Cheerleaders scarred in battle, but still buoyant

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Money a hurdle to hiring trainers at all high schools

More than 18 months after the deaths of two North Carolina high school football players from head injuries, more than half the state's public high schools do not have certified athletic trainers despite recommendations from the state's high school sports safety committee and one of the top concussion experts in the nation.

Because of a lack of funding, only 156 of the N.C. High School Athletic Association's 379 member schools have a certified athletic trainer, according to the N.C. Athletic Trainers Association. Hiring trainers for all schools, which would cost about $21.5 million, was a key component of the guidelines developed by the safety board after the concussion-related deaths of the two football players during the 2008 season.

The guidelines also included requiring a physician's approval before a player can return to action after a concussion.

Football players gauge ImPact

This week, before the hitting begins in earnest, most of the football players in Wake County Schools are receiving an ImPact test (Immediate post concussion assessment and cognitive test) that could help save their lives.

The test is taken on a computer, takes about 25 minutes and gives athletic trainers a method to help assess a player's recovery after a concussion.

"It is a tool, not the tool," said Jenna Fonseca of Carolina Family Practice and Sports Medicine. "Trainers will look at many things before deciding if a player can return to practice or games, but this gives them one more tool to use."

Brain test makes an impact on reporter

Last week, I joined about 3,000 Wake County high school athletes in taking the ImPACT test.

There is no passing or failing score, but in the aftermath of the test -- which establishes a baseline to evaluate a player's brain function -- I felt like I had been through a strenuous mental workout. It reminded me of the days of SATs and GMACs.

I grabbed a laptop computer at Carolina Family Practice and Sports Medicine in Cary and slowly worked my way through questions about my general health and previous concussions before getting down to the real work of taking the cognitive portion of the test.

Danita Davis gives voice to those silenced by abuse

Danita Davis knows the burden of a secret.

During a decade of abuse, she hid a slashed finger, a fractured pelvic bone, cigarette burns on her forearm -- injuries unleashed by a man she had once loved enough to marry. It was a nurse at a hospital emergency room who detected Davis' secret and insisted she flee her abusive marriage.

That was nearly 20 years ago, the span of her youngest daughter's life. Since then, Davis, 44, has been shouting her long-kept secret from stages and lecterns in hopes of helping other battered partners.

Girls take male wrestlers to the mat

Before a match, when Lauren Clark-Johnson is silently preparing for her opponent, she can blend into a gym full of boys at a high school wrestling meet.

As a competitor in the 112-pound weight class, she has a wiry physique typical for a high school wrestler.

Once a match begins, Clark-Johnson, one of the best girl wrestlers in the state, no longer blends in with the boys. She often beats them.