The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 26, 2014 | 30 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" HDSB rolling out concussion curriculum this fall by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor L ast week, millions of people across the world watched as Urugayan soccer player Alvaro Pereira refused to come out of a World Cup match despite the fact he had just been knocked out cold. Pereira had taken an inadvertent knee to the head from an English defender just moments earlier, and laid motionless on the ground for several seconds. Following the match, he would admit to reporters that he had been "unconscious for an instant" and that "the lights went out a little bit." Yet, Pereira demonstratively and angrily dismissed his team physician's gestures to have him replaced, even as he stumbled towards the sideline. Pereira returned to the match just two minutes later. "I said sorry a thousand times to the doctor because I was dizzy. It was that moment your adrenaline flowing in your body, maybe without thinking...," Pereira, who also played in Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy two days ago, said after the game against England. "What I really wanted to do was help get the result." That head-injury-bedarned, win-at-all-costs mentality is exactly what the Halton District School Board hopes to help remove from society through concussion education curriculum that will be mandatory for all its Grade 9 students beginning this fall. The Halton Student Concussion Education Project, a collaborative effort between Jeff Blackwell HDSB staff and Burlington HDSB associate director sports physician Dr. Paul Echlin, will be the first of its kind in the province, if not the country or even the continent. The Ontario Ministry of Education has mandated that all boards in Ontario offer similar programming by January 30, 2015. "All boards have protocols related to managing (possible) We want our kids to know they have the right to advocate for themselves. Emily Carr Public School Grade 6 students (from left) Curtis Johnson, Joudi Abumarasa and Christian Hines display what they learned this year through the Halton Student Concussion Education Project. The Halton District School Board piloted the program at all of its secondary schools and five elementary schools -- including Emily Carr -- and will make the curriculum mandatory in all Grade 9 classes beginning this fall. | photo by Nikki Wesley -- Oakville Beaver --@Halton_Photog concussions under the provincial health and safety physical-education guidelines," said HDSB associate director Jeff Blackwell. "What's unique here is we're teaching kids about it." The HDSB piloted the concussion education this past year in all of its secondary schools as well as Grade 6 classes in five of its elementary schools, including Oakville's Emily Carr. Piloting will continue in Grade 6 classes in the upcoming year, and learning modules are already being developed for Grade 3 classes in the future. Blackwell said it is essential to inform students about concussions and their potential long-term effects, but highlighted advocacy as the biggest goal of the new curriculum. "We want our kids to know they have the right to advocate for themselves and keep themselves physically safe and healthy," he said. "The awareness, the understanding of long-term effects and the advocacy to say to a teacher, parent or a coach, `I think I've hurt myself and I want to take myself out of the game.'" That line of thinking requires societal change beginning at the younger ages, Blackwell and Echlin agreed. "We've validated the epidemic proportion of (concussions). We've actually shown it organically," said Echlin, who has worked as a sports medicine physician and team physician at the NCAA and major junior hockey levels. "Now, we're intervening educationally to say we don't have to wait. We have the best teachers in the world, the best resources. Let's use our best educators to assist in a cultural shift in see Violence on p.31 Visit Southern Ontario's hidden gem! OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB Week Five Photo Contest Winner: · Affordable public golf just a short drive away in St. George, ON · Beautiful 18 hole course with CPGA professionals on staff · Practice facility, fully licensed clubhouse Monday Madness: 18 holes of golf & power cart for only $40 Per person 9 & Dine on Fridays for only $39 Per person includes 9 holes of golf & dinner 519.448.3673 www.oaksofstgeorge.ca 269 German School Road Paris, ON Photographer: Kelly Bernier Age Division: Girls ADP U10 Sponsored by: A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club