Miss. bill would educate youth sports leaders
Wesley Ward has no memory of five months of his life.
He doesn’t remember going to spring football practice on April 30, 2008 at Central Hinds Academy. He can’t remember barreling into the team’s fullback during a contact drill, then collapsing on the field.
He doesn’t remember being loaded into an ambulance, rushed to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and undergoing emergency brain surgery.
“I went to sleep one night,” he said, “and woke up in the hospital.”
State Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, wants to help future players avoid going through the same tragedy.
Watson has authored Senate Bill 2271, the Wesley Ward Youth Concussion Act of 2012, legislation that would educate youth sports leaders and participants about concussions and would make it illegal for coaches to send players back on the field after suffering one.
Clarion Ledger
2/18/12
