2017 CAS Sevens
From the Head of Sport, Greg Elliott
Concussion in sport is becoming an ever increasing issue that should be taken very seriously. Waverley College places the health and wellbeing of your son first as a major priority. Any suspected concussion by a medic, physiotherapist or coach is reported and medical clearance is required for your son to return to sport. In most cases, the recovery time for concussion is a minimum of two to three weeks.
If your son is experiencing some of the following symptoms after training or a game, please make sure that you take them to a doctor to get examined.
- headache
- nausea
- dizziness
- problems with balance
- problems with attention
- loss of consciousness
- temporary memory loss.
If your son is concussed playing sport outside of the College, it is the responsibility of the player and parents to notify the Head of Sport and the Convenor of that sport.
According to the Australian Rugby Union, there are a number of guidelines (including the table of stages) that need to be considered. Waverley College implements this concussion policy for all sports offered at the College. The AFL and other sports have similar policies in place around concussion.
A summary of the policy is below:
- Recognise and remove
Any player suspected or recognised with concussion must be removed from training and playing and not return to rugby or other sport or physical activity on the same day.
- Refer
Any player suspected or recognised with concussion must see a medical doctor as soon as possible.
- Rest
Players diagnosed with concussion must rest completely until all signs and symptoms of concussion have disappeared.
- Recover
The concussed player must first recover from all concussion signs and symptoms at rest and return to activities of normal daily living before starting exercise.
- Return
Follow the graduated return to play (GRTP) protocol
– Start light exercise (Stage 2) when given clearance by a medical doctor.
– Progress through the GRTP without any symptoms or signs recurring.
– Start contact training (Stage 5) after receiving a medical certificate from a medical doctor.
– This should be in accordance with the IRB guidance recommendation around return to contact training i.e. players 18 years and under diagnosed with concussion cannot return to contact training or playing for at least 2 weeks (14 days) after all concussion signs and symptoms have disappeared.
The player must have a medical certificate from a medical doctor to start contact training (Stage 5).
This certificate must be given to the convenor or sport master. Return to playing rugby only when you have followed the IRB guidance recommendation around contact training AND fully recovered from concussion (no concussion signs or symptoms at rest, in your normal daily activities, during exercise and contact training).
To see videos produced by WorldRugby on concussion, please click HERE.
