Read the Sticker

Around the beginning of training camp every August, after the summer workouts of June and July have been completed, the playbook has been solidified, and the pads and helmets have been distributed to players, my high school coach would always have us kneel together one afternoon after practice, take off our helmets, and flip them around to spot the little warning sticker stuck to the backs.

If you pay close attention next time you see a game or practice, you'll notice that every football helmet (at least in the last 5 or so years), no matter the brand, no matter if it's worn by a peewee kicker or an NFL linebacker, has one of these stickers. Different brands have different wording or information on the stickers, but the message is essentially the same-- "WARNING: NO HELMET CAN PREVENT SERIOUS HEAD OR NECK INJURIES A PLAYER MIGHT RECEIVE WHILE PARTICIPATING IN FOOTBALL. Contact football may result in CONCUSSION-BRAIN INJURY which no helmet can prevent." You get the idea. They often also include common symptoms of concussion, and discourage unsafe or illegal tackling techniques, such as spearing.

Notice the warning sticker with black writing on the back of this Tennessee player's helmet

There's assumed risk with everything in life. Get behind the wheel, especially if you chose to drink and/or not wear a seatbelt, and there's a chance of serious injury of death. Jump in the ocean, and you're jumping out of the human environment and into one of sharks, jellyfish, and rip currents. These dangers are everywhere when one really looks for them, but they're remote enough and difficult enough to prevent that most people probably don't spend much time contemplating them.

Football is in a different category than that of these normal occurrences. Although I hate to juxtapose what I consider to be a a virtuous past time to vices, football really can be compared to smoking, drinking alcohol, gambling, etc; it's not a matter of if negative consequences will ensue, it's a matter of when they will ensue.

I respect and admire my high school head coach for 1000 reasons, and the fact that he forced us every year to read the warning sticker that often gets overshadowed by the glossy finish and colorful stickers on a football helmet is one of them. In many ways, that warning sticker's place on the helmet is an apt metaphor for the way the concussion crisis in football is often lost in a sea of excitement, adrenaline, and (in the case of professional football) the dollar bill. But it's imperative that players, wether they are 7 years old or 37 years old, pay attention to the sticker and what it represents. Next time you (or your player(s) if you're a parent or coach) go to strap on a helmet, make sure you know and understand the risk associated with the game. Read the sticker.