Matt Meyer never saw this hit coming.
In Gavilan’s sixth game this season against Monterey Peninsula, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound sophomore right tackle took a blindside hit as he was pursuing a Monterey player after the Gavilan quarterback had thrown an interception.
“I took a pursuit angle, turned my body before my head and a defensive lineman just lined me up and knocked me out pretty much,” said Meyer, a 2011 San Benito High graduate. “I got a grade 2 or 3 concussion (three is the most severe).”
That was on Oct. 19, and Meyer never saw the field again this season. Meyer was actually cleared to play before the Rams’ second-to-last game against Hartnell, but on the Tuesday before the game during full-contact drills, his concussion symptoms — everything from severe headaches, nausea, sensitivity to light and an inability to focus — returned.
“That Tuesday night my head started killing me,” Meyer said.
For three weeks following his concussion, Meyer experienced daily nausea, and he couldn’t be in a room with light unless he had a blanket over his head. Worse yet, the post-concussion effects included Meyer not being able to complete simple homework assignments because of confusion and a loss of concentration.
“My concussion was pretty bad, but not bad enough to end my career,” said Meyer, who is symptom free and hoping to earn a scholarship from a Division II or NAIA college to play football next season.
Concussions are a hot-button topic in sports these days, and with good reason. According to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, it is estimated that as many as 3.8 million concussions occur in the U.S. per year in competitive sports and recreational activities; however, as many as 50 percent of concussions go unreported.
From recreational activities to youth sports to high school, college and the pro levels, the numbers on athletes suffering concussions and the news revolving around them make daily headlines.
On Nov. 27, 10 former NHL players filed a class-action suit against the NHL over concussions, saying the league hasn’t done enough to protect the players regarding concussions over the years.
In August, the NFL agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit filed by thousands of retirees who said that the league had failed to disclose the dangers of repeated head trauma.
Although concussions seem to be synonymous with football, the number of girls suffering concussions — and in particular, girls playing soccer and ice hockey — account for the second largest amount of all concussions reported by young athletes, with football topping the list, according to the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
However, while youth soccer participation has maintained its numbers for the last couple of years, youth football — particularly at the Pop Warner level, the nation’s largest youth football program — has not.
According to an ESPN.com report, Pop Warner saw participation drop 9.5 percent, or 23,612 players, between 2010-12, which is thought to be the largest decline since the organization began keeping statistics more than 20 years ago.
Many feel that the concussion crisis that began in the NFL is having a direct impact on youth football leagues across the country, including USA Football, which saw participation drop among players ages 6 to 14 from 3 million to 2.8 million in 2011, a 6.7 percent decline, according to the same ESPN report.
The decline could be due to more kids specializing in a single sport — but the athletes who play only one sport in high school are usually five-star recruits, meaning it’s a very small segment of the population — or it simply could be a trend that was bound to happen, since society has become fragmented more than ever in terms of the choices people make in terms of entertainment and participation, including sports.
Whatever the reasons for the decline, there’s little doubt parents are thinking twice about enrolling their kids to play football at such an early age. On the local front, the Hollister Vikings Pop Warner football program saw a 25 percent decline in participation numbers from 2012 to 2013, Vikings President Jeff Valenzuela said. But the decline in numbers for Pop Warner can’t be pinned solely on the concussion issue; there are other youth football organizations locally and across the nation, after all.
“The numbers were down all across the board, and the teams we play from San Jose to Monterey and the entire Bay Area have also been experiencing the same thing,” Valenzuela said. “People have not directly said that (the fear of concussions) are the reason why the numbers are down, but I can surely tell you that is a concern.”
Valenzuela said two of his players suffered concussions this past season, sidelining one for the rest of the season. Every president of a Pop Warner league must now go through extensive training and attend seminars on concussions, and they’re required to have yearly mandatory meetings with all of the coaches in their respective programs.
“For me as a president, it’s not so much about coaching anymore but making sure we’re putting the kids in the safest position possible,” Valenzuela said. “The biggest thing is education and safety, and as an example all of our coaches have to do CPR and first-aid training.
“Football is a dangerous and violent sport, and obviously concussions are a very hot topic that is exploding in terms of discussion in sports today. But the greatest thing to come out of this is the continuing education on concussions. I need to make parents believe (youth football) is still safe and a sport they can believe in.”
Despite his concussion scare, Meyer certainly believes in the power of football and how it relates to life. Playing two years at Gavilan has given Meyer a drive and will to succeed that he never had before, and it has had a positive effect in every aspect of his life.
“I can’t wait to play again,” he said. “I don’t think the concussion will hinder me at all (in landing an athletic scholarship). I’ll be sending out my highlight film to college coaches soon, and hopefully everything works out.”
Meyer has been symptom-free for the last month, and he credits his best friend, fellow Gavilan sophomore offensive lineman and San Benito High graduate Joe Gularte, for helping him through the recovery process.
“That Tuesday when we had full-contact practice, Joe had a feeling I wasn’t right,” Meyer said. “It’s been great having Joe’s support. I actually took a year off from football after high school, and thought I was done playing. But knowing Joe was going to be on the team kind of reminded me I still had a love for football, and it drove me to play again.”
Best friends since they were sophomores at San Benito, the 6-foot-2, 288-pound Gularte and Meyer forged an instant bond on the gridiron only to find out they had other common interests as well.
Gularte, who earned All-Coast Conference First-Team honors this past season, actually had some adversity of his own coming out of high school, as he initially enrolled at Cabrillo College.
However, once Gularte found out the team wanted to grayshirt him, he immediately transferred to Gavilan after one semester.
“It wasn’t the best situation, but at least I had someone to talk to in Matt, someone I could count on to keep me positive,” said Gularte, who credits Rams coach Spencer Gilford for turning around the Gavilan program.
When Meyer went down, Gularte was moved from his left tackle position to take Meyer’s spot. Both players were instrumental in making Gavilan one of the premier offenses in Northern California this season.
Equally adept at run and pass blocking, Gularte and Meyer are the prototypical athletes who worked hard and took their games to another level after two years of college ball. Like Meyer, Gularte reinvigorated his career and life perspective after playing two years at Gavilan.
“My two years at Gavilan has been life-changing,” Gularte said. “I felt a sense of urgency, commitment and drive that was made possible by coach Gilford. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”
Gularte and Meyer know they can’t take anything for granted, especially Meyer, who has persevered in the midst of a career-threatening injury.
Because of the increased awareness and knowledge on concussions, the number of athletes who suffer them increase exponentially every year. Hardly a game goes by at the high school level — where teenagers collide with each other with a rip-roaring thud — that a player doesn’t suffer a concussion.
At least one San Benito player this season has suffered a concussion, and Gularte said he’s seen three different Gavilan players in the last two years suffer the same fate. While the safety protocols on concussions continue to advance, the players seem to be bigger, stronger and faster at every level — from youth all the way to the pros — leading to increasingly violent collisions, and, inevitably, more concussions.
“Football is a violent and dangerous sport, but I hope it doesn’t get to that point where no one wants to play football anymore because of the risk of concussions,” Valenzela said.
