Consider sports participation as a pyramid, says Kevin Guskiewicz, the director of a traumatic brain injury research center at the University of North Carolina. At the top, in rarefied air, are our country's professional athletes, who represent just the thinnest sliver of participants. At the bottom, and spanning the base, are America's teenagers and younger children, who play football, baseball, basketball, soccer and other sports by the millions.

The many millions. In fact, estimates are that about 40 million young people in the United States play some kind of sport.

That is where we need to be focusing our attention, say Guskiewicz and other persons focused on head injuries. The increased attention given concussions by our professional sports leagues in recent years has been a boon for disseminating useful knowledge about head hit symptoms and treatments and helping the public become aware of the problem. Now the experts want the great bulk of educational efforts, testing and public campaigns to be focused at the high school level and below.

"The pros, as much as we spotlight them, have the better resources," says Gerard Gioia, neuropsychology director at the Children's National Medical Center. "It's our kids who need them more."

Participation levels in organized sports programs have skyrocketed over the past decade, and kids are faster and stronger than in previous generations.

Notably, too, their brains are still growing, and a hard hit head -- or worse, repeated hits -- can be comparatively much more serious than hits sustained by older players.

Those in the know -- doctors, trainers, coaches -- collectively voice a common refrain over and over: education, symptom awareness, assessment testing, treatment, rest.

Persons interested in further information about concussions and online awareness training can contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Related Resource: USA Today, "Testing helps change the game on youth concussions" May 25, 2011