HeadSmart Sports was created by grade school athletes. While a significant amount of information populates the internet and media outlets about the effects of head trauma and concussions, little focus has been placed on youth athletics.

Many of the original members of the organization participate in and promote youth football. Hearing and seeing the negative discussion surrounding tackle youth football started the discussion among the young athletes on the field. The players themselves wondered about head trauma and the possible lifelong effects associated with repeated blows to the head. In an effort to understand the issue, one young 10 year old football player, Michael Rebar, began the journey to creating a non-profit, now known as HeadSmart Sports.

Michael and some of the other young men involved in the game wondered if playing football meant they would inevitably suffer a brain injury that could change the course of their lives. They wanted to learn more, understand better, answer those questions and provide information to other young athletes on the topic. The evolution of that undertaking was to build an organization that would focus exclusively on growing resources for testing that could be used to potentially help provide those answers.

After developing the concept, creating the platform and starting the company, Michael knew he could not take the organization to a national level or make a substantial impact without help, so he turned to his likeminded friends. A group was formed; a group of young men and women who are as committed as he to learning more about the effects of head trauma and in raising awareness of the need for more studies and testing concerning the effects of head trauma.

The primary purpose of HeadSmart Sports is to raise resources for testing to help understand the effects of head trauma in youth athletics. Through baseline testing for all young athletes at the start of their athletic careers, we hope that young athletes can have a starting point from which to measure any impact on brain functioning following a blow to the head. Much is yet to be learned about concussions and head trauma despite the significant focus on these issues in recent years. HeadSmart Sports endeavors to support medical and scientific developments that uncover the facts about head trauma in youth sports.

The starting point for this work is to lobby for and raise funds so that all youth athletes can have a documented baseline before they step onto a sports’ field. In the event this athlete suffers a head trauma, this baseline can serve as an aid to understanding the extent of the injury and to establish a course of treatment. Possibly, this could prevent an early return to the game and reduce the risk of a reoccurrence during the brain’s healing period.

It is the goal of HeadSmart Sports to have baseline testing in place in every local organization, travel program and school with a sports program.