Cumulative effects of high school football and CTE (study)

Unique study explores cumulative effect of hits in prep football (Via SI.com)

This report echoes threads that was brought up in the hockey story posted yesterday. Be sure to watch this episode on PBS of Purdue University's study on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) for two high school football teams. The researchers used accelerometers in the helmets to measure cumulative g-force effects from collisions.

Of the 31 times that the researches brought in non-concussed players to do neurocognitive testing, 17 produced impaired scores. "That's 17 players who were not expected to be impaired," said Tom Talavage, a Purdue associate professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering.
The fMRI data has backed up the results from the first season as well, in that the pattern of brain activity in impaired players changes when they are asked to do a task that requires mental focus.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Overly intense practice session or just good touch coaching? (poll)

Slideshow: Holy Family Incident On Tape: MyFoxPHILLY.com

Tough or Good Coaching?
Here's an interesting news piece about a tough basketball practice emphasizing physical positioning and rebounding. Have you ever been through a similar type of practice? Please take the following poll and watch the coach as he says he doesn't think his actions were out of line but then says it was just an accident.

1. Do you think the coach's action were justifiable as a means of "toughening" up his team?
2. Do you think the coach should have been suspended?
3. Would you go back to play for that coach if you were that player and he "apologized" in that manner?
4. Do you have personal professional liability insurance when you volunteer coach, substitute teach, or coach (paid)?  Do you need to have a policy to cover you?
5. Is there a school liability insurance policy covering your actions?

Via Yahoo Sports Ugly altercation between coach, player leads to tense TV apology - The Dagger - NCAAB - Yahoo! Sports

As reported in the Yahoo piece:

Asked by Stephanopoulos earlier in the interview whether he realized his actions were out of line, O'Connor responded "not really," adding that he was only trying to make his players better. Furthermore he repeatedly referred to the incident as "an accident" and "unintentional."
Ultimately, the better PR approach might have been for O'Connor to admit he was wrong, to describe the behavior as out of character and to insist that it will not happen again.