U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

29–997 PDF 2018

S. HRG. 115–218 

CURRENT ISSUES IN AMERICAN SPORTS: 

PROTECTING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF 

AMERICAN ATHLETES 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 

SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MAY 17, 2017 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

( 

Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov 

(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri 

TED CRUZ, Texas 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska 

DEAN HELLER, Nevada 

JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma 

MIKE LEE, Utah 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

TODD YOUNG, Indiana 

BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts 

CORY BOOKER, New Jersey 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

GARY PETERS, Michigan 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada 

NICK ROSSI, Staff Director 

ADRIAN ARNAKIS, Deputy Staff Director 

JASON VAN BEEK, General Counsel 

KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director 

CHRIS DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director 

RENAE BLACK, Senior Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on May 17, 2017 ............................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 4 

Statement of Senator Sullivan ............................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement from Jake Wald, Business Development Manager, 

Positive Coaching Alliance ........................................................................... 102 

Statement of Senator Markey ................................................................................. 5 

Statement of Senator Moran .................................................................................. 78 

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 82 

Letter dated May 16, 2017 to Hon. John Thune and Hon. Bill Nelson 

from Katherine Snedaker, LCSW, Executive Director, PINK Concussions ............................................................................................................... 94 

Prepared statement from Katherine Starr, Founder, Safe4Athletes ........... 95 

Letter dated May 17, 2017 to Hon. John Thune and Hon. Bill Nelson 

from David Goodfriend, Chairman, Sports Fans Coalition ....................... 97 

Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 84 

Statement of Senator Cortez Masto ....................................................................... 85 

Statement of Senator Hassan ................................................................................. 87 

Statement of Senator Young ................................................................................... 89 

Statement of Senator Moore Capito ....................................................................... 90 

WITNESSES

Jay C. Butler, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Alaska Department of Health 

and Social Services and Director of Public Health; and President, Association of State Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) ........................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 

Maureen Deutscher, Family Representative, Prescription Opioid Abuse Advisory Committee, South Dakota Department of Health ..................................... 11 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 

Shellie Pfohl, Chief Executive Officer, United States Center for Safe Sport ..... 16 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17 

Scott R. Sailor, President, National Athletic Trainers’ Association .................... 51 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 53 

Robert A. Stern, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Anatomy, 

and Neurobiology; Director, Clinical Core, BU Alzheimer’s Disease and 

CTE Center, Boston University School of Medicine .......................................... 57 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 58 

Lauryn Williams, Olympian and Proud TrueSport Ambassador, United States 

Anti-Doping Agency ............................................................................................. 72 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 74 

(1) 

CURRENT ISSUES IN AMERICAN SPORTS: 

PROTECTING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF 

AMERICAN ATHLETES 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m. in room 

253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Thune, Chairman 

of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Thune [presiding], Fischer, Moran, Sullivan, 

Heller, Moore Capito, Gardner, Young, Nelson, Cantwell, 

Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Markey, Booker, Udall, Baldwin, Hassan, 

and Cortez Masto. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning and welcome to today’s hearing. 

It is no exaggeration to say that Americans love sports. We love 

watching them, playing them, collecting sports memorabilia, and 

even arguing about our favorite teams and athletes. 

Whether it is watching the Super Bowl with friends, joining an 

office bracket pool for ‘‘March Madness,’’ or stretching out for the 

Turkey Trot 5K races on Thanksgiving morning, and the pickup 

football games later that afternoon, we love our sports. 

Personally, I am a Dodgers and a Packers fan, and some of my 

best moments have been spent competing in sports, or cheering on 

my two daughters at their meets and games. 

This Committee is committed to promoting American success in 

international competition, ensuring exciting play in our professional leagues, providing opportunity for our student athletes, and 

maintaining a vibrant sports culture for the benefit of all Americans. At the same time, protecting the health and safety of American athletes of all levels—professional, amateur, student, and 

youth—is a longstanding priority of the Commerce Committee. 

The issue of sexual abuse within the United States Olympic 

movement has received considerable media attention in recent 

months. The troubling nature of these reports triggered the Committee’s inquiry into the ability of the U.S. Olympic Committee, 

and the U.S. National Governing Bodies for individual sports, to 

conduct effective, timely, and impartial investigations into allegations of abuse. I am glad that Shellie Pfohl of the United States 

2 

Center for SafeSport is here today to discuss the Center’s work to 

protect these athletes. 

While I believe that nothing in the current law prevents USOC 

and NGBs from taking immediate steps to remove a suspected 

predator from being in contact with athletes, it is also clear that 

certain stakeholders have, at times, sown confusion about the legal 

requirements of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, 

and manufactured ambiguities behind which to hide. 

I am pleased that Senator Feinstein and her colleagues on the 

Senate Judiciary Committee have advanced legislation to address 

this issue. I look forward to working with her to strengthen her bill 

as it advances to the full Senate. 

Specifically, any legislation to address this issue must include 

unambiguous language clarifying that it is the responsibility of our 

Olympic leaders to provide an environment that is free from abuse. 

In the same way Congress codified the United States AntiDoping Agency to combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs 

in 2001, I believe we should authorize the U.S. Center for 

SafeSport as an independent organization with the expertise to investigate and adjudicate abuse allegations as they arise. 

Speaking of anti-doping, I am pleased that we are joined here 

today by Olympic medalist, and True Sport Ambassador, Lauryn 

Williams, who will testify on behalf of USADA. The Committee last 

reauthorized USADA in 2014, and since that time has been active 

on a number of clean sport issues. 

For instance, in 2016, following the revelation of an elaborate 

doping program sponsored by the Russian Government, the Committee conducted oversight of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s response, prompting the Agency to appoint a new independent investigator and to expand the scope of its investigation. 

Following a reanalysis of samples collected during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, which revealed cheating in the 

men’s pole vault event, I wrote to the International Olympic Committee to correct the final results of that competition and to award 

the bronze medal to an American, Derek Miles, just last month. 

The issue of prescription opioids to treat sports injuries is another growing concern, in particular because of the addiction and 

overdose risks they carry. Though substance abuse and misuse affects all demographics, athletes are a particularly vulnerable population. 

While the media has focused recent attention on the use of prescription opioids in professional sports leagues, this issue impacts 

all athletes, including at the high school and collegiate levels. 

While I wish she were here under different circumstances, I am 

glad that we are joined by Maureen Deutscher, and her husband 

Jeff, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who will testify about their family tragedy involving the loss of their son, Nick, to opioid painkillers. Maureen and Jeff, I am deeply sorry for your loss, and 

thank you for your bravery in sharing your story with us today. 

Finally, the issue of concussions in sports is a longstanding issue 

that this Committee has sought to address. Concussions are common injuries among athletes participating in contact sports, and 

are among the most complex injuries to manage in sports medicine. 

The Committee has conducted oversight of efforts to prevent and 

3 

mitigate the occurrence of concussions in sports, including game 

rule changes, coaching and player education, guidelines, as well as 

the development of brain injury and equipment research. 

Dr. Jay Clarence Butler of the Alaska Department of Health and 

Social Services; Mr. Scott Sailor, President of the National Athletic 

Trainers’ Association; and Dr. Robert Stern of Boston University 

School of Medicine will be able to speak to this issue, as well as 

many others, that affect our Nation’s athletes. 

And so, I thank you all for being here today, and I look forward 

to hearing your testimony, and the opportunity for you to interact 

with members of this committee, and give us a chance to ask questions. 

With that, I will yield to the distinguished Senator from Florida, 

the Ranking Member, Senator Nelson, for his opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA 

Senator NELSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I think this is an opportunity, as the Chairman has said, to start 

a conversation about what more can be done to protect America’s 

athletes. Obviously, we must protect the young athletes, some of 

whom are children. They are starting early. They are training for 

the Olympics. 

Obviously, we were all shocked by the revelations of widespread 

sexual abuse in USA Gymnastics, USA Taekwondo, and other 

Olympic sports. Even more appalling was evidence that responsible 

adults were indifferent and looked the other way. When so many 

young victims can be horribly abused by adults for so long without 

repercussions, it is a stain on America’s proud Olympics heritage. 

So we in Congress need to respond to this travesty. I am, along 

with many others, a sponsor of the bill that has been introduced. 

This bill would require immediate reporting of sexual abuse allegations, require National Governing Bodies to adopt strict protocols 

and measures to protect children, and make it easier for victims to 

come forward and report to the authorities. 

We also need, as the Chairman has already outlined very well, 

to examine athletic doping at the international level. There was a 

time when we thought of the Olympics, we thought this is just 

above reproach. What now when we think of the Olympics? You 

think of scandals that have been revealed involving doping. 

Over 100 Russian athletes were banned from the Olympic Games 

in Rio de Janeiro. We should address attacks on clean, drug-free 

sports, and protect athletes who do things the right way. 

The issue of head injuries is something that is becoming alarming. Each one of us, more than likely, has had a fellow athlete 

friend along the way that has had concussions. And now, years 

later, we are seeing the manifestations of those concussions. 

Concussions and CTE are not limited to professional sports. They 

affect children and can have devastating effects on their still-developing young brains. 

I want to recognize and commend Senator Udall, who is here 

with us today, who has been such a champion and a leader on this 

issue. His dedication to preventing concussions and youth athletic 

safety is well known to everyone here. I want to thank him, on beVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 May 14, 2018 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\29997.TXT JACKIE
4 

half of the Committee, for raising awareness about this very troubling issue. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Nelson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. I’m pleased that we’ll be able 

to start a conversation about what more can be done to protect America’s athletes 

of all ages and at all levels. 

For instance, we must protect our young athletes, many of whom are children, 

training for Olympic sports. We were all shocked by the revelations of widespread 

sexual abuse in USA Gymnastics, USA Taekwondo, and other Olympic sports. Even 

more appalling was evidence that responsible adults were indifferent and looked the 

other way. When so many young victims can be horribly abused by adults for so 

long without repercussions, it’s a stain on America’s proud Olympics heritage. 

Congress needs to respond to this national travesty. It’s why I’m proud to cosponsor the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017. This bill would 

require immediate reporting of sexual-abuse allegations, require national governing 

bodies to adopt strict protocols and measures to protect children, and make it easier 

for victims to come forward and report to the authorities. 

We also need to examine athletic doping at the international level. There are allegations that the Russian government runs a doping program for the sole purpose 

of providing its athletes an unfair advantage. Over 100 Russian athletes were 

banned from Olympic games in Rio. We should address attacks on clean, drug-free 

sports and protect athletes who do things the right way. 

Finally, the issue of head injuries in sports is something that only becomes more 

alarming as more research comes out. As we all know, concussions and CTE are not 

limited to pro-sports. It’s also about kids and the devastating effects on their stilldeveloping young brains. I want to recognize Senator Udall, who’s been such a 

champion and leader on this issue. His dedication to preventing concussions and 

youth athletic safety is well known to everyone here, and I want to thank him for 

raising awareness about this very troubling issue. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Nelson. 

I want to recognize, for an introduction of one of our panelists 

today, Senator Sullivan to introduce Dr. Butler, followed by Senator Markey for a short statement to introduce Dr. Stern. 

Senator Sullivan. 

STATEMENT OF HON. DAN SULLIVAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

Senator SULLIVAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you and the Ranking Member for holding this important 

hearing. 

I do want to recognize Dr. Jay Butler, who came all the way from 

the great State of Alaska to testify today. Dr. Butler does great 

work in the State of Alaska and serves as the Chief Medical Officer 

and Director in the state. 

Although it is not an uplifting topic, Dr. Butler has committed 

his time and effort across the state, really across the country, to 

help stymie the opioid epidemic that is raging through Alaska like 

it is in so many of the other states in the United States. 

His efforts have included education and awareness on the dangers of opioid use especially for our young Alaskans; aiding in the 

distribution of Naloxone to nonmedical personnel and facilities; currently serving as the President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials; and representing the State of Alaska in 

his position of Director of Public Health and Chief Medical Officer 

for the state. 

5 

I will not go through his extensive resume, but will just mention 

briefly, Mr. Chairman, my experience with Dr. Butler. We worked 

together last year when we put on a Wellness Summit in the State 

that was focused on conquering the opioid crisis. Dr. Butler was instrumental in the success of this Summit. Over 500 Alaskans, with 

several hundred more online, showed up at this Summit. 

He participated in planning on the steering committee. He interviewed the United States Surgeon General for a fireside chat and 

moderated the ending panel of this discussion and Summit. 

I just want to thank him for, again, traveling from Alaska, all 

the work he is doing in our state, and participating on a national 

level on this important issue that crosses partisan lines. This is an 

issue that is impacting every single state in our great Nation and 

Dr. Butler is a leader in this, not only in Alaska, but in our country. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Sullivan. It is always nice to 

have you here. 

Senator Markey. 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator MARKEY. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Dr. Robert Stern, is a Professor at the Boston University School 

of Medicine and is the Director of Clinical Research for the BU 

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center. Also known as CTE, it 

is a neurodegenerative disease often found in athletes. 

While a lot of Dr. Stern’s research focuses on repeated brain 

trauma in athletes, I know him best through his work on Alzheimer’s disease as he is the Director of the Clinical Core at the 

BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center. 

Throughout his career, he has won multiple national and federally funded grants for his work. He has published more than 250 

journal articles, chapters, and abstracts in his field. He is a Fellow 

of both the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the American Academy of Neuropsychology. 

I just wanted to thank you, doctor, for all of the work which you 

have done on the brain. For helping to explain, not only Alzheimer’s and the pathways that are possible for finding a cure, but 

also what you have done in becoming the center for the study of 

the impact on the brain that contact in sports has. You have become the national leader and I just wanted to thank you for that. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Markey, and welcome, Dr. 

Stern. 

I want to just introduce again for the panel in terms of the order 

of presentation. We will start on my left and your right with Dr. 

Butler, who is the Chief Medical Officer, as was pointed out by our 

colleague from Alaska, of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. 

Mrs. Maureen Deutscher, who is a Family Representative, Prescription Opioid Abuse Advisory Committee on behalf of the South 

Dakota Department of Health. 

6 

Ms. Shellie Pfohl, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the 

United States Center for SafeSport. 

Mr. Scott Sailor, President of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. 

Dr. Robert Stern, Professor of Neurology, Boston University 

School of Medicine. 

Ms. Lauryn Williams, we will save our speedster for last, True 

Sport Ambassador, United States Anti-Doping Agency. 

So if you would proceed in that order. Dr. Butler, if you could, 

confine your oral remarks as closely to five minutes as possible, it 

will maximize the opportunity that members of the Committee will 

have to ask questions. 

Thank you all for being here. 

Dr. Butler. 

STATEMENT OF JAY C. BUTLER, MD, CHIEF MEDICAL 

OFFICER, ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL 

SERVICES AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH; AND 

PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF STATE TERRITORIAL HEALTH 

OFFICIALS (ASTHO) 

Dr. BUTLER. Good morning, Chairman Thune, Ranking Member 

Nelson, and members of the Committee. 

It is an honor to be able to speak with you today. 

In my role as Chief Medical Officer in Alaska, I oversee Staterelated prevention, preparedness, and response activities. During 

the past 3 months, in addition to the roles that Senator Sullivan 

has described, I have also served as the Incident Commander of 

Governor Bill Walker’s opioid response. 

In Alaska, we are responding to the opioid epidemic much as we 

would to any other disaster, whether an earthquake or a tsunami, 

using an incident command structure to coordinate communication 

across State Government. This response is addressing the three- to 

fourfold increase in opioid overdose deaths that have occurred in 

Alaska over the past two decades, which mirrors an increase that 

has occurred across our Nation. 

The epidemic started somewhat silently, with gradual increases 

in deaths caused by prescription painkillers as more and more of 

these drugs were prescribed. The problem has been compounded 

over the past decade by the increased availability of heroin and 

more recently of illicitly-produced Fentanyls. The majority of people 

who use heroin and Fentanyl report that they first became addicted through use of prescription opioid pain relievers. 

I want to be clear at the outset of the discussion that the health 

benefits of participation in sports and physical activity are extensive and well-documented: reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, 

obesity, diabetes, certain types of cancer, also better musculoskeletal strength, and an improved sense of well-being and connectedness to community. 

Youth who participate in sports historically have been shown to 

be less likely to use illicit drugs. Unfortunately, athletes have not 

been immune to the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic. Too 

often, sports-related injuries managed with opioid pain relievers 

have been the beginning of a path to addiction. 

7 

One coach expressed her frustration to me by describing that she 

had seen too many times an injury leading to a prescription for 

pills, leading to additional prescriptions for pills, leading to use of 

a friend’s pills, leading to use of any pills that could be obtained 

by any means, and unfortunately sometimes leading to use of heroin and overdose deaths. 

High profile stories of professional athletes who began using prescription opioids for injury and then struggled with addiction or 

died of overdose may grab the headlines, but we need to recognize 

that the problem is occurring at all levels of competition. One adult 

recreational softball league in Alaska with roughly 750 participants 

has had five players die of opioid overdose. 

An epidemiological study of high school students in Michigan 

found that boys who participated in organized sports were more 

likely to be prescribed opioid painkillers than those who did not. 

And as a result, participation in organized sports actually increased the risk of subsequent opioid misuse. With over 4 million 

youth sports and recreation-associated injuries occurring each year 

in the U.S., there is a reason for concern. 

What can be done? There are no easy answers and no magic bullets. We need to be clear about that. But I would like to highlight 

three areas of opportunity. 

First, we can promote evidence-based pain management strategies and more rational use of opioid pain relievers. Opioids can be 

useful for the management of acute pain and many people who receive these medications use them without problem. 

However, opioids should not be the first line of treatment following any sports injury. These medications are used best when 

they are prescribed in the lowest effective dose and for the shortest 

period possible, generally for less than 3 to 7 days. 

Larger first time prescriptions have specifically been associated 

with higher risk of long-term use and thus greater risk of dependency and addiction. 

A school nurse recently told me about a student who came back 

to school after arthroscopic surgery for an athletic injury. In line 

with school policy, he checked in with her and turned his prescription medicines in. She was shocked to find that he had a bottle of 

120 Oxycodone containing pills. 

Special care needs to be taken when prescribing these medications to teens. Adolescence is a particularly high risk period and 

use of opioids—even as prescribed by a healthcare provider—by 

high school students has been linked to increased likelihood of subsequent misuse. 

Second, we can provide more information on the risks of opioid 

pain relievers for both healthcare providers and the public, including coaches and trainers. 

In talking with teens, I frequently hear the sentiment that if 

opioid pain relievers are really dangerous, then why do doctors prescribe them? In talking to people in recovery, I frequently hear, ‘‘No 

one told me.’’ And, ‘‘If I had had any idea how dangerous these 

drugs were, I never would have taken them.’’ 

We can do a better job not only describing the risk of opioids, but 

also providing information on what can be done in our communities 

to address the problem including promotion of leftover drug return 

8 

and disposal, and talking openly about the recognition, and management of dependency, and addiction as a health issue rather 

than as solely a criminal justice issue or some type of moral failing. 

There is a role for professional athletes, as well as Olympians 

and other high profile athletes, to be able to serve as spokespersons 

in promoting conversations to reduce the stigma of addiction. 

There is also a need for better continuing medical education for 

all healthcare providers to improve their knowledge and confidence 

in optimal pain management and the basics of addiction medicine. 

Finally, maybe at the risk of sounding corny, the effective response to this epidemic will be a team sport. It will involve coaches, 

parents, trainers, and the athletes themselves, as well as organizations including professional, scholastic, and amateur sports 

leagues, public health agencies, healthcare providers, third party 

payers, the criminal justice system, educators, businesses, and lawmakers as well. 

Working together sports participation cannot only be made safer, 

but I believe can also be part of how we reduce the number of people who become newly dependent on opioids and increase the number of Americans living in recovery. 

Finally, I just want to conclude by pointing out that the issue of 

opioid abuse is not just an isolated event and not just an isolated 

topic as we talk about sports safety. 

It is no accident that we have the broad range of topics that we 

are discussing today. These topics are complementary and not in 

competition. 

Sexual assault is a trauma that ultimately can lead to unhealthy 

coping mechanisms and increase the risk of self-medication. 

Traumatic brain injury is a brain process that can lead to altered 

cognition as well as altered risk assessment, and can also possibly 

create increased risk of abuse. 

So the question is not to ask one another, ‘‘What are you doing 

to address these issues?’’ But, what we can all do together to solve 

all of them? 

Thank you for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Butler follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAY C. BUTLER, MD, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ALASKA

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES, AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC

HEALTH; AND PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF STATE TERRITORIAL HEALTH OFFICIALS

(ASTHO) 

Good morning Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Nelson, and Committee members. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you this morning. My name is Jay 

Butler, Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and Director of Public Health, and President of the Association of State Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). In my role of Chief Medical Officer in Alaska, I 

oversee state health-related prevention, preparedness, and response activities. I 

maintain board certifications in internal medical, pediatrics, and infectious diseases, 

and much of both my clinical and public health activities have been focused on infectious diseases. While I am not a specialist in addiction medicine, I have had firsthand experience with the infectious complications of drug use, including endocarditis, skin and soft tissue infections, and HIV and hepatitis C infections. 

During the past 3 months, I have also served as incident commander of Alaska 

Governor Bill Walker’s opioid response activity. In Alaska, we are managing the response to the opioid epidemic much as we would the response to any disaster whether that is a pandemic of infectious disease, a terror attack, an outbreak of wildfires, 

a major earthquake, or a tsunami. In fact, the intensified, multiagency response 

started with a disaster declaration by Governor Walker in February. Some have 

9 

criticized describing the increase in opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose deaths 

as an ‘‘epidemic’’, and I admit that I generally avoid using the term ‘‘epidemic’’ myself. However, when a single cause of death increases three to four fold over a period 

of roughly 20 years, as has occurred with opioid overdose deaths in our nation, even 

the most rigorous definition of ‘‘epidemic’’ has been met. 

The first 15 years of this epidemic appears to have been driven by changes in clinical practices relating to pain management and a three-fold increase in prescriptions 

for opioid pain relievers. The opioid epidemic is like a tsunami in that most of us 

did not feel the seismic shift in medical practice until the first wave of overdose 

deaths was upon us. And like a tsunami, additional waves have come ashore—with 

dramatic increases in heroin deaths over the past decade, driven by the increased 

prevalence of opioid pain reliever dependence and addiction and by the increased 

supply, and decreased price, of heroin. The majority of persons who use heroin today 

report that their addiction started with use of prescription opioid pain relievers. 

More recently, a third wave of overdose deaths has been driven by an influx of illicitly produced fentanyl and related synthetic opioids. These drugs have spread 

throughout our nation—overdose deaths due to synthetic opioids have even occurred 

in the most remote Alaska villages. 

Why are we discussing drug misuse and addiction at a hearing on sports safety? 

The health benefits of participation in sports and physical activity are extensive and 

well-documented: reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, and 

certain types of cancer, better musculoskeletal strength, and improved sense of wellbeing and social connectedness, to name a few. Active people live longer and have 

better quality of life. Youth who participate in sports generally achieve greater academic success, have been less likely to use drugs or suffer from depression, and are 

more likely to be physically active adults. 

Despite these benefits, athletes have not been immune to devastating effects of 

the opioid epidemic. Too often, sports-related injuries managed with opioid pain relievers have been the beginning of a path to physical dependency and addiction. 

While these drugs can be useful in management of pain in severe acute injuries, 

too often, they are prescribed in large amounts that can lead to prolonged use, leading to physical dependency and addiction, or to diversion and misuse of unused pills. 

One coach described to me the too-familiar sequence of a sports injury leading to 

prescribed pills, leading to more prescribed pills, leading to a friend’s pills, leading 

to any pills that can be obtained, leading to heroin, and ultimately leading to addiction or overdose death. High profile stories of professional athletes who begin using 

prescription opioids for injury and then struggled with addiction, or died of overdose, may grab headlines, but we need to recognize that the problem of opioid misuse occurs at all levels of competition.1 One adult recreational softball league in 

Alaska with roughly 750 participants has had 5 players die of opioid overdose. An 

epidemiological study of high school students in Michigan found that boys who participated in organized sports were more likely to be prescribed opioid painkillers.2

What was more disturbing was the finding that participation in organized high 

school sports actually increased the risk of subsequent opioid misuse. With over 4 

million youth sports- and recreation-related injuries occurring each year in the U.S., 

there is reason for concern.3

So what can be done? There are no easy answers and there are no magic bullets. 

Responding to the health challenges of all substance misuse and addictions, including those that are part of the opioid epidemic, requires a multifaceted and multisector approach as outlined in the 2017 ASTHO President’s Challenge on public 

health approaches to preventing substance misuse and addictions.4 People are dying 

today; therefore, let’s start with what is immediately lifesaving for those who are 

already living in addiction. We need to prevent drug overdose deaths by increasing 

access to naloxone, an easy-to-administer medication that can reverse the fatal respiratory depression that kills in an overdose. We can reduce the risk of life-threatening infections related to drug use by removing barriers to clean syringes and needles and by promoting testing for HIV and hepatitis C infections. While these measures can save lives, they do not solve the problem or treat addictions. To increase 

the number of people living in recovery, we need to fill the immense gap between 

the number of people in need of treatment and the availability of services to manage 

drug withdrawal and maintenance of recovery. We also need to reduce the stigma 

associated with addictions and increase recognition of opioid addiction as a chronic 

health condition involving the brain. Ultimately, we must prevent substance misuse 

and addictions by reducing the flood of prescription and illicit opioids into our communities and by improving personal resiliency and community connectedness to reduce the need to self-medicate. 

I would like to highlight three specific areas of opportunity to reduce the risk of 

opioid misuse and addiction among athletes at all levels of competition: 

10 

First, we can promote evidence-based pain management strategies and more rational use of opioid pain relievers. Opioids can be useful for management of acute 

pain, and many people who receive these medications use them without problem. 

However, it has become clear that opioids should not be the first line of treatment 

following sports injury, and that these medications are used best when prescribed 

at the lowest effective dose for the short periods, generally less than 3–7 days, as 

recommended in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2016 guideline on 

use of opioids for pain.5 While there are encouraging data indicating that there has 

been some recent decline in total amount of opioids that are prescribed, the number 

of pills dispensed is still often too many.6 Larger first-time prescriptions of opioids 

have been associated with higher risk of long-term use, and thus, greater risk of 

dependency and even addiction.7 A school nurse recently told me of a high school 

athlete who returned to school after arthroscopic surgery—in keeping with school 

policy, he checked his prescription medications in with the nurse, and she was surprised to see a bottle of 120 pills containing hydrocodone. Special care needs to be 

taken when prescribing these medications to teens: adolescence is a particularly 

high risk period and use of opioids as prescribed by a health care provider by high 

school students has been linked to increased likelihood of subsequent misuse.8,9

Second, we can provide more information on the risks of opioid pain relievers for 

both health care providers and the public, including coaches, trainers, and athletes. 

In talking with teens, I frequently hear the sentiment that if opioid pain relievers 

are prescribed by doctors, they must be safe. We can do a better job in not only describing the risks of opioids but also providing information on what can be done in 

our communities, including promoting leftover drug return and disposal and talking 

about the risks of dependency and addiction. Professional athletes and major league 

sports can play an important role as spokespersons and in promoting conversation 

to reduce the stigma of addiction and to encourage positive community action. We 

need to recognize that the goal of complete absence of pain may not be realistic and 

pursuing that goal will come at the high price of higher rates of addiction and 

death. There is also a need for better continuing medical education for all health 

care providers to improve their knowledge and confidence in optimal pain management and the basics of addiction medicine.10

Finally, we need to recognize that we all have a part to play in addressing the 

opioid epidemic. The problem cannot be solved by simply placing blame or by pinning the responsibility to address this health crisis on one sector. The response to 

the opioid crisis and prevention of future drug addiction will require teamwork involving the combined efforts of all Americans, including parents, coaches, trainers, 

and the athletes themselves, as well as organizations such as professional, scholastic, and amateur sports leagues, public health agencies, health care providers, 

third party payers, the criminal justice system, social service agencies, educators, 

businesses, and law makers. Working together, sports participation cannot only be 

made safer, but can also be part of how we reduce the number of people who become 

newly dependent on opioids and increase the number of Americans successfully living in recovery. 

Endnotes 

1. Wertheim LJ, Rodriguez K. Smack epidemic: how painkillers are turning young 

athletes into heroin addicts. Sport Illustrated. June 22, 2015. 

2. Veliz P, Epstein-Ngo QM, Meier E, Ross-Durow PL, McCabe SE, Boyd CJ. 

Painfully obvious: a longitudinal examination of medical use and misuse of opioid 

medication among adolescent sports participants. J Adolesc Health 2014; 54:333– 

340. 

3. Gotsch K, Annest JL, Holmgreen P, et al., Non-fatal sports and recreation-related injuries treated in emergency departments—United States, July 2000–June 

2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2002; 51(33):736–740. 

4. Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 2017 President’s Challenge: Public Health Approaches to Preventing Substance Misuse and Addictions. 

http://www.astho.org/addictions/ 

5. Dowell D, Haegerich TM, Chou R. CDC Guideline for prescribing opioids for 

chronic pain—United States, 2016. MMWR Recomm Rep 2016; 65(RR–1):1–49. 

6. Hill MV, McMahon ML, Stucke RS, Barth RJ. Wide variation and excessive 

dosage of opioid prescriptions for common general surgical procedures. Ann Surg 

2017; 265(4):709–714. 

7. Shah A, Hayes CJ, Martin BC. Characteristics of initial prescription episodes 

and likelihood of long-term opioid use—United States, 2006–2015. MMWR Morb 

Mortal Wkly Rep 2017; 66(10);265–269. 

8. Miech R, Johnston L, O’Malley PM, Keyes KM, Heard K. Prescription opioids 

in adolescence and future opioid misuse. Pediatrics 2015; 136(5):e1–e9. 

11 

9. McCabe SE, West BT, Veliz P, McCabe VV, Stoddard SA, Boyd CJ. Trends in 

medical and nonmedical use of prescription opioids among U.S. adolescents: 1976– 

2015. Pediatrics 2017; 139(4):e20162387. 

10. Volkow ND, McLellan AT. Opioid abuse in chronic pain—misconceptions and 

mitigation strategies. N Engl J Med 2016; 374(13):1253–1263. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Dr. Butler. 

Ms. Deutscher. 

STATEMENT OF MAUREEN DEUTSCHER, FAMILY 

REPRESENTATIVE, PRESCRIPTION OPIOID ABUSE ADVISORY 

COMMITTEE, SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Nelson, and 

members of the Committee. 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony and our insight regarding opioid use as it relates to the effect on our young 

athletes in our home state of South Dakota and around the country. 

In our 30 years of marriage, my husband Jeff and I have been 

blessed with three wonderful children: Jeremy, Nick, and Annie. 

Today, we are here to tell you about our son Nick. 

Kind, funny, happy, uplifting—these were some of the words 

used in memory of Nick by friends and family following his death 

on July 18, 2015. We would add smart, intuitive, adventurous, 

frustrating, and amazing. Another recurring theme, ‘‘Nick always 

had your back.’’ He was a true and loyal friend. 

We are just a regular Midwest family gathering for meals, enjoying family vacations, and celebrating special occasions together. 

Jeff and I have supported our children in their education and activities as religious ed. leaders, room parents, coaches, and club 

leaders. 

Nick had positive role models in extended family, teachers, and 

coaches. Our parenting style, as I would describe it, is consequence 

when called for, praise, and always love, and we all take care to 

be there for one another. 

So what happened? What did we miss in protecting our son? This 

has been our daily reflection for the past 21 months and 29 days. 

We would like to share with you some of Nick’s journey through 

the last 4 years of his life. 

Nick excelled in academics and athletics. Nick had many and 

varied friends. Nick was a bit of a risk taker, always up for the 

challenge. 

Nick’s experience with opioids began shortly after his 18th birthday in the fall of 2011 with his MCL/ACL injury; second play of the 

second game senior year with his High School State Champion 

football team. Then they prescribed Hydrocodone, and Percocet or 

Oxycodone, through the partial tear, rehab, back in play for the 

last game of the season, and subsequent surgery for the full ACL 

tear. 

As though it were yesterday, we recall driving to Walgreens 

pharmacy directly from the game field for the first of a series of 

prescriptions. I personally maintained possession and control of 

Nick’s opioid prescriptions for his welfare, but my understanding of 

the risks associated with the medication did not even scratch the 

surface. 

12 

An alarm went off in November when Nick indicated the 

Hydrocodone was no longer sufficiently addressing his pain. We 

shared this information with his orthopedic staff. We were told 

they were not concerned with the progression, and Percocet was 

prescribed over the phone and without further evaluation. 

Following recovery and rehab from surgery through December of 

that year, the prescriptions abruptly ceased. Beginning in January, 

it became very clear that Nick was struggling. He underwent counseling and through our physicians, alternative medications were 

prescribed to help with the withdrawal culminating in 30 days of 

residential treatment. 

Still, Nick graduated with his class as a Regents Scholar. No 

stranger to hard work, Nick made it through that very frightening 

and challenging time, all while under the care of excellent physicians, and all with the continued love and support of his family, 

and the support of his high school principal, coaches, and staff. 

For the next 3 years, Nick attended college classes and worked, 

but the disease had taken hold and did not retreat. As he continued to struggle, protecting us, his family, as best he could from the 

fear of what could happen to him and the frustration at not being 

able to diminish the symptoms of addiction. Still good, kind, and 

fun, Nick continued to share with us his hope in recovery. 

The symptoms of addiction can move a person in directions they 

do not want to go and often do not comprehend. That happened to 

Nick as he found himself faced with charges stemming from substance use in 2014. Nick knew what to do, ask for help. 

We were blessed to have been able to support him through his 

work with Tallgrass Recovery in Sioux Falls in two 30-day stays 

between October 2014 and March 2015. Coming home in March 

was a young man renewed in his recovery, attending meetings, getting together with his sponsor, going to church, working, and 

spending time at Tallgrass. 

On May 20, 2015 we attended Nick’s sentencing hearing for the 

2014 offences, and on June 3, Nick checked into the work release 

program with Minnehaha County for just under four months. 

July 18 brought a visit by the sheriff’s department at our home 

at approximately 8:30 p.m. Nick had died in his sleep, having returned to the work release facility after work at approximately 3:30 

that afternoon, spending time with others in the program, and laying down for a nap. 

Nick died an accidental death. Reports indicated prescription 

medications in Nick’s system, all but two prescribed; one of which 

was Oxycodone at an elevated level. Nick was 21. 

From what we can discern through conversations with Nick’s 

friends and investigative findings, Nick likely relapsed due to the 

stress of his situation. We believe the medications were intended 

by Nick for use as a coping tool and to aid in sleep at the corrections facility. But as all too many parents, family members, and 

friends across the Nation are learning every day, for some people, 

opioids have their own intentions. 

We can no longer experience the joy of Nick’s laughter, awesome 

hugs, and genuine goodness. What we hope to accomplish here is 

to reinforce the need for careful consideration of the effects of 

opioid therapy in the management of injury as our young athletes 

13 

press forward to perform, to highlight the responsibility of medical 

professionals in prescribing practices relating to opioid pain medication, and to reinforce the need for education of the public on the 

addiction risks associated with the use of opioid therapy in sports 

injury management. 

In our experience with Nick, the addiction hit swiftly and without retreat, reinforcing that addiction is a chronic disease. 

Over the past 21 months, we have had meetings and conversations with county and State appointed, and elected officials, members of the medical and legal communities, and judicial systems, 

and agency directors in the very misunderstood field of addiction 

and recovery. 

Jeff and I have provided testimony at our State’s Legislative 

Study on Substance Abuse Prevention, and are currently serving 

on the South Dakota Governor’s Opioid Abuse Advisory Committee. 

Through all of the conversations and meetings, there are key 

issues that rise to the top for Jeff and me. Number one, the risks 

of addiction to opioid medications and the risk of that leading to 

further addiction are seriously misunderstood and understated. 

And second, the prescription opioid issue begins with just that, 

a prescription, calling for responsible prescribing practices and distribution monitoring. 

As parents, Jeff and I feel our most important role in life is to 

protect our children; if only we had known then what we know 

now. 

In closing, we are grateful for the current work being done to address the issues at hand. Now, we ask for your thoughtful consideration of the information we have provided and experience gained 

through our journey with our son, Nick. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mrs. Deutscher follows:] 

14 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAUREEN AND JEFF DEUTSCHER, 

SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony and our insight regarding 

Opioid use as it relates to the effect on our young athletes in our home state of 

South Dakota and around the country. 

In our 30 years of marriage, my husband Jeff and I have been blessed with 3 wonderful children, Jeremy, Nick and Annie. 

Today we are here to tell you about our son, Nick. 

Kind, funny, happy, uplifting—these were some of the words used in memory of 

Nick by friends and family following his death on July 18th of 2015. 

We would add smart, intuitive, adventurous, frustrating and amazing! Another recurring theme, ‘‘Nick always had your back’’, a true and loyal friend. 

We’re just a regular Midwest family gathering for meals, enjoying family vacations and celebrating special occasions together. Jeff and I have supported our children in their education and activities as religious ed leaders, room parents, coaches 

and club leaders. Nick had positive role models in extended family, teachers and 

coaches. Our parenting style, as we would describe it, is consequence when called 

for, praise and always love and we all take care to be there for one another. 

So what happened? What did we miss in protecting our son? This has been our 

daily reflection for the past 21 months and 29 days. 

We would like to share with you some of Nick’s journey through the last four 

years of his life. 

Nick excelled in academics and athletics. Nick had many and varied friends. Nick 

was a bit of a risk taker, always up for the challenge. 

Nick’s experience with Opioids began shortly after his 18th Birthday in the fall 

of 2011 with his MCL/ACL injury—second play of the second game Senior Year as 

a starter with his High School State Champion football team. Then the prescribed 

Hydrocodone and Percocet (Oxycodone)—through the partial tear, rehab, back in 

play for the last game of the season and subsequent surgery for the full ACL tear. 

As though it were yesterday, we recall driving to Walgreen’s pharmacy directly 

from the game field for the first of a series of prescriptions. I personally maintained 

possession and control of Nick’s Opioid prescriptions for Nick’s welfare, but my understanding of the risks associated with the medication did not even scratch the surface. 

An alarm went off in November when Nick indicated the Hydrocodone was no 

longer sufficiently addressing his pain. We shared this information with his orthopedic staff, were told they were not concerned with the progression and Percocet 

was prescribed over the phone without further evaluation. 


517DEUTS1.eps
15 

Following recovery and rehab from surgery through December of that year, the 

prescriptions abruptly ceased. 

Beginning in January, it became very clear that Nick was struggling. He underwent counseling and through our physicians, alternative medications were prescribed to help with the withdrawal culminating with 30 days of residential treatment. Still, Nick graduated with his class as a Regents Scholar. No stranger to hard 

work, Nick made it through that very frightening and challenging time, all while 

under the care of excellent physicians and all with the continued love and support 

of his family and the support of his high school’s principal, coaches and staff. 

For the next 3 years Nick attended college classes and worked, but the disease 

had taken hold and did not retreat as he continued to struggle, protecting us, his 

family, as best he could from the fear of what could happen to him and the frustration at not being able to diminish the symptoms of Addiction. 

Still good, kind and fun Nick continued to share with us his hope in recovery. 

The symptoms of Addiction can move a person in directions they do not want to 

go and often do not comprehend. That happened to Nick as he found himself faced 

with charges stemming from substance use in 2014. Nick knew what to do, ask for 

help. We were blessed to have been able to support him through his work with 

Tallgrass Recovery in Sioux Falls in two 30 day stays between October 2014 and 

March 2015. Coming home in March was a young man renewed in his recovery, attending meetings, getting together with his sponsor, going to church, working and 

spending time at Tallgrass. 

On May 20th of 2015 we attended Nick’s sentencing hearing for the 2014 offences 

and on June 3rd Nick checked into the work release program with Minnehaha 

County for just under four months. 

July 18th brought a visit by the Sheriff’s Department at our home at approximately 8:30 p.m. Nick had died in his sleep, having returned to the work release 

facility after work at approximately 3:30 that afternoon, spending time with others 

in the program and laying down for a nap. Nick died an accidental death. Reports 

indicated prescription medications in Nick’s system, all but two prescribed—one of 

which was Oxycodone, at an elevated level. 

Nick was 21. 

From what we can discern through conversations with Nick’s friends and investigative findings, Nick likely relapsed due to the stress of his situation. We believe 

the medications were intended by Nick for use as a coping tool and to aid in sleep 

at the corrections facility. But as all too many parents, family members and friends 

across the Nation are learning every day, for some people, Opioids have their own 

intentions. 

We can no longer experience the joy of Nick’s laughter, awesome hugs and genuine goodness. What we hope to accomplish here is to reinforce the need for careful 

consideration of the effects of Opioid therapy in the management of injury as our 

young athletes press forward to perform, to highlight the responsibility of Medical 

Professionals in prescribing practices relating to Opioid pain medication and to reinforce the need for education of the public on the Addiction risks associated with the 

use of Opioid therapy in sports injury management. 

In our experience with Nick, the Addiction hit swiftly and without retreat, reinforcing that Addiction is a Chronic Disease. 

Over the past 21 months we have had meetings and conversations with county 

and state appointed and elected officials, members of the medical and legal communities and judicial systems and agency directors in the very misunderstood field of 

Addiction and Recovery. 

Jeff and I have provided testimony at our state’s Legislative Study on Substance 

Abuse Prevention and are currently serving on the SD Governor’s Opioid Abuse Advisory Committee. 

Through all of the conversations and meetings there are key issues that rise to 

the top for Jeff and me: 

1. The risks of Addiction to Opioid medications and the risk of that leading to 

further addiction(s) are seriously misunderstood and understated. 

2. The prescription Opioid issue begins with just that—a prescription—calling for 

responsible prescribing practices and distribution monitoring. 

As parents, Jeff and I feel our most important role in life is to protect our children 

. . . if only we had known then what we know now. . . . 

In closing, we are grateful for the current work being done to address the issues 

at hand. Now, we ask for your thoughtful consideration of the information we have 

provided, experience gained through our journey with our son, Nick. 

16 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Deutscher. 

Ms. Pfohl. 

STATEMENT OF SHELLIE PFOHL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 

UNITED STATES CENTER FOR SAFESPORT 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you, Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Nelson, and members of the Committee. 

Mr. Chairman, I am Shellie Pfohl, CEO of the United States 

Center for SafeSport, a national, nonprofit headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Our organization exists to protect athletes from all 

forms of abuse. We serve sports’ participants from the local recreation leagues to the professional ranks. 

The ongoing national discourse around sports has focused largely 

on two issues, concussions and doping, which remain important 

topics today. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Nelson, and your 

staffs for adding our voice to the conversation. By bringing attention to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse prevention in sports, 

you are advancing SafeSport’s call to action, which is to champion 

respect and end abuse. 

Forty-five million youth in the U.S. play sports, as well as scores 

of adults at the collegiate, professional, and recreational level. Athletics offer unparalleled opportunities for personal growth and developing character, all while advancing health and fitness. 

A study of 400 female executives found that more than 90 percent participated in sports at sometime in their life. I can honestly 

say I would not be who I am today without sports. 

We never want to see those benefits that I just mentioned undermined by abuse. Sadly, it exists in society as it does in sports, 

whether it is an athlete bullying another athlete, or a coach exploiting his or her power to sexually assault a player. 

While we do not have statistics specific to sports, we know that 

in the U.S., one in five youth are bullied, and one in ten will be 

sexually abused before the age of 18. 

Fancy slogans are not enough to prevent abuse. We know that 

best practices and prevention include policies, tools, and training 

that are embedded in an organization’s culture. While we are working to get data on how well sports organizations are doing at preventing abuse, we know anecdotally that much more needs to be 

done. 

Ask any parent of a child playing sports these three simple questions. Did you or your child receive training on how to prevent 

abuse? Do you know what the sport organization’s policy on adult 

to youth interaction is? Would you know who to turn to if you were 

concerned about an abuse situation involving your child? My guess 

is they would answer no to at least one of those questions, which 

is simply unacceptable. 

Our goal is to establish a national SafeSport standard that organizations can use as a measuring stick of their own policies. 

SafeSport best practices, resources, and training tools will then 

help these organizations to get to where they need to be. 

SafeSport sought the counsel of many organizations in establishing the SafeSport Code that I refer to in my written testimony. 

From that interaction with other professionals, including those 

17 

1Stopbullying.gov 

2Townsend/Rheingold Study (2013) 

from youth-serving organizations, we understand that simply conducting criminal background checks is not enough. 

Awareness and training are at the heart of a good prevention effort and are essential to our work. To date, more than 300,000 

coaches affiliated with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements receive SafeSport training. 

We must now work to expand that education beyond coaches to 

include parents and athletes, and at all levels of competition beyond the Olympics. 

In addition to our education and outreach efforts, SafeSport is 

the independent response and resolution office for the U.S. Olympic 

and Paralympic movements including the 47 National Governing 

Bodies that represent each of the sports. 

Reports can be made multiple ways including anonymously and 

are handled by our team of highly qualified investigators. Reports 

of sexual misconduct fall within the exclusive authority of 

SafeSport. If a report is substantiated, SafeSport will determine 

appropriate resolution, which could include a lifetime ban that 

would apply across any U.S. Olympic organization. 

Sports are in my DNA. Every person here has a sports experience, either your own or through a family member underscoring 

the magnitude of this challenge. We have a lot of work to do. Your 

efforts to prioritize the health and safety of U.S. athletes goes a 

long way toward making our SafeSport Call to Action to champion 

respect and end abuse a reality. 

Thank you and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Pfohl follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SHELLIE PFOHL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 

U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Center for SafeSport congratulates and thanks the Senate Commerce, 

Science and Transportation Committee for holding this hearing to address the issue 

of ‘‘Current Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.’’ A special thank you to Chairman John Thune for inviting SafeSport 

to testify. 

The written testimony herein highlights the efforts of SafeSport to foster a national sports culture built on respect and free from abuse. SafeSport is the first of 

its kind: a national nonprofit dedicated to preserving the safety and well-being of 

athletes by preventing emotional, physical and sexual abuse in sports. This includes 

bullying, harassment, hazing and all other forms of misconduct and abuse. 

II. State of Play of Abuse with Athletes 

The national discourse in the sports world to date has focused on two serious 

issues: concussions and doping. But there is another that demands our attention. 

Today, we need to discuss how to recognize, reduce and respond to emotional, physical and sexual abuse of athletes, regardless of age or competitive level. 

Three out of four American families with school-aged children have at least one 

playing an organized sport—that is over 45 million youth. All deserve to reap the 

benefits of participating in sports, including fitness, fun, social connections, character development and more. 

But sports do not happen in a vacuum, they occur in communities across the 

country where statistics suggest one in five youth are bullied,1 and one in ten will 

be sexually abused 2 before the age of 18. These are startling numbers and while 

we do not know what the data looks like among athletes specifically, we know that 

abuse is happening and that more must be done. 

18 

3SafeSport Code full copy in Appendix 

Sports afford participants a unique ability to learn respect, perseverance and 

teamwork while building self-esteem, confidence and social skills. Sports are more 

than a game or competition, sports build character. The sports community must at 

its core champion respect and protect all athletes from any form of abuse. 

That is why ask for your support in authorizing the U.S. Center for SafeSport in 

S. 534 ‘‘Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017.’’ 

III. Who We Are 

Originally created by the United States Olympic Committee, SafeSport is now an 

independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The organization is governed by a nine-member board of independent directors, including subjectmatter experts in the areas of abuse prevention and response, ethics compliance and 

sports administration. It’s supported financially through the USOC, NGBs and charitable donations. 

IV. What We Do 

SafeSport is committed to creating and maintaining a culture where all persons 

who participate in sports programs and activities can work and learn together in 

an atmosphere free of all forms of emotional, physical and sexual misconduct. 

SafeSport believes when athletes are safe, they can achieve their full potential. 

Prevention is at the heart of SafeSport’s mission. SafeSport serves sports organizations across the Nation by providing educational resources that instill positive behavior, build character and develop strong communities. Its programs help to reinforce respect, safety and health in sports. SafeSport is working to help equip these 

sports organizations and, in turn, millions of athletes, parents and coaches, with 

tools to address issues of abuse before they occur. 

For athletes at every level—from amateur to elite, community-based to professional—SafeSport’s approach to prevent emotional, physical and sexual abuse is designed to create a greater positive impact than any single sports organization can 

achieve alone. 

Additionally, the USOC retained SafeSport to investigate all cases of sexual misconduct or abuse for its 47 National Governing Bodies (NGBs). 

SafeSport’s prevention efforts take shape in the form of two offices within the organization. 

Education and Outreach Office 

The Education and Outreach Office administers programming to promote respect 

and prevent abuse; raise awareness of issues; and develops and distributes educational materials and resources. It serves all sports organizations, athletes, parents 

and coaches. 

SafeSport’s current training has been taught to more than 300,000 coaches in the 

United States. 

SafeSport is working on a resource guide that organizations can use to evaluate 

their own policies, procedures, tools and training. SafeSport’s goal is to ensure that 

every sports organization in the United States has access to the right kinds of policies and procedures, tools and training materials to keep their athletes safe, regardless of geography, socioeconomic status or competition level. 

While SafeSport addresses the well-being of all athletes, its top priority is on its 

most vulnerable participants, children. And while best practices and training are essential, awareness of these issues is an important first step, an additional accent 

on the importance of this hearing. Our awareness campaigns will be supported by 

‘‘SafeSport Champions’’, a program that will draw on the popularity of certain athletes and coaches to bring attention to these important issues. 

The Response and Resolution Office 

The Response and Resolution Office investigates and resolves reports of sexual 

misconduct for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Its neutral and independent investigators and arbitrators review reports, and gather and analyze data, 

to improve awareness and prevention programs. Currently, SafeSport has 35 active 

cases in 14 different sports. 

SafeSport’s reporting process is available to anyone wanting to report abuse within the Olympic and Paralympic NGBs. SafeSport immediately reports allegations of 

child abuse to the appropriate law enforcement agency. If a covered individual violates the SafeSport Code,3 that person can be sanctioned, up to and including a lifetime ban enforced across the Olympic and Paralympic Movements. 

19 

Three policies govern the resolution process for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic 

Movement’s 47 sport’s National Governing Bodies: 

• SafeSport Code for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement—The Code applies to all Covered Individuals and identifies and defines prohibited conduct. 

• SafeSport Practices and Procedures for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement—These Procedures set forth the informal and formal resolution process 

the Office uses to resolve possible violations of the Code within the Office’s authority. 

• Supplementary Rules for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement SafeSport Arbitrations—The Rules govern the arbitration process (when applicable). 

Below is a graphic that illustrates how the Response & Resolution Office works 

to investigate and resolve possible violations of the SafeSport Code. This chart is 

not meant to represent every aspect of the process. 


517PFOHL1.eps
20 

Appendix can be found at https://safesport.org/files/index/tag/policies-procedures 


517PFOHL2.eps
21 


517PFOHL3.eps
22 


517PFOHL4.eps
23 


517PFOHL5.eps
24 


517PFOHL6.eps
25 


517PFOHL7.eps
26 


517PFOHL8.eps
27 


517PFOHL9.eps
28 


517PFOHL10.eps
29 


517PFOHL11.eps
30 


517PFOHL12.eps
31 


517PFOHL13.eps
32 


517PFOHL14.eps
33 


517PFOHL15.eps
34 


517PFOHL16.eps
35 


517PFOHL17.eps
36 


517PFOHL18.eps
37 


517PFOHL19.eps
38 


517PFOHL20.eps
39 


517PFOHL21.eps
40 


517PFOHL22.eps
41 


517PFOHL23.eps
42 


517PFOHL24.eps
43 


517PFOHL25.eps
44 


517PFOHL26.eps
45 


517PFOHL27.eps
46 


517PFOHL28.eps
47 


517PFOHL29.eps
48 


517PFOHL30.eps
49 


517PFOHL31.eps
50 


517PFOHL32.eps
51 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Pfohl. 

Mr. Sailor. 

STATEMENT OF SCOTT R. SAILOR, PRESIDENT, 

NATIONAL ATHLETIC TRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION 

Mr. SAILOR. Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Nelson, and 

members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation. 

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in today’s hearing. 

My name is Scott Sailor, and I am Chair of the Department of 

Kinesiology, and Professor of the Athletic Training Program at 

California State University Fresno. I am also proud to be the President of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. NATA is a professional organization serving more than 46,000 Certified Athletic 

Trainers, students of athletic training, and other healthcare professionals. 

Protecting the health and safety of athletes is exactly what members of NATA have been doing since the organization was founded 

in 1950. The mission of NATA is to represent, engage, and foster 

the continued growth and development of the athletic training profession and athletic trainers as unique healthcare providers. 

Athletic trainers are healthcare professionals who collaborate 

with physicians to provide preventative services, emergency care, 

clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries. They are required to graduate from an accredited baccalaureate or master’s degree program. An academic curriculum and 

clinical training follow the medical model. Athletic trainers are licensed and otherwise regulated in 49 States and the District of Columbia. 

NATA has long been a leader in bringing a voice to the many 

health and safety issues facing athletes. We actively provide our 

expertise and specific recommendations to policymakers at the 

local, State, and Federal levels. 

NATA believes Congress should fully invest in efforts to track 

youth sports injuries and fatalities. It is only with a comprehensive 

system for collecting and analyzing this data that we will be able 

to understand the scope of the problem and the best methods for 

addressing it. 

Based upon current published studies and available data, we 

know America faces challenges balancing an active and healthy 

sports culture while protecting the safety of the youth athlete. 

I would like to give you a few of the current statistics on athletic 

involvement and injuries in the United States. 

There are 420,000 college-level athletes who experience 209,000 

injuries per year. At the secondary school level, there are 7.6 million athletes who have 1.4 million injuries per year. The 46.5 million children playing team sports in our country have 1.35 million 

injuries per year. In 2013, there were 124 million emergency room 

visits by children 19 years of age and younger for injuries related 

to sport. 

These injury statistics are compelling, but to athletic trainers, 

the most compelling fact is that the secondary school athletic population leads the Nation in athletic-related deaths. 

52 

Between 2008 and 2015, there were more than 300 sports-related 

fatalities among young athletes. Let me underscore that fact. In a 

7-year period, we lost over 300 children who were merely playing 

sports. As a Nation, we must do a better job of protecting our youth 

athletes. 

However, only an estimated 42 percent of high schools employee 

a full-time athletic trainer. We need to improve access to athletic 

trainers in secondary schools and youth sports organizations. 

We have a responsibility here to our athletes to provide appropriate medical care. The investment in proper safety measures and 

adequate medical supervision such as a full time athletic trainer is 

not costly when compared to the death or a catastrophic injury of 

a young athlete. 

In 2010, NATA founded the Youth Sports Safety Alliance, YSSA, 

which is now comprised of nearly 290 organizations. The members 

of YSSA range from parent advocate groups, research institutions, 

professional associations, healthcare organizations, and youth 

sports leagues. NATA and YSSA are working to promote and preserve sports, but we must also ensure that sports are played safely. 

When injuries occur, we must be adequately prepared to respond. 

In 2013, NATA also sponsored the Safe Sports School Award, a 

program designed to establish a standard for secondary school athlete safety and recognize those athletic programs that excel in taking all the necessary steps to ensure athlete safety. To date, there 

have been more than 1,100 schools that have received the Award. 

NATA partners with the American Medical Society for Sports 

Medicine, and the Korey Stringer Institute in organizing Collaborative Solutions for Safety in Sports. This is an annual event 

among youth sports safety leaders from every state who come together to discuss appropriate sports medicine policy. 

Finally, over the past several years, NATA has partnered with 

the NFL Foundation, Gatorade, and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society to fund multimillion dollar efforts to place 

athletic trainers in underserved high schools. 

With the knowledge and understanding of the physical and mental benefits of being physically active, NATA has taken a leadership role within a number of national coalitions involved in promoting physical activity issues. 

This week, NATA members were here on Capitol Hill urging 

members of Congress to support the Personal Health Investment 

Today Act or the PHIT Act. This legislation provides an incentive 

for adults and their children to get fit, which will help prevent 

healthcare costs related to preventable chronic diseases. 

I would like to thank Chairman Thune for being the lead sponsor 

of the bill in the Senate and to thank Senators Wicker, Moore 

Capito, and Baldwin for being cosponsors. 

Athletic trainers are uniquely positioned to help with the prevention of opioid abuse and successful rehabilitation from injury 

among student athletes. 

NATA supports proposals to increase access to and training in 

administrating Naloxone. 

NATA also supports the Student and Student Athlete Opioid 

Misuse Prevention Act introduced by New Hampshire Senator 

Shaheen. This bill authorizes new Federal grant funding to support 

53 

programs for students and student athletes as well as training for 

teachers, administrators, and athletic trainers. 

As a leading organization representing athletic trainers, NATA 

fully supports Chairman Thune’s and Senator Klobuchar’s Sports 

Medicine Licensure Clarity Act. I would like to thank Senators 

Wicker and Moore Capito for being cosponsors of the bill. 

The Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act clarifies medical liability rules for athletic trainers, and other medical professionals, 

to ensure they are properly covered by their liability insurance 

when traveling with athletic teams in another state. This legislation also has the support of sports leagues and professional medical 

associations. This week, most senate offices were visited by athletic 

trainers requesting support for this legislation. 

I want to join my fellow athletic trainers, and the more than 

46,000 members of the NATA, in urging Members of the Senate, 

including the members of this committee, to cosponsor the Sports 

Medicine Licensure Clarity Act. 

Thank you for this opportunity to present the views of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and I welcome your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Sailor follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SCOTT R. SAILOR, PRESIDENT, 

NATIONAL ATHLETIC TRAINERS’ ASSOCIATION

On behalf of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), I am pleased to 

have the opportunity to provide testimony to the United States Senate Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation Committee on the important topic of protecting the 

health and safety of American athletes. My name is Scott R. Sailor and I am the 

President of NATA and Chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Program Director for the Athletic Training Program at Fresno State University. 

NATA is a professional organization serving more than 46,000 certified athletic 

trainers, students of athletic training, and other health care professionals. Protecting the health and safety of athletes is exactly what NATA members have been 

doing since the organization was founded in 1950. 

Background on the Athletic Training Profession 

The mission of NATA is to represent, engage, and foster the continued growth and 

development of the athletic training profession and athletic trainers as unique 

health care providers. Athletic trainers are health care professionals who collaborate 

with physicians to provide preventative services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, 

therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries. As part of the health care 

team, services provided by athletic trainers include injury and illness prevention, 

wellness promotion and education, emergent care, examination and clinical diagnosis, and therapeutic intervention. 

Athletic trainers provide urgent and acute care of injuries; they specialize in preventing, diagnosing, and treating muscle and bone injuries. Athletic trainers are included under the allied health professions category as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and are assigned National Provider Identifier 

numbers. In addition to employment by sports and athletic organizations, athletic 

trainers are employed by hospitals, clinics, occupational health departments, 

wellness facilities, the United States military, and numerous other health care settings. 

Athletic trainers are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals. To 

provide appropriate care for patients, athletic trainers receive training in prevention, recognition, and treatment of critical situations. They must graduate from an 

accredited baccalaureate or master’s program and it is required that athletic trainers’ academic curriculum and clinical training follow the medical model. Leaders of 

key athletic training organizations, including NATA, have jointly decided to change 

the athletic training degree level to be a master’s; this change is in process and will 

become effective by 2022. Currently, 70 percent of athletic trainers already have advanced degrees beyond a bachelor’s degree. Athletic trainers are licensed or otherwise regulated in 49 states and the District of Columbia. 

54 

Using a medical-based education model, athletic trainers serve as allied health 

professionals with an emphasis on clinical reasoning skills. The curriculum of an accredited athletic training program must include a comprehensive basic and applied 

science background and uses a competency based approach in both the classroom 

and clinical settings. 

Athletic training education programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), which is recognized by the Council 

for Higher Education Accreditation. The CAATE sets forth rigorous standards for 

the preparation of athletic training graduates that are science-based and didactic. 

CAATE also administers post-professional athletic training residency programs. 

Upon completion of an accredited athletic training program, athletic trainers are 

required to pass a comprehensive examination administered by the Board of Certification, Inc. (BOC). The BOC certification program ensures that individuals have the 

knowledge and skills necessary to perform the tasks critical to safe and competent 

practice as an athletic trainer. Athletic trainers who pass the BOC’s examination 

are awarded the ATC® credential. 

Athlete Health and Safety Issues 

NATA has long been a leader in bringing a voice to the many health and safety 

issues facing athletes. We are actively engaged in providing our expertise and specific recommendations to policymakers at the local, state, and Federal levels. 

As a health professional organization, we pride ourselves on staying informed of 

the latest research findings and reports related to athlete safety. The athletic trainers involved in conducting research and analyzing sports injuries are doing outstanding work. However, NATA urges Congress to fully invest in efforts to track 

youth sports injuries and fatalities. It is only with a comprehensive system for collecting and analyzing this data that we will be able to understand the scope of the 

problem and the best methods for addressing it. 

Based upon current studies and reports, the following statistics provide the best 

snapshot of the relationship between athletic participation and sports-related injuries in the Unites States: 

• 420,000 college-level athletes experience 209 million injuries per year; 

• 7.6 million secondary school athletes experience 1.4 million injuries per year; 

• 46.5 million children playing team sports experience 1.35 million injuries per 

year; 

• 62 percent of injuries occur during practice; and 

• 1.6 to 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur every year. 

In 2013, there were 1.24 million emergency room visits by children 19 years of 

age and under for injuries related to sports; that is 3,397 visits per day, 141 per 

hour, and 1 every 25 seconds. 

These injury statistics are compelling, but to athletic trainers, the most concerning fact is that the secondary school athletic population leads the Nation in athletic-related deaths. Between 2008 and 2015, there have been more than 300 sportsrelated fatalities among young athletes. Let me underscore this fact; in a seven-year 

period, we lost over 300 children who were merely playing sports. As a nation, we 

must do a better job in protecting youth athletes. 

Athletic trainers are experts in creating and applying strategies to prevent and 

reduce the many different causes of sudden death in athletic participation. The underlying causes of sudden death in athletics might include asthma, catastrophic 

brain injuries, cervical spine injuries, diabetes, exertional heat stroke, and sudden 

cardiac arrest, which is the leading cause of death in young athletes. 

NATA supports proposals to ensure that every high school with an athletics department has a full-time athletic trainer on staff to monitor the health of student 

athletes. However, only an estimated 42 percent of high schools employ a full-time 

athletic trainer. We must improve access to athletic trainers in secondary schools 

and youth-sports organizations. 

The investment in proper safety measures and providing adequate medical supervision, such as a full-time athletic trainer, for sports practices and games is not costly when compared to the loss of a young life to injury that may have been prevented 

or properly treated. 

NATA further advocates for the implementation of emergency action plans for all 

sporting events and venues. These plans, developed in conjunction with a health 

care team, ensure a plan of action is in place in case of injury, whether minor or 

catastrophic. 

55 

NATA’s Leadership on Youth Athlete Safety Issues 

In 2010, NATA founded the Youth Sports Safety Alliance (YSSA), which is now 

comprised of nearly 290 organizations. The members of YSSA range from parent advocate groups, research institutions, professional associations, health care organizations, and youth sports leagues. 

Organized sports bring enormous health benefits to children, but certain factors 

may cause them to ignore pain and injuries, which could result in lifelong injuries 

or even death. NATA is working to preserve amateur and professional sports, but 

we must also ensure that sports are played safely and that when injuries occur, we 

are adequately prepared to respond. 

NATA has worked on a number of other partnerships and initiatives to bring attention to youth athlete safety issues at a local, state, and national level including 

the following: 

• NATA Safe Sports School Award: Since 2013, NATA has sponsored the Safe 

Sports School Award, a program designed to establish a standard for secondary 

school athlete safety and recognize those athletic programs that excel in taking 

all the necessary steps to ensure athlete safety. To date, there have been more 

than 1,100 schools that have received the award. 

• At Your Own Risk Campaign: NATA has developed a public awareness campaign, At Your Own Risk, aimed specifically at educating parents, student athletes, school administrators, legislators, and employers on the role of athletic 

trainers as experts in prevention and safety in work, life, and sport. 

• Annual Youth Sports Safety Leaders Event: NATA partners with the American 

Medical Society for Sports Medicine, the Korey Stringer Institute, and the National Football League (NFL) in organizing ‘‘Collaborative Solutions for Safety 

in Sports,’’ an annual event among youth sports safety leaders from every state 

to discuss emergency action planning and coaching education in secondary 

schools. 

• Athletic Trainers in Underserved High Schools: Over the past several years, 

NATA has partnered with the NFL Foundation, Gatorade, and the Professional 

Football Athletic Trainers Society to fund multimillion dollar efforts to place 

athletic trainers in underserved high schools. 

• Publications on Best Practices: NATA continues to publish resources on best 

practices related to preventing sudden death in secondary school athletics, concussion, heat acclimatization, emergency action plans, lightning safety, and 

other emerging athlete safety issues. 

Promoting Physical Activity 

Athletic trainers more than any other health profession understand the physical 

and mental health benefits of an active lifestyle. While NATA has been engaged in 

raising awareness of youth athlete safety issues, we have remained just as steadfast 

in our efforts to promote the benefits of physical activity and sports. NATA has had 

both of these issues at the top of its Federal legislative agenda for many years. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Prevention Strategy 

‘‘outlines the importance of preventive care and recognizes that active living is important to reducing the burden of disease and death.’’ According to the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services’ 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines, ‘‘adults 

who are physically active are healthier and less likely to develop many chronic diseases than adults who are not active—regardless of their gender or ethnicity.’’ 

Further statistics show that participation in sport helps children develop and improve cognitive skills. Physical activity in general is associated with improved academic achievement, including grades and standardized tests scores. Such activity 

can affect attitudes and academic behavior, including enhanced concentration and 

attention and improved classroom behavior. Physical activity and sports in particular can positively affect aspects of personal development among young people, 

such as self-esteem, goal setting, and leadership. Moreover, high school athletes are 

more likely than non-athletes to graduate from high school, attend college, and receive a degree. 

On Tuesday, May 16, 2017, NATA members were on Capitol Hill, urging Members 

of Congress to support the Personal Health Investment Today Act or the PHIT Act. 

This legislation provides an incentive for adults and their children to get fit, which 

will help prevent health care costs related to preventable chronic diseases. I would 

like to thank Chairman Thune for being the lead sponsor of the bill in the Senate 

and to thank Senators Wicker, Capito, and Baldwin for being cosponsors. I would 

encourage the other members of the Senate Commerce Committee to cosponsor the 

PHIT Act. 

56 

Also, NATA has taken a leadership role within a number of national coalitions 

involved in promoting physical activity issues. NATA’s Director of Government Affairs, Amy Callender, represents us on the Board of Directors of the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance and she is the President of the Board of Directors of the 

National Coalition to Promote Physical Activity. 

The Opioid and Prescription Drug Epidemic 

The widespread availability and abuse of prescription opioids and heroin has been 

recognized as a public health crisis by both lawmakers and the public. 

In 2016, an estimated one in five patients with non-cancer pain or pain-related 

diagnoses was prescribed an opioid. In many cases, addiction to prescription opioids 

can lead to abuse of less expensive heroin. In 2014, there were 18,893 overdose 

deaths related to prescription pain relievers and 10,574 overdose deaths related to 

heroin. 

Athletic trainers can play an important role in promoting safe opioid use and preventing opioid abuse. Sports injuries may result in a student being prescribed an 

opioid pain medication, putting student athletes at a higher risk for abusing those 

medications. Athletic trainers are uniquely positioned to help with the prevention 

of opioid abuse and successful rehabilitation from injury amongst student athletes. 

If a student athlete is prescribed an opioid, the athletic trainer at his or her 

school should be informed so they can assist with monitoring the student’s usage 

and recovery progress. Opioid overdoses can be reversed when the lifesaving drug 

naloxone is promptly administered. NATA supports proposals to increase access to 

and training in administering naloxone, including amongst athletic trainers. 

In October 2015, the Obama Administration encouraged federal, state, local, and 

private sector entities to address the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic. 

NATA was invited to participate in this effort and we shared educational materials 

on opioid misuse prevention with our entire membership. 

We were strong advocates for the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act or CARA. Also, NATA has provided comments and recommendations on 

National Pain Strategy and we were represented at the recently held ‘‘Implementation of the National Pain Strategy Listening Session’’ hosted by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. 

NATA also supports S. 786, the Student and Student Athlete Opioid Misuse Prevention Act, introduced by New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The bill is focused on preventing opioid abuse amongst students, and particularly amongst student athletes. The bill authorizes new Federal grant funding to support programs 

for students and student athletes, as well as training for teachers, administrators, 

and athletic trainers. 

Other Federal Legislative and Regulatory Policy Issues 

As the leading organization representing athletic trainers, NATA fully supports 

Chairman Thune’s Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act. I would also like to thank 

Senators Klobuchar, Wicker, and Capito for being original cosponsors of the bill. 

The Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act clarifies medical liability rules for athletic trainers and other medical professionals to ensure they are properly covered 

by their liability insurance while traveling with athletic teams in another state. 

The legislation has the support of the Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, the American Academy of Neurology, and 

numerous other physician and sports medicine organizations. Additionally, the 

United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic 

Association, and every major American professional sports league have endorsed the 

bill. 

The House version of the bill, H.R. 302, passed on January 9, 2017 and awaits 

action by the Unites States Senate. This week, most Senate offices were visited by 

athletic trainers requesting support for this legislation. I want to join my fellow athletic trainers and the more than 46,000 members of NATA in urging members of 

the United States Senate, including the members of this Committee, to cosponsor 

the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act. 

Thank you for this opportunity to present the views of the National Athletic 

Trainers’ Association and I welcome your questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Sailor. 

Dr. Stern. 

57 

STATEMENT OF ROBERT A. STERN, PH.D., PROFESSOR 

OF NEUROLOGY, NEUROSURGERY, AND ANATOMY, 

AND NEUROBIOLOGY; DIRECTOR, CLINICAL CORE, 

BU ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND CTE CENTER, 

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 

Dr. STERN. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Nelson, and distinguished members of the Committee. 

It is a great honor to appear before you today. 

My name is Dr. Robert Stern. I am a Professor of Neurology, and 

Neurosurgery, and Anatomy, and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. I am also the Director of the Clinical Core 

of the BU Alzheimer’s Disease and CTE Center. 

For the past 30 years, I have been conducting clinical neuroscience research, primarily focused on issues pertaining to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Since 2008, my research 

has focused on the long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma in athletes including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or 

CTE. 

CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dramatic 

changes in mood, behavior, movement, and cognition eventually 

leading to dementia. It is similar to Alzheimer’s disease, but it is 

a unique disease easily distinguished from Alzheimer’s and other 

diseases through postmortem neuropathological examination. 

We have actually known about CTE for almost 100 years. It was 

originally called ‘‘punch drunk’’ or dementia pugilistica in the early 

1900s when it was believed to occur only in boxers. 

However, CTE has now been found in people who never boxed 

from ages 16 to 98, including former youth, college, and professional contact sport athletes such as football, hockey, soccer, and 

rugby players. At this time, CTE can only be diagnosed after death 

through postmortem neuropathological examination. 

It is very important to understand that concussion and CTE are 

very distinct. A concussion is an acute brain injury which, if managed appropriately, results in transient symptoms without longterm consequences. 

CTE, on the other hand, is a neurodegenerative disease that appears to begin earlier in life when repetitive brain trauma starts 

to trigger a cascade of events leading to progressive destruction of 

the brain tissue. The symptoms often begin years or decades after 

the brain trauma, after the cessation of the athletic activity and 

continue to worsen as the individual ages. 

There have been numerous cases of advanced stage CTE diagnosed postmortem in former athletes who had no symptoms of concussion, no history of concussion, but who had extensive exposure 

to what is referred to as sub-concussive trauma. 

Several important questions about CTE remain unanswered such 

as, how common is CTE? Why does one person get it and another 

person does not? How can CTE be differentiated during life from 

other diseases and conditions with similar symptoms? To answer 

these and other questions the ability to diagnose CTE while someone is living is the critical next step. 

Our group at Boston University, and other scientists from around 

the country and abroad, are actively conducting research to develop 

methods to accurately diagnose CTE during life. I am honored to 

58 

be the lead investigator of a seven-year longitudinal multicenter investigation funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke that brings together a network of approximately 

50 scientists from ten major research institutions across the country. 

The study referred to as the Diagnose CTE Research Project is 

aimed at developing methods of diagnosing CTE during life. In 

total, hundreds of former professional football players, former college football players, and healthy controls will undergo extensive 

testing over a three-day period at one of four sites around the country, and then return 3 years later for a follow-up evaluation. We 

are well underway, and yet, this is just one study. So much more 

research is needed. 

In closing, it is imperative that we do everything we can as a Nation to continue to reap the profound benefits of American sports 

and athletic participation, while also assuring that we protect the 

health and safety of former, current, and future American athletes. 

That is a difficult balance and requires a combination of unbiased 

scientific information and common sense. 

I want to thank the Committee for your interest in addressing 

this important issue, and for your continued commitment toward 

protecting the health and safety of all athletes. 

I also want to express my gratitude toward the Senate for approving the Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations bill that was recently 

signed into law with a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health including an additional $400 million in funding of 

Alzheimer’s disease research. I urge you to continue and to expand 

upon that type of support. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Stern follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROBERT A. STERN, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF NEUROLOGY, 

NEUROSURGERY, AND ANATOMY & NEUROBIOLOGY; DIRECTOR, CLINICAL CORE, BU 

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND CTE CENTER, BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF

MEDICINE

Introduction 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Nelson, and distinguished Members of the Committee, it is a great honor to appear before you today for this hearing on ‘‘Current 

Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.’’ 

I am a Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Anatomy & Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. I am also the Director of the Clinical Core of the 

Boston University (BU) Alzheimer’s Disease and CTE Center, one of 29 Alzheimer’s 

research centers funded by the National Institute on Aging. For the past 30 years, 

I have been conducting clinical neuroscience research, primarily focused on the cognitive, mood, and behavioral changes of aging, in general, and in neurodegenerative 

diseases, in particular. I have been on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Brown Medical School, and, for the past 13 years, BU 

School of Medicine. In my role in the BU Alzheimer’s Disease and CTE Center, I 

oversee all clinical research pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including studies aimed at the diagnosis, genetics, prevention, and treatment of this devastating 

cause of dementia. 

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) 

You may be asking, ‘‘Why is an Alzheimer’s disease specialist testifying at a hearing on Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes?’’ The answer is, in 

short, that repetitive hits to the head, such as those incurred through American 

tackle football and other contact sports, can have long-term negative consequences 

to brain health, including the development of another neurodegenerative disease, 

chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. In 2008, I co-founded the BU Center for 

59 

1 Christopher Nowinski will formally receive his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neurosciences from Boston University School of Medicine on the day following this Hearing (May 18, 2017). 

the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (now referred to as the BU CTE Center) 

with Dr. Ann McKee, Dr. Robert Cantu, and Mr. Christopher Nowinski.1 Since that 

time, my research has focused on the long-term consequences of repetitive brain 

trauma in athletes, including CTE, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that 

can lead to dramatic changes in mood, behavior, and cognition, eventually leading 

to dementia. It is similar to Alzheimer’s disease, but it is a unique disease, easily 

distinguished from AD and other diseases through post-mortem neuropathological 

examination (McKee et al., 2013; 2016). CTE has been found in individuals from 

ages 16–98, including youth, college, and professional contact sport athletes (e.g., 

football, hockey, soccer, and rugby players, as well as boxers), military service members exposed to blast trauma and other brain injuries, and others with a history of 

repetitive brain trauma, such as a physically abused woman, developmentally disabled head bangers, and seizure disorder patients. (See Table 1) 

CTE has been known to affect boxers since the 1920s (previously referred to as 

‘‘punch drunk’’ or dementia pugilistica). The post-mortem neuropathological characteristics were first clearly described in the 1970s by Corsellis et al., (1973). In 2002, 

CTE was diagnosed neuropathologically in a former professional football player for 

the first time (i.e., Mike Webster of the Pittsburgh Steelers). That case and subsequent discoveries of CTE in other deceased former NFL players led to growing 

media attention on CTE. Until recently, I have stated publicly that the scientific 

knowledge of CTE is in its infancy. However, due to important new scientific discoveries about CTE, along with an exponential increase in the number of publications 

in medical/scientific journals focusing on CTE (See Figure 1), I am led to think that 

we are now in the ‘‘toddlerhood’’ of our scientific knowledge about this disease. 


517STERN1.eps
60 

CTE Neuropathology 

What is currently known about CTE is based primarily on post-mortem examinations of brain tissue, and interviews from the family members of the deceased athletes. My colleague, Dr. Ann McKee, and her team have examined more brains of 

individuals with a history of repetitive brain trauma than any group in the world. 

What these studies have shown is that, in some individuals, repetitive brain trauma 

triggers a cascade of events in the brain leading to progressive destruction of the 

brain tissue. The hallmark feature of CTE is the build-up of an abnormal form of 

a protein called tau (See Figure 2; based on the work of Dr. McKee). The tau protein 

becomes hyperphosphorylated (referred to as p-tau) and, rather than serve its vital 

role in the structure and function of brain cells, it becomes toxic, eventually destroying the cells. In 2015, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 

(NINDS) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 

(NIBIB) convened a consensus conference panel of seven independent neuropathologists with specific expertise in neurodegenerative tauopathies (McKee et al., 2016). 

The group of experts agreed that CTE is a unique disease, only seen in individuals 

with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Further, they agreed that the pathognomonic lesion of CTE (i.e., the changes in the brain that are uniquely found in CTE 

and can be used to diagnose it) is an irregular deposition of p-tau around small 

blood vessels at the depths of the cortical sulci (i.e., the valleys of the cerebral cortex). This pattern of p-tau was agreed to be distinct from any other neurodegenerative tauopathy, including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. As the disease advances, the disease spreads to other areas of the brain, leading to progressive destruction of brain tissue (i.e., atrophy). The changes in the 

brain from CTE can begin years, or even decades, after the last brain trauma or 

end of athletic involvement. 

CTE is not prolonged post-concussion syndrome, nor is it the cumulative effect of 

concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries. Rather, CTE is not a ‘‘brain injury,’’ 

per se; CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that appears to begin earlier in life, at 

the time of exposure to repetitive head impacts, but the symptoms often begin years 

or decades after the brain trauma and continue to worsen as the individual ages. 

Importantly, there have been numerous cases of neuropathologically-confirmed later 

stage CTE without any history of symptomatic concussions, but with extensive exposure to ‘‘subconcussive’’ trauma (see below). 

The Clinical Features of CTE 

Depending upon the areas of the brain destroyed by the disease, CTE can lead 

to a variety of changes in cognitive, behavioral, mood, and often motor functioning 

(See Table 1). As cognitive impairment worsens, the individual typically demonstrates progressive dementia, i.e., memory and other cognitive dysfunction severe 

enough to impair independence in activities of living. Although the cognitive 

changes in CTE are very similar to those in Alzheimer’s disease, many individuals 


517STERN2.eps
61 

with CTE develop the significant changes in mood and behavior relatively early in 

life (Stern, et al., 2013). This can lead to significant distress for the individual with 

CTE as well as their family, friends, and other loved ones. These mood and behavioral impairments associated with CTE are often misdiagnosed and attributed to 

routine psychiatric disorders, stress, substance abuse, or pre-existing personality 

traits. Although there can be many potential underlying causes for changes in mood 

and behavior in individuals in their 20s–50s, it is also known that the areas of the 

brain damaged in CTE could lead to these problems, including depression, 

impulsivity, emotional liability, irritability, and behavioral dyscontrol. Based on reviews of the published case reports and other literature, along with our own research of the reported clinical features of CTE in neuropathologically-confirmed 

cases (Stern et al., 2013), our group published provisional Research Diagnostic Criteria for the clinical presentation of CTE, referred to as Traumatic Encephalopathy 

Syndrome or TES (Montenigro et al., 2014). An important aspect of these proposed 

diagnostic criteria is the use of objective biological tests (i.e., biomarkers), when they 

are available and validated, to indicate that CTE is the underlying disease for the 

clinical presentation. This diagnostic approach is similar to that currently accepted 

in the research community for the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia due 

to Alzheimer’s disease. 


517STERN3.eps 517STERN4.eps
62 

Although there are have been tremendous gains in our understanding of CTE during the last decade, there remain many important questions (see Table 2). Most of 

these questions cannot easily be answered until CTE can be diagnosed during life. 

However, we cannot wait until CTE can be diagnosed during life to begin to examine 

the short-term and long-term neurological consequences of repetitive head impacts in 

athletes. 

Concussions are the Tip of the Iceberg: Importance of Subconcussive 

Trauma 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates as many as 3.8 

million concussions occur in the U.S. each year through sports and recreational activities. It is clear that a single sports-related concussion can result in significant 

physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms and signs. Although the majority of 

concussions resolve within a few weeks, 10–30 percent result in prolonged recovery 

(i.e., post-concussion syndrome). However, at some point, a single concussion is likely to completely resolve and result in no long-term consequences. It is likely that 

concussions are only the ‘‘tip of the iceberg,’’ when it comes to long-term neurological 

problems, in general, and CTE, in particular. What is significantly more common 

than symptomatic concussions are ‘‘subconcussive’’ hits. This subconcussive trauma 

is believed to occur when there is impact to the brain with adequate force to have 

an effect on neuronal functioning, but without immediate symptoms and signs of 

concussion. Some sports (e.g., American tackle football) and positions (e.g., lineman) 

are very prone to these impacts. The most common method used to quantify the 

number of these subconcussive impacts involves helmets outfitted with 

accelerometers, devices that measure the linear, lateral, and rotational forces of impacts. Numerous studies have been published over the past 10 years, primarily in 

tackle football at the high school and college level. For example, a study by Broglio 

and colleagues (2011) found that high school football players received, on average, 

652 hits to the head in excess of 15g of force in a single season. One player received 

2,235 hits. The average number of hits in college players is even greater. There is 

now growing evidence that even after one season, repetitive subconcussive trauma 

can lead to cognitive, physiological, and structural changes to the brain (e.g., Abbas 

et al., 2015; Davenport et al., 2014, 2016; Helmer et al., 2014; McAllister et al., 2012; 

Breedlove et al., 2012; Poole et al., 2015; Kawata et al., 2017). One recent study of 

youth (8–12 year olds) tackle football by researchers at Wake Forest University 

(Bahrami et al., 2016) had rather striking results. In this study, the players underwent a special type of MRI scan, referred to as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), prior 

to the season, and then again following the football season. The players wore helmets with accelerometers during the course of the season. Without including any 

players with symptomatic, diagnosed concussions, the researchers found that players who experienced greater cumulative head impact exposure (i.e., more hits above 

a g-force threshold across the season) had more changes in the integrity of the white 

matter of the brain. Research studies such as these provide strong support that 

there are short-term neurological consequences of repetitive subconcussive trauma. 


517STERN5.eps
63 

Cumulative Head Impact Exposure 

One thing we do know about CTE is that every case of post-mortem diagnosed 

CTE has had one thing in common: a history of repetitive brain trauma (Bieniek 

et al., 2015). This means that the repetitive brain trauma is a necessary factor in 

developing this disease. However, it is not a sufficient factor. That is, not everyone 

who hits their head repeatedly will develop this progressive brain disease. There are 

additional, as yet unknown, variables that lead to CTE, such as genetic susceptibility or specific aspects of the exposure to the brain trauma (e.g., severity and type 

of trauma, amount of rest between hits, total duration of exposure to trauma, cumulative number of head impacts, age of first exposure). An important next step in 

CTE research is to examine the specific aspects of head impact exposure, vis-a`-vis 

risk for later life neurological changes. 

Similar to measuring and modeling ‘‘exposure’’ to toxins in the environment or in 

the workplace, our group has been employing the approaches and techniques used 

in Exposure Science to guide our examination of exposure to head impacts through 

tackle football. We recently published a study evaluating the relationship between 

the estimated cumulative number of head impacts received playing amateur football 

and later life mood, behavioral, and cognitive functioning (Montenigro et al., 2016). 

In this study, we developed the cumulative head impact index (CHII), using a sample of 93 former high school and college American football players, with an average 

age of 47. The CHII was calculated from an algorithm based on the number of seasons played, position(s) played, levels played (youth, high school, college), and estimated head impact frequencies from published helmet accelerometer studies. The 

total number of hits was not meant to reflect merely the number of ‘‘concussions,’’ 

but, rather, all impacts above a minimum force, including those referred to as subconcussive hits. The average number of total impacts estimated to have been received by participants in our study was 7,742, a number that is consistent with the 

range of cumulative impacts expected for former high school and college football 

players based on previous published helmet accelerometer studies. We found a 

strong, dose-response relationship between the estimated total number of head impacts experienced through youth, high school, and college football and the risk of developing clinically-meaningful cognitive, mood, and behavioral impairments later in 

life. Figures 3 and 4 depict the dose-response relationships between the CHII and 

later-life depression and cognitive impairment, respectively. In layman’s terms, the 

more hits to the head a football player received in his career, the more likely he 

was to have impaired cognitive functioning, as well as depression, apathy, and behavioral regulation difficulties. 


517STERN6.eps
64 

We have also found significant relationships between greater lifetime exposure to 

head impacts in football (using the CHII metric) and objective biomarkers of possible overall neurodegeneration in former NFL players between the ages of 40–69 

years. For example, in one study (Alosco et al., 2016), the greater the exposure level 

(i.e., the amount of estimated head impacts), the higher the amount of total tau protein in blood, as determined by a state-of-the-art blood test using ultrasensitive single-molecule array (Simoa) assays (p = 0.014; see Figure 5). Other studies from our 

group have found significant relationships between the estimated overall exposure 

to head impacts and the amount of atrophy of specific areas of the brain (using magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]), as well as alterations in brain chemistry (using 

magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS]). The relationship between the total years 

playing football and the severity of postmortem tau pathology in CTE has also been 

reported (Cherry et al., 2016). 


517STERN7.eps 517STERN8.eps
65 

Age of First Exposure to Tackle Football 

The brain undergoes significant maturation and development during childhood, 

with several brain structures and functions reaching their peaks or plateaus of development during the period leading up to age 12 (see Table 3). Our group conducted a study to investigate whether or not there is a relationship between experiencing repeated hits to the head during this critical period of brain development and 

cognitive difficulties later in life (Stamm et al., 2015). Participants in this study 

were former NFL players ages 41–65 who were part of my NIH-funded DETECT 

study at Boston University. The former players were divided into two groups: those 

who began playing tackle football before age 12 and those who began at age 12 or 

older. We examined their performance on tests of memory and mental flexibility. We 

found that even after accounting for the total number of years they played football, 

those who began playing before age 12 performed significantly worse on all tests we 

measured. This suggests that being hit in the head repeatedly through tackle football during a critical time of brain development is associated with later-life cognitive 

difficulties. In a subsequent similar study (Stamm et al., 2015) of the same sample 

of former NFL players, conducted in collaboration with my colleagues, Drs. Martha 

Shenton and Inga Koerte at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, we examined the relationship between the age of first exposure to tackle football and the 

structural integrity of the corpus callosum, the large white matter fiber tracts connecting the two hemispheres of the brain. The former players underwent MRI scans 

with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) which showed that subjects who began playing 

football before age 12 were found to have significantly altered integrity of the anterior portions of the corpus callosum at middle-age, compared to those who began 

playing football at age 12 or older. 

The participants in these studies were all former NFL players, which limits the 

ability to apply these findings to other groups of athletes. However, in another investigation from our group, we studied former football players who only played up 

through high school or college, and we found that those who began playing tackle 

football before age 12 had significantly greater impairments in mood and behavior 

as adults, compared with those who began playing at age 12 or older. More research 

is needed to study this question in athletes who played other sports, and female athletes, as females generally reach milestones of brain development earlier than 

males. 

Diagnosing CTE During Life 

Our group at BU and other scientists from around the country and abroad are 

conducting research to develop methods of accurately diagnosing CTE during life. 

Fortunately, because CTE is similar to Alzheimer’s disease and other 

neurodegenerative disorders, we can exploit the incredible discoveries and advances 

in diagnostic tests developed for these other disorders in recent years to accelerate 

our ability to diagnose CTE during life. Once we can accurately diagnose CTE, we 

will be able to more clearly address the important questions listed above in Table 

2. We will be able to differentiate between CTE and other causes of cognitive and 

behavioral change, including Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, PTSD, 

persistent symptoms from previous repetitive or single concussions, ‘‘routine’’ depression and aggressive behavior, and others. We will be able to measure more 

clearly the true incidence and prevalence of the disease. We will be able to determine more accurately the risk factors (including genetic and exposure variables) for 

developing CTE. Perhaps most importantly, we will be able to begin clinical trials 


517STERN9.eps
66 

for the treatment and prevention of CTE, as new anti-tau compounds (as well as 

other disease modifying treatments) move through the pharmaceutical development 

pipeline. And, similar to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, 

the earlier a disease modifying treatment can be initiated, the more likely it will 

be successful in slowing the progression of symptoms. That is, once a disease has 

resulted in too much destruction of brain tissue, it may be too late to intervene successfully (i.e., the destroyed tissue cannot be regenerated). Therefore, early detection 

of the disease, before symptoms manifest, can potentially prevent the symptoms 

from ever appearing. However, it is likely that not all CTE will be able to be prevented and, therefore, there will always be need for successful methods of treating 

and slowing the progression of symptoms. 

Development of Biomarkers for CTE Diagnosis 

In 2011, I was fortunate to receive a grant co-funded by the National Institute 

of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, the National Institute of Aging, and the National 

Institute of Childhood Health and Development (Grants #s R01NS078337 and 

R56NS078337) for a study referred to as, ‘‘Diagnosing and Evaluating Traumatic 

Encephalopathy using Clinical Tests’’ (DETECT). The goals of the DETECT study 

(which was the first grant ever funded by NIH to study CTE) were to examine the 

later-life clinical presentation of former NFL players at high risk for CTE, and to 

begin to develop in vivo biomarkers for CTE. The DETECT study concluded in 2015 

and involved a total of 96 symptomatic former NFL players and 28 same-age asymptomatic controls without head trauma history. All research participants underwent 

extensive brain scans, lumbar punctures (to measure proteins in cerebrospinal 

fluid), electrophysiological studies, blood tests (e.g., for genetic studies and novel potential biomarkers), and in-depth neurological, neuropsychological, and psychiatric 

evaluations. In addition, Dr. Martha Shenton of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

and I received Department of Defense funding for a related study to examine a 

promising new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) ligand (developed and owned 

by Avid Radiopharmaceuticals) that is designed to attach to abnormal forms of tau 

protein, such as those found in CTE. I also received a separate grant from Avid 

Radiopharmaceuticals to examine that same PET scan, in conjunction with colleagues from Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and Mayo Clinic Arizona. Results from 

the DETECT study have been very promising, resulting in preliminary support for 

potential blood biomarkers of CTE (e.g., Alosco et al., 2017; Stern et al., 2016; See 

Figure 6), as well as a variety of potential MRI and MRS biomarkers (e.g., Koerte 

et al., 2016). In addition, preliminary analyses of the tau PET data are encouraging. 


517STERN10.eps
67 

The DETECT study was just the first step. Much more research is needed, including studies with longitudinal designs and much larger and more diverse samples, 

the inclusion of newer techniques and technologies, as well as post-mortem validation of the findings during life. 

DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project 

In December 2015, I, along with three co-principal investigators (Jeffrey 

Cummings, M.D., from the Cleveland Clinic; Eric Reiman, M.D., from Banner Alzheimer’s Institute; Martha Shenton, Ph.D., from Brigham & Women’s Hospital), 

were honored to receive a $16 million collaborative research grant funded by the 

National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (U01NS093334), entitled, 

‘‘Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Detection, Diagnosis, Course, and Risk Factors.’’ The goals of the project are summarized in Table 4. 

To study the clinical presentation, diagnostic criteria, biomarkers, and risk factors 

of CTE requires expertise across many disciplines, including neurology, 

neuropsychology, psychiatry, neuroimaging, molecular medicine, neuropathology, exposure science, genetics, biostatistics, bioinformatics, engineering, and others. This 

project brings together a network of approximately 50 scientists from 10 major research institutions from across the country, including Banner Alzheimer’s Institute 

in Arizona, BU Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Harvard Medical School), Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health 

in Las Vegas, Mayo Clinic Arizona, New York University (NYU) Langone Medical 

Center and NYU School of Medicine, VA Puget Sound, University of Washington, 

Molecular NeuroImaging (New Haven, CT), and the Neuroinformatics Research 

Group and Central Neuroimaging Data Archive (CNDA) at Washington University 

School of Medicine (in St. Louis). 

This 7-year, longitudinal, multicenter investigation, referred to as the Diagnostics, 

Imaging, And Genetics Network for the Objective Study & Evaluation of Chronic 

Traumatic Encephalopathy (DIAGNOSE CTE) Research Project, is well underway. 

In total, we will examine 240 former professional football players, former college 

football players, and healthy controls (without history of contact sports of brain 

trauma), between the ages of 45–74. Participants will undergo extensive testing over 

a three-day period at one of four sites (see Table 5), and then return three years 

later for a follow-up evaluation. Examinations include: Advanced MRI and MRS imaging; two brain PET scans to measure abnormal tau and amyloid protein deposits, 

respectively; lumbar punctures, to measure proteins and other substances in cerebrospinal fluid; blood and saliva collection, to measure proteins and other compounds using state-of-the-art analyses; extensive neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, neurological, and motor examinations; and genetic testing, as part of risk factor 

analyses. We are fortunate to have an External Advisory Board made up of Key 

Opinion Leaders, including David Knopman, M.D., External Advisory Board Chair 

(Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic), Col. Dallas Hack, M.D. (Ret.) (Medical Leader, One Mind), Brian Hainline, M.D. (Chief Medical Officer, National Collegiate Athletic Association), Mike Haynes (Member of Pro Football Hall of Fame, President 

and founder, Mike Haynes & Assoc.), Thomas McAllister, M.D. (Chair, Department 

of Psychiatry, Albert Eugene Stern Professor of Clinical Psychiatry; Indiana University School of Medicine), Arthur Toga, M.D. (Provost Professor; Director of the Institute for Neuroimaging and Informatics, University of Southern California), and Michael Weiner, M.D. (Professor of Medicine, Radiology, Psychiatry, and Neurology, 

University of California San Francisco). We are confident that based on the results 

of this study, along with scientific advances in the diagnosis of other 

neurodegenerative diseases, CTE will be able to be accurately diagnosed during life 

within the next 5–10 years. 


517STERN11.eps
68 

Concussions, Repetitive Subconcussive Head Impacts, and CTE 

Over the past 10 years, there have been tremendous strides made in sports concussion awareness, prevention, detection, and management. These gains have resulted in improved public health and have likely saved the lives of many American 

athletes. Continued efforts must be made to better detect concussion using objective 

tests, to reduce risk for concussion, and to educate players, parents, coaches, medical staff, and the public as a whole, about the concussions. However, I am concerned that there is confusion regarding the difference between concussion and CTE. 

A concussion is an acute brain injury, which, if managed appropriately, results in 

transient symptoms, without long-term consequences. CTE, on the other hand, is a 

neurodegenerative disease that has only been diagnosed in individuals with a history of repetitive head impacts. As stated above, the disease appears to begin at the 

time of exposure to those repetitive impacts but often does not result in any symptoms until years or decades following the cessation of the exposure (i.e., ending involvement in the sport). It also appears that it is the overall exposure to repetitive 

head impacts (including the much more common subconcussive trauma) that results 

in later life neurological disorders, including CTE. In short, concussion and CTE are 

very distinct, and yet, there seems to be widespread confusion about this. My hope 

is that the national discussion about brain trauma in football and other contact 

sports can shift from a focus primarily on ‘‘concussion’’ to the much more common 

and, potentially more problematic, subconcussive trauma. In other words, the big 

hits and symptomatic concussions can be easily observed, counted, and, with appropriate societal effort, reduced. However, the repetitive, subconcussive hits are currently viewed as fundamental to certain sports (e.g., routine plays in American tackle football, heading in soccer), but may have a greater negative overall impact on 

public health. 

Tackle Football History 

American tackle football began in the late 19th century. It was originally played 

without any protective headgear and then thin leather helmets were worn. However, 

it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that hard plastic helmets with facemasks were 

used. The helmets were developed to prevent skull fractures (which they did and 

continue to do extremely well), but they also allowed individuals to hit their head 

repeatedly against their opponent without feeling pain, thus possibly creating a 

sense of invincibility and also portraying minimal safety concerns. In the 1960s and 

early 1970s, children started to play organized American tackle football when Pop 

Warner youth football became popular nationally. From a public health perspective, 

the first individuals who played youth football are currently in their late 50s and 

60s, and the first individuals who played college football with hard plastic helmets 

and facemasks are currently in their mid-70s. Aside from boxing, there does not 

seem to be any other activity that human beings have been involved with that includes exposure to hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of head impacts. 

Although boxing has been around for hundreds of years, it was not until the mid20th century that it involved extensive exposure to repetitive head impacts. It was 

at that time that the padded glove was used routinely (initially meant as a means 

of protecting the hands from injury, but also resulted in increased numbers of blows 

to the head). Therefore, it is only in the past 55–65 years that large numbers of 

human beings have been exposed to repetitive head impacts. While the epidemiology 

of CTE is unknown, it is possible that millions of living older adults are currently 

at high risk for CTE or other long-term neurological conditions due to their history 

of exposure to repetitive head impacts. 


517STERN12.eps
69 

Decision-Making Regarding Participation in Tackle Football 

With increased knowledge of the potential short-term and long-term risks of repetitive head impacts and other injuries incurred through tackle football, adult athletes should be able to make informed decisions about participating. However, the 

issue of youth participation is quite different because children’s brains are not yet 

fully developed, especially the frontal lobes, the parts of the brain responsible for 

complex thought, planning, judgement, abstract thinking, and decision-making. As 

such, children and adolescents are not able to weigh the long-term risks and benefits of playing tackle football (Bachynsky, 2016). Parents and other adults involved 

in the decision-making process and in setting policies often search for guidance from 

professional organizations, such as groups of medical and scientific experts. One 

such organization is the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and its Council on 

Sports Medicine and Fitness which, after reviewing the literature regarding tackling 

and football-related injuries (including concussions, subconcussive trauma, and 

CTE), published a Policy Statement, as part of the AAP ‘‘Organizational Principles 

to Guide and Define the Child Health Care System and/or Improve the Health of 

all Children.’’ (Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, 2015). At the end of their 

review, they provided the following summary (with italics added for emphasis): 

Removing tackling from football altogether would likely lead to a decrease in 

the incidence of overall injuries, severe injuries, catastrophic injuries, and concussions. The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes, however, that the re- moval of tackling from football would lead to a fundamental change in the way 

the game is played. Participants in football must decide whether the potential 

health risks of sustaining these injuries are outweighed by the recreational benefits associated with proper tackling. (Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, 

2015; p. e1426) 

It is my opinion that if making a fundamental change to the way a game is played 

would likely decrease injuries, severe injuries, catastrophic injuries, and brain injuries (i.e., concussions), then perhaps there should be a recommendation that such 

a fundamental change should be made. And, similar to Bachynsky (2016), in his editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine critiquing the AAP Policy Statement, 

I strongly believe that youth are not capable of making their own decisions about 

participation in a game with these known short-term and long-term risks. Therefore, parents, guardians, school officials, leagues, coaches, state Departments of 

Health, and other key decision-makers, require ongoing, up-to-date scientific/medical 

information and guidance, not merely from the media or from groups with potential 

financial conflicts of interest or other biases. 

Consensus Statements developed at conferences sponsored and organized by institutions with financial conflicts of interest (e.g., Fe ́de ́ration Internationale de Football Association [FIFA], Federation for Equestrian Sports [FEI], International Olympic Committee [IOC], International Ice Hockey Federation [IIHF]), and written by 

experts in concussion and brain injury, rather than in neurodegenerative diseases, 

may not necessarily result in accurate summaries and recommendations regarding 

the relationship between repetitive head impacts and CTE. One example of a Consensus Statement published by a less biased group of clinicians and scientists (including several with expertise in neurodegenerative diseases and neuroscience) is 

the ‘‘Expert Consensus Document’’ resulting from a one-day meeting convened by 

Safe Kids Worldwide, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, and the Andrews 

Institute for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (Carmen et al., 2015). Based on their 

review of the literature pertaining to CTE, they concluded that CTE is a ‘‘disease 

associated exclusively with repetitive head trauma,’’ that ‘‘. . . long sporting careers 

are not required for CTE development, and that youth athletes represent an at-risk 

population.’’ (p. 233) 

Continued discussion and collaboration amongst expert scientists and clinicians 

about the current state of scientific knowledge regarding short-term and long-term 

consequences of repetitive head impacts in contact sports is critically needed. Governmental organizations (e.g., NIH, Department of Defense, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Veteran’s Affairs) which serve as the primary 

funders of biomedical research can and should take the lead, by convening expert 

panels to help guide future scientific discovery in this area, as well as to provide 

the public with accurate, unbiased, state-of-the science summaries and recommendations aimed at issues pertinent to improving public health. 

Increased Funding for CTE Research 

In order to tackle the complex issue of CTE, we must continue to expand upon 

current approaches to conducting research in neurodegenerative disease. We must 

continue to break down the traditional silos of individual research labs, research inVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 May 14, 2018 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\29997.TXT JACKIE
70 

stitutions, and disciplines, and begin to conduct multidisciplinary, collaborative, and 

translational research, bringing together the very best scientists, novel methodologies, and state-of-the-art technology. Most importantly, we cannot forget that our research must focus on reducing individual human suffering and improving public 

health. Alas, this requires tremendous financial support. There is the possibility 

that millions of Americans are at risk for developing CTE and other long-term neurological complications from exposure to repetitive head impacts in the sports they 

participated in during youth, high school, and college, over the past six decades. 

However, there remain critical questions in need of answers and gaps in our scientific knowledge are in need of filling. We must do everything we can to continue 

to reap the profound benefits of American sports while also assuring that we protect 

the health and safety of former, current, and future American athletes. 

Summary 

In summary, many of our most cherished American sports, such as tackle football, 

soccer, and hockey, involve repetitive blows to the head, often resulting in changes 

to brain structure and function, even after just one season of play. This exposure 

to repetitive head impacts (often without any experience of symptomatic concussions) potentially leads to a degenerative brain disease with later life impairments 

in behavior, mood, and cognition, as well as the development of dementia and lack 

of independent functioning. Therefore, it is imperative that we: (1) determine who 

may be at increased risk for CTE and other long-term consequences of the repetitive 

head impacts experienced by athletes at all ages; (2) develop methods of accurately 

diagnosing CTE during life (perhaps even before symptoms); and (3) create and test 

methods of slowing the progression of the disease, treating its symptoms, and even 

preventing the onset of symptoms altogether. I want to close by thanking the Committee for your interest in addressing this important issue and for your continued 

commitment toward protecting the health and safety of all athletes. 

References Cited 

Abbas K, Shenk TE, Poole VN, Robinson ME, Leverenz LJ, Nauman EA, Talavage 

TM. Effects of repetitive sub-concussive brain injury on the functional connectivity 

of Default Mode Network in high school football athletes. Dev Neuropsychol. 2015; 

40:51–6 

Alosco ML, Tripodis Y, Jarnagin J, Baugh CM, Martin B, Chaisson CE, Estochen 

N, Song L, Cantu RC, Jeromin A, Stern RA. Repetitive head impact exposure and 

later-life plasma total tau in former National Football League players. Alzheimers 

Dement (Amst). 2016 Dec 10;7:33–40. 

Bachynski, K.E. Tolerable Risks? Physicians and Youth Tackle Football. NEJM 

2016:374:405–407. 

Bahrami, N., Sharma, D., Rosenthal, S., Davenport, E. M., Urban, J. E., Wagner, 

B., . . . Maldjian, J. A. (2016). Subconcussive Head Impact Exposure and White 

Matter Tract Changes over a Single Season of Youth Football. Radiology, 160564. 

doi: 10.1148/radiol.2016160564 

Bieniek, K. F., Ross, O. A., Cormier, K. A., Walton, R. L., Soto-Ortolaza, A., Johnston, A. E., . . . Dickson, D. W. (2015). Chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology 

in a neurodegenerative disorders brain bank. Acta Neuropathol, 130(6), 877–889. 

doi: 10.1007/s00401–015–1502–4 

Breedlove EL, Robinson M, Talavage TM, Morigaki KE, Yoruk U, O’Keefe K, King 

J, Leverenz LJ, Gilger JW, Nauman EA. Biomechanical correlates of symptomatic 

and asymptomatic neurophysiological impairment in high school football. J Biomech. 

2012 Apr 30;45(7):1265–72. 

Broglio, S. P., Eckner, J. T., Martini, D., Sosnoff, J. J., Kutcher, J. S., & Randolph, 

C. (2011). Cumulative head impact burden in high school football. J Neurotrauma, 

28(10), 2069–2078. doi: 10.1089/neu.2011.1825 

Carman, A.J., Ferguson, R., Cantu, R., Comstock, R.D., Dacks, P.A., DeKosky, 

S.T., Gandy, S., Gilbert, J., Gilliland, G., Gioia, G., Giza, G., Greicius, G., Hainline, 

B., Hayes, R.L., Hendrix,H., Jordan, B., Kovach, J., Lane, R.F., Mannix, R., Murray, 

T., Seifert, T., Shineman, D.W., Warren, E., Wilde, E., Willard H., & Fillit, H.M. 

Expert Consensus Document: Mind the gaps—advancing research into short-term 

and long-term neuropsychological outcomes of youth sports-related concussions. Nat. 

Rev. Neurol. 2015; 11:230–244 

Cherry, J. D., Tripodis, Y., Alvarez, V. E., Huber, B., Kiernan, P. T., Daneshvar, 

D. H.,. . .Stein, T. D. (2016). Microglial neuroinflammation contributes to tau accumulation in chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Acta Neuropathol Commun, 4(1), 

112. doi: 10.1186/s40478–016–0382–8 

Chugani, H.T., Phelps, M.E. and Mazziotta, J.C. (1987). Positron emission tomography study of human brain functional development. Ann Neurol 22, 487–497. 

71 

Corsellis, J. A., Bruton, C. J., & Freeman-Browne, D. (1973). The aftermath of 

boxing. Psychol Med, 3(3), 270–303. 

Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Tackling in youth football. Pediatrics 

2015;136: e1419–30. 

Davenport EM, Apkarian K, Whitlow CT, Urban JE, Jensen JH, Szuch E, 

Espeland MA, Jung Y, Rosenbaum DA, Gioia GA, Powers AK, Stitzel JD, Maldjian 

JA. Abnormalities in Diffusional Kurtosis Metrics Related to Head Impact Exposure 

in a Season of High School Varsity Football. J Neurotrauma. 2016 Dec 

1;33(23):2133–2146. Epub 2016 May 18. 

Davenport EM, Whitlow CT, Urban JE, Espeland MA, Jung Y, Rosenbaum DA, 

Gioia GA, Powers AK, Stitzel JD, Maldjian JA. Abnormal white matter integrity related to head impact exposure in a season of high school varsity football. J 

Neurotrauma. 2014 Oct 1;31(19):1617–24. 

Giedd, J.N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N.O., Castellanos, F.X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, 

A., Paus, T., Evans, A.C. and Rapoport, J.L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nat Neurosci 2, 861–863. 

Helmer KG, Pasternak O, Fredman E, Preciado RI, Koerte IK, Sasaki T, 

Mayinger M, Johnson AM, Holmes JD, Forwell LA, Skopelja EN, Shenton ME, 

Echlin PS. Hockey Concussion Education Project, Part 1. Susceptibility-weighted 

imaging study in male and female ice hockey players over a single season. J 

Neurosurg. 2014 Apr;120(4):864–72. 

Kawata K, Rubin LH, Takahagi M, Lee JH, Sim T, Szwanki V, Bellamy A, 

Tierney R, Langford D. Subconcussive Impact-Dependent Increase in Plasma 

S100β Levels in Collegiate Football Players. J Neurotrauma. 2017 Apr 27. 

[Epub ahead of print] 

Koerte, I. K., Hufschmidt, J., Muehlmann, M., Tripodis, Y., Stamm, J. M., Pasternak, O., . . . Shenton, M. E. (2016). Cavum Septi Pellucidi in Symptomatic 

Former Professional Football Players. J Neurotrauma, 33(4), 346–353. doi: 10.1089/ 

neu.2015.3880 

Lebel, C., Walker, L., Leemans, A., Phillips, L. and Beaulieu, C. (2008). Microstructural maturation of the human brain from childhood to adulthood. Neuroimage 

40, 1044–1055. 

McAllister, T. W., Flashman, L. A., Maerlender, A., Greenwald, R. M., Beckwith, 

J. G., Tosteson, T. D., Turco, J. H. (2012). Cognitive effects of one season of head 

impacts in a cohort of collegiate contact sport athletes. Neurology, 78(22), 1777– 

1784. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182582fe7 

McKee, A. C., Cairns, N. J., Dickson, D. W., Folkerth, R. D., Keene, C. D., Litvan, 

I.,. . .group, T. C. (2016). The first NINDS/NIBIB consensus meeting to define 

neuropathological criteria for the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. 

Acta Neuropathol, 131(1), 75–86. doi: 10.1007/s00401–015–1515–z 

McKee, A. C., Stern, R. A., Nowinski, C. J., Stein, T. D., Alvarez, V. E., 

Daneshvar, D. H., . . . Cantu, R. C. (2013). The spectrum of disease in chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Brain, 136(Pt 1), 43–64. doi: 10.1093/brain/aws307 

Montenigro, P. H., Alosco, M. L., Martin, B. M., Daneshvar, D. H., Mez, J., 

Chaisson, C. E., . . . Tripodis, Y. (2016). Cumulative Head Impact Exposure Predicts Later-Life Depression, Apathy, Executive Dysfunction, and Cognitive Impairment in Former High School and College Football Players. J Neurotrauma. doi: 

10.1089/neu.2016.4413 

Montenigro, P. H., Baugh, C. M., Daneshvar, D. H., Mez, J., Budson, A. E., Au, 

R., . . . Stern, R. A. (2014). Clinical subtypes of chronic traumatic encephalopathy: 

literature review and proposed research diagnostic criteria for traumatic 

encephalopathy syndrome. Alzheimers Res Ther, 6(5), 68. doi: 10.1186/s13195–014– 

0068–z 

Poole VN, Breedlove EL, Shenk TE, Abbas K, Robinson ME, Leverenz LJ, 

Nauman EA, Dydak U, Talavage TM. Sub-concussive hit characteristics predict deviant brain metabolism in football athletes. Dev Neuropsychol. 2015 Jan;40(1):12– 

7 

Shaw, P., Kabani, N.J., Lerch, J.P., Eckstrand, K., Lenroot, R., Gogtay, N., Greenstein, D., Clasen, L., Evans, A., Rapoport, J.L., Giedd, J.N. and Wise, S.P. (2008). 

Neurodevelopmental trajectories of the human cerebral cortex. J Neurosci 28, 3586– 

3594. 

Stamm, J. M., Bourlas, A. P., Baugh, C. M., Fritts, N. G., Daneshvar, D. H., Martin, B. M., . . . Stern, R. A. (2015). Age of first exposure to football and later-life 

cognitive impairment in former NFL players. Neurology, 84(11), 1114–1120. doi: 

10.1212/WNL.0000000000001358 

Stamm, J. M., Koerte, I. K., Muehlmann, M., Pasternak, O., Bourlas, A. P., 

Baugh, C. M., . . . Shenton, M. E. (2015). Age at First Exposure to Football Is Associated with Altered Corpus Callosum White Matter Microstructure in Former ProVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 May 14, 2018 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\29997.TXT JACKIE
72 

fessional Football Players. J Neurotrauma, 32(22), 1768–1776. doi: 10.1089/ 

neu.2014.3822 

Stern, R. A., Daneshvar, D. H., Baugh, C. M., Seichepine, D. R., Montenigro, P. 

H., Riley, D. O., McKee, A. C. (2013). Clinical presentation of chronic traumatic 

encephalopathy. Neurology, 81(13), 1122–1129. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182a55f7f 

Stern, R. A., Tripodis, Y., Baugh, C. M., Fritts, N. G., Martin, B. M., Chaisson, 

C., . . . Taylor, D. D. (2016). Preliminary Study of Plasma Exosomal Tau as a Potential Biomarker for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. J Alzheimers Dis, 51(4), 

1099–1109. doi: 10.3233/jad–151028 

Thatcher RW. Maturation of the human frontal lobes. Physiological evidence for 

staging. Developmental Neuropsychology 1991; 7: 397–419 

Uematsu, A., Matsui, M., Tanaka, C., Takahashi, T., Noguchi, K., Suzuki, M. and 

Nishijo, H. (2012). Developmental trajectories of amygdala and hippocampus from 

infancy to early adulthood in healthy individuals. PloS One 7, e46970. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Dr. Stern. 

Ms. Williams. 

STATEMENT OF LAURYN WILLIAMS, OLYMPIAN 

AND PROUD TRUESPORT AMBASSADOR, 

UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING AGENCY 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Nelson, members of the Committee. 

Good morning. My name is Lauryn Williams. I am a four-time 

Olympian, a three-time Olympic medalist, and a proud United 

States Anti-Doping Agency TrueSport Ambassador. 

I want to thank this Committee for its interest in clean sport and 

for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss how we 

can better protect the rights of athletes around the world. 

When I started running at 9 years old, I never imagined I would 

one day be competing in the Olympic Games, much less to compete 

four times. Yet, I obtained the unobtainable. I became the first 

American woman to win medals in both the Summer and Winter 

Olympics. I was naturally fast from the start, but innate talent was 

not always enough. 

The cost of Olympic achievement is high. Opportunities cost. The 

pursuit of an Olympic dream costs money, time, experiences, and 

your social life among other things. But these expenditures are not 

always a sacrifice, but a choice. 

The thing is while we choose to chase the extraordinary moments, we do so believing the basic idea that every athlete deserves 

to compete on a level playing field. Sadly, that notion is under attack and with it, the very credibility of the Olympic Games. 

Why? Because of the use of performance enhancing drugs. Shortcuts are being taken for personal gain. Podium moments are being 

stolen. And perhaps most disheartening, this kind of abuse continues ad nauseam because sports leaders around the world cannot 

find the will, or courage, to properly protect athletes. 

Chairman Thune, members of the Committee, I encourage you to 

imagine dedicating your entire life to the mission of representing 

your country and achieving your best performance. To give your 

blood—literally give your blood—sweat, and tears, only to have 

your dreams stolen by someone willing to cheat. Someone willing 

to corrupt themselves and the sport you love for a hollow victory. 

It is devastating. And when this happens, clean athletes look to 

sport leaders who are supposed to be our advocates, but we seldom 

get worthwhile responses. 

73 

When doping goes unpunished, clean athletes are left wondering, 

what would my life look like if I had actually competed on a level 

playing field? Am I owed a moment on the podium? Should I have 

trained for another Olympics? Did I miss sponsorships and endorsements that only come with an Olympic medal? The unanswered questions degrade the experience significantly. 

Of course, there is individual suffering when clean athletes lose 

their moments to cheaters, but it corrupts the experience for others. Fans, spectators, sponsors, and society as a whole are left asking, ‘‘Why play if the game is rigged and if the destination has become more important than the journey?’’ 

I am not the first athlete to say this on Capitol Hill. In February, 

the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and 

Investigations heard Adam Nelson, the American shot putter who, 

9 years after the 2004 Summer Olympics, received his gold medal 

in an airport food court; really, a food court. And they heard from 

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, who despite his own unprecedented success, still questions whether he 

truly ever competed on a level playing field while on the international stage. 

The reason that athletes like Adam, Michael, and myself speak 

on issues like this is because we know that here in the United 

States, we are being held to the highest standard there is. 

However, while American athletes are asked to report their 

whereabouts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so that drug testers 

can knock on our door unannounced to request we pee in a cup, or 

give blood, many athletes from other parts of the world are not. 

The simple truth is, not all elite athletes worldwide are being 

held to the same standard we are and it is a frustrating reality. 

I was tested 66 times during my athletic career. That is 66 different times that a doping control officer tapped me on the shoulder after a competition, or showed up at my home at 6 a.m., waking me and my family to take my blood, watch me pee in a cup 

no matter what time of the month it was. That is 66 times I bore 

the burden of having to prove I was competing clean, that I was 

doing it the right way. 

Yet somehow, and this is important, of the 11,470 athletes who 

competed in Rio de Janeiro last summer, a staggering 4,125 of 

those athletes have no record of testing in the 12 months prior to 

the Olympic Games. That is unacceptable! 

So, I am here today to ask you this, how many more? How many 

more Olympic Games are we going to allow to be corrupted by performance enhancing drugs? How many more podium moments need 

to be stolen? How many more dreams crushed? What kind of message are we sending to the next generation of competitors? 

As athletes, we have a responsibility to require that our voices 

are heard and that we have an opportunity to be engaged in the 

conversation that directly affects us. 

Mr. Chairman, I encourage our Government, and governments 

from around the world, to exercise your influence for this important 

cause. 

We are just 266 days away from the Winter Games in 

PyeongChang. The clock is ticking. The time is now. 

Thank you for your time. 

74 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Williams follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LAURYN WILLIAMS, OLYMPIAN AND PROUD TRUESPORT

AMBASSADOR, UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING AGENCY

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, good morning. My name is Lauryn 

Williams; I am a four-time Olympian, three-time Olympic medalist and a proud 

United States Anti-Doping Agency TrueSport Ambassador. I want to thank this 

Committee for its interest in clean sport and for the opportunity to appear before 

you today to discuss how we can better protect the rights of athletes around the 

world. 

When I started running at 9 years old I never imagined I would one day be competing in the Olympic Games, much less four times. Yet, I obtained the 

unobtainable, and I became the first American woman to win medals in both the 

summer and winter Olympics. I was naturally fast from the start, but innate talent 

isn’t always enough. 

The cost of these achievements is high. Opportunities cost. The pursuit of an 

Olympic dream cost time, money, experiences, social life, but the cost of these things 

are not a sacrifice but a choice. 

But the thing is: while we choose to chase the extraordinary moments, we do so 

believing the basic idea that every athlete deserves to compete on a level playing 

field. But sadly, that notion is under attack . . . and with it, the very credibility 

of the Olympic Games. 

Why? 

Because of performance-enhancing drug use. 

Shortcuts are being taken for personal gain. Podium moments are being stolen. 

And perhaps most disheartening, this kind of abuse continues ad nauseam because 

sport leaders around the world cannot find the will, or courage, to properly protect 

athletes. 

Mr. Chairman I encourage you to imagine an entire life dedicated to the mission 

of representing your country and achieving your best performance. To give your 

blood, literally give your blood, sweat and tears, only to have your dreams stolen 

by someone willing to cheat. Someone willing to corrupt themselves and the sport 

you love for a hollow victory. It’s devastating. And when this happens, clean athletes 

look to the sport leaders who are supposed to be our advocates . . . but we seldom 

get a worthwhile response. 

When doping goes unpunished, clean athletes are left wondering: What would my 

life look like if I had actually competed on a level playing field? Am I owed a moment on the podium? Should I have trained for another Olympics? Did I miss sponsorships or endorsements that only come with an Olympic medal? The unanswered 

questions degrade the experience significantly. 

There is individual suffering when clean athletes lose their moment to cheaters, 

but it corrupts the experience for everyone. Fans, spectators, sponsors, and society 

as a whole are left asking ‘‘Why play if the game is rigged? . . . If the destination 

has become more important than the journey?’’ 

I’m not the first athlete to say this on Capitol Hill. In February, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard from 

Adam Nelson, the American shot putter who, nine years after the 2004 Summer 

Olympics, received his gold medal in an airport food court. And they heard from Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, who despite his own unprecedented success, still questions whether he ever truly competed on a level playing 

field while on the international stage. 

The reason that athletes like Adam, Michael, and myself speak on these issues 

is because we know that here in the United States, we are being held to the highest 

standard there is. 

However, while American athletes are asked to report their whereabouts 24 hours 

a day, seven days a week so that drug testers can knock on our door unannounced 

to request we pee in a cup, or give blood, many athletes from other parts of the 

world are not. The simple truth is, not all elite-level athletes worldwide are being 

held to the same standard as we are and it is frustrating reality. 

I was tested 66 times during my athletic career. That’s 66 different times a doping 

control officer tapped me on a shoulder after a competition, or showed up at six a.m. 

to take blood or watch me pee in to cup. That’s 66 times that I bore the burden 

of having to prove I was competing clean—that I was doing it the right way. Yet, 

somehow—and this is important . . . Of the 11,470 athletes who competed in Rio 

de Janeiro last summer, a staggering 4,125 of those athletes had no record of testing 

in the 12-months prior to the Games. That’s unacceptable! 

75 

So, I’m here today to ask you this: 

How many more? 

How many more Olympic Games are we going to allow to be corrupted by performance-enhancing drug use? 

How many more podium moments need to be stolen? 

How many more dreams crushed? 

What kind of message are we sending to the next generation of competitors? 

As athletes, we have a responsibility to require that our voices heard and that 

we have an opportunity to be engaged in a conversation that directly affects us. Mr. 

Chairman I encourage our government, and governments from around the world, to 

exercise your influence for this important cause. 

We are just 266 days away from the Winter Games in PyeongChang . . . The 

clock is ticking . . . The time is now. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Williams. 

I will start with asking questions and we will do five minute 

rounds with members of the Committee. 

Ms. Deutscher, I want to begin again by thanking you and your 

husband for being here and express our sympathy to you for your 

family’s loss. 

Just looking back on that tragic experience, do you have recommendations for other parents whose children face sports injuries? And then maybe as a follow-up, are there warning signs that 

you can share with other parents who are in similar situations? 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. Education to me is key for the parent. 

When it happened with Nick when he said, ‘‘This Hydrocodone 

is not cutting it,’’ we should have just said stop. That would be the 

advice that I would give to other parents. If it does not seem right, 

it is probably not right. 

The thing is we had excellent physicians. We had a great athletic 

trainer who was working with Nick at OI. It just seems like education and awareness of this issue is just so key. 

The warning sign for Nick was when he said he needed additional. I told Jeff, ‘‘He has his hand out for this Hydrocodone.’’ So 

that is a big red flag. But he was still going to school. He was 

training. He was rehabbing to get back for the last game of the season. 

I just think education and awareness and follow your instincts, 

but it was 2011 and there was not the highlight on it that there 

is now. 

I do have to say, though, that addiction hits so swiftly. I mean, 

it just kind of happened before our eyes. We all wanted Nick to 

play football, everybody from the coaches, to the other parents, to 

us. So education, awareness, and do not be afraid to raise your 

hand and say stop. Then once the addiction does kick in, it is just 

a sad, long journey. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Ms. Williams, Derek Miles who, as you know, is the Associate 

Coach at the University of South Dakota recently received a bronze 

medal for his performance at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. 

He received this medal more than eight years after the actual 

games because the athlete that actually stood on the podium in 

Beijing tested positive for a banned substance. You mentioned this 

in your testimony and referred to it. 

76 

How many other American athletes like Derek, do you think, are 

still waiting to receive the Olympic medal they rightfully earned? 

What can be done to ensure that that long awaited and deserved 

medal gets there sooner rather than later? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I believe there are many other athletes that are 

entitled to a medal that they did not receive, a moment that has 

been stolen from them. 

The thing that we need to do, one of the most important right 

now, is to store samples a lot longer. So right now, they are storing 

samples for 10 years, which is how Adam Nelson, 9 years after his 

medal, was able to find out that the person had used performance 

enhancing drugs. 

The longer we can store these samples, the better our technology 

is getting, and we can look back and say, ‘‘Now we have new technology and we can know what you were using at this time.’’ And 

we can restore those opportunities. 

But what we need to be doing too is to stop that from happening 

and get the technology now, so that if we are getting positive tests, 

we do not give medals to people who did not rightfully earn them. 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, getting your Olympic medal at a food court 

seems a little anticlimactic. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Very anticlimactic. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Sailor, in your written testimony, you state 

that, and I quote, ‘‘Underlying causes of sudden death in athletics 

might include asthma, catastrophic brain injury, cervical spine injuries, diabetes, exertional heat stroke, and sudden cardiac arrest,’’ 

to quote from your statement. 

Given the diverse range of underlying causes that young athletes 

may experience, is it reasonable to single out contact football as the 

most problematic sport in need of fundamental change? 

Mr. SAILOR. Well, as athletic trainers, we recognize that the 

number one cause of death in athletes is cardiac. The other issues 

that are killing our athletes today are related heat stress, heat illness, as well as issues that deal with concussion, of course. 

The important thing that we need to recognize is that the response to those crisis situations within the first few minutes dictates in a large part to their outcome. It is important that we have 

individuals there and a plan in place to care for those athletes 

when those situations exist. 

These are not strictly limited to the sport of football, of course. 

We see concussion, we see heat, and we see cardiac in many of our 

sports and it is important for us to be prepared for those. 

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think accessibility and influence of athletic trainers in youth sports is a more appropriate solution than 

fundamentally altering sports like football, for example? 

Mr. SAILOR. I certainly believe in a comprehensive aspect of addressing these issues. 

I advocate for athletic trainers because I believe that it is important for an individual, an adult, to be present that is taking into 

consideration the safety as well as the preparation for catastrophic 

injury at that site. 

Often, we have other adults, but their primary charge is things 

like coaching, and strategy, and things like that. We need someone 

that is there, a trained professional, that looks at things like creVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 May 14, 2018 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\29997.TXT JACKIE
77 

ation of an emergency action plan and access to the appropriate 

medical care. How do we access facilities in the case of a catastrophic injury? That is what an athletic trainer does by nature. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

I will yield to Senator Nelson. 

Senator NELSON. I will be quick so that we can get onto our 

members’ questions. 

First of all, I want to say to Ms. Williams. Amen. Thank you. 

You did it the right way and others cheated, and you still got the 

medals, so, amen. 

I want to say to Mrs. Deutscher, I do not understand how you 

survived. What I do not understand is when your son was asking 

for some more Oxycontin, what was it that you said you ought to 

stop right there? 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. As I said, everybody wanted Nick to play football and Nick wanted to play football. I mean, he loved being part 

of the team. He loved everything about that sport. 

We should have said stop, reevaluate. Is this worth it? He was 

getting football letters and he was looking forward to maybe playing college ball. So had we known then what we know now, I would 

have said stop. We need to decide if this is worthwhile or right. 

And unfortunately, we did not. 

Senator NELSON. To all the panel, the Chairman and I were discussing that we could have a separate hearing on each one of the 

topics that each of you have brought up. 

Dr. Stern, I got the impression that you said a person could not 

have any concussions and still get to CTE. What is it about that? 

If you have many concussions, is that a cause of ultimately becoming CTE? 

Dr. STERN. Yes, to both of those. 

Concussion is a form of a mild traumatic brain injury. There is 

no real hard and fast line between what is a concussion and what 

is not a concussion. Right now, I think there are 140 or more published definitions of concussion. Actually, the one published by the 

NATA is one of my favorites. But it is all based on having symptoms, having an individual report symptoms, or signs of the injury. 

That does not mean that there are no problems to the brain, and 

those brain cells, and the brain tissue. If the injury did not either 

result in the type of problem that leads to the symptoms, or very 

commonly, the person does not report the symptoms for a whole 

range of reasons. 

But what our research, and that of many others, is now showing 

is that these sub-concussive hits—the ones that happen in every 

play, in every game, in every practice of many sports, but especially tackle football—do have consequences, short term and long 

term. 

There is now growing evidence that even after just one season 

of football, tackle football in high school, let us say, there are structural changes to the brain, physiological changes to the brain, 

changes to blood-based biomarkers, and changes to thinking and 

memory without any symptomatic concussions. And those changes 

are directly associated with the number of hits the person gets to 

the head as measured by accelerometers in the helmets. 

78 

Senator NELSON. So would that apply to soccer and headers as 

well? 

Dr. STERN. It would. And that is, to me, a very scary next part 

of the journey that now there is growing evidence that heading in 

soccer, not the concussions in soccer, but heading does seem to lead 

to changes over just one season, but also after a lifetime of heading. 

In fact, there is now, just recently, several cases of postmortem 

confirmed CTE in individuals who were demented at the end of 

their lifetime who never had histories of concussion, or maybe just 

one concussion, through professional and semi-professional football. 

But they had a huge amount of heading through their career suggesting, again, that the exposure to these repetitive hits, whether 

or not they lead to the symptoms of concussion, seem to be raising 

the risk for these later life complications. 

Senator NELSON. Are you following our former military members 

and the traumatic brain injury there, and seeing if that produces 

CTE? 

Dr. STERN. Our group has sadly found CTE postmortem in 

former military service members who were exposed to blast trauma 

and other brain trauma. It is a very complex issue, and it is a very, 

very important one, and one that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense is taking very seriously. 

The symptoms of PTSD, the long-term problems of traumatic 

brain injury, the difficulties that we now see in the tremendous increase in suicide in our veterans, all of those seem to overlap with 

the symptoms of CTE. We are seeing that, indeed, CTE may be 

playing a very important role in the development of these cognitive, 

and behavioral, and mood changes later in life in our military service members. 

Senator NELSON. Thank you. 

We could spend a whole day just on that subject. 

The CHAIRMAN. We could. No question about it. Thank you, Senator Nelson. 

Senator Moran. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS 

Senator MORAN. Mr. Chairman, thank you. 

Thank you and the Ranking Member for hosting this hearing. 

Dr. Stern, thank you for those comments. I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee. I am on the Veterans Committee related to 

veterans, and you have given me some ideas of things that I need 

to personally pursue with the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Thank you. 

Mrs. Deutscher, at least in Kansas that is how we pronounce 

your name, thank you very much for you being here. What you described was very compelling to me because what you described in 

your family’s situation, who you are, and the way you conduct your 

lives, and the way your family operates is the way that I recognize 

the way so many Kansans live their lives. We do not expect bad 

things to happen. I am very sorry. 

79 

I chair the Subcommittee that has responsibility here in the 

Commerce Committee over amateur and professional sports, and I 

will address most of my questions to Ms. Pfohl. 

Senator Thune and I wrote the CEO of the United States Olympics Committee about 2 months ago raising questions about sexual 

activity, abuse, and harassment within the Olympic Games. 

I think kind of a take away from the response that we received 

is that your organization was coming into play. That the solution 

to this challenge is going to lie with you. I would ask you if that 

is the way you see it, the relationship between the United States 

Olympic Committee and SafeSport. 

What is that relationship and who has responsibility for these 

issues? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you, Senator Moran. 

To quote Dr. Butler, I think, it is going to take all of us, first 

and foremost. 

We, like USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Association, we were 

formed first, if you will, within the U.S. Olympic Committee. We 

would not exist without the support of the U.S. Olympic Committee, financial and otherwise. But we are an independent 

501(c)(3) nonprofit organization charged with this issue. 

That said, all of the 47 NGBs, the National Governing Bodies of 

the Olympic sports, all have SafeSport responsibilities. They all 

have their SafeSport programs by which they are tasked with implementing training, with making sure all of their coaches and covered individuals, as we call them, are certified related to SafeSport. 

So implementing and creating a culture that prevents abuse is 

really important. 

We are absolutely working in partnership with the USOC and 

the National Governing Bodies. We are independent in terms of our 

investigations. USOC has retained us, if you will, to investigate all 

areas of sexual abuse. So any report of sexual misconduct or abuse, 

we investigate those reports. 

Senator MORAN. Let me ask, then. If you are the investigative 

arm, who is the enforcing arm? 

Ms. PFOHL. The sanctions, if we have a finding from a report— 

a case, if you will—that finding goes to the National Governing 

Body. Not only must they enforce—and which could be anything up 

to and including a lifetime ban—not only must that NGB enforce 

that sanction, but it must be enforced across the Olympic and 

Paralympic movements. 

Senator MORAN. So when you say they must enforce, what is it 

that requires them to do so? Maybe your report is ignored or just 

taken as a recommendation. Who determines what the consequence 

is? 

Ms. PFOHL. The USOC has mandated, if you will, that the NGBs 

adhere to not only the SafeSport code and part of the SafeSport 

code is that the sanctions must be enforced. So in that case, we 

hand down the sanction and the USOC and the NGBs themselves 

make sure that it is enforced. 

Senator MORAN. Ms. Williams, is that any different than the way 

that the Anti-Doping Agency works? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. It is similar. Well, USADA has the ability to hand 

the sanction down. Then the actual enforcement goes up to the 

80 

World Anti-Doping Agency and then the enforcement happens 

there. 

Senator MORAN. Thank you. 

And Ms. Pfohl, it seems to me, and this may be a false impression, but your organization was slow to come into existence. My impression is, it is related to fundraising, the ability to have the necessary resources to do the work that you are setting out to do. 

Can you assure us that the dollars, the resources are now available? 

Ms. PFOHL. Senator, thank you. 

I think that is a reason that it has taken a while for the Center 

to be up and running. We opened our doors in early March. I will 

tell you that we have funding from the USOC, from NGBs, and 

from other charitable organizations. 

I would ask the Committee’s support and the Senate support in 

authorizing, as Chairman Thune stated at the beginning of his remarks. Authorizing the Center in legislation would go a long way 

to establishing our credibility, our place, if you will, in terms of addressing all of these SafeSport issues. 

So make no mistake. We have a ways to go. We need more funding, and part of my job is to go out and raise private sector dollars, 

foundations, corporations, and individuals in addition. 

Senator MORAN. No one that you know of would object to legislation that the Chairman was describing? 

Ms. PFOHL. Not that I know of. 

Senator MORAN. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Moran. 

That was a good exchange and discussion there because we need 

to figure out how to formalize that role and ensure there is enforceability there associated with it. Thank you. 

Senator Markey. 

Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. 

The cover story this week in Sports Illustrated is Nick 

Buoniconti. He is a great football player, a hall of fame football 

player. Essentially what it says is that his brain has atrophied to 

a point where he cannot tie his tie or his shoes. Unfortunately, that 

is the story that is all too common to former athletes. 

Dr. Stern, if you could, would you talk a little bit about the 

warnings that you are giving to the country, especially to those 

who have young athletes in their families about injuries that can 

occur? Not just in football, but in hockey, and soccer, and in any 

sport where concussions are possible. 

What is the core message you are sending to athletes, especially 

to their parents? 

Dr. STERN. Thank you, Senator Markey. 

It is a complex message. It is one that is hard to always get 

across because there are many different forces out there that move 

the message in different ways. 

One important part of the message is that concussion is just the 

tip of the iceberg. We have heard so much about concussion. There 

has been concussion-this, concussion-that and thank goodness because there have been so many important changes in the way concussion is being dealt with, and is being detected and managed 

81 

thanks to NATA and others. The problems associated with concussion are indeed, I think, moving in the right direction. 

But for me what people need to understand is when they read 

stories about Nick Buoniconti and others, those were not necessarily caused by concussions. They were caused by the cumulative amount of the hits they received to the head from youth, to 

high school, to college, to the pros. 

One part of the message is just because your child plays football 

does not mean they are going to develop this bad disease and they 

are going to have suicidal ideation. We cannot have a kneejerk response. 

We have to have appropriate scientific understanding. We have 

to have advances in our scientific knowledge that can be given to 

informed parents, and informed leaders, and informed policymakers. 

But as we are gathering that scientific information, people also 

have to make decisions based on common sense. In other words, 

our brains are pretty darn important. They control who we are, 

what we are, how we move. They control our athleticism. They control our passion to participate. They do everything and they are 

precious. 

One of the things that we are focusing on is what happens during that time in childhood when the brain is going through unbelievable growth and maturation. It is the period before age 12 with 

all kinds of changes and developmental milestones are occurring. 

If we then say it is OK to put our kids in fields and say, ‘‘Go at 

it. Hit your head. Move that brain around over and over and over 

again,’’ during those times of potential neurodevelopmental vulnerability, then we may need to question that decision. 

Senator MARKEY. So what percentage of your research is funded 

by the Federal Government, doctor? 

Dr. STERN. I would say around 90 percent of my current research 

is funded by the Federal Government. 

Senator MARKEY. So if the NIH budget was cut by 18 percent, 

which is the proposal for the next fiscal year, how would that impact? 

Dr. STERN. It would be devastating, not just to me personally, 

and to the research that we are doing, and to our future research. 

It would be devastating to science as we know it. It would get rid 

of an entire generation of future scientists across all areas. 

I can speak to the neurodegenerative diseases and brain research 

in particular. We cannot move forward even with the current budgets at the rate that is required to make important discoveries to 

alleviate the pain and suffering from all of these brain diseases. 

Senator MARKEY. Senator Udall is doing great work on this 

issue. 

My question, is there a relationship between the research you 

are now doing on brain injury and your Alzheimer’s research? Can 

one inform the other in terms of perhaps trying to find the clues 

that can give hope to families? 

Dr. STERN. Tremendously. That is, in fact, why I got involved 

and interested in CTE work in the first place because as an Alzheimer’s researcher, I realized that this is a very similar disease. 

As we learn more about it, the more we understand. Yes, indeed. 

82 

What we are gaining in our understanding of CTE is directly informing what we know about Alzheimer’s disease and other related 

disorders. What we learn about Alzheimer’s disease is now helping 

us move forward rather quickly in our understanding of CTE. They 

are very intertwined. 

Senator MARKEY. How much more transparency would you like 

to see in terms of all the information about brain injury being put 

out into the public just so that there can be a full understanding 

of this problem? 

Dr. STERN. Unfortunately, there are so many organizations out 

there and statements that are made that are filled with conflicts 

of interest; organizations that are funded, directly or indirectly, 

from professional sports leagues around the world. Those conflicts 

lead to, I think, either a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation 

of what the science tells us. 

Most importantly, scientists need to be transparent themselves. 

We need to share data. We need to break down silos. We need to 

explain our findings in ways that are meaningful, appropriate, and 

not beyond what the science says. 

Senator MARKEY. I think the brain health of this generation of 

young athletes is going to depend upon the transparency of this 

generation of leaders who control the information that can help to 

inform parents in making the correct decision. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Markey. 

Senator Udall. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Chairman Thune, thank you so much. 

You and I have been talking for a long time about doing a hearing like this. So we really appreciate you doing it. 

I also just want to thank Senator Nelson for all of his kind comments and also Senator Markey. 

The issue here, and I want to emphasize, I do not think, Dr. 

Stern, you got a chance to say this specifically. I am just going to 

read it from your testimony and ask you to talk about it a little 

bit more. 

You said, ‘‘It is only in the past 55 or 60 years that large numbers of human beings have been exposed to repetitive head impacts.’’ So we are talking about constant impacts to the head. 

‘‘While the epidemiology of CTE is unknown, it is possible that 

millions,’’ millions we are talking about, ‘‘living older adults are 

currently at high risk for CTE or other long term neurological conditions due to their history of exposure to repetitive head impacts.’’ 

This is something we need to realize in terms of human history. 

Talk a little bit about human history and repetitive head impacts 

and where we are, because I think that is where we get to millions 

of people. 

People, I think, would be surprised and kind of shocked to know 

we are talking here about millions of people with CTE, especially 

if they have seen the sports figures, and seen the deterioration, and 

the kinds of things that happened to them. Please, go ahead and 

put that in a little bit of context there. 

83 

Dr. STERN. To preface it, I am not an anthropologist. I am not 

an epidemiologist. But I am someone who speaks a lot with those 

experts and look at what the history tells us. 

Boxing has been around for a thousand-plus years and boxers 

only started putting these heavy padded gloves on in the mid part 

of the last century in order to protect their hands from being broken. But that also led to increased hits to the face, to the head, and 

changed perhaps the numbers of those types of hits that boxers get, 

but more importantly for this country, our national pastime of 

American football. 

It was not until the mid-1950s that hard plastic encasements, 

these big helmets, started to be used in American football, plus the 

big facemasks. Even though, yes, we have been playing football 

since the 1800s, it was not until then that leather helmets were 

used to start maybe preventing skull fractures. And then the big 

helmets were there to do a great job to prevent skull fractures and 

death. They have done an amazing job at doing that. 

But in the mid-1950s, to late 1950s, to early 1960s, there was 

this beginning of a sense of invincibility because it did not hurt to 

hit your head, and the way the game was changed included lots of 

these hits, the line of scrimmage and elsewhere. Not the big hits, 

not the spearing, not the use of the helmet as a weapon. Those are 

important, but I am talking about just routine hits. 

Then it was not until the 1960s and early 1970s that Pop Warner 

football began to be a national pastime. Our youth, our children 6 

years old and older, were going into fields wearing these helmets 

and facemasks, and again hitting their heads repeatedly. 

That is where the concept of we do not know where we are yet 

with a little bit of fear, or perhaps a lot of fear. That is the only 

type of experience that humans have been involved with that really 

include repetitive hits to the head with the brain moving back and 

forth in millions of people just in our country alone. 

Those people who started playing high school and college football 

in the 1950s and 1960s, the people who started playing youth football in the late 1960s and 1970s. Well, they are in their late fifties 

to seventies right now. That is the age that we see the clinical 

manifestation of many neurodegenerative diseases and other diseases of aging. And so, that is when we also see a lot of the incidents of CTE. 

With all of those millions of people who have had that type of 

exposure to those hits for the first time in history, I do fear that— 

based on the knowledge of what we understand of the risk for CTE 

and other neurological problems later in life—we are going to see 

a very shocking number of people over the next few decades. 

Senator UDALL. Yes. I really appreciate that testimony and I 

want to be clear that I think sports are good for young people. I 

think exercise is good. 

I think what you are emphasizing, though, is you are talking 

about repetitive hits to the head when you have protective equipment that can make it feel like it does not hurt and it is okay. 

What you are telling us is that we need to recognize that this could 

have a big impact. We may be on the tip of the iceberg as to what 

we start seeing in the future. 

84 

I thank you for all your work, and thank you for being here, and 

being so frank about this. Appreciate it. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Udall. 

Senator Blumenthal. 

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for having this hearing which could extend for several 

days, the topics are so varied and important. 

As a father of four children, who all play sports, I know that we 

cannot protect our children from all sports injuries, but at least we 

can protect them from some if we are attentive and respectful of 

science. I want to talk about two areas where I think we have been 

somewhat less than respectful. 

One is the NHL in denying concussion science, and I intend to 

reintroduce legislation that would, in effect, create very strong incentives for improvements in this area. And the other relates to 

sexual assault, particularly in gymnastics that we were hearing recently in the Judiciary Committee, and I am going to ask some 

questions, if I have time, about that as well. 

Let me begin with you, Dr. Stern, if I may. 

Last year, an NHL executive made headlines while testifying at 

a hearing exactly like this one, it should not have been earth shattering news, but it was. For the first time, the NHL admitted that 

there is, in fact, a link between head trauma and CTE, and you 

know how debilitating and disruptive that disease is. 

But reports surfaced last year, revealing e-mails from league officials recognizing the danger of concussions, but also demonstrating 

a very dismissive attitude in addressing them. 

And so I wrote to the NHL Commissioner and in response, he 

flat out dismissed any connection between head trauma and concussions and CTE. In my letter to him, I cited research done at 

Boston University. 

Beyond the resistance, there are now troubling reports that the 

NHL is trying even to intimidate scientists using tactics employed 

in other industries. Without making unfair comparisons, the tobacco industry is one of them. 

Let me ask you, does it trouble you that leading officials with 

such power and sway in this sport and in important positions of 

responsibility actually deny the science of CTE and have no apparent willingness to learn more? And have you experienced this kind 

of intimidation yourself, Dr. Stern? 

Dr. STERN. It does not surprise me because we are talking about 

businesses that have billions of dollars on the line. And that if 

some aspect of the way that their sport is played is going to have 

to change, and therefore they may lose viewers or support from advertising, that is a big deal. I understand that. But I think that everyone needs to put athletes first. 

What the NHL did and the Commissioner’s statements have 

done is indeed sad. I do not agree with them. I find them kind of 

antiquated and perhaps they should take the lead of what the NFL 

has recently done and accepted the link. 

85 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. In my opening, I may have confused the 

NFL with the NHL. It was the NFL that acknowledged the connection. 

Dr. STERN. That is right. It was the NFL that finally acknowledged the association between getting your head hit and CTE later 

in life after years and years and years of dismissing it. The NHL 

continues to say, ‘‘Oh, no. There is no association,’’ contradicting 

the science. 

I cannot go on too much about it because, in fact, you raised the 

issue of their attempt to get in the way of science. In fact, my colleague and I at the University were subpoenaed by the NHL for 

a great deal of information that went way beyond any reasonable 

request within how science is conducted. And, in fact, the court denied their request. 

So I cannot really get into it because there is this ongoing case. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you. 

Let me ask you, Ms. Pfohl. Recently, the Judiciary Committee 

had hearings on sexual abuse in gymnastics particularly the youngest of participants in this sport. Statistics from SafeSport indicate 

that one in ten youth who participate in organized sports will be 

victims of sexual abuse. And I think you would agree with me that 

number is clearly unacceptable. 

The United State Olympic Committee bylaws require National 

Governing Bodies to comply with SafeSport policies in order to remain in good standing. 

How can those policies be better enforced? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. 

Just a quick note on the one in ten that will be sexually abused, 

that is actually in the general population. 

One of the problems is we do not know the true prevalence within the sports community. That is one of the reasons we exist is to 

gather that data, to have that data, to follow the trends, and to 

help our prevention efforts. That is what needs to happen. 

So your support, certainly, of the U.S. Center for SafeSport and 

hopefully being authorized perhaps in S. 534, the Protecting Young 

Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017, would go a long way in 

helping us to develop policies. We already have the SafeSport code 

that has been taken up by the USOC and all the NGB’s. But our 

work goes far beyond the Olympics movement. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Would you support young athletes having 

the right to win cases in court as opposed to arbitration? 

Ms. PFOHL. In terms of what is currently in the S. 534, we are 

certainly favorable to the bill overall and have been providing that 

technical assistance. So we support the rights of athletes. Period. 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. 

Senator Cortez Masto. 

STATEMENT OF HON. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Thank you. 

And like my colleagues, thank you, Chairman Thune for bringing 

this topic forward, these many topics. And I agree, they could all 

86 

be a separate hearing. And every single one of the areas, I have 

worked in and will continue to work in and to address. 

And so, let me just say, first of all, Mrs. Deutscher, thank you 

so much. I was the Attorney General of Nevada for 8 years and 

this was an issue. I chaired a working group on substance abuse 

and opioid abuse, and then followed by heroin abuse is a problem; 

not just in Nevada, but across the country. And you coming forward, telling your story, you will make a difference and save a life. 

I want you to know that. So thank you to both of you for being 

here. 

Dr. Stern, I have a quick question for you. From your knowledge, 

are the medical resources and research into CTE and other long 

term brain concerns equally distributed between males and females? And what would you say their allocation percentage is by 

gender? 

Dr. STERN. That is one of the most important issues that needs 

to be dealt with. 

CTE as a neurodegenerative disease diagnosed only after death 

at this point has been found almost exclusively in males to date. 

There have been a small number of women, not athletes. Sadly, it 

includes a woman who was domestically abused and had her head 

hit repeatedly. 

This goes along with my testimony earlier about what is going 

to happen in the future. I think women have been involved now 

with sports at the level where their heads are being hit to such a 

degree and for over a greater period of time, again, over the last 

50 years or so. 

So, for example, soccer or the original football, women now, at 

least in this country, are at the age now where they started back 

in the 1970s playing at an early age, and playing in club sports, 

and playing around the year, and doing a lot of heading, and having a lot of concussions. So I think now as that generation gets 

older, sadly, we will probably be seeing more of this disease. 

However, just because we have not seen the disease in women 

that does not mean that the rest of the resources being focused on 

brain diseases, brain conditions associated with athletic involvement should be focused on men. We need to put a lot of effort. 

In fact, I am hoping to be starting a few different studies coming 

up where we are actively going to be following women to be able 

to look at the effects of various sports, various aspects of the sport, 

and the head trauma in terms of later life problems. 

It is a very big deal. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. It is. And I thank you for saying that 

because in my own family, I have a niece who played soccer 

through high school and college. There are concerns because they 

have had injuries in soccer just as they do in football and other 

sports. 

And then, as you well know, in Nevada, and you have said it in 

your testimony, the Cleveland Clinic, the Lou Ruvo Center for 

Brain Health in Las Vegas is a leader in this research, particularly 

when it comes to the brain health of boxers and MMA fighters, and 

we know a lot of women now are partaking in those sports. And 

so I am glad to see that we are actually going to be looking at women’s brain health as well. 

87 

With respect to boxers and MMA fighters, do you feel that there 

is enough being done at the State level to ensure that standardized 

safety precautions are adapted to protect boxers in every state? 

Nevada has just recently adopted a requirement to our athletic 

commission ensuring that the brain health of our fighters is tested 

and we are making sure that is being checked. 

Do you think enough is being done across the country and in 

other states? 

Dr. STERN. I am not aware enough to be able to answer it about 

all states. I do know that Nevada is a real leader. Thanks to the 

partnership between the State, and the City of Las Vegas, and the 

commission with the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center, there has 

been a tremendous gain, including great research being done, to 

look at what is really important. 

When it comes to boxing and MMA, to me I always just have to 

stop and say, what could be done at the State level? What kind of 

rules and changes could be done when you have sports that are 

geared toward inducing brain damage? 

If in boxing, a knockout is a way to win, a knockout is brain 

damage. And I may be saying things a little bit too indelicately, but 

one has to question how can we really make those activities safe 

in terms of brain health? 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Thank you. Thank you very much for all 

of you being here today. Appreciate the testimonies. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Cortez Masto. 

Next up is Senator Hassan. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MAGGIE HASSAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. 

And thank you to all the witnesses for being here today, especially I would like to extend my thanks to Mrs. Deutscher and Mr. 

Deutscher for meeting with me earlier today, and for being here, 

and for sharing and honoring your son’s life and story by being 

here. 

I want to focus a little bit on the issue of athletes and addiction 

to help address the increased level of risk of opioid addiction that 

student athletes experience. 

Earlier this year, I co-sponsored the Student and Student Athlete 

Opioid Misuse Prevention Act. This bill is being led by my friend 

and colleague, Senator Shaheen, and it would authorize the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or 

SAMHSA, and the U.S. Department of Education to grant money 

to help efforts to educate students and communities about opioid 

use, abuse, and addiction. 

In New Hampshire, SAMHSA grants have been an integral part 

of funding in our State’s substance misuse and prevention efforts. 

So this is really a question to the whole panel. 

Do you agree that further resources and dedicated funding would 

help in the work you and others are doing to meet the tough challenges associated with opioid addiction? 

Dr. BUTLER. Thank you, Senator, for that question and do not 

mind if I go first. 

Senator HASSAN. Yes. 

88 

Dr. BUTLER. I just want to agree with Dr. Stern’s comments earlier about the importance of support to the NIH to address new 

knowledge. And that applies also in terms of our understanding of 

pain and also the understanding of addiction. 

NIH Director, Francis Collins, has observed that it is amazing 

when we have millennia of writing about pain as a cardinal sign 

of inflammation that we know so little about it. 

But I also want to point out the critical importance of education 

and using the knowledge that we already have much of which is 

implemented through agencies such as the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, and also SAMHSA. 

So it is, I think, not an either-or when we look at new knowledge 

versus reacting and acting on the information that we already 

have, but it really is going to require both to address these issues. 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you. 

Another component of the bill is to provide funding to train State 

and local officials, and coaches, and trainers among others to recognize and address substance misuse among students. 

Would this be helpful in your view and especially maybe Mr. 

Sailor, you would like to comment on that? 

Mr. SAILOR. Yes. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association is 

in full support of this bill and we appreciate that. 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you. And also to Ms. Williams and Mr. 

Sailor, although we are starting to have a greater understanding 

of substance abuse disorders, there is, as we all know, still a lot 

of stigma attached. 

One of the reasons I am so grateful to Mrs. Deutscher and her 

family is because when people stand up and talk about their experiences, and help us to understand the disease, that really makes 

a difference. In my experience in New Hampshire that has been 

the thing that has really helped us begin to change the conversation. 

But I suspect that it may be especially true for athletes who may 

suffer consequences of being sidelined if they admit to an addiction 

to opioids, or even to acknowledge the injury that underlies their 

use of prescription pain medications. 

In your experience, does this stigma and maybe the fear of being 

sidelined prevent student athletes or professional athletes from acknowledging a dependency on opioids? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I definitely think that the stigma is a problem 

and something that we need to address. 

I think the way that we address it is by outreach, educating from 

the grassroots level all the way up into the professional level. 

Starting the conversation before it becomes a problem for people 

that are not using opioids, getting that conversation going, having 

it frequently instead of just, ‘‘There is this thing we probably 

should not talk about.’’ Or, ‘‘I think my friend or struggling, but I 

am not sure exactly what I should do about it.’’ 

Before it becomes a problem, we need to implement that as a 

standard thing that we are doing on a regular basis and that the 

conversation is being had. 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you. 

Mr. SAILOR. As an athletic trainer, we believe in a comprehensive 

healthcare system for our athletes. And that includes having access 

89 

to resources that we can help obtain for them when they are in 

need of things like addiction treatment and things like that. 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you. Thank you all very much for being 

here. 

I will echo what the other Senators have said. We could have a 

hearing on each of the issues that you all have spoken about and 

I know we will look forward to continuing to work with you help 

make athletics safer. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Hassan. 

Senator Young. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TODD YOUNG, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM INDIANA 

Senator YOUNG. Thank you, Chairman Thune. 

I want to thank you for holding this hearing on protecting the 

health and safety of American athletes. I want to thank all our 

panelists for being here today. 

It is a timely hearing given the scrutiny the USOC has received 

thanks, in large part, to the ‘‘Indianapolis Star.’’ So I want to commend them on their investigative reporting. 

I am proud to have worked with many of my colleagues in the 

Senate to address this issue and I look forward to working with 

you, Mr. Chairman, as we continue to find ways to address this 

very real problem. 

Ms. Pfohl, I would like to ask you a question about the independence of SafeSport from USOC. The USOC initially created 

SafeSport and provided its initial seed funding. 

I think this was certainly a recognition by USOC that they finally needed to act in an aggressive manner to address the serious 

problem that has been lurking within its ranks for years. They 

ought to be applauded for implementing this initiative. I have concerns about, as I stated, with independence, specifically personnel 

and staffing issues. 

What is your policy on hiring individuals directly from USOC 

and National Governing Bodies into SafeSport? Do you have any 

reservations about SafeSport’s independence, if your organization 

simply hires individuals from USOC and NGBs? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you, Senator. Yes. 

I have no issues or concerns related to our independence. Our 

board, we have a nine person board of independent directors. We 

have independent investigators, and outside counsel, and arbitrators that meet a high bar of independence. So we really look for 

those conflicts. 

I will tell you that we have brought two people from the USOC 

as employees. These are, at least one of them is a subject matter 

expert in this space, not only in terms of SafeSport, in terms of the 

abuse issues, but in terms of how the Olympic and Paralympic 

movements are structured, which is hugely helpful to us. 

And again, following in the footsteps of USADA, they too were 

born within the USOC. They had staff members that came over to 

USADA. I do not think anyone can question their independence. 

And so, we have followed that framework. 

Senator YOUNG. So these independent investigators who presumably produce reports and various findings to inform your future 

90 

work, are these reports made available to members of the public 

or would they be made available to Congress, because I presume 

they touch on staffing issues, correct? 

Ms. PFOHL. If we have the actual reports from victims, if you 

will, cases that come in, is that what you are speaking to, sir? 

Senator YOUNG. Yes, and also the performance of former employees of the National Governing Bodies, and USOC, if they are consistently subpar, suboptimal, or conflicted, which you have emphasized they are not. That would be a finding that would be of interest to this committee, I know. 

Ms. PFOHL. Our jurisdiction lies in addressing sexual misconduct 

and abuse within the Olympic and Paralympic movements. 

So we would take in reports. If we have a finding against an employee of an NGB, or the USOC, or a coach, or anything, or anyone 

that is a covered individual that sanction is then handed down, if 

you will. And it must be enforced across the Olympic and 

Paralympic movements. 

Senator YOUNG. With your permission, I may have a follow-up 

question or two. 

Ms. PFOHL. Absolutely. 

Senator YOUNG. I will submit it by writing. If you would offer me 

the courtesy of a response, I would be grateful for that. 

Ms. PFOHL. Absolutely, sir. 

Senator YOUNG. Because I want to turn to another matter. I 

know that reporting incidents of abuse is critical to starting the investigation process. Unfortunately, our staff discovered a problem 

here. 

On SafeSport.org, the website, there is a link entitled ‘‘Report.’’ 

Unfortunately, that link is broken and takes visitors to a ‘‘Page Not 

Found’’ website. 

Moreover, if someone were to try and find more information on 

reporting confidentiality—those concerns as referenced in your materials to the USOC Athlete Ombudsman at www.AthleteOm 

budsman.org—that website does not work either. 

I know this is likely a surprise for you. What I am seeking from 

you is some assurance that you will resolve this matter expeditiously, and maybe the courtesy of informing our staff this week 

about its status. Because one could see why you could infer from 

this a lack of seriousness taken toward this issue, which I have not 

heard from your testimony so far, by the way. I have heard seriousness. 

Can I get your commitment to report back about this or am I 

missing something perhaps? 

Ms. PFOHL. Absolutely, Senator. 

Senator YOUNG. All right. 

Ms. PFOHL. I will check into it and get back to you. 

Senator YOUNG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Young. 

Senator Moore Capito. 

STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. Thank you, Chairman Thune. 

And thank all of you for being here today. 

91 

I come from the State of West Virginia. We have, unfortunately, 

some of the largest and greatest statistics of overdose from and 

deaths caused by drug addiction and drug overdose. We have a lot 

of good things going on in terms of the sports area. Our WVU 

Sports Medicine Center is, I think, on the cutting edge of some of 

the research that is being done. 

I would like to speak just personally to Mrs. Deutscher, and 

thank you for coming, and telling your story. I think it is so important that we hear from you because it is a hesitating thing for, I 

think, parents and grandparents to talk about. So I read your testimony. I am sorry I was not here to hear you give it. 

We are trying to work with families on certain things sort of outside the athletic. Well, actually, one of them was an athlete and 

she had described herself in the hospital as an addict, and said she 

had been in and out of recovery. Unbeknownst to the discharging 

physician, who did not read all through the chart, they discharged 

her with 56 Oxycodone, which she melted 8 and put into her PICC 

line, and did not wake up the next day. So we are trying to fix 

those kinds of things so that that situation cannot happen again. 

But one of the things I am curious to know, tracing back and 

looking at what happened with your son, we are trying to get to 

this partial fill or acute pain issue. If you have a wisdom tooth, if 

you have an acute athletic injury that you do not need 2 weeks of 

pain medicine; maybe 48 hours or 72 hours. 

Was that ever offered to your son, a short term sort of treatment 

or short term prescription option for him? 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. The initial prescription, I believe, was shorter 

term. I do not have that record. I did get his pharmacy records for 

the balance of the prescriptions. But that would have been offered 

when he first had his injury. It was a Friday night and so he got 

in to get evaluated. 

Then the other in a series of prescriptions started a little bit 

later in the season when he was rehabbing to get back into the 

game and those prescriptions, if memory serves me correctly, were 

40, 50 tablets. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. Were there ever any diversionary other 

pain methods to deal with the pain offered to him? 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. Well, by Jeff and I, the Tylenol. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. Right. 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. But no, there was not that discussion. It went 

to Hydrocodone and to Percocet. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. Right away. 

Well, that is something else I have been working on with Senator 

Warren from Massachusetts to look at the partial fill. And also an 

acute pain issue that I am working with Senator Gillibrand on to 

try to eliminate that lengthy prescription that it becomes quite a 

temptation in a lot of cases. 

I wanted to ask Ms. Williams. Actually, I am the appropriator for 

the General Government, which also covers the U.S. Anti-Doping 

Agency and because of that, I got to meet Michael Phelps and I get 

to meet you. So that is good. 

It was interesting to me. We do appropriate that as a member 

of the Anti-Doping Association of the United States and then also 

92 

try to help the worldwide organization for the elite athletes that 

are competing on the stage, such as you. 

But it was interesting what he said to me. I mean, think of how 

many races he has been in and how many international races. He 

said, ‘‘I do not think I have ever had a clean race.’’ He was not talking about him. He was talking about everybody else in the pool and 

he still won all the gold medals and you did too, the medals. 

So I am thinking to myself, ‘‘What kind of pressure is that at the 

elite level?’’ Because of what the other countries are doing. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I think there is a good amount of pressure for 

athletes and I think that is why outreach is so important, like I 

said, educating athletes from the grassroots level. 

Also, the World Anti-Doping Agency does a good bit of outreach 

trying to cross cultures because there are different things that different cultures are dealing with as it pertains to win-at-all-costs 

and all these sorts of things. 

Being able to create examples, so for example, I did not use any 

supplements for my whole career; not only did I not use performance enhancing drugs, but I did not use vitamins or protein powder. I go out and tell people as much as possible that I made it to 

four Olympic Games without any of those things, no multivitamin 

or whatever the case may be. 

I think really being able to explain to athletes from the grassroots level all the way up to the professional level that it is not 

worth it, that the medal, that one moment on the podium is not 

going to be rewarding enough. You are not going to feel satisfied 

because you did this thing that was wrong in order to get to that 

point. 

And really being able to convey that and articulate that in a way 

that is going to hit home so that they are not encouraged to want 

to try and reach this next level or win at all costs is really going 

to be the important thing. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. That is an excellent point and thank you 

for being that advocate. 

I actually had the opportunity to meet Simone Biles just a few 

weeks ago. She is working and outreaching to young people to inspire them on different levels, clean living, and staying away from 

substances. 

So it is so important the work that you are doing and I appreciate you all working with the next group of stellar athletes. Thank 

you. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. Thank you very much. 

Senator YOUNG. Mr. Chairman, could I just note that my colleague is dropping a lot of impressive names here gratuitously. 

Senator MOORE CAPITO. You wonder why they all come to see 

me. 

The CHAIRMAN. And they are out there dropping her name. 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you, Senator Capito. 

I think Senator Sullivan is on his way back and would like to ask 

a question or two, so let me keep it going here for just a minute. 

Ms. Pfohl, as the former Executive Director of the President’s 

Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and we have talked a lot 

93 

about the challenges that we face, the problems, and things that 

we need to address in the world of competitive sports. 

Just as a question, do you believe we ought to be discouraging 

participation in certain sports? I mean, are there positive benefits 

to playing sports including contact sports that we ought to be talking about as well? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you, Chairman Thune. 

But obviously, I believe in sports and all that comes from it. Not 

only the health and fitness benefits, but certainly the emotional 

benefits that come from it, the teamwork that you learn, the perseverance, the dedication; all of those kinds of character building 

things that are learned with and through sports. I am not just talking competitive sports, but just recreational, getting out there and 

having fun, I believe, are so important. 

I think all the issues, the safety issues that have been talked 

about on this panel, are also critical so that we can save sport not 

only for our generation, but for every generation to come. So it is 

absolutely critical. 

And Go Packers, by the way. 

The CHAIRMAN. Very good. I like you more already. 

Is your focus just Olympic athletes, or does your work go beyond 

elite level sports participants? Is your focus solely on children or 

does your work go beyond youth in terms of the things that you are 

undertaking there? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you for that question, Chairman Thune. 

It absolutely goes beyond children. We address athletes at every 

age and at every level. So again, really from the recreation leagues, 

if you will, for folks that are just going out and having fun whether 

that is children or adults, all the way up to the Olympic and professional ranks. So all of the above in terms of our education and 

outreach, and the training, and awareness that we want to get out 

for sports organizations, parents, and athletes all across the Nation. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, and we appreciate everything that 

SafeSport is doing to stand up best practices to prevent abuse within the Olympic movement. 

As we examine legislative proposals in this area, and you heard 

some of my colleagues speak to that earlier today, we have to consider how best to craft policies governing one-on-one contact between athletes and coaches. We definitely want to avoid situations 

that put young athletes at risk of abuse. At the same time, we 

want to avoid overbroad policies that unnecessarily strain the athlete-coach relationship. 

So the question is, do you support a blanket rule against one-onone contact or does a risk-based standard like the standard the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocates make more 

sense? 

Ms. PFOHL. Thank you again, Chairman Thune. 

We really follow the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control’s 

standards and guidelines in this space. We recognize and agree 

with the Centers for Disease Control that limiting those one-on-one 

interactions between adults and children, and making sure that 

there are two adults present as often as possible is the absolute 

right thing to do. 

94 

We also agree with their risk-based guidelines, as you indicated. 

It basically says that maybe one size does not fit all. So many 

sports organizations are so diverse that there may be multiple options for achieving safety. 

Their standards or their guidelines certainly are those that we 

have made part of our best practices. 

The CHAIRMAN. Just out of curiosity and other members of the 

panel, do you share that view? Does anybody else want to comment 

on that? Do you agree with that as articulated by Ms. Pfohl? OK. 

Senator Sullivan is coming in the door. 

Senator Udall had asked that we include in the record three 

items that he wanted included. So we will do that without objection. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

PINK CONCUSSIONS

May 16, 2017 

Hon. JOHN THUNE, 

Chairman, 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, 

United States Senate, 

Washington, DC. 

Hon. BILL NELSON, 

Ranking Member, 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, 

United States Senate, 

Washington, DC. 

Dear Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson: 

Please allow this letter to be included in the official record for the hearing ‘‘Current Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes’’ taking place on May 17, 2017, on the topic concussions in female athletes. 

My name is Katherine Price Snedaker, and I am LCSW and the Executive Director of PINK Concussions, a non-profit which focuses on female brain injury from 

sports, domestic violence, accidents and military service. 

I would like to share with you some very important information about female 

brain injury which is not reaching our women athletes and their coaches. Research 

in the early 2000s showed that female brain injuries including concussions, were not 

the same as brain injuries in males. Yet today, almost 20 years later, most woman 

and doctors are still unaware of the biological differences in brain injury. 

THE FACT is that, in multiple research studies dating back to the early 2000s, 

women have been shown to: 

• Sustain more concussions at a higher rate than males in sports with similar 

rules 

• Report a higher number, and more severe, symptoms than males 

• Have longer recovery periods than males 

THE CHALLENGE is since women and girls are rarely educated about female 

brain injury, many of these women are not prepared to cope with more severe symptoms and often have unrealistic expectations of recovery time of a few days or weeks 

when faced with months or years of Post Concussion Syndrome. 

And despite the established facts of female brain injury, the sport, academic, military, and medical communities do not have any female-specific medical guidelines, 

return to school/play/work/duty protocols or education resources designed for 

women. 

1. What are the differences between males and females in terms of concussion frequency, severity, symptoms, outcomes, etc.? 

Scientific research has shown that female and male brains differ in more than 

100 ways in structure, activity, chemistry, and blood flow, and so it is logical 

that damage to the brain would also manifest differently in women and men. 

However, brain injury research including sport concussion research has long 

been viewed through a masculine perspective partly due to the findings that 

TBI in general occurs about twice as often in males as it does in females (Rao 

& Lyketsos, 2000). The riskiest sports for concussion often have being maledominated (i.e., collision/contact sports such as ice hockey, boxing/combat sports, 

football, rugby). 

95 

It is critical to recognize multiple research studies have found in sports with 

similar rules between females and males, in particular soccer, basketball and 

baseball/softball, the rates of concussion are actually higher in women (Gessel, 

Fields, Collins, Dick, & Comstock, 2007; Hootman, Dick, & Agel, 2007; A E Lincoln et al., 2012). 

In the 2012 American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement: 

Concussion in Sport research showed that in sports with similar rules female 

athletes sustain more concussions than their male counterparts. In addition, female athletes experience or report a higher number and severity of symptoms 

as well as a longer duration of recovery than male athletes in several studies. 

2. What are the proposed reasons for these differences? 

Female athletes may be at a greater risk for concussion due to which phase of 

their monthly hormones at the time of injury, an increase in angular acceleration at the neck, AND/or neck strength-to-head size ratios. 

3. What can be the clinical implications of #pinkTBI? 

While research shows females may have different injury rates, symptoms, and 

rates of recovery, the medical community does not yet have any female-specific 

guidelines, protocols, care plans or education resources for women with brain 

injury including concussions. 

Since more men than women have brain injury, a woman, her support system 

and the people around her will most likely know more men than women who 

have had concussions therefore typically judge her symptom pattern and length 

of recovery by the male experience. The patient may doubt herself when the 

speed of her recovery or the severity of her symptoms do not match the more 

familiar and more publicized male experience. Family members, school staff or 

employers judge her experience to be abnormal, malingering or perceive that 

there maybe other non-brain injury issues at play. 

Without proper education of patient, family and community supports, women and 

girls with brain injury including concussion, can experience an additional lack of 

support, doubt, isolation and anxiety beyond that which comes with brain injury. 

Thank you for your interest in PINK Concussions. Please let me know if you have 

any additional questions. 

Sincerely, 

KATHERINE SNEDAKER, 

LCSW Executive Director, 

PINK Concussions. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KATHERINE STARR, FOUNDER, SAFE4ATHLETES

Over 44 million young Americans participate in sport on a daily basis; the United 

States Olympic Committee (USOC) members account for approximately 3 million 

athlete members across the Olympic sports family. The other 41+ million child athletes are members of various non-governmental organizations; the AAU, YMCA, Little League, Pop Warner, and several independent sports leagues, that don’t fall directly under the jurisdiction of the USOC or any other oversight body. Each of these 

organizations set their own policies for their respective communities with very few 

having any policies that address, or even mention, the issue of coach-athlete abuse. 

One of the most comprehensive studies of sexual abuse in sport was done in Canada, with a survey of that country’s Olympic athletes, concerning their experiences 

in sport. In the study, 22 percent of the athletes responding reported that they had 

engaged in sexual intercourse with an authority figure in sport. Nearly 9 percent 

of respondents reported experiencing a forcible sexual encounter. This study is consistent with Safe4Athletes most recent survey that found over 25 percent of the athletes that responded stated they experienced some sort of sexual harassment over 

multiple seasons. 

Coaches spend more time every day with their athletes than teachers do. Coaches, 

unlike child health care workers, travel with their athletes. Teachers and child 

health care workers are held to stringent standards—as they should be—in regard 

to their behavior around children. Many schools require that doors be kept open 

when teachers counsel students, and mandate that parents be present for medical 

examinations. Any suspicion of abuse is required by law to be reported. Yet there 

are no guidelines or laws that dictate appropriate behavior when it comes to coaches 

and athletes in non-school sports. 

96 

Requiring background checks for coaches will deter the convicted pedophiles that 

we know about but will do nothing for the ‘‘predator amongst us’’ who has not yet 

been caught. A background check is the first line of defense, once the sports programs are active and if the organization does not have a meaningful reporting and 

investigative practice process identified and utilizes experts who understands the 

complexities of any form of athlete-abuse that occurring on the field, in the gym or 

at the pool. 

This limitation is further exploited in our courts by the national governing sports 

bodies that consistently defer blame back to the local clubs. While giving the local 

sports club limited power and full responsibility, for a multitude of reasons including claiming no responsibility for the hiring choice, not being present to see the 

wrong doing, or simply passing on any responsibility by not receiving any complaint 

that requires investigation. 

Many of these national organizations, have comprehensive rules that dictate the 

uniform policy, presence or absence of make-up/jewelry, grade point averages, practice times but fail completely to mandate local policies that for hiring standards, reporting requirements, investigation process into inappropriate coach-athlete behavior, and a clear structure (that is athlete focused) to deter such behavior from thriving in the sports environment. 

The newly implemented ‘Center for Safe Sport’ addresses some of these issues for 

their approximately 3 million membered community by creating a uniform and centralized system to investigate and adjudicated coach-athlete sexual abuse across 

their sport families. Other concerns remain in the sport organizations themselves 

as member clubs are not required to have clear policies at the local level but refer 

to the national governing bodies for their direction. While the Center for Safe Sport 

has a set a standard, and created some uniformity in USA sport, it has failed to 

reach the other 41+ million athletes that are presently outside of their jurisdiction. 

This leaves local clubs at the direction of their national governing body and often 

they are not permitted to set their policies regarding abuse in sport issues, often 

they are pressured into only following the limited policies set at their respective national governing sport bodies. Often when incidents occur the National organizations 

pass the blame back to the local level to absolve themselves of any responsibility 

whatsoever. 

In general, these national organizations lack knowledge in coach-athlete sexual 

abuse investigation. As a result, the predator coach can easily take advantage and 

manipulate the sports clubs and their leadership and of special concern, such coaches are allowed to leave their current position prior to their behavior being questioned. This is a direct result of the flaws in governance and leadership of the youth 

serving organization. There is a lack of will to implement and mandate stronger policy and in many cases NO policies exist at all. 

Without empowering the local clubs and mandating policies to prevent sexual 

abuse and all forms of abuse in sport, the issue will continue to harm our youth. 

The abuse that occurs at a young age has the ability to negatively impact a young 

person for life, denying the child-athlete the opportunity to know the positive benefits of sport that we all believe are going to make the individual a better person 

all around. 

In closing, the need for oversight to protect all athletes, across all sports and all 

sport organizations must be put in place. This system needs to start at the local 

level with sports clubs adopting policies, committing to the creation of a safe environment that puts the athlete first. The policies need to be designed to provide clubs 

with a system that explicitly creates a positive environment free of sexual abuse, 

bullying and harassment. 

If we believe in and support the child-athlete anything less is unthinkable. 

97 

SPORTS FANS COALITION

May 17, 2017 

Hon. JOHN THUNE, 

Chairman, 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, 

United States Senate, 

Washington, DC. 

Hon. BILL NELSON, 

Ranking Member, 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, 

United States Senate, 

Washington, DC. 

Dear Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson, 

Sports Fans Coalition (‘‘SFC’’) is the largest fan advocacy group in the U.S. devoted to representing the interest of sports fans wherever public policy impacts the 

games. We were founded in 2009 and today have members in all 50 states. SFC is 

best known for successfully petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to 

end the decades-old Sports Blackout Rule, which the Commission unanimously 

voted to eliminate in 2014. The NFL subsequently suspended its local blackout policy. We continue to advocate for public policy that maximizes fans’ access to games, 

grants fans and other members of the public a fair return on any public resources 

devoted to sports facilities, and upholds fair play both on and off the field. 

SFC thanks you for holding today’s hearing titled, ‘‘Current Issues in American 

Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.’’ Fans believe that 

we can preserve the essence of our great sports without unfairly compromising the 

health and safety of athletes. SFC has called on the NFL, NHL, and other leagues 

to fully disclose what they know about the risk of concussions posed by their sports 

so that players and coaches can make informed decisions. Moreover, we believe that 

Members of Congress currently investigating league practices regarding concussions 

should not accept campaign contributions from league Political Action Committees 

or team owners while such investigations are pending. Tens of thousands of fans 

sent that very message to Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee 

through a campaign organized by SFC and we urge Members of your committee to 

heed that call. Fans want fair play, and that begins with leagues telling the public 

the truth. 

Our members do not want to see the rules of play altered to such a degree that 

the sports themselves become unrecognizable from their traditional origins. No one 

wants to see the NFL turn into a flag football league. SFC believes, however, that 

just as football leagues at all levels altered helmets to include facemasks, then created a new rule that no player shall ‘‘twist, turn or pull the facemask of an opponent in any direction’’ (NFL Rulebook at Rule 12, Sec. 2, Art. 5), leagues can and 

should develop practices that reasonably protect players. At the very least, we 

should have full disclosure of leagues’ knowledge on issues of player safety. 

Thank you again for your attention to these issues. 

Sincerely, 

DAVID GOODFRIEND, 

Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would say to all of you thank you for being 

here. Thanks so much for your thoughtful input and suggestions in 

response to our questions. These are all important issues; in many 

cases life and death issues. Certainly when it comes to safety, it 

is really critical that we get this right. So we welcome your continued input. 

I just want to indicate to you that there are members of this 

committee who will have questions that they would like to submit 

for the record, and if you could get those back to us as soon as possible. We normally keep the record open for a couple of weeks to 

allow your responses. So if you could get those back to us as quickly as possible, we would appreciate it. 

With that, I will yield to my colleague from Alaska, Senator Sullivan. I think he is going to take us out. 

But let me again just thank you for being here today. I cannot 

tell you how much we appreciate your participation. 

Senator Sullivan. 

98 

Senator SULLIVAN [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to thank you again for calling this hearing. It is a really 

important issue that is impacting the entire country. So thank you 

for your leadership on that. 

I want to thank the panel. Again, I am sorry. I had to step out. 

I have my freshman duties where I have to preside over the Senate. If you are a senior esteemed Senator like Chairman Thune, 

you do not have those duties, but I had those for the last hour. So 

it was not my lack of interest. I was over with another gavel on 

the Senate floor. 

I do want to thank the panel again. I have been keeping tabs 

from my staff on the questions and I read the testimony. 

Let me just start. Dr. Butler, I want to start with you. Thanks 

again for coming and thanks again for all that you are doing. You 

may have seen, you were quoted in the Alaska Dispatch News this 

morning, front page, above the fold headline, ‘‘Anchorage is seeing 

a dramatic surge in heroin overdoses.’’ 

Let me ask a little parochial question, but still important because I think it can shed light on what is going on in the country. 

What do you think is behind that surge in our biggest city back 

home? 

As I mentioned, we held this Wellness Summit last August in the 

Matsu Valley. One of the reasons I hosted that was a kind of a 

warning signal in some ways to our state that this is happening 

in a lot of places. We are not in the dire straits of some lower 48 

communities yet, and hopefully never, but this could be coming. 

Unfortunately, I fear that since we held that Summit, we have 

been focused on this issue a lot in the Congress, but I think in 

Alaska, it is getting worse. I think throughout the country it is getting worse. 

Do you mind addressing the headline today in the paper, the dramatic surge of heroin overdoses in Anchorage? And then if you 

want to address whether you think it is getting worse in Alaska 

or not. And then if any of the panelists want to just talk about it 

relating to the Nation, because it does look like we are not winning 

this battle right now, at least in my view. 

Dr. BUTLER. Senator Sullivan, I think Alaska really reflects what 

is happening nationally. 

What we have seen in Alaska is that while we have had some 

leveling of the number of overdoses due to prescription opioids, 

there has been an additive effect of an increasing number of 

overdoses due to heroin and also the synthetic Fentanyl-related 

compounds. 

There has even been some decline in opioid prescribing. So I 

think it is important to point out that we may be beginning to bend 

that trend, but we are nowhere near where we need to be. 

We have heard a number of stories this morning of where large 

amounts of opioids have been prescribed and have led to problems 

or that problems with misuse have gone under-recognized. And I 

think a lot of that is driven by a lack of awareness among the 

healthcare provider community and even among the public in 

terms of the risks associated with these drugs. 

Specifically, what is happening in Anchorage, I think, highlights 

a number of issues. At this point, we do not know if the increase 

99 

in overdoses is being accompanied by an increase in overdose 

deaths. It is possible that we are actually seeing more people survive to interact with the EMS system because we have been very 

aggressive in getting Naloxone kits out into the community, distributing over 5,000 of those kits over the past 3 months. 

It also highlights the importance of the interagency communication between public health and law enforcement so that we are 

sharing data and able to discuss exactly what we are each seeing 

from our own perspectives. 

For example, it is not clear whether or not this may be a batch 

of some substance that is much more powerful than the heroin that 

has been on the street in the past, or is it an influx of primarily 

people who have reduced tolerance? We do not know that degree 

of detail yet. But that is where working together and having our 

incident command response really has helped to be able to facilitate those communications. 

We learned a bit of this during an outbreak of ‘‘Spice’’ overdoses 

of the synthetic cannabinoid a couple of years ago where it actually 

took several weeks to be able to recognize the problem and connect 

those dots. 

In this case, we actually were aware of the increase late last 

week and we were able to start having those conversations as soon 

as we recognized it. 

The final comment I was going to make is that while it is important to address the challenge of illicit opioids, we have to recognize 

that part of the reason heroin found such a ready market when it 

came in, in larger quantities and at much lower prices. 

Starting about a decade ago, we had a much larger proportion of 

our population that had physical dependency or addiction to 

opioids. And that the way we oftentimes use opioids with good intent and good intention therapeutically oftentimes can be a set up 

for physical dependency. 

Withdrawal can be awful even if it is not the more chronic condition of addiction, people will oftentimes turn to whatever they can 

turn to, to be able to avoid the rigors of dope sickness. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Anyone else on the panel want to comment on 

what they see nationally as a trend and the reasons for it? 

I do want to comment. Mrs. Deutscher, I was here for your testimony and I really just appreciate it. I know that that could not 

have been easy for you to testify before this committee and recall 

some things that are obviously incredibly heart wrenching for you 

personally and your family. 

But unfortunately as I have dug into this issue, the story that 

you told about your son, it is not an uncommon story in terms of 

an athlete who has a bright future, a high school star, and then 

there is an injury, and then this happens. Have we learned enough 

from that? It is a very common story that we are hearing. 

How you talked about how you did not understand fully the risk. 

Do you think there is more that needs to be done? Do you think 

that people are recognizing that? 

And again, I just want to commend you for being here today. I 

am sure it is not easy. 

Ms. DEUTSCHER. Thank you. 

100 

I do not think there is enough being done. I think funding is a 

huge issue to get the awareness out, to get into the high schools, 

to get it to the coaches, to get it out to the general public of opioids 

just in general, but also as it relates to our athletes. 

We had great coaches. Jeff and I are very involved. We had a 

great athletic trainer. We had great physicians. But as I have told 

in a couple of deliveries that we made to within our state, it was 

ignorance that was part of Nick’s death. We just did not know. 

And so, I think that is so crucial. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Thank you. 

Are there any other thoughts on the broader trends on the opioid 

issue throughout the country and what direction you see it going 

in? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. This is not my area of expertise, but I would like 

to add something, Senator. 

I have lost three of my classmates. I am of the graduating class 

of 1988 in my small town in Pennsylvania to heroin overdose. I 

think the thing that is really important here, I have said it multiple times, is outreach and communication. What are we not communicating to people? This is getting to a point where there is 

someone that is more charismatic or there is something that is 

happening. 

These were not the bad kids. These were not the ones that were 

headed to nowhere. These were bright students. These were people 

who had transitioned well from high school into college, and gone 

on to professional careers that we have now lost to heroin. 

What is being said? What environment is being created outside 

of the opioid use? What is the gateway that people are entering 

into the heroin use? What can we do, like you said, to be having 

constant communication, constant outreach? 

I remember as I was growing up as a child there was D.A.R.E. 

There was PAL. There were all kinds of songs, and raps, and 

things about not using drugs. It seems like we saw something that 

was working and we got away from it. 

So now it appears there occasionally, but we are not starting at 

the grassroots level saying this is really important. These are the 

reasons that you should stay away from drugs. At some point, the 

bad guys entered and they are doing something that is convincing 

really good people to go down a really bad path. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Well, I think that is a really important point. 

We are certainly trying to do that in Alaska. 

Dr. Butler, you may have seen the head of the FBI in the state 

and I have sent that FBI video. Some of you may have seen it, 

‘‘Chasing the Dragon,’’ which is very graphic, scaring the young 

children into, ‘‘This could happen to you,’’ trying to get it into all 

the high schools just to wake all these young men and women up. 

But you are certainly correct about the point of how some of the 

best and brightest in the country are getting addicted. 

Let me finish with one final question. And again, I want to thank 

everybody for your patience and testimony today. On another issue, 

and Dr. Butler, you mentioned how some of these things are related, and I certainly have seen that as well. 

On the issue of the sexual assaults and abuse of our athletes, do 

we have enough safeguards, do you think, in place? With regard to 

101 

our young men and women who are, again, America’s finest and 

some of the most disciplined with regard to some of the reports 

that has obviously alarmed a lot of us. I am just wondering for the 

expertise here at the panel, if you believe that we do have enough 

safeguards? 

Congress always tries to act. Maybe it is an appropriate role. But 

what do you think the role that we should be doing and the role 

that you should be doing? 

Ms. PFOHL. I would be happy to start. Thank you, Senator Sullivan. 

I think the answer is no. We do not have enough safeguards. 

That is the reason the U.S. Center for SafeSport has been created 

and the reason we exist, and the reason we need to exist. 

I think you asked what the Senate can do. I will say again, I 

think having an authorization, again, following in the footsteps of 

USADA, but being authorized in legislation. Certainly, we would 

not turn down an appropriation, but being authorized in legislation 

goes a long way into establishing the credibility, the need for these 

safeguards as you have said. 

It is our absolute goal, our mission to not only address the abuse 

and weed out the bad actors, but to really get upstream on prevention. To make sure that we are educating all parents and youth 

sport organizers, if you will, the athletes themselves on how to 

identify grooming behaviors, for example, when we are talking 

about youth. What does that look like? 

And so, all of the education, the outreach, the training that needs 

to take place that is not currently taking place, that is why we are 

here. We are absolutely committed to creating change. Again, our 

motto is champion respect and end abuse. That is our call to action. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Thank you. Anyone else on that question? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I would also say no, that the safeguards that we 

have in place are not enough. What we need in place is uniform, 

baseline education across all the different levels of sports from, like 

I said, the grassroots level, youth, moving up into the elite ranks. 

There needs to be something for when a coach, when a person 

that is going to be of authority that is going to be dealing with an 

athlete on a regular basis. Once they enter into this field, what are 

the baseline requirements to make sure that you are going to do 

what is in the athlete’s best interest? 

Right now, there is no uniformity across all these different levels, 

different organizations that exist. You can just wake up one morning and say, ‘‘I am going to go coach people and I am going to go 

coach kids.’’ You are there and you are coaching. Everyone is like, 

‘‘Oh, he is nice.’’ And then you are bringing kids home and it just 

degrades from there. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Yes. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. So baseline education and baseline points of 

entry. There are requirements that make sure that we do have 

proper safeguards. Those are the things that need to be put in 

order. 

Senator SULLIVAN. Thank you. 

Before we conclude, I would ask unanimous consent to include in 

the record letters from stakeholders providing additional perspecVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:46 May 14, 2018 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00105 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\29997.TXT JACKIE
102 

*This letter can be found on page 97 of this hearing. 

tives on today’s hearing including the Sports Fans Coalition* and 

the Positive Coaching Alliance. 

Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information referred to follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAKE WALD, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, 

POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, and Members of the Committee. My name 

is Jake Wald, and I appreciate this opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of 

the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) for the Committee’s hearing entitled ‘‘Current 

Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.’’ 

We appreciate the Committee focusing attention on the issues facing athletes, both 

on and off the field. 

PCA is a non-profit, educational organization that provides resources for students, 

parents, coaches, and leaders with the aim of improving the culture around youth 

sports. Operating under the motto ‘‘Better Athletes, Better People,’’ PCA works to 

ensure that all youth and high school athletes have positive and character-building 

sports experiences. 

We pursue this goal by working directly with youth and high school sports leaders, coaches, athletes, parents, and officials through partnerships with schools and 

youth sports organizations nationwide. These partnerships consist of live workshops, 

online courses, books, and more—all geared toward changing the culture of youth 

sports. Since its inception, PCA has reached more than 8.6 million young people; 

partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations; and delivered 

hundreds of thousands of online courses. 

I joined PCA in 2012, and I am responsible for the development and establishment of new PCA chapters, to add to the 17 we already have in major cities including Chicago, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and Tampa Bay. I came to PCA after 

being fortunate enough to have a career first as a student-athlete at George Washington University (GWU) and then as a professional athlete in the San Francisco 

Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks organizations. Upon my retirement, I returned 

to college baseball as a coach, first at my alma mater, GWU, and then at Georgetown University. These experiences informed my decision to get involved with PCA, 

and provided me with the insight to speak firsthand about the issues facing youth 

athletes today. 

As the Committee begins exploring factors impacting athlete safety, we urge the 

Committee to assess the culture of youth sports as an integral factor affecting young 

athletes. Last Congress, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations convened a hearing to evaluate concussions in youth sports. 

At that hearing, members noted that improving the safety of sports is not merely 

about science; it is also about culture. 

We strongly agree with the notion that that culture plays a critical role in improving awareness, attention, and care for youth athletes, and we are concerned that 

today’s win-at-all-costs culture incentivizes and normalizes damaging behaviors—including use of performance enhancing drugs, opioid abuse, and overuse injuries 

spurred by premature sport specialization. In fact, each year, the current win-at-allcosts culture drives millions of kids out of sports for good. Not only does this deprive 

them of the well-researched benefits of participating in organized athletics, but their 

negative experiences may have further effects throughout their lives. 

PCA leads the charge for youth sports organizations to overcome these cultural 

challenges and help millions of kids reach their potential. Young people can only 

reap the full benefits of competing in organized sports if the adult leaders, coaches, 

and parents behave as character educators, intent on teaching life lessons—including healthy competitiveness—through sports. With a winning combination of truthful, specific praise; constructive criticism; and positive motivation, athletic performance improves, and so do the chances that kids stay involved and learn all the valuable life lessons that organized competition can teach. As such, we appreciate and 

are pleased to see that the Committee has an established interest in evaluating all 

factors that impact athlete safety, beyond just the physical. 

PCA is concerned with the decline in participation in youth sports, which reduces 

the number of American youths who can benefit from the experiences and life lessons a positive experience in sports can provide. While there are a number of factors 

contributing to this trend; it can be in part attributed to the tremendous negativity 

103 

that pervades youth sports today and the pressure placed on young athletes to succeed at any cost. We appreciate and are pleased to see that the Committee has an 

interest in evaluating factors that impact athlete safety, and we urge you to continue to bring attention to the issue of sports culture—particularly in the context 

of its role in the development of our Nation’s youth. 

Thank you again for this opportunity. We would be happy to discuss this and 

other issues related to youth sports with you at your convenience. 

The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During this 

time, senators are asked to submit any questions for the record for 

our witnesses. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit 

their written answers to the Committee as soon as possible. 

I want to, again, thank the witnesses for appearing today. These 

are very important issues. You can see there is a lot of bipartisan 

interest and, I think, motivation to address these in a bipartisan 

way. We are going to continue to engage with you and others to 

make sure we address some of these in the best way possible. 

This hearing is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

Æ