Dr. Jill Urban and Team Provide Youth Football Safety Event for Community

As high school and youth football resumes this week in the community, players will be safer thanks to the long-term research and education of Jillian Urban, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and the team in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The team’s research has found that coaches are critical to the development and safety of young athletes. They hosted a clinic at Wake Forest University Sutton Sports Performance Center and McCreary Field House on Saturday, July 13, as part “COACH: COmmunities Aligned to reduce Concussion and Head impact exposure.” COACH is an evidence-based program co-created with the community that seeks to improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes to promote effective and safe youth football practices. 

The program and clinic build on the 12-year research partnership with the local tackle football league, Piedmont Youth Football and Cheer League (PYFCL). The clinic was open to all youth coaches within PYFCL and this year the event has grown to over 200 attendees, including organizational leaders and team moms.

Highlights of the clinic included:

• A keynote speech from two Wake Forest Football players.
• A moderated panel of Forsyth County High School coaches discussing how to be a great coach.
• On-field rotations through practice drills and sports medicine stations. Forsyth County High School football coaches described how and why they do different drills in practice while Wake Forest Football players demonstrated the drills. 
• Interactive sports medicine rotations covered topics of concussion, CPR and heat illness presented by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist athletic trainers and resident physicians from the Department of Family and Community Medicine. 
• Additional stations on biomechanics and tackling form, practice planning, and helmet fitting. 

The research team will continue to partner with teams in the community to measure head impacts and injury outcomes from COACH during the season. This year’s clinic was funded by the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma and the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Special thanks to everyone who helped make the event possible:

• Jillian Urban, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
• Joel Stitzel Jr., PhD, Chair and Professor, Biomedical Engineering
• Christopher Miles, MD, Associate Professor, Family and Community Medicine 
• Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS, Professor, Implementation Science 
• Kristie Foley, PhD, MS, Chair and Professor, Implementation Science 
• Garrett Bullock, PhD, DPT, Assistant Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery
• Christopher Ina, MA, LAT, ATC, Manager, Athletic Training Services
• Kimberly Burbank, MD, Family Medicine Residency, PGY-3 
• Matthew Waldrop, MD, Family Medicine Residency, PGY-3, and Chief Resident