New to the forum and looking for a little direction/options. Tough decision this year...after making varsity basketball team as a freshman and having back to back concussions the last two years in football we told our son no more high school football going forward. We still want to keep him active and I'm wondering if there are any camps/clinics/trainers or fall leagues for 2015 that may be options for us to check out.
Thanks!

I can't speak to St. Cloud specifically, but one suggestion is touching base with the local high school coaches. There appears to be a pretty strong youth league in St. Cloud, however, that only goes up to 8th grade. Same deal though, you could reach out to some folks there.

Sorry to hear about the concussions, that must have been extremely difficult for your son. Without going into great detail, I'm pretty familiar with concussions and what they can do to a player. I know the difficulty of having a player not be able to continue after sustaining a concussion.

Just for the sake of discussion, I'm curious what the docs are saying about contact sports after two concussions?

We've been very lucky - but with concussions there is no magic number or way to know if the next hit or impact could be a career ender, or worse still, how it may affect him later in life. In 8th grade, the option became available for baseline tests to be given right at the school through a grant. We've taken him in for that test each year in the fall ever since because the test doesn't lie and can't be tricked or charmed. We've had really good support from our sports families and the coaches since letting them know last year was our son's LAST year of football they all seem to understand our reason for going from 3 sports down to 2 to try to minimize the risk as much as possible and keep him involved in the sports that have always been his passion hopefully for the remainder of high school, and with continued hard work on and off the court, maybe into college. Of course, with basketball, baseball and any sport there's always a risk of injury and or impact, but he's 6'4" at 15 years old - he's happiest when he's on the court, the diamond, or just hanging out with his teams.There's a strong group of student athletes in his class that work hard during the offseason and we've been able to participate in fall 3-3, 5-5 leagues before the regular basketball season, plus spring basketball, summer baseball and fall baseball with his teammates from the school program but I know he is going to get restless in the fall watching from the bleachers when they all take the field.

Well, the good news is that basketball seems to be a year round sport these days. I've found that other sports parents are often a good source of finding out about leagues and tournaments.

Not being able to participate in a sport you love is extremely difficult, especially when you've played your entire life and are good at it. It can also be a good life lesson, albeit a very painful one. My son, age 16 (6'3" @ 15), played sports (basketball, soccer, and football) since he was 3. I was fortunate to coach him through all those years. He specialized in basketball over the last two years, playing easily 150 games a year in various leagues and tournaments. Prospects looked really good for a successful high school career.

During a scrimmage last fall, my son was going up for a lay-up, someone tried to block the shot and hit him with their elbow in the back of his head. Long story short, that resulted in a severe concussion and a year long ordeal which knocked him out of his honors classes and all sports his entire freshman year. Severe headaches, dizziness, and other symptoms lasted for several months. I'm happy to say, he's made a full recovery, at least in our eyes. Back in school, lifting weights, and good cardio.

Fast forward to a few months ago, we go to the concussion docs and try to get clearance for a basic gym class. No go. Because of the severity of his concussion, they were still hesitant to clear him, even for a gym class.

Situations like these really test you as a family. It made us reevaluate our priorities and realize we were fortunate in light of all the kids we saw during our concussion appointments that were really struggling. To say this was extremely difficult for my son is putting it mildly. Fortunately, he had other interests that have now filled the huge void of not being able to play competitive sports.

I sneak in the life lesson aspect when I can, but at age 16, that's not really something a teen wants to hear. All they know is they can't do something they've done for the past 13 years, something they really enjoyed doing with their friends. When things are calm, we talk about how life can be unfair and how having empathy for others is important. He's a great kid and I know this experience has made him extremely strong as an individual.

I had 3 concussions from 4th grade to 6th grade, so I can relate! Luckily, I only played one year of tackle football.

Here is our basketball camp schedule:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/camps/

We will be releasing our fall camp schedule in June.