Football Toronto / Coaches and trainers
Helping coaches
and trainers
navigate concussions
You are the person who decides, in the moment, whether an athlete goes back in. Everything below exists to make that decision easier and to support the recovery that follows, on the field and in the classroom.
This page is a resource, not medical advice. It does not replace assessment, diagnosis, or direction from a physician, nurse practitioner, or other qualified medical professional. Where your school board's policy differs from anything here, the board policy governs.
Remove the athlete from play and follow the removal and return steps on the concussion safety page.
Two things to read before the season
Football Canada's Safe Contact guidance for coaches, and the helmet fitting handout. Fit checks are a coaching responsibility, and they are the cheapest prevention available to you.
Documents and resources
Two roles, same three sources
Parachute, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, and the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit each publish a version for the sideline and a version for the classroom. Most high school coaches need both.
- PDF / Parachute CanadaConcussion guide for coaches and trainers Recognition, removal, and your responsibilities at the moment of injury.
- PDF / Ontario Neurotrauma FoundationSupporting a child or adolescent with concussion The coach's role during recovery and through a staged return to sport.
- Online course / BC Injury Research and Prevention UnitConcussion awareness training for coaches Free self-paced training with a completion record you can keep on file.
- PDF / Parachute CanadaConcussion guide for teachers What a recovering student needs from the classroom, and what to watch for.
- PDF / Ontario Neurotrauma FoundationSupporting a student with concussion Accommodations and the return-to-learn stages that precede return to play.
- Online course / BC Injury Research and Prevention UnitConcussion awareness training for school professionals Free self-paced training built for teachers and school staff.
Keep this page current
Know a resource we should add?
Guidance changes as the research does. If something here has been superseded, or your board has issued protocols Toronto coaches should be working from, tell us and we will update this page.
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