kovacs claire is a senior here at the high school and has played volleyball for all of her four years here she has gone through two concussions and is agreed to share her knowledge i was a student on how she dealt with these contests concussions so claire can you tell me right what i got from a week later we were warming up by a passing leg while the other team was hitting and a ball came hit the floor and hit me right in the head and so i guy a really had like how what did the doctor recommend for you while i was supposed to stay off my phone like watch t v or anything like nothing with screens and i was just whenever i got home i was supposed to stay out of the light in like because it really bothered me especially when i was in school and i think i was allowed to take captives off but i never did and i wasn't i wasn't allowed to be around like loud noises or anything because that also gave me like more headaches and everything wow i must be tough how did this affect your academics i think i remember that my grades like they slipped a little bit but i mean i still went to school all day every day but i mean it was really difficult because is like hard to think and hard to focus especially hard to focus because of all i like is the classrooms here really bright so it was hard to do that how did this affect your sport you volleyball well i was unable to play for a while and well it was a good thing too because this was at the end of my season so at the end of my high school season so it didn't it wasn't a big deal and since this concussion was when i was a freshman we were like going to in the playoffs and i probably was going to play anyway but i was mostly worried about club volleyball and when that season came in if i could play or not but eventually i was able to play how did this affect your teammates whoa the one teammate who i slammed heads with it she like she was like i can say right after that happened like she was she was kind of in tears from the shock in it and things that she was fine she didn't have a concussion or anything and then i think you were just worried but i didn't want them to be too worried because i wanted them to focus on the gain and just doing the best they can so the doctor recommended you do like stay away from like tronics from the white stuff how did this differ from the better but all that generally happened so they kind of just let it slide how is this hard on your every day life like where you like able to do stuff as much or i i wasn while i still did stuff i was able to hang out with friends and everything but i didn't i mostly just like to sleep and just saying like a dark room because like everything i did like it was either allow was really very or just like something that would bother my head so so i know you had a second concussion how did that one occur ok so this was during my junior year about halfway through and i was at my club volleyball practice and we were were going through serving drill and i was doing my jumps or while i was in midair a ball came and hit me right in the woods and only i had a headache like about ten minutes later so my coach told me that i should probably sit out for the rest of the night in case it didn't get like unless it got better but it didn't and is it was actually a little worse than my first one so what was the doctor's recommendation and this time around it was pretty much the same thing and well i also had to go to the trainers after the school and they said i should like write down my headaches and everything and that i should visit them and once i start getting better they'll give me a little workouts to do when i'm there like run on the treadmill or like do some like volleyball movements like motions through so how was this second concussion worse or better well i think this  worse because well usually whenever someone gets a concussion like the first one it's not that bad but it's a higher risk of getting another one after so and then it's also like more likely for it to be worse in this time around like i still say to school like all day but i would have been to the nurse like once or twice a day basically because my head was hurting like it was i was feeling a little nauseous and everything so i so that's basically how it was worse and it's just like i had headaches cause how did you train for going back to volleyball well just basically with my trainers the trainers at the school they said they get they have this like program where it's like it starts off slow then like it's like a five day program and you have to it builds up told her and harder so like it's like it starts off with basically just like running on a treadmill for a while or lee or like biking for a while or something and then like it starts incorporating like the volleyball movements and everything and also just other self like jumping on boxes or soft like that so why did you choose to go back to all about even after those two concussions well i knew if i didn't play volleyball i wouldn't really have much else to do and i mean i really like the sport too and i wanted to push through and do it all for years because i don't see any point in quitting once you've done something for a long time and so howard like family and friends hope for throughout the concussions my parents well they really helped me because they were just so well since i was able to drive by them like they would take me to my doctor's appointment and my mom would take care of me at home and like she would like she would do everything she could to make me feel better and then my friends they they actually weren't that involved with my  really but they were understanding whenever i told them that like i was having horrible headaches and i just couldn't hang out so how were you able to get back on the court well i was able to like start off slow in this was this is another thing that the trainers told me to do like they had certain roles like i couldn't really run or dive for like jump or anything i could only just do like small movements so i would start off just like passing back and forth with like a team meet or something and then we would take it further and further every practice and then i was eventually able to get back into the full swing unit how is it hard for you that you couldn't get back to like straight doing volleyball it was tough because i didn't like i was worried because my spa was probably going to be taken from me and it actually was for a few torn and then eventually i was able to just build my way up and earn my spot pack and but that was really tough it put it with a lot of mental so how was like harder after the concussion was it like difficult with schoolwork or anything  honestly like once i got back to it i just kept working like i used to and i think my grades actually got a little better afterwards so yeah i was pretty well in the dug  well what is a doctor i commend you for you to like not get a concussion again well you don't really recommend anything because it's hard it's not really like possible to avoid them  unless you're like really careful but whenever you're in a sport you can be careful but just like there's a point where you just can't control it and like when playing volleyball it's really easy to like hit your head off the ground in the face  mall or like run into someone else what would you recommend though if you two like stopped from getting a concussion well maybe just like to talk to like the coaches and see if there's like a better way to really to avoid all this and i like maybe one diving on the ground like there's a way to avoid from hitting your head or something or if there's head to make sure you don't run into lake at seniors something really tips for your teammates to help you like by calling the ball out or calling where it goes on that  personally i have had a concussion before so it has really no like it's hard to like not be able to get one because anything could happen so how do you think how do you think you can get back like for other like sports people who had a concussion and are dealing with some how could they get back into their swing of their sports and stuff well they definitely need to take it easy like a great one to happened and basically just do what i did by just working on building it back up and just take it slow and then just take it at different stages because if you work yourself too hard you're definitely going to like make it worse but in there will be a point where you can get back into the swing  i how was the coach support of throughout well she kept checking up on me and she kept texting me and asking like if i was ok and she would ask my teammates to check up on me and i would i would still go to practices and everything in she would just she would make sure that like it wasn't too loud and like i wasn't having like bad headaches or anything and if i was she would tell me that like i could go home or something just make it better and you said your teammates where they're like how were they supportive throughout it they would keep checking up on me making sure that i had  everything i need like like they would always make sure that i was like hydrate or something just because that was like really important to them and especially after right after  and like they were making sure what were your expectations after the concussion i was hoping to just get right back to how i was doing in that and if you go to college would you consider playing volleyball when i was just because i just i mean i used to when i was in eighth grade just it got to a little too much like to be too much in high school and when i gets college i want focus solely on academics just so i can like really strive in overall it definitely gives me like a new perspective on like injuries because i know there's like different types like there's like broken bones now everything but there's also it in terms of like concussions and those can but so basically i just flee i was able to grasp on the concept and just like help other like teammates whenever they had an injury or like basically anyone who had one and i was able to offer my support in like a new way and i was also able to look at everything i did like in a new way like just maybe work at things better like harder but with certainly like differ from a concussion while they  y they both are injuries but they're different because like it's like they seem more painful and they are i definitely would think they are but they can and concussions definitely aren't as painful but they both put like a mental strain on you but after a while like there's like different ways of treatment and everything and i i don't think are actually is bad as like getting like having a broken bone or like a badly sprained ankle or rest her something so i just think that really going through  like those type of injuries they're more difficult because you have to stay out longer and you have and you have like more like shock whenever it happens and it's just it's a tougher process to go through but when it comes to a concussion like there's most of them can be shorter just depending on how severe it is like mine at most lasted like a month or two but really when it comes to those other injur can last for a long long time so dealing with a full month was how was it hard on you it was just tough because i kept worrying because i was like i'm probably not going to play anymore and like this other girls going to take my spot because i shared it with another person and i i don't want to say  i personally thought i was better than them at the position but i i did lose the like i wasn't playing as much as i wanted to and i didn't really know why  it was i think it was because of the caution and usually whenever people get injured coaches like told them to take it easy and they don't play them this much so i also think that was a factor so how did you affect you mentally is like very hard to grasp because i just like i i was really frustrated because like i would get these random headaches just like and they would last for such a long time and sometimes they would come in ways they would be like really bad and sometimes it would just be really small it was frustrating it would just make me really upset and just like angry and sometimes i would even have like the smallest little mental breakdown that i did have like my mom there to help me out that so that so how does this affect you physically physically i don't i don't think there was much effect except for the fact that like i was unable to work out or anything so i did get a little lazy and i probably put on a little bit i mean once he once i got back in the sport i mean that changed did you feel how did you feel more comfortable during the coming back or did you feel like you were out of it coming back to volleyball i thought i was a little out of that because usually when i ever it's hard to get back into like sports like that because it's basically just all skill so even like if you take like a week off it feels really weird to start playing again so after taking like a month off it was it was kind of difficult it's it's just weird to go back to that so i did how did your teammates help you after the concussion  they just like i like how they helped me because they would treat me like i just never like went away but also like i was never gone and i was never injured but also  if if my if like i looked like something was wrong they would make sure that like i was ok like if i look like i was once in because of like a headache or something they would ask are you ok do i need to tell coach like are you sure you can keep playing so how was your coach able like how was your coach after the concussion and how did she help you she  she kept checking up on me and she was like i don't want you to push yourself too hard i want you to be careful and mean knowing me she also knew that i would just go back to reading to it like your like everyday life different from after the concussion after it was just it basically got back to how it was and nothing much changed i mean except for the fact that i was actually able to like going to the gym now i do more things with my friends like instead of like how i was during the concussion how did you how were you able to get back into like your full self i just basically tried to remember how i would do things before like how i would like why i was doing these things like how i was before really because i i really push myself to do things like at one hundred percent and i was just like i kept reminding  basically the reason is just so i can just because like i want to be successful in everything that i did well or you were strained from during your concussion i wasn't able sleep well i was still able to do most things like they gave me they gave me the option of if i wanted to like take a test or five like wanted to i don't know go to the leave class early so i'm not like in the hallways with everyone else but they never technically told me that like i had to do anything so like me just being me just decided to keep things as normal as possible so you said they like the teachers with like say you don't have to take tests like how or how are the teachers helpful well well firstly nurse like i would talk to her and she gave me the sheet like explaining everything that i could do and she sent out e mails to my teachers and like so they would talk to me and they would check to make sure like if i could do something  like if i could take tests or if i could go on the computer because one of my classes last seriously it was just like basically on computers and my teacher she was like if you're not ok to do this we can handle it at a later time and or like i can just like or i can make exempt from that because i mean there were certain things that were kind of difficult for me to do so how are other students were they hopeful or how did they interview they some of my friends who i had in classes or they were very helpful because i remember specifically i was in s hall and like great before my physics costs and i had like three friends i was like really close with and i just kept complaining about having had a anything they're like they're like clear you don't look  we should probably told her teacher that you weren't feeling well in that you have a concussion so they actually wanted to hold the teacher for mean they helped me out and i i thought it was really nice that's really nice  and so were your parents also hopeful like how are they helpful just my mom she just like talked me through it a lot because it just it was really stressful and she just whenever i asked or didn't do something or take me somewhere like she would make sure she was free in like especially like for doctor's appointments and she would schedule all the she would help me get through sometimes like kids in the class could be really loud and obnoxious and they're just like it would really bother me and i remember just like specifically in freshman year when i had a concussion like i was i was sitting in my english class and i just like i was focusing like i looked at the lights and i was just like i got an immediate headache and i just couldn't handle it it was really tough and so this basically those aspects of like a school environment they make it really tough for someone with a concussion especially one like one in the lunchroom because you know it's really loud here i don't like sometimes there's just like kids making these really a lot of noxious how did your physician or a doctor help throw out your concussion and they would just keep asking me questions key like updating themselves online talos during and making sure that