Durbin Calls for an End to 'Friday Night Tykes'
Senator says Esquire Network program glorifies a culture of violent competitiveness that can be dangerous for children
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on the Esquire Network to remove the new show “Friday Night Tykes” from its line-up because it glorifies a culture of violent competitiveness that can be dangerous for the safety and long term health of children. In a letter to the network’s President, Adam Stotsky, Durbin cited instances where football coaches encourage 8 and 9 year-old children to deliver repeated blows to the head and to play through injury.
“Many school districts are making progress in reducing concussions by educating students, parents, and school personnel about how to recognize and respond to concussions. A show such as ‘Friday Night Tykes’ sends the opposite message and exploits these children for purely entertainment purposes,” wrote Durbin. “For the sake of America’s youth athletes, I call on you to immediately end this shameful, dangerous display on your network. With all we know about the risks of concussions in youth sports today, it is unconscionable to televise and celebrate the conduct of a league that directly endangers the health of children.”
Also today, Durbin urged the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to implement a concussion safety and management plan for its 1,281 member institutions that includes a strict “when in doubt, sit it out” policy, which the NCAA has supported for high schools. This policy requires students suspected of sustaining a concussion to end their participation in the athletic event for the remainder of the day. Such a policy was recommended by a panel of team physicians convened by the American College of Sports Medicine in 2011.
Concussions among young athletes are a growing problem. Recent studies have found that young athletes are at greater risk of sports-related concussions than college or professional athletes because their brains are more susceptible to injury. Over the last decade, emergency room visits for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries among children and adolescents increased by 60%. A recent study on concussions in youth sports found that young athletes don’t always report when they might have a concussion because our culture encourages them not to.
In September 2013, Durbin introduced legislation, the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act, to raise awareness of the danger of concussions among student athletes by directing states to develop concussion safety guidelines for public school districts that include posting educational information on school grounds and school websites about concussion symptoms, risks and recommended responses for student athletes, parents, coaches and school officials. The bill also institutes a “when in doubt, sit out” policy and asks schools to notify a student’s parents of an injury and obtain a written release from a health care professional before the student may return to play.
The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act is supported by the NCAA, the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) United States Soccer Federation, USA Football, National Council of Youth Sports, the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National PTA, the American Academy of Neurology, Easter Seals, The Arc, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the Korey Stringer Institute, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Learning Disabilities Association of America, and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN).
Today’s letters are included below:
February 27, 2014
President Adam Stotsky
Esquire Network
5750 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Dear President Stotsky:
I write to ask you to remove from your line-up the new show on the Esquire Network, “Friday Night Tykes,” which follows the 8 to 9 year-old Rookies division of the Texas Youth Football Association (TYFA).
Youth sports are a great way for students to stay healthy while learning important team-building skills. However, “Friday Night Tykes,” airing on your network, glorifies a culture of violent competitiveness that can be dangerous for the safety and long term health of children. Coaches on “Friday Night Tykes” are shown screaming, “I don’t care how much pain you’re in, you don’t quit!” and, “I want you to put it in his helmet. I don’t care if he don’t get up.”
In another episode, a coach tells his players, “If you all can hit everybody right here [points to the side of one of his player’s heads] they are going to lose players one at a time.” In that game a child left in tears after getting tackled and hitting his head on the ground. After telling the team’s manager that he hit his head, the child is allowed to return to the game. Minutes later he suffered another blow to the head, which left him lying still on the ground.
Concussions among young athletes are a growing problem. Youth athletes are at greater risk of sports-related concussions than college or professional athletes because their brains are more susceptible to injury. Over the last decade, emergency room visits for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries among children and adolescents increased by 60 percent.
The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council report in a study on concussions in youth sports that young athletes don’t always report when they might have a concussion because our culture encourages them not to. A 2010 Government Accountability Office study found many sports-related concussions go unreported. It is precisely the type of culture exemplified in “Friday Night Tykes” that leads many athletes to ignore their symptoms and play hurt. Athletes who continue to play while concussed are at greater risk for catastrophic injury if they sustain another concussion before recovering from the first one. This second injury can cause symptoms that can last for months and can even be fatal.
I recently introduced the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act, which would, for the first time, set minimum state requirements for the prevention and treatment of concussions. The legislation also requires schools to adopt a “when in doubt, sit it out” policy. This policy requires that a student suspected of sustaining a concussion be removed from participation in the activity and prohibited from returning to play that day. This policy is endorsed by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology, which recommend that an athlete suspected of a concussion should not return to play the day of their injury, under any circumstance.
Many school districts are making progress in reducing concussions by educating students, parents, and school personnel about how to recognize and respond to concussions. A show such as “Friday Night Tykes” shows the opposite happening and exploits these children for purely entertainment purposes. According to David Castro-Blanco, a child psychologist at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, “Showing adults browbeating kids into being football players is dangerous entertainment.”
For the sake of America’s youth athletes, I call on you to immediately end this shameful, dangerous display on your network. With all we know about the risks of concussions in youth sports today, it is unconscionable to televise and celebrate the conduct of a league that directly endangers the health of children.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
February 27, 2014
President Mark Emmert
National Collegiate Athletic Association
700 W. Washington Street
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, Indiana 46206
Dear President Emmert:
I write to urge the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to implement a concussion safety and management plan that includes a strict “when in doubt, sit it out” policy for all 1,281 of your member institutions. I appreciate the NCAA’s support for federal legislation that recommends such a policy for high school play and hope it is now ready to consider comparable rules for its own schools.
The Protecting Students from Concussions Act would set minimum state requirements for the prevention and treatment of concussions in high school sports. Specifically, this legislation directs states to develop concussion safety plans for public schools that include a concussion safety awareness component and the adoption of a “when in doubt, sit it out” policy. This policy requires a student suspected of sustaining a concussion during a school-sponsored athletic activity to be removed from participation, prohibited from returning to play that day, and evaluated by a health care professional before returning to play in future events. The “when in doubt, sit it out” policy is recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology
According to the NCAA’s injury surveillance system, between 2004 and 2009, there were more than 29,000 concussions reported in college sports and the number of concussions was increasing at 7 percent a year. That study also found that a college player was three times more likely to suffer a second concussion if he or she returned to competition within 10 days of sustaining the first concussion.
While the NCAA has begun to address these troubling statistics, including adopting a concussion policy in 2010, the organization has yet to establish minimum standards outlining when players should be allowed to return to competition. To fully satisfy its mission of “protecting young people from the dangerous and exploitative athletic practices of the time,” the NCAA must ensure that student-athletes suspected of concussions are not put in jeopardy by returning to games too soon.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your response and hearing what additional steps the NCAA is taking to improve safeguards for its student-athletes when it comes to concussions.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
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