The Brain Game Foundation
The Brain Game Foundation brings athletes, service members, families, researchers, medical professionals, and communities together to advance understanding of concussion, traumatic brain injury, and long-term brain health.
Save the Date
Jackson Brain Game and Conference — July 30–31, 2027
Jackson, Wyoming · More details coming soon
Utah Brain Game 2026 has concluded. See Utah 2026 highlights.
Why Brain Game Exists
Brain Game was born from one family's experience and a determination to help athletes and families better understand the effects of repeated head impacts, concussion, and traumatic brain injury.
What began with Nils and JoAnn became a gathering — then a movement. Researchers, physicians, coaches, players, and parents in one room, talking to each other instead of past each other.
The Problem
We will not overstate the science. We will make it clear, honest, and useful — for a parent on game night as much as for a clinician.
01 / Concussion
A concussion is a brain injury, not a bruise. Force transmitted to the head sets off a cascade of metabolic and functional changes that can affect memory, balance, mood, and sleep — often without anything showing on a standard scan.
02 / Repeated Impacts
Many head impacts in sport never cause obvious symptoms. Researchers are studying how repeated sub-concussive exposure accumulates over a career, and why recovery time between impacts appears to matter as much as the impacts themselves.
03 / Long-Term Health
Who is most at risk, how risk can be reduced, and how brain injury can be detected earlier — in sport and far beyond it, from service members to first responders. The honest answer is that important questions remain open, which is exactly why funding research and educating communities matters now.
A National Emergency
It is — but it is so pervasive in society that it is a national emergency. It affects our military most of all, along with fighter pilots, astronauts, race car drivers exposed to sustained G-force, water rescue crews, law enforcement, and battered women and children.
Blast exposure, training impacts, and repeated concussion make service members among the most affected populations of all.
Sustained G-force, ejection loads, and launch and re-entry stress place extraordinary demands on the brain.
Race car drivers absorb high-G deceleration and vibration over long careers, not only in crashes.
Surf impacts, swift-water operations, and rescue work carry a head-injury risk that is rarely tracked.
Assaults, falls, vehicle collisions, and use-of-force encounters accumulate across years on duty.
Battered women and children experience repeated head trauma that is often never medically evaluated.
Where Science Meets Community
Brain Game creates environments where scientists, physicians, athletes, coaches, parents, former players, and affected families learn directly from one another — in plain language, in the same room.
Findings reach the people who need them years faster when the distance between a laboratory and a locker room is a conversation.
2
Countries hosting Brain Game
300
Free seats at Utah 2026
0
Cost to attend, ever
Brain Game Events
Brain Game is a growing international movement, not a series of isolated events.
Upcoming · Save the Date
Raising awareness. Advancing research.
Building community. Changing lives.
Concluded · Utah 2026
Legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg — the real-life inspiration for “Jerry Maguire” — spoke and held a book signing at the 2026 conference.
Utah 2026 · On the Ice
Anthem, saves, celebrations, and the handshake line — from the Nils Erik Söderlund Memorial Game.
Research & Education
The Foundation should be useful even when no event is happening. Physician interviews, concussion guides, and research summaries written for people who are not scientists.
Concussion guides
Research summaries
Physician interviews
Parent resources
Coach resources
Peer-reviewed links
Stories From the Game
Athletes, parents, researchers, coaches, former players, and people living with brain injuries. Their stories are the Foundation's most durable asset.
Athlete
A former junior player on what he wishes someone had told him at sixteen — and what he tells his own team now.
Parent
A mother's account of the weeks after her daughter's concussion, and the questions that changed her family's approach to return-to-play.
Researcher
A neuroscientist on the discipline of honest uncertainty, and why overclaiming does more damage to athletes than silence.
Story library in development. Have a story to share? Tell us.
Join the Brain Game Community
Get new research, athlete stories, upcoming Brain Game events, and ways to participate delivered to you.
Ways to Take Action
Every version of support moves the same mission forward.
Join an upcoming Brain Game event and learn directly from researchers and clinicians.
ContinueSupport research partnerships, free education, and community programs.
ContinueBecome an organizational, corporate, medical, or community partner.
ContinueHelp support events and Foundation initiatives on the ground.
ContinueStart a Brain Game in your own community, club, or region.
Continue
