PINKconcussions is 501(c)3 OFFICIAL!!

 Just in time for FC Giving Day...  

We are so excited we are now an official IRS Public Charity 501 (c) 3!

Just in time so PINKconcussions can participate in Connecticut's Fairfield County’s Giving Day on March 5 – and we need your support!

Hosted by Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Giving Day is a 24 hour online event to Give Where You Live and celebrate the work of local nonprofits.

Our goal is to raise $1,000 for PINKconcussions and make an impact in just 24 hours! Not only will your gift help us reach our goal, but it may qualify us to win additional grant prizes.

Gifts of any size can make a HUGE difference! (The minimum gift allowed is $10.)

How Does Giving Day Work?

  • Nonprofits register on secure donation platform-www.FCGives.org- to participate, and receive training and resources in online giving, fundraising, and more.
  • Nonprofits and donors compete to raise funds for their organizations and win prizes.
  • These prizes—as well as a dollar-for-dollar match up to a pre-determined amount—are funded by Bank of America, partnering corporations, other institutions and individual donors. The larger the prize pool, the greater the incentive for nonprofits to participate in the competition. 
  • Giving Day provides multiple publicity opportunities that raise visibility.
  • In-kind media contributions and guerrilla-style marketing also spread the word. 

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter @PinkConcussions to stay in the loop on Thursday, March 5!

Report: CONCUSSIONS: NOT JUST ABOUT MALE ATHLETES

A new report summarizing facts and research on Female Concussion was published in February by Womens' Sports Foundation. The report was excerpted and adapted from the larger study by Staurowsky, E.J., DeSousa, M.J., Miller, K.E., Sabo, D., Shakib, S., Theberge, N., Williams, N., & Veliz, P. (2015). Her Life Depends On It III: Sport, Physical Activity, and the Health and Well-Being of American Girls and Women. East Meadow, NY: Women’s Sports Foundation.

This two page report states that research on the incidence of concussions generally shows higher rates among female athletes at both the collegiate and high school levels.

"Particular attention has been given to analyses in soccer and basketball, where men and women play by similar rules and ice hockey, a sport that is largely similar in the men’s and women’s game with the important difference that intentional body checking is prohibited in the women’s game." Data for all three sports show higher rates among females at both the high school and collegiate levels (Hootman, Dick & Agel, 2007; Dick, 2009; Rosenthal et al., 2014).

The trend that worries me the most was  the "emerging evidence that indicates that female soccer players playing elite or select soccer before high school sustained concussions at a rate higher than their high school and college counterparts, most continued to play despite experiencing symptoms, and less than half sought medical attention." And this mirrors the results in my own study of female athletes who reported playing through their concussions.

We need to address the female concussions in Youth Sports - in soccer, hockey, cheer, basketball... wherever girls, along with boys, are getting concussions with untrained coaches and an absence of athletic trainers.