Michael Rebar is the founder and President of HeadSmart Sports. He is a grade school student at Visitation B.V.M. School in Trooper, Pennsylvania. Michael was 10 years old when he developed HeadSmart Sports, but he was born with a heart for giving.

Academics
Michael is an only child who lives in Audubon, Pennsylvania with his parents. He excels at academics with a 96+ grade point average, and is part of the Honor’s Mathematics program. He finished the 2014 – 2015 school year with Distinguished Honors. For his dedication to academics Michael was selected to the 2015 – 2016 Bux-Mont Youth Football League Scholastics Team and also to the Pop Warner Little Scholars Eastern Region Scholar Team.

Michael has also finished in the top five of students in his school in first in math since Kindergarten and earned his grades’ ELA award for the 2013 – 2014 school year.

Athletics
In addition to academics, Michael is passionate about youth sports. His sports career began at 5 years old which involved spending the majority of his time chasing bugs on the field during baseball, enjoying the half-time music in basketball, waiting for snack time with his teammates and capturing as many flags as possible in flag football even from his own team.

By the next year, at 6 years old, Michael started playing tackle football for Pop Warner with the Bux-Mont League, Methacton Warriors. It was through football he developed his work ethic, team spirt and athletic drive. Importantly, it is also where Michael developed the brothers he was not given by birth. Michael has mostly played at running back and free safety.

Michael also plays with Cal Ripken Baseball, a Division of the Babe Ruth League, for the Audubon Recreation Association (ARA) in their recreation and travel leagues. In addition, he is on the junior varsity baseball team for Visitation B.V.M. in the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). His favorite position is center field.

ARA and CYO are also Michael’s preferred basketball leagues. He was also selected as a travel team player for ARA’s Big Blue Basketball team. He was also chosen to run in the Penn Relays as a 10 year old in the 4 x 400 meters in 2015. He qualified for the Archdiocese finals in the 4 x 100 relays and earned regional medals in two track events for CYO in 2015.

Extra-Curricular Activities/Community Service

Michael has a strong commitment to giving. He participates in various roles in multiple charitable organizations, including but not exclusively the following: The John Shapiro Super Hero run to raise funds for pediatric cancer (his friends John and Catherine Bernstiel support this run in honor of a classmate who stricken with and passed away from cancer);

Hustle for the Muscle, a run to raise funds for research for Muscular Dystrophy (where his friends Michael and Liz Chipman are extremely active in support of their brother Christopher who suffers from the disease);

Equipment collection for the Rancho Arriba Child Development Center in the Dominican Republic mission for the Fairview Village Church of the Nazarene (an endeavor in which his friends Nate and Caleb Fisher are actively involved and travel to the Dominican to work on the Center development);

Local community is important to Michael and his family and to that end, Michael also participates in the Lower Providence Historical Society. Additionally, he helps various local sports teams raise money for continued play and participates in multiple service projects through the CYO.

When he is not playing sports, studying or giving back, Michael plays the snare drum in the Visitation B.V.M. band, participates in the drama and chess clubs at school and takes piano lessons after school. He will soon be starting practice to become an altar server.

Future Goals

Michael, at current, endeavors, to practice medicine or engineering if he is unsuccessful in earning a professional athletics contract. He also aspires to continue being a wonderful son, grandson and friend.

Philosophy

Michael believes that success in life comes with hard work and dedication. He commits to the concept that nothing is free and anything worth having is earned. He is dedicated to always working harder than others and he understands that while winning isn’t everything, striving to win is the key to achieving your goals. He thinks that you are a better person for helping others and that being a person with great character is more important than being great at something. Success to him is having a positive impact on those around you.

Mission

HeadSmart Sports was founded by Michael based on his interest in the interface between science and sports. With the recent attention on concussions, Michael endeavored to understand the issue better, especially in light of his love for tackle football. He learned that permanent neurological impairment is possible from head trauma suffered in even youth sports. Because of his passion for sports and his love of academics, Michael wanted to bring awareness to the issue and educate other young athletes on brain injuries. So he created an organization run by kids, based on kids, and centered on fully understanding the science behind head trauma.

Participation in HeadSmart Sports requires a demonstration of knowledge of the core aspects of head trauma in athletics and the principles behind baseline testing. The kids who are involved are committed to increasing awareness, and to achieving 100% participation in baseline testing across the county for all youth athletes prior to beginning any sports where head trauma is a risk.

Michael wants this organization to grow to a national level and he wants to partner with major sports affiliates to provide more education and testing for youth athletes across the country.