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 have

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

00:30getting 30 carries a game 250 yards couple touchdowns but that success on the football

00:37field turned 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

00:55get up he lay on the field unresponsive and started convulsive an ER doctor came out of the stands to

01:02help 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 the

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

01:34throwing the football with my uncle and I was doing it left-handed because the right side of my body was

01:39shut down Clayton's injury is a severe example of a sports-related traumatic brain injury 80% of TBIs

01:46are categorized as concussions which can affect up to 1.9 million US kids each year the CDC estimates

01:557 out of 10 emergency room visits for sports-related concussions are among children ages 17 and under Dr.

02:03Carissa Niehoff of the National Federation of State High School Associations says it's the number one medical

02:09issue in high school sports so the issues always there sports come with inherent risks and and it's

02:15not just football it's soccer it's baseball it's any sport really I mean our bodies are active and

02:22there's a risk that we're gonna hurt our head all 50 states have laws in place to help protect kids

02:27playing organized sports from head injuries several states along with the NFHS specifically track concussions

02:34and dr. Niehoff notes that nationwide numbers have remained steady or are declining yet despite the

02:42fact that youth sports have tackled the concussion protocol head-on for more than a decade traumatic

02:47brain injuries still occur a lot concussions account for roughly 15 percent of all high school

02:54sports injuries according to the CDC it's essential for athletes coaches and parents to be vigilant and

03:00speak up if something doesn't look or feel right when the kids don't self-report and somebody may not

03:07have seen a play or a situation happen we may never know until later and then they go home and they

03:15have these symptoms and then the parents don't know and so it can quickly slip through your fingers

03:21concussions are like snowflake injuries every person that sustains a concussion might experience it a

03:29little differently in the past doctors diagnosed concussions on a grading scale using indicators

03:34like the type of impact suffered and whether or not someone lost consciousness but that approach is now

03:40outdated while symptoms and recovery time may vary from patient to patient concussions are now

03:46diagnosed and treated on an all-or-nothing model either you've experienced enough force to trigger a

03:52concussion or 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

04:05recovery and said the most important thing a coach or parent can do if they suspect a concussion is keep

04:10the player on the sidelines athletes who have suffered a concussion are four to six times more likely to suffer a

04:18second one when you have a concussion seeking care right away so you can recovery sooner and also get

04:27enough rest before you go back and waiting until you're fully recovered going back so you will not have

04:36additional concussion Dr. Yang also mentioned one of the factors that could lead to injury or concussions

04:42is when kids specialize in one sport and the pressure to perform that comes with that athletes are

04:49supposedly tough you'd never say like you're tired or whatever because you're tough so sometimes a push

04:55too hard that could be impact on the athletes not only physically but mentally Dr. Niehoff agrees that's

05:04often the toughest part kids and coaches want to push through to reach a goal or win a game that's where

05:10education about the symptoms and signs of concussions becomes so important especially with the student

05:16athletes themselves to say hey if you get dinged it's okay to say time out for me my head got banged

05:26and I'm not feeling right NFHS guidelines stress minimizing the risk of head injuries by using protocols

05:32and protections before kids even play a game we got rid of the bull in the ring drill we got rid of some of

05:38the named drills that used to be central to football not heading the ball so much in soccer wearing helmets

05:46in baseball and softball lacrosse for boys just looking at better protective ways to approach practice

05:56and play even with those precautions and injury like Clayton's can happen without warning and change

06:02everything they think his potentially had been happening in the whole game so he was tired but

06:08he still felt like he could still play so there wasn't really any other symptoms Clayton completed

06:14over six months of intensive rehab to restore his speech and many of his motor skills he had to

06:20strengthen the right side of his body and learn to walk again his recovery continues and he's currently

06:25repeating the 10th grade before my injury I was a straight a student taking honors and AP classes

06:32and I had to get rid of some of those classes but I'm still I'm still doing pretty good yeah I'm getting

06:39better and better getting more used to it yeah he has yeah resilience grit all of it he was the same

06:48way with his ACL when he was recovering from that he never why me why just all right now what do I

06:56do get back and he was the same way with us so it's just kind of his mentality like many kids Clayton was

07:04all in on his sport he began suiting up and winning trophies in tackle football in fifth grade he still

07:10loves the game and became wistful when asked what he'll miss most just playing on a team you know

07:17supporting my teammates scoring touchdowns it was just a good camaraderie we had the family is

07:24thankful the entire community rallied behind them Clayton heard from professional athletes Larry

07:28Fitzgerald Trey McBride Cam Scadaboo and Steve Nash teammates visited every day of his recovery and

07:36they still wear Clayton's strong bracelets this football season he returned the favor by coaching

07:42them up from the sidelines Clayton will never play football on this field again but he does have

07:46some big goals coming up his 17th birthday is in December and he wants to relearn how to drive a car for

07:54straight arrow news I'm Chris Francis

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