Player Safety

Grand Valley Youth Football is committed to providing a safe and rewarding football experience for all athletes. Please refer to this page for information on concussion awareness and return to play protocol and to report a football related injury.

Incident Report forms should be completed by a coach or team manager any time an injury occurs to a player during practice or a game if the injury results in the player missing time. Incident Report forms should be completed and submitted to GVYF within 48 hours of the time of the injury. There is an online form and a PDF form available for your convenience.

Following a concussion, youth athletes should have physical rest and relative cognitive rest for a few days to allow their symptoms to improve. In most cases, after no more than a few days of rest, the athlete should gradually increase their daily activity level as long as their symptoms do not worsen. Once the athlete is able to complete their usual daily activities without concussion-related symptoms, the second step of the return to play progression can be started. The athlete should not return to play until their concussion-related symptoms have resolved and the athlete has successfully returned to full school/learning activities.

When returning to play, athletes should follow a stepwise, medically managed exercise progression, with increasing amounts of exercise.

Below is an example of a return to play progression.