“It look like Aaron Ward was saying, ‘No, not the time for me to fight you.’ But Walker took advantage, dropped his gloves…” Hockey commentator.
Aaron Ward said, “I remember everything for the hit, I went to the corner, another guy was on my left shoulder and the puck was in the corner and we were both going in at a pretty good speed and once I got about, maybe four feet from the boards, I felt a little nudge on my back and on my should and I could tell that he was trying to push me into the boards and that’s usually, you know that’s a dirty play, a dirty kind of move. Sometimes it happens so fast the other player doesn’t even know what they’re doing.”
He is the team president for Utah State University’s hockey team. Due to multiple concussions in the beginning of the season, he’s not only sitting out until he recovers, he won’t be returning.
There is very little that experts understand about the brain but they are making, excuse the term, headway. According to Jon Eccles, the head coach, every precaution is being taken to protect athletes who play contact sports.
“All of our athletes get a base-line test before we start the season,” Eccles said. “So that Alys and Jimmy, the other trainer, know when they’re normal. What to look for that would give them indicators that say, ‘Hey, there’s a possible concussion here.’”
Mike Williams, associate director and head athletic trainer at USU, said their priority is to protect their athletes.
“Nobody wants to hurt a kid,” Williams said. “They don’t want to have a student athlete out there that’s not focused and is at even more risk of injury just because, if you’re dizzy, you’re probably gonna get hit again.”
Williams said athletes who get a concussion are removed from the game until they return to normal. If they get a second one, they’re automatically out for two weeks. And three?
“Then they’re done,” Williams said. “And we have to evaluate ‘em and go through a neurologist. At that point we really have to sit down and look at, ‘Do we want them to continue?’ Because once you have one, you are more susceptible to them.”
Breanna Studenka is an assistant professor in the health, physical education and recreation department at USU. She looks at behavior as it evolves over time and how it relates to concussion.
“It’s very hard to do,” Studenka said. “Because you have to find former athletes and then test them, like in the future when they’re 50, 60. Or you have to do a longitudinal study and follow athletes for 20, 30 years and that just takes a while.”
She said studying concussion is like taking baby steps, but with the analysis they’ve been doing subjects who have been concussed are showing differences after five years versus those who haven’t been concussed.
Studenka said that though athletes are able to pass the current tests that indicate recovery, she says there is cause for concern.
“These tests that we normally do like, ‘My balance is back to normal.’ Or ‘I can remember things again,’” Studenka said. “But you’ll talk to the doctors and they’ll say, ‘You know they passed all of the tests but I know they’re not good yet.’ But there is no way to tell the athlete like, ‘Well, you didn’t pass this test, you can’t go play.’”
Ward said he is grateful for the care his coach, the trainers and doctors provided him and is hopeful with the research being done. He encourages other athletes who suffer from concussions to ask for the help they need to recover – especially for those who are depressed.
Though he won’t be returning to a sport he loves, he’s optimistic.
“It’s also kind of nice,” Ward said. “Because it opens a new chapter in your life. It’s kind of a sad thing that it happened, in a way but, there’s also positives to it and that’s why, I’m happy at least.”