greater sensitivity to the circumstances on the grounds. but i think the idea has become for humanitarian and political reasons that preventive action has to in fact be the place where the emphasis goes. because once all hell breaks loose, i think there is a few that most democracies right now, their attitude will be we're not going to get involved unless there is some clear identifiable national interest that makes it essential to entintervene. and in iraq and afghanistan, certainly sobered the american public opinion. >> they have zapped the will. i think there was greater will a decade ago for this. that may be the height of the streak that happened of a der rwanda. but my great fear now is that

things are happening rapidly in places like syria and as we've seen in the news today, ukraine. if this escalates, i don't know if we have the will. >> shannon, comment? especially if you can tailer the holistic view of things. >> back to the removal of the expatriates, i think we spent a lot of time focusing on the message that that conveyed and i couldn't help but wonder what that had to have felt like, almost encapsulating the points we touched upon earlier which basically speak to the fact that the western world was saying you don't matter, we'll take out the people who do . >> even if these are the people that raised you as orphans early

in life, we're going to separate. one of the things we've said in here in other classes, in earlier classes this xhsemester is that genocide undoes, things fall apart with genocide. the ties that bind people together, jep side genocide is fundamentally about breaking apart things like family structure and communities. yet the failure of humanity in rwanda demonstrates a lack of will to stop genocide and misplaced focus on things like withdrawing expatriates does the same thing. in and of itself. that it separates the orphans from the church figures who have raised them. it cuts people off from ties that are really important.

and that again is one of the great tragedies. >> and for bystanders, and also in reference to what is referre initiative is extremely with the murderers. and any calculation made by people on the ground who might be voices of reason now just think they're dikills those peoe there, is no umbrella of support, you disappear, lay low or even start singing from the sheet of music of the most radical elements. >> we have like two minutes. maybe three. concluding comments. what do we take away from rwanda and where do we go from mere so

to speak? >> on page 517 in like the very middle -- >> i'm already there. >> okay. i think that he sums up the whole future of the world, like the world's will very simply, the concept of human rights assumes that all human life is of equal value. and the risk means our lives more than the lives we would convene to save. so we can promote human rights, but it's like we're worth more so we won't risk our own people. >> very good point. >> and to go on with that, it's the human nature. our inability to reconcile our differences. that's really what it comes down to. like genocide is a sump tomorrow of human nature, people not being able to get over their differences or cooperate. this international debacle.

like everybody has their own reasons for doing something. there always -- >> or not doing something. >> there is always an ulterior motive. and until that is gone, you will see genocide still. you can motivate people and try to make them go, like i said before, the only way you can truly motivate someone is if you directly affect them, if it directly touches them, it's in their front yard. that's the only time you'll get people to act. if they're in the bubble of here and something is happening over there, especially people that most even don't know where it's fresh, even the boston marathon, chesney ans bombed and people were calling to bomb check la

czechoslovak czechoslovakia. people think it sdpdidn't affec them, but it does. >> david, last point here. >> last year there was an event, a refugee week. >> refugee awareness. we were on the panel. >> and there was an event where they brought -- did anybody go by any chance? i didn't see you two, but they brought in several refugees from around the world, there was somebody there from cambodia, a gentleman there from rwanda. and i remember he was talking about how happy he was when he got to the united states because he had a refugee -- he had a plane ticket bought to come to new york and there were people there with banners welcoming him. he said how happy he felt being able to go to the united states and how he felt like he'd been kind of uplifted by that. and he said he was really proud of that, that the united states would make that effort. and so i asked him, i'm glad to

hear that. but from my point of view, i'm wondering what more could the united states have done to where you didn't have on flee your country. what more could we have done. and his response was so perfect. the words were so eloquent. he said the united states is a great country and a great country can do both. so my question of course was are we that great country. >> do have anything concluding to say here? >> no. >> i mean, i think dacvid sums t up well. it is crucial that we develop an international pool of multi-disciplinary, multiskilled humanist leaders. hopefully this class has helped you develop the kind of perspective that can lead you to

that. and i believe that some of you, all of you perhaps, can make a difference. hopefully this gives you the will to come back to the point that we've marie petedly tonight, the will to do that. thanks. here see what is ahead today on the c-span networks. coming up live at 12:15, education undersecretary ted mitchell will discuss how federal and state leaders can work together to improve the nation's schools. he's the featured speaker at the education commission of the states forum in washington, d.c., that's live on c-span2. also today, a look at the ongoing conflict in iraq with two representatives of the kurdistan regional government. they're expected to talk about what the conflict means for kurds and the krg and the potential for an independent kurdistan. that is live at 12:30 on c-span. and tonight, business owners, activists and policymakers discuss the progress, problems

and future of the fledgling legal cannabis industry. this was part of a recent event in as the first summit of its kind before recreational marijuana has been legal in colorado for about 18 months. washington state's recreational c cannabis industry becomes legal this week. here is a preview of tonight's event. >> money is one of these things that really can galvanize people. and if you're here mainly for money, that's great. and i think a lot of people come to this industry because of the opportunity, the economic opportunity. but that's not what keeps them. what keeps them are the people, the passion, the change that we're making, the pioneering spirit that we're building.

and because, you know, this is different. your businesses aren't like other businesses. and so i think it's going to be an interesting ride as we look at our different motivations for being involved in the sector. and we learned that if you want something done in this world, you have to figure out how to make it profitable. i always say hippies keep being right. they were right about renewable energy. right about organ beingic foods. right about cancannabis. these are movements that started because people cared about something, they cared about the environments they wanted to use renewab renewables, they cared about the health of farms and the land and about what we put in our bodies. and it started out really small and with an activist sort of

flavor, but once they figured out how to have profitable business models around those ideas, boom, now organic foods are everywhere. renewable energy is growing by leaps and leaps and leaps and bounds. >> see that discussion tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. on c-span and on c-span3, the anniversary of the 1964 civil right as act which banned discrimination and job hiring this public places.a which banned discrimination and job hiring this public places. provided integration of public facility. president johnson signing the civil rights act into law. also a recent ceremony commemorating the an versionry and a couple events looking back

at that time this history. fwrs . my first reaction was surprise because i had worked for mr. sterling. i coached the clippers in the year 2000. he invited me to his daughter's wedding. i had no idea exactly what was going on. but i also because of my situation, i know elgin baylor and whats of compla he was comp about. so i was confused not knowing exactly which set of facts mr. sterling stood behind. and when his words came out, it was so obvious and shocking and just disgusting, all those things wrapped in one. but the surprise of it, to find that type of sentiment in someone who relies on black

americans for so much of his success and public profile, it was amazing. i couldn't believe that someone could have that much big friday inside. >> july 4, a look at racism in sports. later, exploring the red planet with mars probe engineers and seen i cannior nasa officials. and later, discussions on gun rights and personal recovery of gabby giffords. next, a look at sport safety and brain injuries in fnbi, hockey and other sports. some of the safety steps they have taken. we also hear injury stories of a professional soccer player and high school student and medical professionals slaexplain the science behind brain injuries.

all right. i want to thank every for being here. we are now with the full committee ranking member, the gentleman from california, joins us. we now have the ability to start our hearing so i will introduce you after my statement and before you start your testimony. so good morning and welcome to this morning's hearing. today it's my hope to learn what steps are being taken to make sports participation safer for all athletes. every day parents make choices about whether or not to let their son or daughter play soccer or what kind of mouthpiece to buy their son for his first day of pop warner football. unfortunately it seems like

every day we hear how participation can be dangerous. it's easy to understand you how what parents see in the news inevitably affects youth participation in sports. case in point, earlier this year, president obama said publicly that if he had a son, he wouldn't let him play pro football. then the first lady wants us all to move. seems to conflict messages. we want a better understanding of the innovations being made by sports leagues, equipment manufacturers and the medical community to make all sports safer. one clear example is the nhl which has been working to make hockey safer. dating back to 1997, the nhl recognized the dangers of head injuries and took the proactive step of forming a joint concussion committee. additionally the nhl also

established a department of player safety at its headquarters, the first of its kind for any professional league. usa hockey and usa football, two organizations that help oversee youth sports in the united states, have followed the lead of their professional counterparts by employing a multipronged approach to making participation safer. u usa hockey requires coaches to complete and onlean education module specific to the age group they are coaching at. and that includes safety information, concussion education, proper techniques. usa football which send do youed by the generosity of the nfl and nflpa was the first national governing body for any sport to participate in the cdc's heads up concussions in youth sports. initiatives also engaged in providing yooth with nontackling alternatives to develop their

skills. additionally, usa heads up football program encompasses six elements to make youth football safer including coach education and concussion recognition. proactive actions like the ones i just mentioned are exactly what parents need in order to be assured that everything possible is being done to keep their child as safe as possible while they're on the field or ice. researchers have also been hard at work to improve the tools that coaches and doctors have at their disposal when treating an athlete. for example, who runs the biology and behavior society inside the huskers stadium has been developing ap-mri machine to assess a head injury. it would allow medical staff to determine if a player has suffered a concussion, how severe the injury is and if that player is able to return.

equipment manufacturers are also using tech it knowlednology to injuries. i feel confident saying that given the recent rule changes and the rate at which technology is advancing, playing a contact sport today is likely safer than it has been in the past. however, we must accept that there is no silver bullet, no helmet or pad will prevent 100% of the injuries 100% of the time. this is why we need to consider a multipronged approach aimed at keeping our kids safer while still promoting youth participation, aimed at keeping our kids safer while still promoting participation in sports, this involves listening to how leaders and top resear researchers are partnering to make sports safer. these are needed to give parents

the assurance take that all the possible steps are being taken to improve the safety of their child on the field. and i'd like to thank our panelists for joining us here today. willing to answer our question. and i would especially like to thank you for making the trips to washington, d.c. from lincoln, nebraska. and my team is over, so i will recognize the ranking member, jan schakowsky, from illinois. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this is a very important hearing on improving sports safety. i look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses on both panels about the perspectives, experiences, proposals about how to make sports safer for everyone from children to professional athletes. athletes are continually becoming bigger and fast er and

stronger and much work remains. 300,000 sports related traumatic brain injuries occur annually in the united states. sports are the second leading cause of traumatic brain injury among people age 15 to 24, second only to motor vehicle accidents. this is a crisis and this subcommittee should do everything in its power to address. we'll hear today from a high school senior who suffered a severe head injury during a lacrosse game in his sophomore year. despite his impressive recovery, that hit later identified as his third head injury left him with a imt willed ability to enjoy the types of activities many of his high school classmates take for granted. his story should serve as a reminder that youth sports injuries can have devastating and lasting consequences. and we'll also hear on this panel from brianna scurry, an

olympic and world country soccer champion, a goalie, forced from the field after a career ending traumatic brain injury almost four years ago. her struggle to overcome the cognitive physical and psychological injuries that followed illustrate that even our sports heros are vulnerable. both ian and brianna should be commended for their courage and their willingness to testify. dave duerson, a super bowl winning safety and former member of my hometown chicago bears tragically committed suicide just over three years ago. this doing so, he shot himself in the chest to avoid any impact on his brain which he asked to have donated to medical research in order to allow scientists to study the impact of the brain raw made he sufferedo over his

professional career. it was later disclosed duerson suffered from a moderately advanced case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease linked to repeated blows to the head which can result in memory loss, depression and dement dementia. career ending sports injuries can occur at any level of competition and duerson case should make it clear that the impacts of brain trauma go way beyond an athlete's days on the field and can become more severe over time. we will also hear today from medical and scientific experts who have studied the impacts of brain injuries. and we'll hear about the importance of taking athletes off the field of play as soon as there is suspicion of a brain injury and keeping them off until they are cleared by a responsible and trained individual. and finally, we'll hear from the nhl, the nfl, youth hockey and football leagues responsible for mitigating raw matt tick brain injury in their sports.

i hope to learn what changes they have implemented tick brai injury in their sports. i hope to learn what changes they have implemented to rules, practices and other aspects that will reduce the risk of brain injury moving forward. i'm not advocating for an end to sports, but i also feel strongly that 300,000 head injuries per year are too many to overlook. we should take reasonable steps to reduce the risk and i look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses. i hope this hearing will help the subcommittee to better understand the safety risks in sports and what we can and should be doing to limit these risks. i yield back. >> thank you very much. at this time i recognize vice chairman of the committee, mr. lance, of new jersey. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this extremely important hearing. i want to thank dr. james johnston who will be one of the witnesses who came to my office earlier this morning.

thank you, dr. johnston. experts generally agree that a concussion can be classified as a brain injury ranging in seriousness from mild to dramatic. the center for disease control states a concussion is caused by a bump, a blow he or a jolt to the head or a blow to the body. it causes the head to move quickly. according to the cdc, the sports that reported the highest number of traumatic brain injuries are bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball and soccer. from 2010 through 2013, the participation rate of children in youth soccer and football dropped considerably. some have pointed to the increased risk of tbis as a result of participating in these sports. as a reason for the drop in that participation. the increased spotlight on concussions in sports has resulted in increased amount of research in brain injuries as

well as research on how to improve sports equipment in order to prevent such injuries from occurring. collegiate and professional sports leagues have implemented standards and revised their rules in order to decrease the number of brain injury incidents. the nhl as has been indicated has required its players to wear helmets on the ice and nfl instituted new standards for evaluating concussions on the sidelines after 223 concussions in just over 300 games in the 2010 season. and state and federal governments have also baby involved in tightening safety standards. and since 2009, all 50 states in the district of columbia have adopted laws protecting athletes from returning to play too soon after suffering a concussion or potential concussion. this hearing will focus on what more can be done to prevent brain injuries and this is at the youth level, amateur level and the professional level.

and i look forward to the testimony of our distinguished panelists. thank you, mr. chairman. i have 2 1/2 minutes remaining. is there any other member on the republican side who would like to speak with an opening state? i yield back. >> do they play sports? on behalf of the big ten, i want to welcome rutgers for the big ten. >> thank you very much. >> five minutes to the full ranking member of the energy and commerce committee, wimr. waxma. there thank you vef. decades ago, many thought head injury was serious only if a player was completely knocked out unconscious or suffered a severe contusion after frequent painful blows, even a young athlete could continue to play. but we now have strong indications that the effects of

repeated brain trauma in sports even those received during one's youth can accumulate with consequences that are long term debilitating and even life threatening. these consequences can stem from injuries once considered minor known as sub concussive blows which may not be accompanied by any immediate adverse symptoms. which may not be accompanied by any immediate adverse symptoms. serious psychological and emotional disorders have been documented among former athletes who suffered repetitive brain trauma. researchers a number of times found evidence of the neuro degenerative disease cte when examining the brain tissue of dozens of deceased former nfl players. new imaging technologies have been able to show the metabolic changes in the brain associated

with concussions and sub concussive blows. brain injuries in sports can occur in a wide variety of situations. and different athletes' brains may respond differently to an injury. sports related brain injury is a complex matter, requires addressing many interconnected issues. so when the title of this hearing suggests we take a multifaceted approach to improve sports safety, i could not agree more. first we need to have more neuroscience research, radiological and longitudinal research methods can lead to earlier and more accurate diagnosis, better understanding of the risk factors, and maybe better treatment options for brain injuries. second, doctors league associations, coaches, parents, players, need to work together

to establish health regulations, game rules and a sporting culture that reflects the seriousness of brain injury and put the athlete's health first. third, we must address the health and safety risks associated with the athletic equipment and pursue a better understanding of how this equipment might be improved. three years ago, congress th thanman butterfield and i wrote to then chairman calling for hearings about inadequate testing standards, lax certifications and helmets. we'll touch on some of those issues today, but i believe those issues merit deeper considerations than they're likely to get at today's hearing and the subcommittee chairman might consider holding a separate hearing on these matters. i think it's valuable that the

national football league is testifying here today given recent and be ongoing disputes between the league and its players on this very topic. however i believe its players organization should also testify. unfortunately the late notification of the nfl testifying made it difficult for us to secure a players' witness. mr. chairman, today's hearing is important. i appreciate the subcommittee review of sports related brain injuries. and i look forward working together with all of us on this issue in the months ahead. thank you for holding the hearing. look forward to the testimony of the witnesses. yield back my time. >> still have a minute left if the gentleman from utah wanted to use it. >> i might just point out that moving physically and conditioning the body is not anywhere near dangerous as subjecting one's self to brain

injuri injuries. >> interesting, but the issue is we want kids to go out and play. we want them to join youth leagues. >> and we want sports. but we want it make it as safe as possible. >> absolutely.tit make it as sa as possible. >> absolutely.it make it as safe as possible. >> absolutely.t make it as safe as possible. >> absolutely.oit make it as sae as possible. >> absolutely.t make it as safe as possible. >> absolutely. make it as safe as possible. >> absolutely. and this is one of those where jan and i both agreed was necessary. so this has been a bipartisan effort. so with that, let's move on to our witness panel. and i'm going to introduce the entire panel now and then we'll start with mr. daly. so we are blessed to have mr. william daley i chlt iii. next to him, david ogrean. and then we have mr. jeff miller, player health and safety policy, national football league. thank you very much for being here. and then scott hallenbeck, executive director usa football.

and then a face of a brain injury, multiple concussions within soccer, brianna scurry, former professional goalkeeper, u.s. women's national soccer team. in the next panel, we'll have ian, the other face of high school level concussions. with that, mr. daily, you are now recognized for your five minutes. >> i'd like to thank you for inviting me to testify regarding the row beingproactive steps to hockey players safe. it's the only professional sport with no out of bounds, hockey is a physical game. at the nhl level, our players

want to be physical and our fans want to be physical. but importantly all constituent groups associated with the group also want it to be safe. this objective necessarily includes promoting safe and responsible play in our game and the national hockey league working together with the national hockey league players association has gone to elab blat lengths to do that and will continue to do so. we are pleased to have this opportunity to share with this subcommittee some of the measures enacted in this pursuit. national hockey league was the first to launch a league wide program to evaluate players after they incur head injuries. beginning in 1997, the nhlpa concussion program has required that all players on all clubs undergo pre-season baseline neuropsych lom cological testin. after tyi aft after diagnosis, he undergoes

post testing and they're compared to determine when the player returns to neurological baseline. data collected and analyzed confirmed to us early on that neuropsychological testing results had added value and should be taken into account along with player reported symptoms. the committee has taken proactive steps to issue league wide protocols regarding the diagnosis, management and treatment of concussion. education regarding concussions importantly the issuance of warnings to players related to the risks of returning to play before recovery is complete have been a core component of the nhlpa concussion program since its inception. education is provided regularly to all relevant constituencies

in our league including players, club personnel and nhl on-ice officials. in addition to enforcing existing playingently penalizins contact, several new rules have been adopted to prohibit contact regarding a player's head. current rule prohibits any contact when the contact is otherwise avoidable and the head is the main point of contact. changes this season to adopt the hybrid icing rule and modification to rules regarding fighting have further enhanced player safety. with respect to the fighting issue in particular, while it remain as small part of the game, its role is diminishing. through 75% of the 2013/2014 regular season, 60% have been

free of fighting. in addition, the number of major penalties assessed for fighting is down 15% from last season and down 31% from the 2009/2010 season. in this important area, it would be the league's intention to raise, discuss and negotiate any potential rule changes directly with the players association. ultimate enforcement of the rules is in the hands of the department of player safety. the first league department of its kind in proves al sports. this department monitors every one of our 1230 regular season games plus all of our playoff games and assesses every hit, indeed every play to ensure the league standards for safety and responsible play are being adhered to. when the department determines that the standard has been violated, supplement al discipline is assessed.

the kcumulative effect of the effort has begun to change the positive of the game in a positive way. since the adoption of the mandatory helmet rule in 1979, the nhl has continued to impose a series of additional regulations regarding player equipment relating to player safety generally but also the head injuries more specifically, including most recently a ruled a didn'ted prior to the start of this season that mandated the use of face shields by all incoming players, the effect of which should reduce headed injuries generally in addition to providing enhanced protection for players eyes. the nhl also has participated in concussion initiatives that stepped beyond the nhl including its representatives participation in each of the four international concussion and sport kchbss between 2001 and 2012, its support of federal and state legislative initiatives regarding concussions and the league support and assistance in the

development of concussion educational programs for youth and junior age hockey players. to summarize, while recognizing there is are considerable work to be done, the national hockey league has been and will remain absolutely committed to promoting save tpromot promoting the safety of our players. it's the right thing for our players and also our business and maximizing interests by fans and consumers. again i thank the chairman, ranking member and subcommittee members for your time and attention. >> mr. ogrean, you're recognized for your five minutes. >> thank you. it's a privilege to be with you today to discuss an issue that is the top priority every day at usa hockey and that is the safety of our participants both on and off the sis. we've adopted well to a changing environment over time and we have two particular leaders we

wish to thank. one is dr. mike stewart, our chief medical officer. the other is dr. alan asher, the chair of our safety and protective equipment committee. that committee has been in existence for 40 years. and it's an important group helping to guide our board in making its decisions. we have a risk management committee which is concerned with the safety of the play environment and surrounding area. and in 1999 in cooperation with u.s. figure skating, we began an organization called serving the american rinks, or star, which is an education organization for ice facilities focusing on a variety of operational aspects including safety issues in rinks. in term of the safety of our participants, we believe we can and do positively affect the landscape through three primary areas. education, rules and rules enforcement and arriving management.

education happens on and ongoing basis. we have very fortunately direct electronic communication with every single home, every player, every parent, every official, and every coach in our organization through our database. we are constantly in communication with them with educational bulletins and news. our coaches have a huge influence in providing a safe and responsible environment, and our coaching education program has long been heralded as the gold standard for coaching education. as congressman terry referenced, this last year -- excuse me, a module that contains critical safety information. officials obviously play a very important part in how our game is made safe, as well, and they

receive regular education and are sent video clips and also access to our national reporting system which tracks penalties to help us understand and assess behavior trends. we annually mail posters to every ice facility in the country and over the years they have focused on topics including concussion prevention, concussion education, playing rules emphases and our heads up don't duck program to that i am name a few. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis.that name a few. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis.at i name a few. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis. am few. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis.name. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis. nam few. we have modified our rules to adapt on and ongoing basis. another recent modification in usa hockey came in june of 2011 when our board voted to change the allowable age for body checking in games from the pee wee or 11 and 12 age level up to the group of 13 and 14. this was done despite many voices around the country in

opposition to change which nobody seems to like, but research based on both athlete development and safety fwided our board decision. it is worth noting hockey canada followed our lead. regarding equipment and its impact on safety, usa hockey took a significant step in 1978 when it called for the creation of the hockey equipment certification council. hecc's mission is to seek out, evaluate and select standards for hockey equipment it for the purpose of product certification. it's similar to what football uses in certifying its helmets. it's an independent body made up of attorneys, engineer, testers, sports people. it validates the manufacturer's certification that the equipment they produce has been tested and meets the requirements of the most appropriate performance standards and it's been an important part of our safety story for 35 years. before closing, i'd like to

share with you briefly our newest ice safety program called u.s. hockey safe sport following the lead of the united states's him pick comm olympic committee. this is regarding 3policy on hazing and abuse of any kind.s olympic committee. this is regarding policy on hazing and abuse of any kind. olympic committee. this is regarding policy on hazing and abuse of any kind. we were one of the first to require screening of all adults that have access to our youth participants. we follow up on 100% of calls we receive around the country of alleged abuse and our 34 affiliate associations each have ale volunteer safe sport coordinator are that helps us as boots on the ground. our sport has enjoyed tremendous growth in the last 25 years. more than doubling in the number of youth players that we have. as we continue to provide opportunities for young people, we know in doing so, we have the responsibility to make our game as safe as possible and will only continue to grow if we're successful in doing so. thank you.

>> thank you. mr. medical iller, you're recog for your five minutes. >> appreciate the opportunity to testify this morning on behalf of the national football league on an shove great importance to the league and i xlend tcommend committee for taking up this issue. there is nothing more important to the nfl than the safety of our player. commission commissioner goodell has said he spends more time on the issue of 15i6i it safety than any other issue before him. there are nearly 6 million kids who play tackle or flag football across our country. another 1.1 million that play in high school. 75,000 in college. and so whether it's touch games in our backyards at thanksgiving or games played in our local parks by our kids or friday night high school games, saturdays with college or hopefully plenty of people watching the nfl on sundays and mondays and occasionally

thursdays, football plays a significant role in our lives and with it comes a great deal of responsibility. and that's one that we embrace. we understand that decisions that we make at our level affect football at all levels and probably far beyond that. and so i appreciate the opportunity to share the nfl's work with the subcommittee on the health and safety of our athletes. now, football has always evolved. the rules have always changed. and so i'd like to share with the subcommittee a few examples of that and the impact that's had. it's only been a couple years ago that we changed the kickoff line moving it forward five yards. we did that because we can identified the kickoff and kickoff return as the single most dangerous play in our sport. so by moving it forward five yards, we decreased the number of concussions by 40%. in addition, for those of who you are fans, you've seen a

greater emphasis on eliminating helmet to helmet hits. you've seen fines and suspensions and penalties as a result of that. and these are the sorts of things that we're looking to to change the culture. we've encouraged players to lower their target zones. we've he emphasized there are better ways to go about what they're doing. and would he have seen te've se. in the past year alone, the nfl has seen a decrease in the number of concussions at our level by 13%. decrease in helmet to helmet hits causing concussions has been down 23% in one year alone. now, that's not a victory. that's a trend. and one that we find encouraging. but there is more work to be done as we begin to change the culture of the sport as it results to that. and we've added other protocols to our side line to take care of our players. there is one rule that governs

us and that is that medical concerns will always trump competitive ones. we've added unaffiliated neuro trauma consultants never city to help the team physician identify concussions and treat players. we've added a athletic trainers in sky boxes. make sure the player is attended to roeptly.a athletic trainers in sky boxes. make sure the player is attended to roeptly. athletic trainers in sky boxes. make sure the player is attended to roeptly.athletic trainers in sky boxes. make sure the player is attended to roeptly. athletic trainers in sky boxes. make sure the player is attended to roeptly. and everyone is working off of the same playbook and those are based on internationally accepted medical guidelines. and we know as we change the culture of our sport we have an impact far beyond. i'll cite two examples. one is our support for usa football and all hear from mr. hallenbeck in a moment. their heads up program among other offerings are changing the game in our parks and communities afternoon the country literally as we speak. the popularity of these programs have been tremendous and the nfl

is a proud assumer supporter o football and proud of his work particularly. in addition, the nfl used as an inspiration a young child named zachary who was a 13-year-old youth football player in washington state several years ago who suffered catastrophic injuries playing the sport. he was returned to play too soon after suffering a concussion. zachary still struggles with the challenges that come from that. his advocates were able to pass a youth concussion law in washington state which our commissioner said we will replicate in all 50 states around this country to make sure that all youth sports, not just football, are played more safely, that kids and their coaches are aware of the risks of concussion, that they are removed from play should it appear they suffer concussion and most importantly not return to play up a medical professional has cleared them. just this past month, we're proud to say that the 50th state passed that law and now the nfl

isn't solely responsible for that work. but we're happy to lead. and let me mechanics mention worry prowe're proud to work wi the cdc.mention worry we're proud to work with the cdc. we've invested tens of millions of dollars in research, $30 million with the nih. and the first $12 million of that has gone out to study chronic traumatic ensever encephalopat encephalopathy. and we have a partnership to find better ways to protect against concussion in the first place. these are ongoing issues. so i apologize for exceeding my limit, but i appreciate the final. >> at this time mr. hallenbeck, you are recognized for your five

minutes. >> chairman, membermembers, tha fought invitation to testify. usa football creates and directs important standards rooted in education. we medicine, child advocacy and sport who believe that education changes behavior for the better. this is precisely what we're seeing through our heads up football program, which is already benefitting more than 25% of youth football leagues across the country in its first 14 months, and we expect to double that this year. we advance safety through evidence-based studies by independent experts. we also lead fun and dynamic instructional football initiatives for young players as well as a national noncontact flag football program. more on these and other aspects of our work resides in my written testimony. the remabder of my time will be showing a video of how heads up football high school pilot program is improving player safety within the fairfax county public school system, which earned high marks from parents,

coaches, and administrators in its first season. you'll pay close attention to hearing from the athletic directors it and principals of this school on how the program is making a difference. >> head up! >> when coaches get to the high school level, i think they assume that everybody who plays knows how to play and they're going to be under friday night lights and everything is going to be great, just like it is on tv. and it's not like that. you're going to get kids that have never played before, and you're going to get coaches, really, that have never coached before. you really need to be able to teach coaches how to coach. >> through the heads up program, what you do, three pillars, as they say. one, concussion awareness. two, how to truly properly fit equipment. finally, here's how we're teaching the ultimate aspect of contact in tackling. >> this is the basics and the

fundamentals. the more i thought about it, the more i thought as an educator this was a curriculum for football. >> squeeze! sink and step. >> it was really a no brainer to get involved with usa football and the heads up program. >> they're actually learning how to keep their head up, not to lead with their helmet. they're taught that from the beginning. >> it's limited the amount of concussions we've had this year. basically because we have worked on heads up tackling from day one. >> squeeze! right foot. squeeze, feet, explode. there you go. head up. eyes up. >> the coaches have completely bought in and endorsed what we're doing. >> come on. get those elbows tight and high. >> what we really didn't anticipate was how aggressive that the coaches association here in virginia went after it, saw the need to make the game

better and safer, and they ran with it. >> heads and eyes up. >> the days of popping the old smelling salt or the ammonia tabs are gone. and that's a good thing. >> heads up football has allowed concussions to become a topic of conversation in a positive way. >> i just think it's standardized everything. it becomes a much more consistent way of teaching the game. >> this kind of instruction keeps my staff in line. >> they're seeing a very distinct improvement and reduction in injury. and i think that says a lot about the program. >> what this has really done, because we're hands on with the parents now, we're showing them how the progression goes. we're teaching them the terminology as well. it brings a level of comfort to them. >> i think it's really good that all the coaches are learning proper techniques on how to teach these kids to do it right. >> i'm so relieved that they're teaching these kids at such a young age. i was never taught that. >> in our family room, he'll demonstrate on his dad, not his mom, the techniques he's

learning. >> his coaches not only employ the technique, they keep after the kids and make sure they're doing things correctly, and it shows me they really care about the kids. i'm not worried about whether he's going to get hurt on the field because i know that his safety is just as important to them as it is to me. >> our partnership with usa football is frankly a vital piece, not only of our football program, but of our athletic program in fairfax county. it's opened the door because now our lacrosse programs are talking about. everybody is talking, what are we going to do overall in a very positive light? >> we agree with the mission of usa football. that is to allow our students to participate in competitive athletics and learn so many wonderful life skills from that experience, but to do it in a way that's healthy. >> i can truly look at a parent who has those questions and say, here's what we've done. here's what heads up football has brought to fairfax county public schools and what we've brought to heads up football. >> it's an awesome, awesome

opportunity for coaches and parents and kids and officials and everybody to get on the same page to help kids. >> if you're an administrator at a high school, you're being asked the question, how are you making our program safer? what are you doing for my kids? we can answer that now. >> thank you. now, brianna scurry, appreciate you being here. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much. yes, my name is briana scurry and i'm 42 years old. i served as the starting goalkeeper for the united states women's national soccer team from the years 1994 to 2008. during that time, i helped lead the team in winning two olympic gold medals in 1996 atlanta games and 2004 athens and played 173 international games over 15

years for the united states, which is a record among female goalkeepers. in the summer of 1999, my 20 amazing teammates and i captured the hearts of america by beating china in a penalty kick shootout live in front of 90,000 screaming fans at the rose bowl in pasadena, california. i was the one that made the single save during the penalty kicks before brandi chastain took off her shirt. yes. now, i'll bet many of you recall exactly where you were at that moment. it was the kind of event that transforms lives forever for the better. my passion and my mission was soccer. my ultimate reward was living my dreams and inspiring the dreams of countless others. today i'm here before you to share my new mission with you. my new mission is to provide a new face and voice to those who have had and may suffer the long

and difficult recovery of a devastating, traumatic brain injury, concussion. my life story reads like a script from oprah winfrey's "where are they now." like many of oprah's guests, i, too, have been lost in deep, dark places with my face in the dirt and have only recently begun to claw my way back to my life. on april 25th, 2010, my life changed forever. during that day i played a women's professional game against the philadelphia independence in philadelphia. in that game, i suffered a traumatic brain injury that abruptly ended my beloved soccer career. that was nearly four years ago. i struggled with intense, piercing headaches that were so bad that by the evening it was all i could do not to cry myself to sleep. i had to take naps on a daily basis just because my sleep was

so disrupted. i couldn't concentrate, and i was very moody. i felt completely disconnected from everything and everyone. i was anxious and depressed every day, and i wondered if i'd ever get better. i recently moved to d.c. to have bilateral occipital nerve surgery at georgetown to eliminate severe headaches that plague me daily. fortunately for me, the surgery appears to have worked. however, i'm still being treated for symptoms such as lack of concentration, balance issues, memory loss, anxiety, and depression. i've purposely and intentionally had my concussion recovery story documented by media outlets such as the "usa today," "the washington post," and brainline.org in order to bring attention and a ray of hope to

those suffering from tbi like me. in september i was alarmed to learn that the number of reported cases of concussion in soccer was second highest in the united states with only american football having more cases. additionally, a recent article published in november stated that one of two female youth soccer players will suffer a concussion while playing. i feel the numbers of reported cases are likely understated and didn't designate those who suffered multiple concussions like i have. statistics like these have solidified my urgency of purpose to shed light on the high frequency of concussions in youth and the devastating emotional toll that prolongs symptoms often caused yet are too frequently dismissed. i sincerely hope that my

presence here today will inspire increased awareness, understanding, and assistance to help the thousands of young tbi sufferers across this country. i thank you all for allowing me to give testimony. i am grateful and humbled to have been invited to do so. thank you. >> thank you very much. and that was powerful. so this is our opportunity now. each of us have five minutes to ask you questions. so ms. scurry, let me ask you this one. i, too, was shocked to learn that soccer had the second most concussions, which is a really dominant youth sport. are you seeing changes within soccer? and unlike there's an obvious top-to-bottom connection that we heard from the nhl and the nfl,

is anything like that occurring in soccer? >> thank you for the question. i, too, was very surprised to read that statistic. i think it is so high in part because the explosion of players that are playing soccer now in the last ten years. i am not finding that soccer has completely grasped the alarm or the situation like usa football, usa hockey have. part of the reason i'm here today is to shed light that soccer, too, should be instrumenting different protocol like nhl and the nfl are. and hopefully the governing body for soccer, which is u.s. soccer, will start to understand that our great sport is in danger of having too many head injuries and that something does need to be done about it and something needs to be instrumented. >> and thank you, and i think your assessment of the game that

you played and winning that championship over china, we all, at least i, remember that one event. >> thank you. >> it was a great game. now, to mr. miller. nfl has taken, i think, seriously undertaken effort to get the so-called return to play guidelines adopted at all state levels. can you tell us more about what the guidelines are and how they're developed. >> sure. and thank you for the question. the model law that was passed out in washington state contained three primary elements. the first of which would be that parents and their kids would have to sign off on an education sheet, a notification about the risks, sign, and symptoms related to concussion before they were allowed to participate. the second was that a child who appeared to have suffered a head

injury must be removed from play immediately. in other words, the coaches were asked to act conservatively. and finally, that a licensed medical provider who has training in the management and evaluation of concussions had to return every child to play. and that part was done in large part to eliminate the danger that was -- that zachary faced when he returned to play in the same game too soon. and all these laws are very new. i know that there are academics who are studying them to see their success. but i just know as one antidote in washington, d.c., the one that had the first one, in the years after the law was passed, they didn't see a single brain injury. in other words, blood on the brain of any single football player in the state of washington. and they had normally seen three or four significant brain injuries on an annual basis. those were eliminated. that's an that's anecdotal. and more work needs to be done.

they need to be expanded to the youth level. many are high school only. they need to be expanded to recreational spaces so it's not just school-based sports. and there's more that can be done, and there are those that are doing that and we're happy to work with those. >> thank you. mr. ogren, have you seen a demom strabl reduction in concussion instances at usa hockey after implementing new techniques? >> we do not have the same statistical data that i think usa football has invested in. in fact, we're talking to the same company to do that sort of thing. we have -- any concussions are too many concussions. what we have focused on is research, education, and rules enforcement. the statement was made in someone's opening remarks regarding the culture of certain sports, and obviously we know

that a lot of sports at the youth level suffer from a misplaced, you know, macho attitude. a lot of coaches think they are coaching at the professional level and they are not. so changing that culture is very, very important. we've been very, very strict about return to play rules. as scott used a phrase earlier this morning that i appreciate very much, and we adopt the same thing. when in doubt, sit them out. and i think when you're talking about a grassroots sport, in our case, we've got 350,000 youth players in 2500 programs. that equates to about 25,000 teams. one of our big challenges is quality control. you can't get everybody to act the same way or to think the same way. but we do know, i think, because of our emphasis on preventing head injuries and what to do with them, how to recognize them, how to treat them, how to respond to them and making sure the return to play decision is a medical decision, not a coach's

decision, that the number is dropping. >> great. my time is over. so the ranking member, jane schakowsky, you're recognized for your five minutes. >> my granddaughter has played ayso soccer since the first time she could. now she's on a traveling team in high school. she's 16, so i'm very concerned about what you're saying. and even more concerned now after your saying that soccer actually seems to lag behind other sports. and there's also been studies that have compared the rates of reported concussions for male and female athletes that tend to show that female athletes actually have a higher rate of reported concussions than male athletes in the same sport. so what would you say that we need to do immediately? i mean, i really do worry about her now and what could happen.

so what would your advice be to female athletes, female soccer players, and to those who coach and treat them? >> i, too, find that statistic very alarming. i think one of the things that needs to occur with soccer is officials and referees, coaches need to take their heads out of the sand a little bit and realize that this is something that is plaguing our sport as well. the video that was played by mr. hallenbeck earlier is a fantastic example of where to started. you start with the coaches. you teach the coaches the proper way to teach the players how to head and do certain drills to make sure the coaches know how to teach it instead of just letting players run around out there and let the ball head them. instead, teach them how to head the ball and improve the strength of the neck muscles.

for females, it seems to be part of the issue, that they're not as strong as the male counterparts in heading. so that needs to occur. and there just needs to be an understanding and an education of what you're looking for when a head injury does occur. >> let me ask you a question. i don't know if soccer is the only sport where you quite deliberately use the head. is that an inherent problem? >> i don't necessarily think it's an inherent problem, but obviously i think that scenario, when there's a ball in the air that you're going to head, that there's something highly probable that could happen. but i think if you teach it properly, you're going to have those head injuries no matter what you do, just like when you play the sport, you're going to have injuries that happen. but i think that certain things that happen during a heading situation isn't the only reason or only time when concussions occur. mine in particular happened when i was playing in the goal, going for a lowball to my left.

the player came from the right and hit me on the side of my head with her knee. that has nothing to do with heading. head to knee, head to foot, head to post isn't part of that. >> well, i'd love to get your advice as we move forward and anything that i can do outside of this body because i certainly worry about my granddaughter. mr. miller, i wanted to ask you a question. retired nfl players face some of the most serious health challenges of any sport. yet, benefits for former players are not on a par with major league baseball or the national basketball association despite the fact the nfl has more than $9 billion in annual revenue. so, yes or no, does the nfl yet provide lifetime health insurance for former players who did not play under the current collective bargaining agreement?

>> no. the players are able to continue their medical coverage when they leave the game, but they're not provided lifetime medical coverage. in the most recent collective bargaining agreement with our players association, there were in excess of $600 million that went to the players who played pre-1993 and added pensions and benefits. all of our programs are collectively bargained with our players association. so i think during each iteration of our collective bargaining agreements, you've seen changes and improvements made to the programs for retired players, including this year, for example -- this past cba, for example. a neurocognitive programming, screening program. >> i understand, but professional baseball and professional basketball do provide lifetime health insurance for former players. while i understand the nfl's 88 plan, what could be the reason to not provide lifetime health insurance for former players? >> well, like i mentioned, all of our programs, all of our benefits and all the policies are collectively bargained with

the players association. so the improvements we've seen as far as care for retired players, whether they be the 88 plan, as you mentioned, which accounts for any player who suffers from a diagnosis of dementia, neurocognitive benefits, which help players joined in hip replacements, are all improvements and made available to players should they suffer from those issues. in addition to a number of other practices and programs, including help license and our player care foundation, the players association has additional programs to help players who are in need at little or no cost. and those programs exist today. >> i yield back. >> mr. lance, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. miller, the changes that you've made in recent years, the rules change, the increased penalties, suspensions for rule violations, reducing full contact practice days, can you share with the committee data

you have that this, i hope, has had a positive impact on concussion incidents that might encourage leaders at other levels of football? >> absolutely. we're happy to share with the committee, you know, some greater information that i can offer in my oral testimony. >> certainly. >> but the most interesting number from my perspective is when you count up the number of all the concussions diagnosed in games and practices, preseason and preseason practices and postseason practices. you see a 13% decrease year over year. >> 13% each year? >> 13% between 2012 and '13. >> very good. >> the emphasis has been on eliminating the use of the head in the game, especially helmet-to-helmet hits, which are a significant cause of the injury. and in those circumstances that we've been able to identify where two helmets collide, we've seen a decrease in the number of concussions by that cause by 23% in the past year. there's a lot more work to be done. those numbers could change year of year.

i don't think anybody should rely upon one year data as some sort of conclusion. i'm happy to go into that further with the committee if you'd like to see more of the information. >> thank you. i think we would. this is, of course, very helpful. i hope that the improvements continue. mr. hallenbeck, i believe your testimony indicated that 15 high schools in ten districts participate in your pilot program last year and that you are anticipating 500 to 1,000 will participate this fall. of course, i would imagine high school football is the football that most of us have experienced, either through ourselves or through a child, in my case a son. and this is part of the american tradition. what are your plans for getting more school football programs at the high school level to participate, and what does your outreach entail, and how do schools across the country learn

about your program? i think the purpose of this hearing is multifaceted, and one of the purposes, i would hope, is to inform high schools across the country about your program as the video indicated occurs here next door in northern virginia. >> thank you. first of all, one of the common themes we're hering is inconsistency. football is probably the most fragmented of all youth sports. even at high school there are significant challenges. what we're trying to strive for is consistent teaching. consistent teaching of technique, consistent technique of terminology. now getting out to those staunchly ib dependent youth programs. the good news is they're actually being responsive. if it's their superintendent, principal, athletic directors, they're being asked, as was mentioned in the video, what are you doing about this? >> and you are doing the asking, or the parents and pta? >> it's a combination.

we're talking to state associations, high school state associations. we're talking to coaches associations. we're talking directly to coaches. we're working with athletic directors. we're working with parent groups, national pta's involved. we're looking at every conceivable channel to communicate this program and the importance of changing behavior. what i'm sharing is there's been a very positive response. that video by itself, and really the reason i decided to show it, has been incredibly influential. in addition, we now have the big ten, the pac 12, the big 12, the acc. we'll eventually have the ncaa. we'll have all college conferences involved. every one of their coaches will be involved with psas and things of that nature that help influence high school coaches and high school programs to embrace the heads up football program and help change behavior. >> thank you. let me say that if there is one message i wish to leave this morning in my five minutes of questioning is that i would hope that all of those involved at

your level of football would examine what you are suggesting. because after all, that touches virtually all of the american people, and i commend the panel for its testimony. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. lance. i'd just editorialize, that's why we have nhl, youth hockey, nfl, youth football. because it does seem that it trickles down. whatever's set at the top, then it gets pushed down to the youth. so that's -- that was by design. the gentleman from utah is now recognized for your five minutes. >> thank you, mr. terry. i'd first want to echo something mr. waxman said in his opening statement. it may sound obvious, but it's important we acknowledge this is a complicated issue. there's a lot of complexities to this. there's a lot we don't know about brain science. i think we all could agree that the notion that this is an thash merits significant investment in

research is really something -- and it's beyond even concussions in sports. we got traumatic brain injury in terms of our soldiers in the field. this is a really important issue that's complicated and we ought to make sure we approach it in a thoughtful and comprehensive way. so mr. chairman, thank you for scheduling this hearing today. i was going to ask mr. miller, without taking too long because this is an open-ended question, but could you kind of walk us through the steps as information and research has brought more knowledge to the nfl, how has the league responded and how have you positioned yourself on these issues to address the issues of concussions? just if you could walk us through some of the history of how it's evolved in the organization. >> happy to do it, and thank you for the question. i think the point that you made that the science has evolved on neurological issues, certainly neurogenerative disease, is one that the second panel, where there's a terrific expert

lineup, can talk to. but we rely on the outside advice of very well-known, well-respected, probably internationally known neuroscientists to advise us to the state of science and how best to go about changing our game to reflect that. so that's how we ended up adding -- creating a unified concussion protocol and return-to-play protocol for our sideline. that's how we ended up with additional concussion experts on the sideline. this is based on the advice of outsiders who tell us this is the best way to handle your players, this is the best way to treat the game, and if you want a culture of safety, this is what you would do. we followed their advice strictly and meet with them frequently. >> i noticed your title is seen your vice president of health and safety policy. is that position -- that's got to be a position that didn't exist 20 years ago. >> it did not exist 20 years ago. i'm proud to be in that role. it's an exciting one. >> i know this hearing is on concussions, but since you're here, i got to ask you one other question that may be a little different topic. over the last few years, i've

communicated with the nfl about my concerns about the issue of human growth hormone testing, and i know that's something that was raised in the last collective bargaining agreement effort, and there's an agreement to agree later, but that hadn't always come together as much. i know this is something that's important to it the league. can you give us an update on what's going on on testing for human growth hormone? >> sure. we appreciate the question. unfortunately, we don't have human growth hormone testing yet. the league has been ready, able, willing to pursue it, as you mentioned, since it was agreed upon in the collective bargaining agreement. unfortunately, our players association has thrown up obstacles, probably fair to say, from our perspective excuses, for a period of time. i think the testing goes to the integrity of the game, certainly. it also goes to the health and safety of the sport. you don't know where the stuff is coming from. you don't know who's giving it to a player or players, and you don't know what they're putting in their bodies. that's dangerous and also the wrong example to set. so this is an important issue for us and one that we're sorry has not gotten accomplished yet.

>> that's an important issue to me. that's why i wanted to raise it. i know it's not the topic of this hearing, mr. chairman, but since he was here, i had to ask the question. >> if the gentleman will yield for one sentence. >> yeah. >> i think that's why we wanted to have the players association here too. that was a pretty strong criticism that you just made. it would be nice to have had the players as well to respond. >> well, i'll have to now interject. they were asked and they declined. >> yesterday. >> no, that's not accurate. they were contacted before yesterday. >> i want to reclaim my time for one more question, though, if i can. i got one more question. where are these things going? i know when you try to crystal ball, it's dangerous, because you never know, but where do you see things going over the next 5, 10, 20 years in terms of where technology is going to take us? do you have some things about looking on the horizon that we can be looking forward to? >> yeah, i'll give you a specific example. as part of scientific research we entered into with ge, the

world's leader in diagnostics, we set aside what we call innovation challenges, two $10 million pots of money. the first was to promote new ideas on how to better diagnose concussion. there aren't any objective tests now. they're all subjective. we came back, we had people from 27 different countries around the world offer ideas. we eventually rewarded 16 of them so far. in addition, we just completed another challenge that goes around protective ideas, how to protect the brain better. we had more than 40,000 people from 110 countries around the world visit the website. we had people from 19 different countries offer ideas on new protective equipment. we're reviewing those now. i think that because there's a lot more attention paid to this and hopefully we're one of the actors that are cat liezing the science, that you're going to see changes in all of these places relatively soon. >> okay. appreciate that. mr. chairman, my time is up, so i'll yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman from kentucky is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

thank you for being here. ms. scurry, thank you for being here. that, quite honestly, might have been the only soccer game i ever watched from top to finish. it was about the time my daughter was interested in soccer, so we were watching. >> no pun intended with the top. >> okay. no pun intended? that went over my head. i'm sorry. but what a great sporting event. and it's one of the great moments, and to be part of that is something special. i think it was special because it was just so much america. you were youthful, underdogs, grit, determined, and you brought up brandi chastain, not i, and maybe a bit of exuberance, but it was a great moment. i appreciate you sharing. i played high school football. that's my claim to athletic prowess, i guess. but we practiced football in august. i remember one time in the south, 90-something degrees. we're all running, water breaks.

we run to the water break and some smart aleck kicks another guy's foot, so he falls, knocks all the water over. the coach says, if you don't know how to handle that, we're not going to have water today. that was over 30 years ago. that would never happen anywhere today. there was actually in louisville a young man who passed away on a football field, and the coach went to trial over it and turned out he wasn't convicted. so i think the awareness and stuff like what i described in my youth would never happen on a football field anywhere today. at least i hope it wouldn't. but we still have these injuries. i think, ms. scurry, you talked about your injury being -- it wasn't heading. it wasn't changing tactics. it was just in soccer you're wearing cleats, short pants and a shirt. somebody hits you in the side of the head with their knee -- and when you look -- i watch a lot of football. of course, targeting. if you're in college football, you're ejected from the game if you're targeting. a lot of the injuries you'll see

f the quarterback gets knocked down and somebody hits him with their knee in the side of the head. i don't know how you deal with that. i know you're trying to do the techniques and tackling and heading the ball in the right way, but just the incidental things that happen because you're playing a sport going 100 miles an hour. do you have any comments on that, ms. scurry? >> yes, well, thanks for the question. that is very relevant, actually, because my hit when i watched it, actually last night again on video, it doesn't seem to be a hit that would have taken me out of the game. as it was, i got hit and there was a few minutes later before i actually ended up coming out. there really -- there wasn't even a foul called, actually. so that's part of the problem, right? sometimes a hit is a glancing blow, and it doesn't even really seem to be anything that's a big deal. but i think for me, my main focus is what is done after a

hit occurs and to keep children and young players off the pitch after a blow occurs to assess them. then determine whether they're ready to go return to play or not. i think that is the key for me and why i'm speaking out about this because i've been around the country talking to different organizations and i'm finding that kids are getting concussions five, six, seven in a very short period of time because they're returning to play too soon. that's where i think a lot of the awareness and education can help. >> thank you. and mr. miller, with that -- and you should do everything you can to stop the head to head and so forth, but it seems -- because they'll play them on tv over and over. this is when somebody gets injured and they're out. like a knee of the lineman hits the side of somebody else's head. it's just incidental. i guess you're right. you can't really prevent that from happening, but it's how you react to how that happens.

>> i think that's right. one of the recommendations made by the fourth international concussion conference in zuric was to look at the playing rules of the game. in our case, we've done that. i know oir sports have done that as well. so you create the best possible situation. in a contact sport, there will be injuries, and there will be, you know, hits to the head and those problems will occur. so where that happens, we want to make sure we're treating them appropriately. that's where the focus shifts from prevention to appropriate treatment. >> well, thank you. i'm about out of time. i just want to say, ms. scurry, i was sitting on the edge of the couch leaning and moving as they were shooting against you. hopefully you felt my assistance and were able to help us both together win one for our team. >> absolutely. >> thank you. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> great job. glad to meet you. >> thank you, mr. guthrie. now the gentleman from maryland is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thanks for the hearing.

and thanks to our panel. mr. hallenbeck, i had a quick question about whether the school districts that you've been working with that have been implementing this, has that affected the, like, liability policies that they maintain as a jurisdiction? in other words, is there any trend towards them getting pushed by the insurance industry, for example? in other words, insurer would say, well, previously i would have provided liability coverage to your school district based on these measures or assurances that the district made with respect to how it's conducting its sports program, but now that there's this program that

enhances the safety of students and young people, we want to see that you've implemented that in your district or else we're not going to provide the policy coverage or we're going to charge you a higher premium. you can look at it the other way. you get a discount off your premium as a school district because you've implemented these kinds of measures. i ask that because i think that increased awareness of some of the risks from these sports injuries may lead to pressure in terms of liability on school districts. you'll get some that may choose based on the premium that gets charged that -- to push the program out because thaw don't want the liability that comes with it.

so i was just curious whether your program has -- whether you're aware of that kind of effect from the program or more generally aware of how the liability concerns intersect with some of these safety efforts that are under way. >> so thank you for the question. at the high school level, we were literally on the front -- you know, one-yard line marching down the field. i will mention that we're having very positive conversations with the state of maryland right now about participating in heads up football across the entire state. but we have a lot to do there. we have not seen anything from a liability concern, insurance concern. with fairfax county, worked very closely with their schools and school district about those issues. they told us and we checked ourself, they felt they had the appropriate coverage. however, to your point, at the youth level, were absolutely seeing insurance, the insurance industry at large and really the largest provider of casualty and liability insurance step forward and actually stated that if

youth football leagues participate in the heads up football program, they would receive a discounted program and a more comprehensive coverage. so we're absolutely seeing a positive response by the insurance industry, which of course has its merits. >> thank you. i yield back. >> mr. ogrean, do you have -- is there any insurance liability issues at usa hockey? >> yes, mr. chairman, there are plenty of insurance liabilities. unlike usa football, for example, which is much more decentralized than are we, our participants are all insured by us as a national organization. whether it's player accident insurance or whether it's catastrophic insurance or whether it's liability and even dno for all of our leagues, all of that is part of what our members pay us a membership fee for. those claims or those premiums are obviously based upon the number of claims.

so that's another business reason why it's in all of our best interests to try to come up with every technique, every practice, every policy that we possibly can to make our game safer. the number one reason, of course, is the safety of the human beings playing our sport, but there's good business reasons for all of us to want to do everything possible to make the game safer. >> thank you. mr. kenzinger, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership and holding this hearing. all of you, thank you for being here and bearing through a bunch of politicians. i appreciate it. i appreciate the diverse panel that's gathered here and the important insights you guys are able to provide on the prevalence of concussions in sports. according to the cdc, 175,000 sports-related concussions impact youth athletes each year. i think today's hearing has been very constructive in helping us to move forward on understanding that and alleviating that. i've read much about the legislative action taken across the united states to pass

concussion laws. in my home state of illinois, similar legislation was passed in 2011 to require that education boards throughout the state work with the illinois high school association to adopt guidelines that raise awareness of concussion symptoms and ensure students receive proper treatment before returning to the team. in addition, it's encouraging that professional sports leagues and teams are taking steps to address concussions not only on their own ranks but also working with colleges and youth leagues to bring attention to the issue. last year the chicago bears kicked off a pilot program to provide certified athletic trainers at three high school stadiums during chicago public school football games. such high-profile initiatives are important to combatting this issue, and i applaud the chicago bears for their leadership. again, i find these steps to be promising, but we're still confronted with staggering numbers of youth being impacted by sports-related concussions. i'd like to ask just a few questions, maybe not take all five minutes, maybe i will. let's talk about the equipment

issue in terms of -- i'll ask each of you to respond. where are we at today in terms of what kind of equipment is being utilized to protect in terms of where we were a few years ago? what kind of advances are yet to be made that we're on the cusp of making or should make? and is this backed by medical science? is that going into this idea? so mr. daly, i'll start with you. i guess whatever you want to put into that subject would be great. >> well, thank you for the question. it's a very important issue, obviously. the equipment is a very important issue and something we're focused on jointly with our players association. we have a protective equipment subcommittee that's part of our joint health and safety committee. so we look at alls a pecks of equipment and how they, particularly as it relates to head injuries, how we can improve equipment and perhaps reduce the amount of head injuries we have.

we've passed some rules over time with respect to some of the equipment we had seen develop over the years with hard padding, both in the shoulder area and elbow area and those potentially causing head injuries. so we've mandated padding over those areas of players' equipment. the helmet issue is a difficult issue, particularly in hockey, in terms of preventing concussion and one of the things we're looking to work with our manufacturers on is research in terms of dealing with the rotational forces that can cause concussions, particularly in a sport like hockey, and whether a helmet can be designed to deal with those more effectively than it currently does. >> thank you, sir. mr. ogrean? >> i think mr. daly answered the question pretty well for our sport. there's a great deal where we rely on the national hockey league to be the leader. a lot of what they do is of benefit to us in a trickle-down fashion. as i mentioned in my opening

testimony, we do have a safety and protective equipment committee of 40 years standing. they do look at a variety of issues. the face mask, for example, is something that is mandatory. youth hockey. it is not in the national hockey league. though, the shields for incoming players are now a standard. >> i'm going to cut you off just because of time. >> football helmets were designed to prevent against skull fractures. they do a fabulous job of that. they were not designed to protect against concussion. so that sort of technology or design, i know that the helmet manufacturers are working on it. we're not there yet. the league is doing what it can to inspire that, especially with our partnership with ge and under armour to get new ideas around that. the other thing we do is we do regular helmet testing in concert with our friends at the players association so we can inform our players of which helmets are working best. >> and mr. hallenbeck? >> trickle-down effect is

important. we're working now closely with the sport and industry fitness association and their council. so we're getting insight from them and working together. >> and ms. scurry? >> as you know, we don't wear equipment in our sport, but i want to commend your state for their illinois youth soccer association, taking a real lead in concussion awareness. i actually just did an event in chicago last weekend for the association and talking about concussions. so your organization is doing a great job. but in terms of equipment for my sport, we don't really have anything right now that is wildly used but hopefully in the future there could be something to help. >> great. thank you. mr. chairman, i'll yield back. >> gentleman from west virginia is recognized for your five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i had to slip out for another meeting. so maybe some of these questions have been asked. help me out on this a little bit. one is, is there anything that we can learn from the defense

department with concussion injuries that we're hearing from when we talk to our troops that come back? i'm just wondering if there's some way we're all talking to each other to help out on that. mr. miller? >> i'm happy to take that question. we're very proud of our relationship we've fostered over the last couple years with the u.s. army in specific. memorandum of understanding that went back a couple years that covers a variety of different things. we've gotten current and retired players together with returning active service members to talk about cultural issues. what is it about football or what is it about the military that makes it very difficult for somebody to remove themselves from play or certainly in the case of military from a battle? we found a great deal of reticence on behalf of both populations, sort of a shared reticence to remove themselves from their comrades or teammates. it instills a question as to how you get somebody to tell their teammate or tell their colleague, hey, you don't look right, you should get off the field. so we've learned a lot from

that. let me just add briefly, we meet regularly with the army to talk about the research they're doing from a scientific perspective. we share our agenda. we share the ideas we have. and they do with us as well. it's proven to be a very cooperative and beneficial relationship thus far. >> okay. anyone else want to add to that about our military? the second question has to do with states have workers' comp programs to deal with the various disorders and injuries. black lung in my state. it's treated in a way that people don't have to take legal action to get help through the workers' comp program. is that something that would be a benefit here in this program for injuries? we have -- a friend of mine has spent quite a few years in

litigation with the nfl over this matter and just thinks it's such a cumbersome -- and we also have a east coast hockey league team in our city. we see some of the injuries, and we hear from some of the players and coaches about that injury. is there a time we should have a workers' comp program for brain injuries? should that be included in something? they're not required to follow litigation to get help. >> if i may, my case actually is a workers' comp case. i've gone through workers' comp to get the different doctors, to see different techniques that will help me. that is part of my situation and part of the reason why it's taken so long. because every time something is suggested or recommended, i have to go back to insurance companies to get permission to do it.

sometimes it takes a hearing to get everything moved forward. so maybe streamlining that somehow would be of great help. also, in your previous question, you talked about how can we help the military service people who have tbis. for me, one of the best things, i think, would help is more psychological side and testing depression, anxiety and panic attacks to make sure that each person who comes back from military who has tbi gets help in that area, the emotional side of it, not just the physical. that would be very helpful, i think. >> thank you. any other thoughts? >> well, workers' comp laws are really different, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, including for us in canada, where professional athletes are specifically exk excluded in most workers' compensation laws. it's certainly a mechanism that an increasing number of our athletes are using in cases where they have debilitating injuries from their playing

careers. >> so would you -- so what was your recommendation then? you're saying yes? >> well, again, i guess what i'd say is i think it's generally available to our former athletes currently. the workers' compensation protection. >> i guess what we're hearing is different from that. that's why i want to raise it. but thank you for your comments about that. i yield back balance of my time. >> gentleman yields back. gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. >> appreciate it very much. thank you very much for holding this very important hearing. i wanted to specifically thank ms. scurry for really speaking out. i really appreciate it. makes so much of a difference. thanks for your sacrifice. you're going to make a real difference in kids' lives. i also want to ask -- i want to get back to the protective gear, the helmets, what have you.

how does the youth -- and we can ask all of you -- how does the youth helmet, the protective gear compare as far as safety, quality to the nfl and nhl? i mean, can you give me an opinion on that? >> so i'm certainly no expert on exactly how that compares. my understanding is there obviously is not the standard there, and they set the standards. certainly all the helmets out there have to pass that standard. i think the manufacturer would say they go above and beyond that. how it compares to an nfl helmet, generally speaking, the youth helmet is lighter, but the padding and so forth is appropriate. i don't want to suggest i'm defending them. i don't know the exact details. i know it's sufficient based on standards and so forth. many of the kids, though, the players, youth players, by 10 and 11 and 12 years old, they're transitioning into what might be

considered high school or adult helmets. they're getting the best available. the other thing i would add is certainly i am aware that the technology is improving in helmets and shoulder pads and football equipment generally. definitely improving. >> mr. miller? >> sure. we worked on a program with the consumer product safety commission, our players association, and some others recently that we would put money towards reconditioning older helmets for youth leagues. certainly leagues that have, you know, budget constraints as many do probably don't get around to updating their helmets or reconditioning them frequently enough. so we put a fair amount of money into that program in coordination with the cpse. i know scott at usa football runs an equipment football grant as well. so addressing those needs. we know a new helmet is better than an old one. most important, coaches learn how to fit the helmets. that's going to be the number one safety peace to the equation as it relates to kids. and so we're aware of these

issues and we're trying to make a difference there as well. >> so in your opinion, are the youth helmet or high school helmet is not as safe as the nfl, but you have a program to help. is that correct? >> yeah, i don't know about the comparison -- >> the quality might not be as good. >> i don't know about the comparative safety of the helmets. >> okay. can i talk to you about this particular program? >> no question. >> i know parent where is the kids play high school football, and the parent will purchase a better quality helmet for the child. you know, concern about the kids that don't have the -- the parents don't have the money to purchase that. so very important. i would appreciate working with you on this. >> every kid denervous the proper equipment. >> also, can i hear from the hockey as well? >> sure. at the youth level, i think the helmets are just as good as the national hockey league.

the only difference is size. they have to be certified by the hockey equipment certification council. there's a three-year expiration date on every helmet. you can't use a helmet that's more than three years old. >> very good. nhl? >> i would first echo mr. miller's comments. helmets in our sport as well are principally designed to prevent skull fracture, not concussions. sometimes they can disperse forth in a way that's not their principle purpose. we also have regulations we make available to our equipment managers and players with respect to frequent replacing of helmets. so each player is essentially asked to replace his home helmet at least once a season. his road team helmet at least two times a season because we're worried about ageing effects and degradation that accompanies travel requirements for our

team. so frequent replacing of helmets is a priority for our league as well. >> are the coaches educated? do they know which size fits the child? have they been briefed on those particular issues? because that's so very important. youth sports, hockey and football. >> they are. i agree with mr. miller that it is -- it's a big difference maker, you know, in the helmet doing its job, but it's a pretty fundamental part of what a coach has to do to make sure the players on his team all have the proper equipment and are wearing it in the right way. >> i would just add that that's a corner stone of our heads up football program. equipment fitting. frankly, at the youth and high school level, we found they don't know how to properly fit equipment. it's a very important element within the program. >> thank you very much for including that. as far as, you know, the youth -- of course the nfl hockey stars, what have you, baseball, basketball, they're looked up to by our children, as you know.

do y'all have programs where you can speak -- that speak -- maybe go to the schools, football players go to the schools and speak on these particular issues? >> yeah, one of the -- our active players are by and large terrific at this topic. one of the elements we included or offered up to usa football as part of their heads up football program was actually what we call an ambassador. so for leagues that were early adopters of the program, they would get visits and consultation with a retired nfl player. we're trying to encourage our clubs with great success, by the way -- they've really done a terrific job of embracing in their communities the youth leagues and others so they're around the facility more, that they interact with coaches, trainers, and certainly players, which obviously the star quality of it brings attention to it, which was part of the motivation in the first place. but we have found our retired players thrilled to participate

and really active and heldfpful. >> gentleman's time has expired. so if any of you want to answer that question, you'll have to do it by writing. and brings me to the point that -- oh, you have a question. i'm sorry. recognize the gentlelady from virgin islands. >> thank you. and thank you, mr. chairman. sorry i'm late. i was at another hearing downstairs. mr. miller, i'd like to ask you this question. many tens of thousands of helmets are used every year that are more than ten years old. i understand that the nfl participated in a program initiated by the consumer product safety commission by donating money that would go towards new helmets for youth football players in low-income communities. i really want to commend the nfl for this initiative. of course, it's going to cost a lot more money to get to the point where virtually all kids around the country who play football no longer wear old helmets that are likely degraded or obsolete. i'm pleased to know of your

donation to the cpse initiative because it strikes me as an acknowledgment that wearing an old helmet when playing football is not advisable. a statement from the nfl that would be very influential. we have also heard reconditioning those under ten years old is important to ensure the proper foam density and that other degraded parts of the helmet are replaced. so i wanted to ask you the following questions for a yes or no answer. i guess that's why i'm sitting in chairman dingell's seat. we realize that many issues are subject to negotiations, but can the nfl commit to supporting prohibiting helmets on the field that are over ten years old? >> in the youth space? you're talking specifically about youth football prohibiting helmets that are older than ten years there? >> yes. >> you know, i plead not enough familiarity with the issue. i know there are a couple of states who have taken that step and we'd be happy to work with you to pursue it.

the prime place, as you mentioned, we work with in promoting newer, refurbished helmets is with the cpse or through usa football, who has a grant program as well. >> so the first question is committing to supporting the fi committing to supporting prohibiting helmets on the field that are over 10 years old. could you submit to supporting a policy position that helmets over 10 years old present an acceptable safety risk, if that's the position of the helmet injury. >> if that's their position, i don't know why we would have a problem with that. sounds reasonable. >> discarded after 10 years, can the nfl support a policy position recommending helmets be discarded after 10 years. >> we would certainly support the helmet companies and how they advise people to use their products. >> we've also heard stories of players using beat up lucky

college helmets or adjusting their helmets by removing some padding in the helmet for comfort. will the nfl support a policy position that all players should wear helmets that are reconditioned properly. >> all of our players have choices in which helmets they use, as well as they pass the certification body's standards. so that's something that's a point of discussion with our players association. players have to use helmets that pass the standards. we're happy to support that. >> they were reconditioned properly and had appropriate padding. >> sure. nfl players helmets reconditioned and our equipment managers work with the players to make sure their helmets are in good working order. >> thank you, mr. miller.

>> medical research and physics. well, physics when the doctor arrives. so panel two, i will introduce you from mr. clelland on down, advertising practices of the federal trade commission.

we have ian heaton, student ambassador for the national counsel on youth sports safety. if i might editorial iize i thi jan did a great job juxtaposing of the face of tbi on each panel. ian as a high school lacrosse player is that face for the more scientific-based panel. so thank you, ian, for taking your day away from school. i know how tough it is to be pulled out of school. and come testify before congress just like a normal high school student. then dr. robert graham, chair committee on sports related concussion in youth at the institutes of medicine. phd director center for brain, biology and behavior at the famed university of neb, dr.

molfese. thank you, doctor. dr. james johnston, assistant professor department of neurosurgery at the university of alabama birmingham, star of screen. dr. tim gay, phd, professor of atomic, molecular and optical physics university of nebraska. phd division chief neuropsychology children's medical hospital. not quite up to the level of university of nebraska, we have the harvard medical school. that's just humor. professor of psychiatry and radiology at brigham and women's hospital harvard medical school. a very impressive and esteemed

panel. panel of experts. mr. clelland, you'll start. you're recognized for your five minutes. >> the green light is on. i'm assistant director of advertising practices at federal trade commissions, bureau of consumer protection. i'm pleased to have this opportunity to provide information about the actions we've taken over the past few years with respect to concussion protection claims, claims that implicate health concerns, those potentially affecting children and young adults are always a high priority at the commission. the commission strives to protect consumers using a variety of means. first and foremost the agency endorses section five of the federal trade commission act which prohibits deceptive or

unfair acts or practices. interpreting section 5, commission determined a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if likely to mislead a consumer under the circumstances and is material likely to affect consumers conduct, choice ar decision about a particular product at issue. the commission does not test products for safety and efficacy. it does require an advertiser have a reasonable basis for all objective claims conveyed in an ad. the commission examines specific facts of the case to determine the type of evidence that will be sufficient to support a claim. however, when the claims involve health and safety, the advertiser generally must have competent and reliable scientific evidence substantiating that claim. as awareness of the dangers of concussion have grown sporting goods manufacturers have begun making concussion protection claims for an increasing array

of products. these include football helmets and mouth guards but also include other types of products. in august 2012, the commission announced a settlement with makers of brain pad mouth guards. the commission complaint claimed it lacked a reasonable basis for the claims that mouth guards reduced the risk of concussions, particularly those caused by lower jaw impacts and falsely claimed scientific evidence proved the mouth guards did so. the final order in that case prohibits brain pad from representing any mouth guard or other equipment designed to protect the brain from injury will reduce the risk of concussions unless the claim is true and substantiated by competent, reliable scientific evidence. in addition the commission sent out warning letters to nearly 20 other manufacturers of sports equipment advising them the brain pad settlement and warning them they might be making deceptive concussion claims about their products.

fdc monitored these websites and working with them as necessary to modify their claims on their sites and in some cases ensure that the necessary disclosures are clear and prominent. continues the survey for reduction claims and alert advertisers who are making potentially problematic complaints of concerns and need for appropriate substantiation for such claims. commission staff investigated concussion reduction claims made by three major manufacturers of football helmets. riddle incorporated and zenit llc. in these matters the staff determined to close the investigations without taking formal action by which time all three companies had discontinued the potentially deceptive claims or had agreed to do so. those cases are discussed in greater detail in the commission's written testimony.

the commission plans to continue monitoring the market for products making these claims to ensure that advertisers do not mislead consumers about the product's capabilities or the science underlying them. at the same time we are mindful of the need to tread carefully so as to avoid inadvertently chilling research or impeding development of new technologies and products that truly provide concussion protection. the commission appreciates the committee's interest in this very important area as well as the opportunity to discuss our agency's effort to ensure that the information being provided to consumers, in particular to the parents of young athletes, is truthful and not misleading. thank you. >> thank you. ian, you are recognized for your five minutes. >> members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to share my story today. my name is ian heaton and i'm

here for student ambassador national counsel of youth safety and a senior at bethesda high school in maryland. i sustained a serious head injuries which we later discovered was my third concussion. until then i did not appreciate what a great life i was living. i got good grades in challenging classes, played high school lacrosse, walk working on my second degree black belt in martial arts, had a job i loved teaching tae kwon do, performed in jazz ensemble and had an active social life. it was over in a split second. my concussion left me with only 5% of cognitive activity and i was almost immobilized. two and a half years i spent recovering and at times have wondered if i would ever get that life back. it has been a long, slow process. at first all i wanted to do was sleep. noise, light, even moving