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Lynbrook High School Crafting Game Plan for Concussions

In the wake of recent rule changes and concussion awareness promotions by the NFL, Lynbrook High School's football team in Cupertino is taking preventative measures to prevent concussions and make the game safer for its players.


Written by Austin Belisle


The high school football season doesn’t start with the roar of an anxious crowd on a chilly October night. It doesn’t start when the marching band blares their instruments for a team’s first touchdown. It doesn’t start when players lace their shoulder pads or snap their helmets into place on a muggy June afternoon. It begins with the playbook.           

At Lynbrook High School, the Viking playbook is 106 pages long, filled with the formations, plays, and techniques that serve as any team’s backbone for success.           

Coaches spend the spring months dissecting every page, learning the ins and outs of “Right” and “Left” formations or perfecting the intricacies of a “Sweep” or “Dive” play. Mastering the playbook in the spring leads to success in the fall, and preparations begin early within the walls of the coach’s office.           

Jim Grassi, Lynbrook’s head coach, is doing more than studying film and drawing up schemes on the whiteboard; he’s crafting a new playbook, one with a plan to prevent concussions. Without it, no play, formation, or victory matters.           

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), more than a million people are affected by concussions every year, with high school athletes playing football and soccer at greatest risk.           

Grassi, in his second year as head coach, understands the prevalence of concussions and the risks they pose to his developing players, taking preventative measures to protect the game and team he loves.           

“Lynbrook High School is training coaches, making them take a CIF concussion awareness course and supplying the most up to date protective equipment to prevent concussions.”           

The latest in protective equipment, the Rawlings NRG Quantum and Riddell Revolution Speed helmets, earned four stars in the most recent Virginia Tech helmet rating STAR tests and offers players the greatest protection against concussions that helmets offer. Both feature inflatable, padded lining and polycarbonate shells that Grassi believes will “lessen the impact of a blow to the head” that players experience everyday in practice.           

To further combat the inherent problems that a game like football poses, the team recently purchased “gel pack covers” for previously-concussed players to use in practice, as permitted by the NFHS. Known as “Guardian,” the soft-shell covers fit any helmet and are scientifically proven to reduce a hit to the head by 33%, giving both players and coaches a sense of comfort when they step on the field.           

“I think the game's gotten safer. I think awareness by coaches has made the game safer and obviously you see the steps that the NFL has taken and its a trickle down effect from the NFL to the NCAA and eventually to high school,” says Grassi, who is witnessing the trickle-down effect firsthand.           

For the first time in nearly 15 years, the American Academy of Neurology has changed their guidelines for management of sports concussions, and Lynbrook’s football program is fully implementing these changes.           

Assistant Coach Robert Peng, a member of Grassi’s staff, is making sure that these guidelines are met by teaching newly improved techniques to younger players.            “I think as coaches, you become more aware of certain techniques that will help lessen the blow to the head. Teaching them to play a physical game using the shoulders will help prevent concussions,” he says, emphasizing that old school, helmet-down tackling is no longer a page in Lynbrook’s concussion playbook.            Also gone are the “follow the finger” tests used by coaches after a player gets his “bell rung” or “clock cleaned.” Instead, Lynbrook High School, along with all NFHS programs, is required to withhold a player from participating in any game or practice after showing signs, symptoms or behaviors associated with a concussion until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional.            

 Spring practices begin in May, and coaches will finally have the chance to open up their playbooks and transform ink into motion with every new play call. But tucked in the corner of Jim Grassi’s desk is the playbook everyone can understand: The playbook that will ensure the safety of every player who sets foot on Lynbrook’s field and make the upcoming season successful, no matter what the “Win-Loss” column reads. 


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