Jun 14, 2018Required Protection
In 2017, student-athletes on the girls’ lacrosse team at Pelham (N.H.) High School suffered nine concussions. This past spring, Head Coach John Fichera decided to make helmets mandatory, as reported by WMUR 9.
Fichera said all the concussions last year were due to balls hitting the players’ heads.
“It’s not protecting against players that don’t know how to play or protecting against coaches that don’t know how to coach,” Fichera said. “It’s protecting against things that just happen. They’re accidental things.”
Pelham Athletic Trainer Erin Tufts, ATC, reports that the helmets have worked well.
“I know they’ve had about seven hits in the head with a ball or a stick, and there’s been no concussions,” she said.
Tina Nutter, whose daughter plays for Pelham, said she approves of the helmets, even if the student-athletes aren’t wild about them.
“I think the girls should be wearing them,” she said. “They’ll all disagree with me, but I think they should be wearing them.”
Pelham bought 35 helmets for $100 each, and the helmets are expected to last for several years.
“All the kids want to do is go out and play, so anything we can do to help prevent their brain from getting damaged is the best for them,” Fichera said.
