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TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL JANUARY 2013
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JANUARY 2013 DIGITAL
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Copyright 2013 SportsOneSource, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed by writers and contributors to TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL are not necessarily those of the editors or publishers. TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork. Articles appearing in TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL is published monthly by SportsOneSource, LLC, 2151 Hawkins Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28203; 704.987.3450. Send address changes to TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL , 2151 Hawkins Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28203; 704.987.3450
JANUARY 2013 DIGITAL
10NEWS
4 SFIA Launches Lacrosse Council at US Lacrosse Convention UNIVERSAL ATHLETIC SERVICE Acquires Minnesota-based Metro Athletic
5 RUSSELL ATHLETIC Debuts New Fabric at Inaugural High School Football All-Star Game
FEATURES 6 GOING BOWL-ING Russell Athletic Promotes Its Brand on a National Stage
With the Inaugural Russell Athletic Bowl8 KICK-STARTING INNOVATION WITH TECHNOLOGY
10 A CULTURE PROBLEM: A New Study Shows that Concussions Are Being Underreported in Ice Hockey
DEPARTMENTS14 INDUSTRY CALENDAR
ON THE COVER - Russell rolled out its new Maximum Strength Compression (MSC) fabric at the first Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on January 19 at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, AL.
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4 2013 TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL
SFIA LAUNCHES LACROSSE COUNCIL AT US LACROSSE CONVENTIONEnsuring a bright future for the game of lacrosse was the driving force behind the first ever SFIA Lacrosse Council Meeting on January 12. More than 40 individuals rep-resenting 20 companies gathered for the inaugural meeting held at the US Lacrosse Convention in Philadelphia, PA. With lacrosse participation growing rapidly over the past several years, several brands had voiced a desire to bring the industry together with the purpose of helping continue to grow the game of lacrosse and discuss pressing issues, ultimately resulting in the Lacrosse Council. The hour and a half long meeting took place on the second day of the convention, which was held January 11-13 and drew nearly 7,000 attendees overall.
Topics discussed at the inaugural meeting included rules and standards issues relat-ing to the women’s and men’s game, a review of the recent National Operating Commit-tee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), lacrosse ball standard changes and an overview of injury data by Ann Carpenetti, managing director of game administration with US Lacrosse. Rules and standards discussions were centered around presentations by US Lacrosse and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
“While competing vigorously in the marketplace, we share common values and inter-ests in helping to make the great and growing game of lacrosse even greater,” said Jim Archibald, vice president of STX and chair of the SFIA Lacrosse Council. “Through the Council, we will be able to consider and respond to many of the issues of interest to the
lacrosse, sport and fitness communities.”During the meeting, SFIA staff shared research showing that lacrosse is poised for continued growth in light of changes in the population over
the past few years. Lacrosse remains strong in its traditional foothold in the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic corridors, but participation in the sport has also more than doubled since 2008 in the Mountain and Pacific regions of the country.
“It is clear from the turnout at the Lacrosse Council meeting on Saturday that the lacrosse industry sees the value in bringing the industry to-gether to discuss the future of the sport,” said Jonathan Michaels, SFIA director of membership and business development. “Moving forward, the Lacrosse Council will facilitate dialogue related to the issues that are most important and of mutual interest to all of the organizations connected to the sport…grow the game initiatives and strengthening the relationships between all parties connected to the lacrosse industry are priorities.”
Universal Athletic Service recently acquired fellow team dealer Metro Athletic of Edina, MN, expanding its footprint in the Midwest region. Universal will retain most of Metro Athletic's employees following the acquisition.
Metro Athletic has serviced the team business for 19 years and maintains a strong presence in the Minneapolis market.
Universal Athletic has been in the team business since 1971; with the addition of Metro Athletic, Universal will have 12 locations and 48 salesmen operating in 8 states in the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions.
Universal Athletic President Larry Aasheim shared that the acquisi-tion is a great fit, and provides Universal Athletic with an opportunity for expansion. "We like the dynamics of this acquisition because of the reputation of Metro Athletic, the familiarity of the people involved, the association with the TAG buying group, and the opportunity it gives us
to grow our business in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota by combining and leveraging our experience and resources in these markets," stated Aasheim.
Aasheim added that Metro Athletic's former owners - Paul Kokesh and John Wilhoit - would stay involved to help with the transition, while Ryan Wenkus will become the managing partner of the Minnesota op-eration.
"We will maintain most all of the employees of Metro Athletic in order to maintain continuity and the good service they have provided to their customers," said Aashiem.
Metro Athletic’s staff, meanwhile, has welcomed the acquisition. “We’re extremely excited to be part of such a solid organization, with great people, that are so highly regarded in the industry," said Metro Athletic’s Wenkus. “We think it is the best way for us to continue to grow in Minnesota. It is the perfect fit for all of us.”
UNIVERSAL ATHLETIC SERVICE ACQUIRES MINNESOTA-BASED METRO ATHLETIC
NEWS
TEAMBUSINESSDIGITAL.COM 5
Two different debuts were made at the same time recently as Russell Brands, LLC unveiled a new uniform fabric at an inaugural high school all-star game. Russell rolled out its new Maximum Strength Compression (MSC) fabric at the first Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on January 19 at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, AL. The game showcased 100 of the nation’s top senior high school football players.
The MSC fabric provides a high stretch, high strength component to its football uniforms and features a vertical pattern construction
for optimal fit, while the mesh construction provides enhanced breathability. The fabric also includes abrasion resistance for durability.
“We are extremely excited to launch our new MSC fabric during the Raycom All-Star Classic,” said Sarah Gholston, vice president, design & merchandising for Russell Brands, LLC, in the days leading up to the game. “Russell Athletic has always provided supe-rior uniforms for today’s top athletes. MSC’s construction and yarn selection provide increased stretch and strength combined with superior moisture management. It allows the players to have superior compression and performance without sacrificing functional-ity or comfort.”
Football teams from Ohio University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette tested the uniforms in practice this past fall. Those teams’ players have provided positive feedback, stating that they feel “cooler” and “lighter” while wearing the jerseys with the MSC fabric.
A crowd of 18,615 watched the Stripes defeat the Stars, 31-3, in the Classic. The game was preceded by a week-long program of events featuring elite college football seniors participating in NFL-formatted practices that were open to the public. Former NFL head coaches Jim Bates and Dan Reeves coached the participating teams.
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6 2013 TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL
very first bowl game. “The timing was right,” explained Barfield. “We started a heavy advertising campaign during the 2011 football season and continued it in 2012 around college football and ESPN affiliates for our ‘Together We R’ campaign. After that first year, we started evaluating our sponsorships and we felt that we needed another national platform for our brand. We’ve had a lot of bowl opportunities over the years, but this one came up and we felt that this was a great opportunity in a great location with a great organization. We also love being affiliated with two great conferences in the Big East and the ACC. Then we met with Florida Citrus Sports, we hit it off, and there we went. Everything fell into place and the timing was right.”
For Russell Athletic, the decision to sponsor and host a bowl offered several important benefits. Bowl games
Russell Athletic promotes its brand on a national stage with the inaugural Russell Athletic Bowl
By Fernando J. Delgado
GOING BOWL-ING
ussell Athletic, a leading supplier of sports apparel and team uniforms for more than 100 years, made history of its own late
last month, sponsoring a college football bowl game for the first time. The inaugural Russell Athletic Bowl pitted the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of the Big East Conference against the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) on December 28 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL. The game was televised nationally on ESPN.
During an interview with TEAM Business shortly before the game, Gary Barfield, executive vice president of Russell Brands, LLC, shared some of the reasons behind Russell Athletic’s decision to sponsor its
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Gary Barfield, executive vice president of Russell Brands, LLC
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continue to be big-time moneymakers for college football programs and television channels, and offer exposure for title sponsors. “For one thing, it gives the national platform, but bowl games are more than just a couple weeks out of the year,” said Barfield. “If you look at it, bowl games are talked about year-round by athletic directors, coaches, and sports fans. You can go online at any time and see predictions on who’s going to be in what game. To have the Russell Athletic Bowl in front of that audience for 365 days a year is a plus for the brand, and at the event, we get the opportunity to entertain some of our key customers and spend time with them. We also have apparel opportunities with Florida Citrus Sports not only for this game, but for other bowl games and events that they have for which our apparel is tied in. All those things factor in. We’d also like to get a halo effect for our retail business and our team business.”
According to Barfield, being a bowl sponsor is expected to boost Russell’s team business in particular, as the company hosted several customers - team dealers included - in Orlando. “It shows these team dealers, high schools and colleges that we try to be involved and that we’re committed to the brand and continue to invest in the brand,” he stated. “It gives us credibility with those schools and with those dealers to see the Russell Athletic name and see us running commercials during the game. The credibility with the young athletes and the
commitment to this business are all positives that our customers should hopefully take away from this.”
As for the game itself, a paid crowd of 48,127 enjoyed a defensive showdown, as Virginia Tech (7-6) edged Rutgers (9-4) in overtime, 13-10. Virginia Tech rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, ultimately claiming victory in the first possession of overtime on a field goal delivered by Hokie kicker Cody Journell. The Hokies ended a two-game bowl los-ing streak with the win.
The Russell Athletic Bowl Selection Committee invited two programs that have been very successful in recent years, making it a win-win situation for everyone involved. Rutgers and Virginia Tech each boast loyal fan bases that travel well to games, factors which were certainly not lost on the Selection Committee and Russell Athletic. “It’s two great conferences, and two great schools,” said Barfield. “Virginia Tech and Rutgers are national schools in terms of their fan bases. There’s a lot of recognition there. To get our brand in front of those schools and their supporters is a positive, and having that matchup is great, especially in our first year.” ■
8 2013 TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL
By Fernando J. Delgado
Escalade Sports’ President of Sports Dave Fetherman shares the company’s plans for a recently acquired soccer goal technology
KICK-STARTING INNOVATION WITH TECHNOLOGY
scalade Sports will develop a newly acquired technology used in portable air-pressurized soccer goals to bring an improved product to
the market as part of its Goalrilla product line. The company recently purchased the North American intellectual property rights for Rigid Air Technology from Air Structures International, a subsidiary of BDZ Holdings Limited, for use on the iGoal, a complete line of air-pressurized transportable soccer goals that Escalade currently distributes. Escalade views the acquisition of the technology as an opportunity to extend deeper into the soccer category, as well as continue its commitment to innovation developed under the Goalrilla brand.
Escalade inked an agreement with Air Structures International - the British company which manufac-turers the iGoal - in the spring of 2012 to become the exclusive distributor of the iGoal in North Ameri-ca. By purchasing the intellectual property rights to the Rigid Air Technology, Escalade plans to transi-tion the iGoal into a Goalrilla brand product within the next six months.
Manufacturing of the goals will be overseen by Escalade’s offices in Shanghai, China.
Dave Fetherman, president of sports at Escalade, told TEAM Business that the technology provides performance, ease of use, portability, versatility, and safety - for both the current iGoal and the Escalade Sports President Dave Fetherman
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development on the youth side. That also ties into the safety piece of the iGoal on the youth side, because of the softness of the posts. Because of daylight challenges, we’re also able to bring goals inside and set them up indoors. It can be in a gym on any type of surface. So if a team is facing inclement weather, you can set up the goals indoors and still get practice time in that you may not be able to otherwise.”
While the exact plans for incorporating the Rigid Air Technology into a Goalrilla product are not yet finalized, the key properties of the tech-nology will remain consistent from the iGoal to the eventual Goalrilla version. “Where we’re headed, it will continue to have the attributes of the Rigid Air Technology,” said Fetherman. “We believe that there will be some additional attributes that we will add to the goals, but the core design behind it and its versatility will remain intact.”
According to Fetherman, the upcoming Goalrilla goals are expected to have a street retail of approximately $160 for the smallest-sized goals (6’x4’); about 4 different sizes, with the largest regulation size goal measuring 24’x8’, are expected to be offered.
Currently, iGoals can be purchased on the iGoal website (igoalusa.com), with four sizes available: the Mini 6’4’, MSRP $200, Home 8’x5’, MSRP $300, Junior 12’X6’, MSRP $400 and Intermediate 16’x7’, MSRP $500. ■
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upcoming Goalrilla-branded goal product. “The technology brings three key pieces,” explained Fetherman. “One is the easy setup. It takes 45 seconds to a minute to put up a 6’x4’ goal, and only 3 to 5 minutes to put up a 24’x8’ regulation soccer goal, which allows any field or an open space to become a soccer field. It’s a one-piece goal with a net attached, so there’s no need to put up a goal and then attach a net. It’s more true-to-play than any of the other transportable goals on the market. It’s also safe for the younger age kids. If they’re running into a goal post, most of the time those posts are aluminum or steel. This is not, so they can run into it or bounce off of it and be safe.”
Fetherman went on to explain how the product and technology caught the attention of Escalade Sports. “We wanted to make sure it was unique, because our Goalrilla product line that we’ve introduced is unique,” he said. “We saw this product and we were interested in it. We got more familiar with the company [Air Structures International] and the product, and we see a lot of additional uses and applications of the technology into the future.”
For Escalade, the growing popularity of youth soccer, and the resulting demand for safer, better performing products, made the technological acquisition essential. The company believes that the versatility and transportability of the goals made with the technology will appeal to consumers. “Soccer continues to be a growing sport, especially on the youth side,” continued Fetherman. “You’ve got kids starting at two, three and four years old. They’re barely walking and they’re playing soccer. We thought that it had a lot of upside as we looked at the category itself. The big challenge with it is finding practice space and soccer fields. And in a lot of places that don’t have lights, you’re limited to a very short window in the spring and fall season, especially during the school week and after-hours. We felt that the more we could address the flexibility of setting up goals almost anywhere would allow the expansion of practice time and skill
Escalade Sports President Dave Fetherman kicks a soccer ball into an iGoal while speaking to kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Evansville. Escalade Sports donated four of the IGoals that use "Rigid Air Technology" to the Boys & Girls Club and employees offered clinics to give the kids pointers about soccer. Photo courtesy Jason Clark
CLICK TO PLAY IGOAL DEMO VIDEO
10 2013 TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL
The full study, entitled “A prospective study of physician-observed concussion during a varsity university ice hockey season,” can be found online in four parts at The Journal of Neurosurgery’s (JNS) official website, thejns.org.
Researchers followed two Canadian university teams - a men’s team and a women’s team. The two teams tracked in the study were unidenti-fied. Every player’s brain was scanned both before and after the sea-son, while players who sustained head injuries also underwent scans at three intervals after their injuries. An independent specialist physician was present at each game played by the study’s teams and was given authority to pull any player off the ice for examination in the event of a possible concussion.
The study is considered to be one of the most comprehensive analy-ses of concussions in hockey. The sport’s rate of head trauma ap-proaches that of football, which has come under fire in recent years due to concussions at both professional and amateur levels, as well as suicides by well-known NFL players. Analyzing the results of the investigation are important not only for researchers and physicians, but for players, parents, coaches and members of the sporting goods industry as well.
Echlin shared his motivations for this investigation with TEAM Business. “There’s a two-point reason we did this study,” he said. “The first one was to reproduce the previous study in 2009-10, to show that the direct physician-observed instance of concussion is significantly higher than what had previously been reported through secondary and tertiary reports. An independent physician with each team was looking at probable mechanisms of concussion and post-impact symptoms
year-long study that followed men’s and women’s college hockey teams in Canada and the United States concluded that coaches underreported concussions, while also revealing a culture among
players and coaches that resists proper treatment and diagnosis of potential head injuries. The study’s findings showed something alarming: a tendency by coaches to keep players with possible head injuries playing rather than remove them from the game for medical checks and concussion tests. Speaking with the study’s lead investigator helps shed light on an issue affecting all levels of professional and youth sports.
Dr. Paul Echlin is a primary care sports medicine specialist based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and a leading concussion researcher and expert. Board certified in both the U.S. and Canada, Echlin is the pri-mary investigator of the Hockey Concussion Education Project (HCEP), the group responsible for the most recent hockey concussion study. In addition to serving as chair of the Sport Neurotrauma and Concussion Initiative Research Committee, Echlin has also established the Sport Concussion Library website, sportconcussionlibrary.com, a legacy project of HCEP that hosts a wealth of information and educational resources regarding the topic of concussion in sport. Clearly, Echlin has a passion for studying and treating concussions, and the results of his most recent study stand out in the ongoing hot-button topic of player safety in team sports.
The study was published in late November 2012 as part of a series of articles in the journal Neurosurgical Focus. It was conducted dur-ing the 2011-12 hockey season by researchers from the University of Western Ontario, the University of Montreal, Harvard University and other institutions.
NEW STUDYSHOWS THAT CONCUSSIONS ARE BEING UNDERREPORTED IN ICE HOCKEYTEAM Business spoke with Dr. Paul Echlin, lead investigator of a new study of hockey concussions, to better understand the ramifications behind the underreporting of concussions in the game of Ice hockey and what can be done to change an unhealthy culture and reduce head injuries.By Fernando J. Delgado
A
A CULTURE PROBLEM:
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exhibited by the player that got hit, and then examined at rink-side in an examining room to make a diagnosis. That hadn’t been happening before. So a lot of true concussions had not been reported, and therefore the incidence rate is very low.”
Results of the study revealed some interesting trends not only in terms of the rate of concus-sion compared to previous studies, but also with regards to gender. “We found that the rate was three times higher than previous literature in the men, and five times higher in the women,” explained Echlin. “Women were twice the instance of men over the same period of time, which was surprising, but it aligns with a lot of the literature saying that women have a higher rate of instance of concussion. And the women’s sport, in hockey at least, is non-checking. Why is that? We’re not sure, but we’re looking at the possibilities that have been pointed to in the past.”
“The second reason we did this study was to look at the effects of concussion,” continued Echlin. “We did advanced MRI imaging…[and] susceptibility-weighted imaging, to look at metabolic and neurological structural components of the brain. We did scanning of all the participants before the study, and scanning of them after. For those that were clinically di-agnosed with concussions during the study, we did scans sequentially at 72 hours and two
months to look at the structure and meta-bolic function of the brain after these hits, and then after the season.”
The comprehensive methodology used in the study showed a significant finding about the health of hockey players that, unfortunately, is very discouraging. “The surprising and shocking finding – and these are words from the scientists at Harvard University and the University of Montreal – was that the whole cohort had changed, not just the ones we had identified,” shared Echlin. “There were statistically significant changes in the DTI [Diffusion tensor imaging scan] and substantive change, which is just under significance, in the metabolic, pre and post. Those are big findings to build upon, and what we think may be happening is that these sub-clinical injuries aren’t getting identified. Not only did we demonstrate that the instance of observed concussions is much higher than had previously been published, but we found that there may be many, many more of these sub-clinical injuries that are going on, and we know that some of them add up on top of each other to eventually produce a state that the brain cannot recover from, and either goes into post-concussion syndrome, or worse.”
Not surprisingly, reactions to the HCEP study have caused a stir in the medical com-munity, sports world and in the media. “What people have been finding to be most fasci-nating with the study is: why does it happen? Why does it continue to happen?,” observed Echlin. “You have all these pro football players and hockey players having big neurological injuries, and then the injuries that are being demonstrated later on in life in the brain that they’re finding pathologically. Why are we still going down the path of saying that it doesn’t really exist, and continue playing with it and modifying the games that we play. That’s the important part - that science is not only just numbers, but it’s why it’s happening. Can we change, can we modify, can we adapt to what we’re finding in the public health realm?”
Researchers observed multiple instances of coaches, trainers and players avoiding exami-nations, ignoring medical advice or interfering the study, despite the fact players had signed consent forms to participate and university ethics officials had granted institutional con-sent. This affirmed a problem Echlin and his colleagues have observed for several years: there’s a culture in hockey which encourages players to keep playing in spite of suffering concussions and other injuries.
“It wasn’t anything new during this study,” said Echlin in regards to the culture of hockey today. “This is the third study we’ve done;
12 2013 TEAM BUSINESS DIGITAL
the second study was an unpublished one, but we got ethics approval and financing, and we took the neutral observer out of it. These were all physician-observed games, but not neutral physicians.” Surprisingly, at least to anyone not familiar with hockey culture’s resistance to recognizing concussions, the physicians in the second study only reported one concussion for the regular season for the same group of university-level hockey players. “That was important to show,” shared Echlin. “We thought it was a failed study, but actually it demonstrated the significance of independent observation away from any of the bias of the team or anything else. Just saying if a concussion occurred or not according to observation and diagnosis. That was important.”
Observations of the study’s participants and their reactions to the study are fascinating. Echlin contacted each physician after each game, and talked to some of the trainers, and they reported what they saw and heard after each game. “I started off, when I was funding the study, with one of the biggest funding groups in the U.S. and maybe even the world,” he recalled. “And one of the reviewers for the study said, ‘This study is absurd. You’d never get funding for this because teams will never allow it.’ And you go, ‘What? They wouldn’t allow a physician at each game?’”
Echlin also encountered skepticism to the research from key par-ticipants in the study itself. “One of the coaches at the study, after a year of being in contact with myself and other people involved in the study, and knowing the methodology backwards, said, ‘You know, I think this is a really good study, and I’m really glad to be part of it, but I don’t think the physician should be a part of the game.’” said Echlin. “[The coach] is a part of this, he knows exactly what is going on, and he doesn’t want a physician at the game watching the players. Their bias is that their player will be taken off the ice. And that’s not what an ethical, well-trained physician with an education in sports medicine does. They don’t want to take players off unnecessarily, but they also don’t want to stand by while injuries occur that will affect the outcome of a player’s health.”
The idea that coaches may not have the safety of players in mind, even in the midst of a study geared towards identifying and treating concussions, is concerning to say the least. Such an attitude in coaches reveals part of a serious problem that has existed in the culture of hockey for generations. “All the way along, the resistance from coaches was heavy at all levels, and we found that in the first study, the second study, and this one,” shared Echlin. “So that’s not new. It’s a cultural entrenchment of allowed violence that occurs. The violence is intentional hits to the head, and the culture doesn’t want anyone to change it. But what we have to do is show the injuries that do occur, and say that this is what’s currently going on. It’s not about what they think, it’s about the ob-jective findings. And that’s what this literature is about. It’s about setting up a study, letting it happen, and then reporting it. The results are what they are. You can’t change it.”
What, then, can be done about concussions in hockey, and sports in general?
In order to combat the inherent detrimental behavior in the culture of hockey, and the resulting underreporting and mismanagement
of concussions, increasing awareness of the problem is essential in finding a solution for reducing head injuries. According to Echlin, that must start with the education system in the U.S. and Canada. Players should be exposed to safety campaigns in school, and at a young age in order to positively influence their attitudes and development. “In terms of the education component, because it’s so entrenched in the culture - wanting the allowed violence and the hits to the head to be ok just because the person looks ok, or because they feel that it will not cause them any injury – what we need to do is start early in the education system to make it similar to seatbelts and drinking and driving and say, ‘No hits to the head’,” said Echlin. “Because hockey is a fast collision sport, you’re always going to have a certain number of concussions. But we can prevent the obvious ones and the intentional ones. When they do occur, get that player off the ice or the field of play. Get them to a specialist and let them get treated. The worst thing is to allow them to have repetitive head injuries or brain injuries so that they compile and add up, and the person has life-long injuries because of the sport he plays. What we want to do is to work with the public education system and approach the next generation so that they are
TEAMBUSINESSDIGITAL.COM 13
a generation of coaches and parents to say, ‘No, we’re not going to allow this,’ and ask that these sports be modified so that these head injuries don’t occur at such a high rate.”
Echlin also strongly believes that better testing is essential in diagnosing and treating concussions, as well as preventing long-term injuries. “We do need to have better objective testing, because we found that the SCAT 2 and the ImPact were not very good tests,” he stated. “The ImPact actually showed an in-crease in scores after the person got injured, which is the reverse of what it should show. What does that mean? A possibility is that they just weren’t paying enough attention when they were doing the testing. You cannot de-pend on these tests that have no reliability, no validity. People should be made aware of how these tests stack up when you look at them in the real setting. I’m not dismissing these tests, but they could be better. I think we could have better tests for our athletes, and they should be based on objective findings such as the imaging.” Real-time evaluation, according to Echlin, must be more widely implemented for athletes with potential concussions. “Real time evaluation hasn’t been done before,” he said. “It’s all been cross sectional.”
Note: To read more, the first part of the study can be accessed at http://thejns.org/doi/full/10.3171/2012.9.FOCUS12287
For the sporting goods industry, concussions are always a consideration when manufacturing protective equipment. However, no equipment available can pre-vent concussions, and it is unlikely that concussion-preventing equipment will be produced any time soon given the fragility of the human brain. “There’s no mouth guards, there’s no helmets that will alter the forces of a hit significantly enough to pre-vent concussion,” said Echlin. “People have to know that just buying a $300 helmet is not going to change the possibility of sustaining a concussion. It is about fundamentals - stop hitting the head, and when it does happen, identify it. There’s going to be a lot of money spent trying to get a quick fix, when the real fix is social change in the sport. You can’t prevent all hits to the head, but you can prevent a lot of them.”
In the end, solving the problem of concussions in sports is rooted in transforming the current culture at the youth levels. “From my point of view, we’re not looking at the pros, we’re talking about grassroots change in contact collision sports. You’re not going to get that from the pro level,” said Echlin. “The pro level is based on selling a high level of violence, and that just has to be stated directly. They’re not going to change until they are forced to change. You don’t try to continue to fight a system that doesn’t want to cooperate. You go for fundamentals of identification of incidents, and addressing it through the educational component in the curriculum of the schools… so that when kids are growing up, they understand it.”
For Echlin, culture change is necessary in order for today’s group of athletes to avoid the same fate as older generations who have suffered the serious effects of brain injuries. “The groups of parents and coaches right now have a certain way of thinking about these games that’s very hard for them to change,” he stated. “That’s why there needs to be a generational and cultural shift in understanding how important these brain injuries are compared to two generations ago when it was a badge of honor to get a concussion. A lot of those guys are suffering right now from memory loss and inability to conduct their lives in any way.” ■
Dr. Paul Echlin is the founder of the Sport Concussion Library, an online resource on concussion in sport, and served as primary investigator in one of the most comprehensive studies of concussions in hockey ever conducted. Echlin stresses the importance of raising awareness of head injuries and changing the culture of hockey and other contact sports.
CALENDAR For full year calendar go to sportsonesource.com/events
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SJANUARY
14-15 Metropolitan New York Shoe Market Secaucus, NJ
15-16 Première Vision New York, NY
15-18 SHOT Show Las Vegas, NV
17-19 Sports Licensing & Tailgate Show Las Vegas, NV
17-20 NBS Winter-Specialty Market Denver, CO
18-20 Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS) Long Beach, CA
22 Outdoor Retailer All Mountain Demo Salt Lake City, UT
23-26 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market Salt Lake City, UT
23-26 PGA Merchandise Show Orlando, FL
24-27 ASA-ICAST Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Exposition Schamburg, IL
29-31 WSA Show Las Vegas, NV
30 - 1 NABA Trade Show (National Archery Buyers Association) Reno, NV
31-3 SIA Snow Show Denver, CO
FEBRUARY
1-5 NBS Spring Semi - Annual Market Fort Worth, TX
3-6 ISPO Munich 2013 Munich, Germany
5-7 FFANY New York, NY
6-8 ASI Dallas Dallas, TX
13-15 Magic Marketplace Las Vegas, NV
13-16 Sports Inc. Outdoor Show Phoenix, AZ
14-17 ASA-ICAST Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Sport Show Oaks, PA
17-20 WDI Worldwide Spring Show Reno, NV
23-25 Atlanta Shoe Market Atlanta, GA
26-28 MRA On Snow Demo Boyne Mountain, MI
28-3 ASA-ICAST World Fishing & Outdoor Exposition Suffern, NY
MARCH
6-10 ASA-ICAST Fred Hall Shows Long Beach, CA
15-17 ASA-ICAST Saltwater Fishing Expo Somerset, NJ
21-24 ASA-ICAST Fred Hall Shows San Diego, CA
22-24 ASI Long Beach Long Beach, CA
APRIL
12-14 SGB Golf Outing Charleston, SC
MAY
2-5 SportsOneSource Leadership Development Conference & SGB 40 Under 40 Awards South Beach Miami, FL
5-8 N.S.G.A. Mgmt. Conference Palm Beach Gardens, FL
8-9 ASI New York New York, NY
Athletic Dealers of America1395 Highland AvenueMelbourne, FL 32935t 321.254.0091f 321.242.7419athleticdealersofamerica.com
National Shooting Sports FoundationFlintlock Ridge Office Center11 Mile Hill RoadNewtown, CT 06470t 203.426.1320 f. 203.426.1087nssf.org
National Sporting Goods Association1601 Feehanville Drive / Suite 300Mount Prospect, IL 60056t 847.296.6742f 847.391.9827nsga.org
Nation’s Best Sports4216 Hahn Blvd.Ft. Worth, TX 76117t 817.788.0034f 817.788.8542nbs.com
Outdoor Industry Association4909 Pearl East Circle / Suite 300Boulder, CO 80301t 303.444.3353f 303.444.3284outdoorindustry.org
SFIA 8505 Fenton StreetSilver Spring, MD 20910t 301.495.6321f 301.495.6322sfia.org
Snow Sports Industries America8377-B Greensboro DriveMcLean, VA 22102t 703.556.9020f 703.821.8276snowsports.org
Sports, Inc.333 2nd Avenue NorthLewistown, MT 59457t 406.538.3496f 406.538.2801sportsinc.com
Sports Specialists Ltd.590 Fishers Station Drive / Suite 110Victor, NY 14564t 585.742.1010f 585.742.2645sportsspecialistsltd.com
Team Athletic Goods629 Cepi DriveChesterfield, MO 63005t 636.530.3710f 636.530.3711tag1.com
Worldwide 8211 South 194thKent, WA 98032t 253.872.8746f 253.872.7603wdi-wdi.com
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Athletic Dealers of America1395 Highland AvenueMelbourne, FL 32935t 321.254.0091f 321.242.7419athleticdealersofamerica.com
National Shooting Sports FoundationFlintlock Ridge Office Center11 Mile Hill RoadNewtown, CT 06470t 203.426.1320 f. 203.426.1087nssf.org
National Sporting Goods Association1601 Feehanville Drive / Suite 300Mount Prospect, IL 60056t 847.296.6742f 847.391.9827nsga.org
Nation’s Best Sports4216 Hahn Blvd.Ft. Worth, TX 76117t 817.788.0034f 817.788.8542nbs.com
Outdoor Industry Association4909 Pearl East Circle / Suite 300Boulder, CO 80301t 303.444.3353f 303.444.3284outdoorindustry.org
SFIA 8505 Fenton StreetSilver Spring, MD 20910t 301.495.6321f 301.495.6322sfia.org
Snow Sports Industries America8377-B Greensboro DriveMcLean, VA 22102t 703.556.9020f 703.821.8276snowsports.org
Sports, Inc.333 2nd Avenue NorthLewistown, MT 59457t 406.538.3496f 406.538.2801sportsinc.com
Sports Specialists Ltd.590 Fishers Station Drive / Suite 110Victor, NY 14564t 585.742.1010f 585.742.2645sportsspecialistsltd.com
Team Athletic Goods629 Cepi DriveChesterfield, MO 63005t 636.530.3710f 636.530.3711tag1.com
Worldwide 8211 South 194thKent, WA 98032t 253.872.8746f 253.872.7603wdi-wdi.com
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