Due to the severe health consequences of sport related concussion (SRC), governments and sport governing bodies around the world have enacted numerous measures including changes to legislation and rules of the game, and increased emphasis on coach education. This study compared the legal consciousness of girls’ youth soccer coaches regarding concussion management under a statutory legal regime in the U.S. and a voluntary regime in Scotland by analyzing qualitative data through ten interviews of girls’ youth soccer coaches in Scotland and another ten interviews of girls’ high school soccer coaches in the U.S. Utilizing the socio-legal theory of legal consciousness, the findings support the idea that people make connections from their past experiences to shape their understanding of the law, broadly defined. We observed variance between U.S. and Scottish coaches’ legal consciousness. Overall, all coaches exhibited a version of conformity to and engagement with SRC management guidance and little resistance. Florida coaches displayed more conformity, likely due to the SRC education mandated by law. Scottish coaches who had coached in the U.S. previously demonstrated the strongest resistance. The findings suggest a need for continued improvement in the implementation of SRC laws and guidelines including updated training and better dissemination of educational materials.

This study investigated the legal consciousness of CrossFit coaches in Georgia and Florida, in the United States, regarding government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions. Legal consciousness can create a framework that allows us to understand how coaches’ behaviors may be consistent with, or different from, those that the law predicts. The researcher conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample. The uncompensated interviews lasted from 15 to 45 minutes and asked for the coaches’ thoughts on restrictions placed on gyms due to the pandemic. Utilizing this socio-legal theory as a lens, the study primarily found conformity to the law. However, there were examples of engagement with and resistance to the law. Coaches’ legal consciousness varied by ownership status, race, age, and political views. The findings support the idea that people make connections from their past experiences to shape their understanding of the law. This inter-disciplinary study contributes to the scant literature on legal consciousness applied to a sport and recreation context.

This paper discusses an externally-funded project into Scottish coaches’ awareness of the sports concussion prevention initiative, If in Doubt, Sit Them Out. It explores the short-term risks of concussion to youth participants in particular before analysing the data from interviews with ten coaches of girls’ football. The coaches’ apparent lack of awareness of the policy are highlighted and the possibility that the different resources in girls’ and boys’ football, and between girls’ performance and girls’ recreational participation, might impact on injury recognition and treatment, are explored. The paper highlights the need for further research into those areas, and the need to immediately address the apparently low levels of awareness of If in Doubt. With that in mind, proposals for both immediate and longer-term reform for its dissemination are introduced.

No abstract

None provided