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Pop Warner Football is now asking players and parents take a course on concussion awareness.
From college to the pros, plenty of players took their first hits in Pop Warner leagues. Now, the organization is making sure both players and parents know exactly what a concussion is and what to do if they get one.
The training is called Crash Course. It's designed by researchers, coaches and athletes from Stanford University. It uses virtual reality to put kids in a scenario of being a running back and taking a hard hit. T Then, they make a choice: stay in the game or ask for help. The scenario plays out based on which decision the player makes.
"We're planning on having a meeting with the parents this weekend to talk to them about it,” said Eddie Fletcher with the organization.
Pop Warner is asking both the players and parents to watch the crash course video online.
Kawana Weeks, the mother of a quarterback, is excited to learn more about it.
“I think it's definitely very important,” she said. “That way, the first signs of a concussion we can do something about it."
Coaches for the St Phillips teams in Dallas already have to go through concussion training to be a coach. But Pop Warner says it's just as important that kids understand it as well.
11-year-old quarterback Tyren Polley already knows the basics.
"Like when somebody gets hit hard like it will affect their head real bad and have to go to the hospital,” he said.
A spokesperson for Pop Warner national office says for now the new training program is voluntary for parents and kids. It has plans of making it mandatory in the future.