High School Sports Blog

Mason Kelley covers High School Sports for The Seattle Times. Sandy Ringer is also a frequent contributor to this blog.

July 28, 2010 at 1:18 PM

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'Team 7:15' sports concussion summit and dinner

Here's a press release I wanted to share:

This Friday July 30 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Comfort Suites Hotel in Tukwila is the"Team 7:15" Sports Concussion Summit and Dinner.

This incredible event will bring together nine families of injured High School Athletes, all of whom have suffered through sports related Concussions and Traumatic Brain Injuries.

The event is designed to educate and bring together these traumatically injured young athletes to work towards changes in standards and protocols at the Youth Sports Level.

Two of the attending families lost their sons on the football field in the past six months. They include High School junior Drew Swank of Spokane and Eastern Oregon Universities Dylan Steigers of Missoula.

Also Attending will be:

Zachery Lystedt who's Law in Washington State has helped spawn a revolution and was the first of its kind.
Max Conradt of Oregon; Max's Law is the second of its kind in the US and his law was widely publicized.
Kort Breckenridge of Tetonia; Idaho who has Kort's Law in Idaho named after him. That was the Fourth Law of it's kind in the US.
Matthew Newman of Highland High in Yakima, Washington who's story was covered nationally last year.
Three other Local families will be in attendence who have all been injured from sports.

The Key Note speaker will be University of Pittsburgh professor and Doctor Mark Lovell who is the founder of ImPACT Concussion testing which is a tremendous tool for keeping players off the field until they are ready to return. ImPACT has been in the news a lot lately after the NFL, NHL, and Major League baseball all made their testing tools a part of their battle against ever increases brain injuries in sports.

"Rarely has anyone ever brought together injured athletes and their families to work on this issue in this way. These Champions have given it all and yet stand ready to help others. This is going to be an amazing time and we will I am sure share some sad and very happy moments together," said Dirk Knudsen or Portland who founded the group after helping critically injured Yakima High School QB Matthew Newman recover from his life threatening football head injury in 2009.

Knudsen is a Coach and a Community activist who's three sons have all been effected by sports related concussion.

There are still some seats available for the Dinner which is $25 and will be a Hawaiian Family style meal, T-shirts will be available, and the Team 7:15 group will be accepting donations which will all go towards educating coaches, parents, and players.

High School Sports Blog

'Team 7:15' sports concussion summit and dinner

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