DALLAS _ First came the knockout, the hit to the head from either an elbow or another person's head _ really, he's still unsure _ that left 17-year-old Tommy Lamberth lying unconscious on the club soccer tournament field.
Then came the trip to the emergency room for 13 stitches above his left eye and two soccer practices the next week.
Soon came the anxiety and panic attacks. A few years later came the discovery of an irregular spot on his brain that likely developed, his doctor said, because of repeated hits to the head as a youth soccer player.
One thing that never came? A specific concussion diagnosis.
For the former Dallas Lake Highlands soccer player and current Richardson (Texas) Pearce boys soccer assistant coach, the quick return and disregard for ensuing headaches and dizziness was the norm when his accident occurred in the early 2000s.
But medical advancements and societal education about the consequence of head injuries has since advanced, and spreading awareness about the frequency of concussions in soccer has become a priority for experts in the field.
National, state and local statistics show soccer presents some of the highest concussion rates in youth sports.
While the soccer data trails football in most studies and often in media attention, Lamberth's long-term mental health fallout and new perspective as a coach underscores the dangers, caution and progress involved with concussions in the sport.
"Concussions weren't on my radar at all growing up, and why would they be?" Lamberth said. "It wasn't something that was talked about very much. The symptoms were so generic, like headache, dizziness. It's like, well that could be anything, so how do you ever know?"
