Our view: Head start

With high school football practice set to start just over a month from now, it encouraging that the University of Nebraska's Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior is nearing completion.

The center, housed inside the expanded Memorial Stadium, is working on a system that will instantly analyze a player's brain waves following any blow to the head. Accurate early analysis will help coaches and staff understand the extent of any concussion, giving them a clear idea whether or not it is safe to return a young man or woman to the fray.

Belatedly, concussions have become a serious concern at all levels of amateur and professional sport. Today, some 300,000 sports-related concussions are reported each year. A few decades ago it was common practice to snap smelling salts under a woozy athlete's nose and send them back onto the field. Few concussions reached the point of a formal medical exam.

Of course, coaches use to deny water during training, in order to toughen up their charges.

A number of high profile suicides, lawsuits and, more importantly, greater knowledge of the injury and its long term affects changed the way most coaches, staff, parents and players perceive even slight concussions.

Still, director of UNL's Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior Dennis Molfese told the Associated Press "It's disconcerting to realize just how little we really know."

The development of sideline assessment technology is a major step toward ensuring that sport at all levels does not curtail a long and healthy existence for those who participate. By identifying hidden issues resulting from blows on the field and removing from harm's way anyone poised to suffer further damage, it will also ensure that the games we love remain hard-hitting and physically challenging.