. “It’s important because when you do get a concussion, you’re not pushed back into it before you’re ready, so that will prevent further injuries,” he said.
This fall, Billy is playing soccer instead of football, but he hopes to return to his favorite sport in a year or two.
“It was a collective family decision, although I think we did twist his arm a little bit – especially from the mom,” Andy Major said, drawing laughs from Billy, Sherry and his two daughters gathered at Sweet Home on Wednesday.
Other area youth sports leagues aren’t treating the base-line test as a laughing matter.
Matuszak said 125 kids from the Clarence Little League Football Association will be given the test over a three-hour period next week at Sweet Home.
This fall, 750 kids from Amherst Youth Hockey will take the test, compared to 300 last year, he said. Individual tests are done at the Sports Concussion Center in Amherst.
And the test isn’t expensive when done in groups. Matuszak said 750 student-athletes from Amherst Central School District will be tested starting in August. The cost: $1,000.
Sweet Home Superintendent Anthony Day said 500 student-athletes at the school have taken the base-line test up to this point. Each year, Day estimates 10 to 12 students in the athletic program have injuries that result in concussion-like symptoms.
Matuszak said he believes about 75 percent of concussions occur during practices rather than games.
And during games, the base-line test might also curb disagreements between staff over whether a student-athlete experiencing concussion-like symptoms should return to the game.
“I was an athlete, and I recognize that in a football season, you only get ‘X’ number of games and kids want to get back in there, but not at the risk of their health,” Day said.
