Who Will Take Ownership of Florida High School Football Concussion Figures?

Abstract

This study explores the existence and documentation of varsity football player concussions and sport-related traumatic brain injuries at dozens of Florida high schools. The paper explores the legal creation and deference due the Florida High School Athletic Association as a regulatory body for Florida’s student-athletes, the lived experiences of sport-related brain injuries and whether the maintenance and publication of these concussive records implicates student-athletes’ privacy rights. For nearly two years, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Arizona pursued physical copies of redacted concussive documentation at dozens of Florida high schools and verified numerical accounts of how many varsity football players had been concussed in connection with play during the 2017-2018 school year.