cleared to play

On Monday Thomas was checked out by his pediatrician and was cleared to resume playing. We kept him out of the checking drills at practice, and will have one more practice before a game on Sunday. His headaches have been gone for about a week now.

A reporter from the Bergen Record checked in. He's doing a feature on concussions in youth sports, and finds Tom's story interesting because he hasn't encountered any pre-teens with sports concussions before. In this case, "coming in first" is most definitely not a good thing. In my dual role as parent and coach, the parent side is leading the way as I protest the act that injured Tom.

What happens at the next level, after the hormonal changes that accompany puberty? The force of hits will increase as will the tendency toward violent collisions. If you chart it on a graph, the increase in violent collisions will be exponential. As a parent of a kid who's already had his first of say, three strikes, with the second strike much easier to attain, it doesn't project well for Tom. The goal is to avoid that first one, but sadly, that threshold has been passed.

Saving grace: Tom had his mouthguard in place and was biting down it when he was injured. I'm sure it reduced the trauma. We are now looking into the Messier helmet for additional protection.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/266170-the-messier-project-mark-messier-leads-fight-against-concussions

Whether or not this helmet catches on probably depends on whether or not it passes the NHL "mirror test". If it looks too goofy, the pros wont wear it and it won't survive in the martketplace. Hope it passes.

The joy of hockey has sure been tempered in my world by the episode, as has the lack of supplemental discipline.