WHAT SPORTS PROGRAMS 

NEED TO KNOW ABOUT 

BRAIN SAFETY 

AND YOUTH 

FOOTBALL
Football has the highest number of sports-related 

concussions and other traumatic brain injuries 

among youth.

1

SOME PLAYS AND POSITIONS ON A FOOTBALL TEAM 

MAY PUT ATHLETES AT INCREASED RISK FOR CONCUSSIONS. 2

63% 63% of concussions 

in high school football 

result from tackling. 

2
WHAT IS A 

CONCUSSION?

A concussion is a type of traumatic 

brain injury caused by a bump, blow, or 

jolt to the head, or by a hit to the body that 

causes the head and brain to move quickly 

back and forth. This fast movement can 

cause the brain to bounce around or 

twist in the skull, creating chemical 

changes and sometimes stretching 

and damaging brain cells. 

What is a repetitive head impact? 

A head impact is a bump, blow, or jolt to the head. 

A collision while playing sports is one way an 

athlete can get a head impact. When an 

athlete gets more than one head impact 

while playing a sport, it is called repetitive 

head impact exposure. 

Do repetitive head impacts pose

a health risk to my athletes?

While we know head impacts put an

athlete at risk for concussion, more 

research is needed to understand if 

experiencing repetitive head impacts is 

harmful and how they may or may not 

affect the brain of a young athlete.
WILL A HELMET 

PROTECT MY ATHLETES 

FROM A CONCUSSION? 

A properly fitted football helmet 

can help protect your athletes from 

the most serious types of brain or 

head injury, though helmets are 

not currently designed to prevent 

concussions. Make sure your tackle 

football athletes wear a helmet that 

fits well and is in good condition.

PROPERLY FITTED HELMETS:

• Feel snug, leaving no spaces between 

the pads and the athlete’s head. 

• Won’t slide on the head with the 

chin strap in place. 

• Cannot be removed while the 

chin strap is in place. 

Learn more and download the helmet fit 

app at cdc.gov/HEADSUP.
15x

23x

HOW CAN 

I KEEP MY 

ATHLETES 

SAFE? 

Offer non-contact or flag football programs, especially 

for children ages 14 and younger. 

A CDC STUDY COMPARING YOUTH TACKLE AND FLAG FOOTBALL FOUND: 3

Tackle athletes had 15 times more head 

impacts during a practice or game.

Tackle athletes had 23 times more highmagnitude (hard) head impacts during a 

practice or game.
WAYS TO 

PROMOTE 

SAFER 

FOOTBALL 

PROGRAMS

OFFER A FOOTBALL PROGRAM THAT PROTECTS YOUNG ATHLETES

Limit contact during practices. 

• Reduce full-speed, head-on blocking or tackling drills where 

players line up more than three yards apart.

• Spend more time demonstrating minimal contact techniques 

instead of scrimmaging and conducting full-speed drills.

Make an effort to have certified athletic trainers 

available at games and practices.

Enforce rules for fair play, safety, 

and sportsmanship.

Discourage behaviors that can increase the chance 

of getting a concussion or other serious injury, such as: 4

• Hitting another athlete in the head.

• Using a helmet to collide with another athlete’s 

head or body.

• Trying to injure or put another athlete at risk for injury.
1 Sarmiento K, Thomas KE, Daugherty J, et al. 

Emergency Department Visits for Sports- and 

Recreation-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries Among 

Children - United States, 2010-2016. MMWR Morb 

Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:237-42.

2 Marar M, McIlvain NM, Fields SK, Comstock RD. 

Epidemiology of concussions among United States 

high school athletes in 20 sports. The American 

journal of sports medicine 2012;40:747-55.

3 Waltzman D, Sarmiento K, Devine O, et al. Head 

Impact Exposures Among Youth Tackle and Flag 

American Football Athletes. Sports Health. 2021; 

doi: 10.1177/1941738121992324.

4 Collins CL, Fields SK, Comstock RD. When the rules 

of the game are broken: what proportion of high 

school sports-related injuries are related to illegal 

activity? Injury prevention 2008;14:34-8
CDC.GOV/HEADSUP