CU Leads Initiative To Prevent Head Injuries Ahead Of Spring Season

BOULDER - Colorado universities will be adopting new rules in April to prevent head injuries during the spring soccer season. Goalkeepers will be prevented from kicking the ball to clear it from the defensive box, and instead will have to pass it to a teammate. This will eliminate balls travelling as far as 60-70 yards in the air, almost all of which are stopped by a player heading the ball. The goal is to lessen the number of fast-traveling balls coming in contact with players' heads.

The women's soccer coaches at Air Force, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado College, University of Denver and the University of Northern Colorado, acting on a plan proposed by Danny Sanchez, head coach at CU Boulder, took the action not just to reduce the number of hits to players' heads, but also to assess how one of several possible rule changes that might evolve from growing concerns with player well-being might affect the game.

Last year the American Youth Soccer Association (AYSO) outlawed players 13 years old and under from heading the ball under any condition, and restricted the practice for 14-year old players. Changes due to concerns with head injuries are occurring frequently in other sports at all levels. Other sports are also adapting practice and competition rules to protect from head injuries, such as less contact in football practice and targeting rules in games at the NFL and NCAA levels.

Last season a game between CU and Denver was analyzed to begin developing baseline data. Both are Division I universities playing at a competitively high level consistent with the division. There were about 40 goal kicks in the game, 94 percent of which were headed by players. Taken over a 20-game season, this suggests that about 325 such balls may headed per team during the season. In total, 1,547 colleges fielded women's soccer at all levels, meaning a total of about 500,000 of such headers took place.

Kathryn Hardin, a clinical Professor and Brain Injury Specialist at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a member of the task force that developed the experimental rule, noted that the issue of hits to the head is especially important for young women.

“One of the hottest areas of concussion research focuses on differences between women and men,” Hardin said. “The majority of research has focused on male athletes, but young women seem to have a unique susceptibility to concussion. As women have different body structures, we also need to pay special attention to their hits to the head, especially thinking about successive injuries.”

Sanchez, head coach at CU, was enthusiastic about being able to gain experience with a potential new rule in spring practice games.

“The Colorado coaches, like all coaches, have a huge concern with player health, and for us to band together to take a look at a potential positive step in this regard is exciting,” Sanchez said. “Spring practice games are a time for coaches and players alike to learn, and this is an important initiative for the group to do that.”

Earlier this week, retired United States women's soccer star Abby Wambach and her former teammate Megan Rapinoe announced they will donate their brains for research.

A schedule of games to be played under the test rule can be found below:

Sunday, April 3 at Colorado