Algonquin Argonauts lead the way in concussion awareness
The Algonquin Argonauts Football and Cheer program who are part of the largest nationwide youth organization which is Pop Warner Little Scholars has unveiled a new regimented plan to not only educate the coaches in the program but also the parents and its participants.
Pop Warner announced earlier this week that they would reduce the amount of one-on-one contact that would be allowed during a normal week of practice to a third of its total practice time.
Another major announcement was that they would no longer allow one-on-one tackling, bull in the ring among other popular practice drills where kids are to face their opponent and try to tackle them head on.
These are all great steps into protecting our kids but the Argonauts have decided to take it a step further by making it mandatory for all coaches to attend concussion awareness classes that would be instructed by the professionals at Accelerated Rehab in Algonquin.
These classes will also be available for the parents that wish to attend. The Argonauts along with Accelerated Rehab have also been in discussions to find a way to administer IMPACT test for all kids over the age of 11 at no charge to our participants.
Any child who shows signs of a concussion will have to take a post IMPACT test to determine the severity of the concussion. Argonauts football has created strict guidelines on the procedure that would be followed if there is evidence of a concussion on the field and we will not take this matter lightly.
Argonauts Football and Cheer is always looking for ways to improve the quality of the coaches we have in our program and with mandatory Pop Warner certification, ASEP certification and now Concussion Awareness we feel very confident that this might be our best coaching staffs since its inception in 2008. Not only will be very good on the field but also educated enough to make smart decisions off the field.
As this 2012 season gets ready to start with free camps coming up on June 26, July 5 which will be held at Westfield Elemtary and July 11 at Carpentersville Middle School. All camps will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The first day of practice will be Aug. 1 and we hope to continue building on our great success we've had over the last two years where we have won three state championships and one Midwest Regional Championship as a football program. Most of our boys are moving up together and along with the tremendous amount of new kids who have already joined our program this year, I am excited to see how this season turns out.
The Algonquin Argonauts Football and Cheer program is currently looking for a few more kids from the ages of 5-14 at both football and cheer. If you would like more information on what we are doing as a program, visit our website at Algonquinargonauts.com.