Young Football Players At Greater Concussion Risk Than Pros

BURTONSVILLE, Md. - From what he remembers, and it isn't much, Cameron Williams was cold.

On a steaming autumn day last year in Burtonsville, the 13-year-old shivered as he walked back to his Unity Thunder football team's huddle, barely able to keep his eyes open. Dizzy, he'd been hit hard - really hard - twice that game.

His head ached for relief, but he knew how football players were supposed to act. How pain was a part of the game. Then he took two more vicious hits at practice the next day, and Cameron realized it was time to tell someone how much he was hurting.

His mother whisked him away to the family doctor, who told Cameron he'd been concussed twice in the past week.

Because of the undeveloped nature of their bodies, youth like Cameron could be at a higher risk for concussions than their professional counterparts, according to medical experts.

But of the estimated 4.5 million children who play organized youth football in the United States, his experiences aren't altogether uncommon. A 2006 study by the National Center for Injury Prevention found that 47 percent of high school football players sustain a concussion each season, and 35 percent of players said they had more than one in the same season.

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