By Spencer Inglett ’19
THE ROUNDUP

The Arizona Interscholastic Association revealed concussion insurance August’s board meeting, covering all high school athletes with a $0 out-of-pocket deductible.

Arizona becomes the first state to provide this insurance, and many more states like Montana and Michigan are beginning to follow.

The AIA says that this coverage will expand out to its 99,000 high school athletes, ranging from football players to spirit line performers.

Provided by the Nationwide Life Insurance Company, the insurance costs $1.50 per athlete which is paid at the school’s expense, which offers a $0 deductible and a $25,000 injury medical maximum.

“Taking something that can be very expensive and providing resources to every athlete is huge,” said Head Athletic Trainer Mr. Chris White.

This policy comes in the midst of a concussion crisis, where athletes everywhere, especially football players, have increased their awareness aware of the dangers that repeated head trauma does to the body.

Even the NFL is noticing this rising problem as 306 players have endured 323 total concussions in the past two seasons, according to a PBS investigation.

One victim of a concussion was Garrett Metzler ’19, who suffered one playing football in 2014

“It felt as if my whole body went numb,” Metzler said. “It gave me a very eerie feeling all over.”

This is the one of several resources that the AIA has dished out over the past couple years to increase concussion safety.

“Brainbook” is an online class that teaches about the dangers of a concussion and why they should be reported

The AIA requires all high school athletes to complete the course and pass the brief quiz at the end of it.

“Here at Brophy, we do a really good job of making sure that kids report concussions,” Mr. White said. “But at other schools, it’s more likely that students don’t report concussions, which could potentially lead to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy).”