A TBI retired his football dreams at 15. Inside youth sports’ pervasive problem

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00:00Clayton Liebman was a budding star on the Notre Dame Prep JV team in 2024 at just 16 the sophomore

00:09running back from Scottsdale Arizona was building a reputation for being tough to bring down he

00:15quickly became the centerpiece of his team's offense. I was just hoping to you know have

00:24have a decent role in the team and then my coach found out how good I was and next thing you know

00:30I was getting 30 carries a game 250 yards a couple touchdowns. But that success on the football field

00:37turned into a family's worst nightmare in an instant. Last October 24th one week after this

00:49performance against Higley High School Clayton was tackled during a third quarter play he couldn't

00:54get up he lay on the field unresponsive and started convulsing. An ER doctor came out of the stands to

01:01help team trainers and Clayton was rushed to the hospital. I went down but I had to stay kind of

01:08stay back yeah so he they did not want me to see what condition he was in. Clayton suffered a brain

01:15bleed. Doctors performed a craniotomy removing part of his skull to relieve pressure. He spent

01:21nearly two weeks in intensive care much of it on a ventilator. He doesn't remember what happened on

01:26the field. There's one memory I can think of it was I was in the hospital I don't think I was talking

01:32I was throwing the football with my uncle and I was doing it left-handed because the right side of my

01:39body was shut down. Clayton's injury is a severe example of a sports related traumatic brain injury.

01:4580% of TBIs are categorized as concussions which can affect up to 1.9 million U.S. kids each year.

01:53The CDC estimates seven out of ten emergency room visits for sports related concussions are among

01:59children ages 17 and under. Dr. Carissa Niehoff of the National Federation of State High School

02:06Associations says it's the number one medical issue in high school sports. So the issue is always there

02:12sports come with inherent risks and and it's not just football. It's soccer. It's baseball. It's any

02:19sport really. I mean our bodies are active and there's a risk that we're going to hurt our head.

02:24All 50 states have laws in place to help protect kids playing organized sports from head injuries.

02:30Several states along with the NFHS specifically track concussions and Dr. Niehoff notes that nationwide

02:37numbers have remained steady or are declining. Yet despite the fact that youth sports have tackled

02:43the concussion protocol head-on for more than a decade, traumatic brain injuries still occur. A lot.

02:50Concussions account for roughly 15% of all high school sports injuries according to the CDC.

02:57It's essential for athletes, coaches and parents to be vigilant and speak up if something doesn't look or

03:03feel right. When the kids don't self-report and somebody may not have seen a play or a situation

03:11happen, we may never know until later and then they go home and they have these symptoms and

03:16then the parents don't know and so it can quickly slip through your fingers. Concussions are like

03:23snowflake injuries. Every person that sustains a concussion might experience it a little differently.

03:29In the past, doctors diagnosed concussions on a grading scale using indicators like the type of

03:35impact suffered and whether or not someone lost consciousness. But that approach is now outdated.

03:41While symptoms and recovery time may vary from patient to patient, concussions are now diagnosed

03:47and treated on an all-or-nothing model. Either you've experienced enough force to trigger a concussion,

03:53or you haven't. Dr. Ginger Yang is a principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research at

03:59Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She specializes in youth concussion diagnosis and

04:04recovery and said the most important thing a coach or parent can do if they suspect a concussion is

04:10keep the player on the sidelines. Athletes who have suffered a concussion are four to six times more

04:16likely to suffer a second one. When you have a concussion, seeking care right away so you can

04:22recover sooner and also get enough rest before you go back and waiting until you're fully recovered

04:34going back so you will not have additional concussion. Dr. Yang also mentioned one of the factors

04:40that could lead to injury or concussions is when kids specialize in one sport and the pressure to

04:46perform that comes with that. Athletes are supposedly tough. You never say like you're tired or whatever

04:53because you're tough so sometimes you push too hard that could be impact on the athletes not only

05:00physically but mentally. Dr. Niehoff agrees that's often the toughest part. Kids and coaches want to push

05:07through to reach a goal or win a game. That's where education about the symptoms and signs of concussions

05:13become so important. Especially with the student athletes themselves to say hey if you get dinged

05:21it's okay to say time out for me. My head got banged and I'm not feeling right. NFHS guidelines stress

05:29minimizing the risk of head injuries by using protocols and protections before kids even play a game. We got

05:35rid of the bull in the ring drill. We got rid of some of the named drills that used to be central to

05:40football. Not hitting the ball so much in soccer. Wearing helmets in baseball and softball. Lacrosse for

05:51boys. Just looking at better protective ways to approach practice and play. Even with those precautions

05:58an injury like Clayton's can happen without warning and change everything. They think his potentially

06:04had been happening the whole game so he was tired but he still felt like he could still play so there

06:11wasn't really any other symptoms. Clayton completed over six months of intensive rehab to restore his

06:17speech and many of his motor skills. He had to strengthen the right side of his body and learn

06:22to walk again. His recovery continues and he's currently repeating the 10th grade. Before my injury I was a

06:28straight-A student taking honors and AP classes and I had to get rid of some of those classes but I'm

06:37still I'm still doing pretty good. Yeah I'm getting better and better getting more used to it. Yeah.

06:43He has yeah resilience, grit, all of it. He was the same way with his ACL when he was recovering from that.

06:49He never why me why just all right now what do I do get back and he was the same way with us so

06:58it's just kind of his mentality. Like many kids Clayton was all in on his sport. He began suiting

07:06up and winning trophies in tackle football in fifth grade. He still loves the game and became wistful when

07:12asked what he'll miss most. Just playing on a team you know supporting my teammates scoring touchdowns it

07:20was just a good camaraderie we had. The family is thankful the entire community rallied behind them.

07:26Clayton heard from professional athletes Larry Fitzgerald, Trey McBride, Cam Scadaboo and Steve Nash.

07:33Teammates visited every day of his recovery and they still wear Clayton's strong bracelets. This football

07:39season he returned the favor by coaching them up from the sidelines. Clayton will never play football

07:45on this field again but he does have some big goals coming up. His 17th birthday is in December

07:50and he wants to relearn how to drive a car. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.

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