Mayor Joseph Curtatone joined Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Chris Nowinski, last Wednesday to announce the city’s partnership with the foundation.

By Jim Clark

The City of Somerville announced last week that they have entered into a three-year partnership with the Boston-based Concussion Legacy Foundation to develop Somerville into a model city for concussion education, policy and prevention for its youth athletes.

According to information provided by the city, the Concussion Legacy Foundation will work with the Mayor’s Office, the Somerville Department of Health and Human Services, the Somerville Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Somerville Public Schools to educate stakeholders including coaches, parents, and athletes, as well as develop and expand cutting-edge policies for concussion management and prevention for the city, recreation department, and schools.

The Foundation’s flagship youth education program, Team Up Against Concussions, was presented by Foundation program manager Cliff Robbins to fifth through eighth grade students at West Somerville Neighborhood School. The Team Up program will be brought to schools throughout Somerville over the course of the next year, with the goal of reaching every public school student in Somerville with concussion education.

Students participate in a concussion awareness presentation. — Photos courtesy of Concussion Legacy Foundation

“I am pleased to announce SomerSafe Sports not only as Somerville’s mayor but as a father, a former football coach, and a former athlete myself who has experienced concussions,” said Mayor Curtatone. “It is important to me that we take all of the necessary steps in preventing concussions in our youth athletes so that they stay healthy and safe as they develop their skills playing youth sports.”

Additionally, the mayor reflected on his own personal experiences saying, “The way we were taught to coach was based on our experience. Whether it be the amount of contact we promoted at an early age on a daily basis, to a lack of understanding of what being concussed is, how to give a diagnosis, recognize or report it. That lack of knowledge carried through my youth to my coaching experience, was something that stayed with us for years.”

“This is about our interactions in our coaching and our teaching in every sport and physical activity our children participate in,” the mayor said. “This partnership will allow us to make Somerville an even better place to play by building upon the great work that has already taken place in our high school on concussion prevention and education.”

“We look forward to collaborating to make Somerville a model city, and then working with other cities to replicate this model in a scalable manner,” Concussion Legacy Foundation co-founder and CEO Chris Nowinski said. “Our audit revealed Somerville already had a strong foundation in place, but the science is moving so quickly that it is good practice for everyone to annually revisit and improve their concussion programs.”

Part of the city’s enhanced focus on concussion safety will now include a Somerville Concussion Resources page on the city’s website. This page will provide parents, athletes and coaches an easily accessible library of documents and information on concussions.

The partnership kicked off earlier this month with Somerville participating in the Foundation’s national Team Up Day on September 13, in which Somerville coaches gave a speech to their teams encouraging them to “team up and speak up” if they thought a teammate had a concussion.