Introduction Course: Brain Health and Sport

Introduction Course: Brain Health and Sport

Overview

The goal of this material is to educate young people (ages 10 -18) who play sport and those who don’t currently play, and their parents, coaches and teachers, about the impact of sport, particularly contact sports like rugby (union and league) and football, on the long-term development and health of the brain.

It is not specific to any sport and it’s relevant to those who don’t play any sport, and those who do play any form or sport or exercise, and at any level.

The cognitive and developmental benefits will be emphasised strongly, to encourage participation in sports and reassure concerned parents.

The other focus of the programme is to explain the true risk of head injuries. The science of how, and why, they are so harmful, and can have long-term negative consequences, will be explored and explained fully.

The ultimate goal is to educate children (aged 10 – 18), as well as their parents, teachers and coaches, so they can make educated decision about sports participation, while understanding the positive benefits, the risks and how these risks can be reduced.

Structure

The course is broken down into 3 Lessons:

1. The Basic of the Brain: A general look at how the brain works, and the particularly important, relevant aspects of it, to provide a baseline understanding required for the successive modules.
2. How Sport is Good for the Brain: An overview of the many ways in which sport is good for the brain, starting with how it’s good for the body in general, how this relates to good brain health and functioning on a purely physical/biological level, and then how it extends to learning, and intellectual and social development, all of which positively feed into wellbeing.
3. How Head Injuries Affect the Brain (and how to reduce harm): An overview of how head injuries (concussions, sub concussions) and why you are vulnerable to these, and signs to look out for injuries when you’re training, playing or even outside of sport.   It then covers the approach to safely returning back to playing to ensure any damage to you and your brain are minimised.  

Within each of the Lessons there are 3 or 6 Topics: 3 in the 1st and 3rd Lessons, and 6 in the 2nd Lesson. This means there is a total of 12 Topics.

Each Topic is likely to take 5 – 25 minutes to read through and complete, as some are longer and more complex than others.  We suggest taking a break in the middle of some of the longer ones. The time taken will vary by the children’s age, interest and ability, plus whether they are doing this in class, at home or on the move – and also if someone like a parent is doing it with them.

Quizzes

After each Topic there is a short multiple choice Quiz with 3 – 10 questions each worth 10 points.  The Quiz must be passed in order to progress to the next Topic.  The pass mark varies depending on the number of questions:

• 70 points (70%) where there are 10 questions.
• 60 points (75%) where there are 8 questions.
• 50 points (>80%) where there are 6 questions.
• 30 points (75%) where there are 4 questions.
• 30 points (100%) where there are 3 questions.

If you don’t pass first time, you can view the answers and have another go.

Once you have completed all the Topics and Quizzes for a Lesson, you can move onto the next one, and once you have successfully completed the third Lesson, you have passed the course and will be issued with a Head for Change “Brain Safe” certificate.

Characters

Across the Lessons and Topics there are a few characters to help introduce and summarise the Topics and to explain some of the key points that are made.

These are some of the people that have developed the course each of whom are experts in their fields – so hopefully they’ll explain the points well.

The Pro sports player: Alix

• Alix Popham is one of the founders of Head for Change, along with his wife Mel and Sally.
• He earned 33 caps for Wales, played in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, was a Grand Slam winner in 2008 and retired in 2011.
• He was diagnosed with probable CTE and early onset dementia, as a result of traumatic brain injury suffered in rugby career, in April 2020.
• Dad of 3 amazing daughters who are encouraged to ‘step out’ and make a positive difference every day.
• He’ll help explain some of the sports points included throughout the course.

The Guide: Warwick

• Warwick Clews is a Trustee of Head for Change and is leading the development of the Brain Safe education courses.
• He was a keen athlete and rugby player in his youth captaining his school and county, then playing and coaching rugby at Loughborough University before injury ended his career.
• He coached club rugby coach for children aged 6 – 16, and is a dad of an ex professional rugby player.
• He’s mad about all sport and wants everyone to play sports – safely!
• He’ll guide you through the course by introducing and summarising each topic.

The Scientist: Dean

• Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist and international best-selling children’s author. He specialises in explaining complex concepts and issues to children of all ages.
• He’s a dad of a sports-loving kid, and grew up in a rugby-obsessed community.
• Loves telling people how the brain works and how good sport is for it, as long as everyone is safe and sensible.
• He has developed most of the content for this course alongside inputs from teachers, sports experts and ex-players, medical specialists and nutritionists.
• As our scientist he’ll help explain some of the science points included throughout the course.

The Doctor: Sally

• Dr Sally Tucker is an NHS surgeon with a special interest in medical ethics and law.
• Her father is a former professional footballer diagnosed with dementia, likely related to repetitive head injury sustained during his playing career.
• She is a co-founder of Head for Change, and as a Trustee, Sally passionately seeks to create a supportive space for former sports players suffering from neurodegenerative disease and to promote positive developments in sport which make player health the priority.
• As our medic, she’ll help explain some of the medical and health points included throughout the course.

The Nutritionist and Young Player: Theo

• Theo Brophy Clews is a Head for Change Ambassador.
• He captained his school at rugby, represented England at U18 and U20 including winning the World Cup.
• He played over 50 first team games for London Irish, and is the youngest ever scorer for them at 17, but unfortunately had to retire at 24 due to multiple concussions.
• He’s a qualified nutritionist, psychology masters graduate, coffee shop manager and surfer.
• He’ll summarise the nutrition section of the course (watch this space for a later course on this) and also give his perspective as a young rugby player.

Feedback – please provide some!

In the last topic there is a very quick feedback form which we’d like you to complete so we can improve the course for others.  This needs to be done before you complete the final quiz and the course.

Thank you for participating and enjoy the course!