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  • In addition to working out on the field, members of the Mankato West football team took to the multi-media center on Monday’s opening day of practice for fall sports. Mankato is requiring all student-athletes to undergo pre-concussion screening this year. John Cross

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  • Athletic training Randy Palmer explains the details of pre-concussion screening to a group of Mankato West student athletes. The screening is part of a new initiative to help prevent and treat head injuries in sports. John Cross

    west fb test 2.jpg

  • New head coach Kevin Mettler puts his Mankato Loyola football team through the paces on Monday on the opening day of practice for fall high school sports. John Cross

    loyola fb prevu.jpg

August 17, 2010

Student-athletes spend first day of practice in the classroom

Pre-concussion screenings now required for Mankato school sports

By Chad Courrier Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — For years, head injuries were treated as any other ailment. If the athlete felt OK, it was back to the action.

Starting this year, all athletes in grades 9-12 at Mankato West and Mankato East, plus a few of the younger participants, will take a preventative online test to help with the assessment and treatment of head injuries that might occur during competition.

“Head injuries have always been a problem, but that didn’t become a hot topic until the NFL started paying attention to it,” West trainer Randy Palmer said. “Concussions have been under-reported for so long. It was expected that athletes would play through it.”

Monday was the first day for high-school sports to begin practicing for the fall seasons. Fields and courts and gyms around town were buzzing with activity, lasting from early morning into the evening.

One of the focuses this year, on a statewide basis, will be the prevention and treatment of head injuries, whether it be football or soccer or volleyball. A grant from the Mankato Clinic foundation allowed Mankato’s public high schools to purchase an online test that will allow coaches, trainers and parents to see objective data on the effect of head injuries. The test measures such things as verbal memory, design memory, reaction time and sequencing.

Each athlete will take the test before the season to establish a base, then that score can be measured against a later test if a head injury occurs.

“It’s not an intelligence test,” Palmer said. “It’s not problem solving or anything that requires complex thinking skills.”

At Mankato Loyola, new football coach Kevin Mettler said he didn’t sleep much Sunday night. Even though he’s been an assistant coach for several years, there was a different feeling of being in charge.

“When Dan (Rotchadl) retired, I knew this was a program that has had success and I believed in it,” Mettler said. “I had never thought about being the head coach, but now that it’s happened, it’s unbelievable. The people at Loyola have been so gracious.”

Mettler had only 23 players at the first of two practices Monday, though he’s expecting a few more. His defensive coordinator is Mark Stewart, who coached the defense for many years at East.

“So far I’ve just been taking care of the administrative stuff,” Mettler said. “Now I’m getting to the coaching, which is what I’m most comfortable doing.”

The East boys cross country team had its first practice early Monday. The Cougars placed 14th at the state meet last fall, and three runners are back: Senior Ethan Evenson and juniors Ryan Erdman and Adam Lorentz.

“We have a high number of people out, and some of the new kids will hopefully step up and perform,” coach Todd Coyour said. “We have a lot of good attitudes. On paper, it will be tough (to get back to state), but we’ll find out more when we get on the grass.”

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