Thread by @thederbyapex

Concussion discussions are on the timeline today and it was a focus for my team this year so I am going to go through the steps and changes we made and hopefully others can chime in with things they've found helpful. #DerbyTwitter

I track lost time injuries with our travel program and going into this year we identified mixed level interleague scrims and expo bouts as higher risk events. A periodization plan that included limiting these games in terms of scheduling and skating was part of my Coach vote.

A wide disparity in skill level and experience, a lack of coaching, and a relaxed officiating atmosphere can all lead to higher risk of injury. Tracking, identifying and eliminating those games was part of our prevention strategy this year.

We also included baseline concussion training as part of the Coach vote. Research shows that even if the baseline itself isn't useful, the process is important, especially pre season as part of concussion awareness and education.

We were lucky enough to organize a sponsorship with a clinic, so the tests ended up being no cost. We also did media around this, our largest local media so far this year, that presented our league as forward thinking and progressive on the issue.

The third and final thing tied to my Coach vote was a return to team off skates training. Along with this we brought on an education physical trainer (luckily already in league) who could also use our lost time tracking to structure our off skates training to prevent injury.

Having ANY demands tied to a Coach vote was unconventional for TCRD, but skaters will play to and thru injury ALL THE TIME in this sport. These things were important enough to me that without them I wouldn't be back to Coach I team I already loved very much.

We followed return to play very closely this year, and EV is very much a success story for anyone struggling with symptoms. She took a high directional block in the final 30 seconds of Toques that had her out for Brew. RTP + Baseline + Coaches helped every stage.

There are still lots of things stockpiled for next year - trying new tech, securing a helmet sponsor, refining our periodization plan, staying up to date with what other leagues like @MTLROLLERDERBY are doing, etc.

@MTLROLLERDERBY Fingers crossed a new structure next year will also mean we can train more coaches, have the whole league tied into our training plan and basically extend all of these things across the league.

@MTLROLLERDERBY EVERYONE please buy into having COACHES and TRAINERS at EVERY level. These are people who can identify symptoms you may very much want to play thru. They are also people who can help tailor your training and scheduling towards prevention.