A new state law in California will hold private and charter schools to the same sports safety standards as public schools.

Assembly Bill 588 was signed into law in September 2013 and went into effect Jan. 1. The bill stipulates that if a student in a school athletic activity is suspected of suffering a head injury during practice or a game, that student may not play for the rest of the day.

Schools and sports clubs across Scotland are being sent a new leaflet with a “potentially lifesaving message” about the dangers of concussion for youngsters.

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Girls who play soccer in middle school are vulnerable to concussions, new research shows.

And despite medical advice to the contrary, many play through their injury, increasing the risk of a second concussion, the study found.

Although awareness has increased about sports concussions, little research has been done on middle school athletes, especially girls, noted study co-author Dr. Melissa Schiff, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle.
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An author of a new medical study said the high cost of paying injured N.H.L. players should push the league to stiffen what he described as inadequate measures to prevent brain trauma, including rules that still allow fighting.

“N.H.L. owners need to do a better job of protecting their athletes — if not for their players, then for their own pocketbooks,” said the author, Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

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Concussions in football have become the target of rules and lawsuits. Current and former football players speak out regularly on the subject, even opining on whether their children will be playing the sport.

To date, the biggest newsmaker is the NFL, where more than 4,500 former players have filed suit, some accusing the league of fraud for its handling of concussions. They include former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, who suffers from dementia.

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The hard-working, fun-loving people who run Sports Are for Everyone (SAFE), a nonprofit program for children with challenges, will now have volunteer support from the U.S. Navy.

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President Barack Obama again voiced concern about the National Football League’s concussion rate, acknowledging that players “know what they’re doing” but adding that he would not want his child to play the sport at the professional level.

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Indiana could soon become the first state to require high school football coaches to take part in a player safety and concussion-training course.

Senate Bill 222 — authored by Sen. Travis Holdman, R–Markle — would require the course every two years.

“We’d be very proud to do this since USA Football, an arm of the NFL and players union is basically housed” in Indianapolis, Holdman said.

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Teens with a history of concussions are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression as teens who have never had a concussion, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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Four new scientific papers are adding to the growing chorus of researchers pouring cold water on the now common assumption in the media and general population that contact sports causes CTE, and that CTE causes those with the disease to commit suicide.

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