When Clayton Cohen collided with his teammate helmet-to-helmet during high school football practice last fall, his first instinct was to get right back up and keep playing. Though he felt dizzy and had a large bump on the back of his head, Clayton didn’t want to risk being seen as weak and potentially lose his position as starting linebacker.
“That was always my mind-set,” says Clayton, now a 17-year-old senior at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia. “When you would hit someone and saw stars and you felt dizzy after the play, that was seen as a good thing, a good hit. Nobody was telling me about how bad concussions were.”
But the next day, Clayton realized that something might be seriously wrong. As he walked through the halls of his high school, he couldn’t recognize a single face—not even those of students he’d known for years. Sitting in class later, his head started spinning. He felt nauseated, confused, and “out of body.”
Though the symptoms mostly went away after a few weeks, they returned this summer, while Clayton was going through hitting drills at a football camp. So before the start of school, he decided to quit the sport he’d been playing since he was 6 years old.
When Clayton Cohen collided with his teammate helmet-to-helmet during high school football practice last fall, his first instinct was to get right back up and keep playing. He felt dizzy and had a large bump on the back of his head. But Clayton didn’t want to risk being seen as weak and potentially lose his position as starting linebacker.
“That was always my mind-set,” says Clayton, now a 17-year-old senior at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia. “When you would hit someone and saw stars and you felt dizzy after the play, that was seen as a good thing, a good hit. Nobody was telling me about how bad concussions were.”
But the next day, Clayton realized that something might be seriously wrong. As he walked through the halls of his high school, he couldn’t recognize a single face. Even the students he’d known for years looked like strangers. Sitting in class later, his head started spinning. He felt nauseated, confused, and “out of body.”
The symptoms mostly went away after a few weeks. Then they returned this summer, while Clayton was going through hitting drills at a football camp. So before the start of school, he decided to quit the sport he’d been playing since he was 6 years old.