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There has been a remarkable increase in the past 10 years in the awareness of concussion in the sports and recreation communities. Just as sport participants, their families, coaches, trainers, and sports organizations now know more about concussions, health care professionals are also better prepared to diagnose and manage concussions. As has been stated in the formal articles in this special issue on sport-related concussion, education about concussion is one of the most important aspects of concussion prevention, with the others being data collection, program evaluation, improved engineering, and introduction and enforcement of rules. Unfortunately, the incidence of concussion appears to be rising in many sports and thus, additional sports-specific strategies are required to reduce the incidence, short-term effects, and long term consequences of concussion. Enhanced educational strategies are required to ensure that individual participants, sports organizations, and health care professionals recognize concussions and manage them proficiently according to internationally recognized guidelines. Therefore, this paper serves as a “brief report” on a few important aspects of concussion education and prevention.

Sleep concerns are prevalent among student-athletes and can result in impaired athletic and academic performance. The current study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a brief sleep workshop for student-athletes. Athletes (N = 152) completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires (n = 104) after the intervention. Greater than half of the athletes (51%) who attended the workshops and followup reported at least one change in sleep behaviors. Results revealed a significant decrease in sleepiness from baseline to follow-up and an improvement in daytime functioning. Although athletes reported an increase in problematic sleep hygiene behaviors, they recorded significant increases in sleep knowledge from baseline to follow-up, which was maintained at the second follow-up. These longitudinal data provide evidence that a brief psychoeducation sleep workshop for student-athletes is promising for improving sleep knowledge and daily functioning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in changes to the structure of sport and the experiences of athletes. In this commentary, we consider how these changes, including schedule disruptions and the early termination of careers, have contributed to a reconsideration of how athlete transition should be defined, examined, and intervened upon. We outline our rationale for this proposed reconfiguration, including implications for researchers and practitioners working with athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. For researchers, we recommend updating the transition definition, reconsidering the measurement of salient transition-related variables, and utilizing study designs/methods that best facilitate this work. For practitioners, we recommend considering the dynamic nature of transition within holistic athlete care, building momentum on mental health destigmatization achieved during the pandemic, athlete transition education, and clinician advocacy for transition-related resources for athletes. Ultimately, we hope this work will spark continued innovations in athlete transition research and practice moving forward.