Photo and information submitted: Jason Monteiro, Berlin, Electrical Wiring, Khrista Houle, Shrewsbury, Drafting Design Technologies, and Sherley Pagan, Marlborough, Design Visual Communications, participate in a heated debate about concussions in youth sports in their QCC Psychology class at Assabet Valley this week.
In their psychology course this week, a group of Assabet Valley Regional Technical High seniors held a heated debate about whether or not parents should encourage children to play contact sports such as football and soccer at a young age, given the known risks associated with concussions.
The students were given a side to take.
“They were to research the topic and present factual arguments for or against children playing contact sports, and I think perhaps the data they found may have actually swayed them towards the side they were given. We have been studying how the brain cells form, and what critical stages of development may be affected by serious injury, and the students really got into it,” said Mary Jo Nawrocki, their instructor, in the announcement.
Berlin senior Jason Monteiro listed factual accounts of how concussion incidences have doubled in the last decade, while Gina Phillips, a senior in metal fabrication and avid soccer player, countered with the fact that while incidences in youth may have doubled, high school and college level athletes have actually seen a decrease in concussion injuries, attributable, she felt, to better instruction and awareness at the older level.
“Now there are programs like CAPP and Heads-Up that do pre-evaluation testing to form baselines, and the new protocols don’t let you back on the field for at least two weeks after a head injury. These programs are clearly making a difference in the number of concussions, and should be introduced at younger ages. Don’t deny a child the chance to play sports because there is a slim chance of getting hurt. Injuries can happen with anything, not just sports,” she argued.
Ashley Boudreau, a Marlborough senior in Health Technologies, felt that the benefits of playing sports outweigh the injury risk. “Children enjoy sports for the social aspects, and they learn confidence, sportsmanship, how to deal with structure, and get much needed exercise from sports,” she continued, but Sherley Pagan, a Marlborough student in Design Visual Communications, suggested that perhaps children could gain the same benefits if they just played sports that did not involve physical contact.
The students are taking a college level Psychology course given through Quinsigamond Community College, and will earn three college credits upon completion.