Source:CNN
The agreement with those plaintiffs, announced Monday, includes other reforms in addition to the new directive on heading. These includes steps to improve concussion awareness among coaches, referees, parents and players; and set up uniform concussion management and return-to-play protocols. And while some programs restrict the number of substitutions in a game, from here on out anyone taken out because of a suspected concussion shouldn't count against a team's substitution total.
Steve Berman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said the litigation all along aimed "to focus the attention on U.S. Soccer and its youth member organizations."
"We feel we have accomplished our primary goal," Berman added. "... We are pleased that we were able to play a role in improving the safety of the sport for soccer-playing children in this cocountry. Concussions in sports have gotten heightened attention in recent years, in large part due to widely reported cases -- including many examples of traumatic brain injuries -- involving football players.While U.S. Soccer mentioned this lawsuit, the sports organization insisted this week that concussion-geared measures were in the works regardless.
Yet football isn't the only sport where concussions are a problem, a fact highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "HEADS UP Concussion in Youth Sports" program.