Three Weeks Is the Minimum Stand-Down After a Junior Sport Concussion

A knock on a Saturday morning, a child sitting on the sideline a little quieter than usual, and a voice in your head asking whether you should ring the doctor or whether you’re fussing. You’re not fussing. Plenty of parents standing at the edge of a field have asked themselves exactly that, and it’s completely ordinary to feel unsure what happens next.

Here’s one small thing that makes it easier. If you suspect a concussion in sport, sit them out, keep them out for the rest of the day and have a doctor look at them as soon as you can, then learn one number from the Australian guidelines: for under-19s, at least 21 days before a return to competitive contact. Everything else in this post is the detail around that number, drawn from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and RACGP’s newsGP.

This is general information, not medical advice, and it describes the guidance as it stood on 14 June 2026. A GP assesses the individual child, and a GP is the right person to ask about yours.

What the Australian guidelines ask for after a suspected concussion in sport

The national reference is the AIS Concussion and Brain Health Position Statement 2024, funded by the Australian Government, together with the Australian Concussion Guidelines for Youth and Community Sport. The guidelines are written for under-19s and for community sport, which they describe as the setting “where healthcare practitioners are less likely to be available”. That describes a lot of weekend junior sport.

The 2024 update extended the minimum stand-down. The AIS page asks for “14 days symptom free (at rest) before returning to contact sport training, and a minimum of 21 days before returning to competitive contact”. It helps to read that slowly, because it’s two numbers doing two jobs. Fourteen days symptom-free at rest comes before contact training. Twenty-one days from the time of the concussion is the minimum before a match with contact. Neither one is a target to aim for. Both are floors.

RACGP’s newsGP reported the change on 2 February 2024. It said GPs should recommend that junior and community athletes wait at least 21 days before returning to competition, and that the 14 days run from when the athlete becomes symptom-free. It also quoted AIS Chief Medical Officer Dr David Hughes on the need for a conservative approach for people aged under 19 “who have growing brains”, and reported that the guidelines say an athlete with a history of multiple concussions “should be managed more conservatively by a clinical team with specific concussion training”.

The AIS page boils the rule of thumb down to one line: “If in doubt, sit them out!” If you carry only one sentence to the sideline, make it that one. It also means you don’t have to be sure about what happened. Doubt is enough. And because the figures are minimums, a child who says they feel fine a few days later is good news, but it doesn’t shorten them. The count, and the doctor’s view, still apply.

One number, two sentences: how the sources fit together

The hospital’s fact sheet carries two lines that can look like they disagree. In one place it says a child “should not return to sport for 21 days”. In the same section it mentions “a minimum of one week after the injury” in connection with normal game play. So which one counts?

For a concussion, the national statement and the hospital’s 21-day sentence govern. The sheet does not explain the one-week figure. It is the shorter of the two, and the 21-day sentence matches the national statement, so plan around the 21 days. The 2024 update extended the minimum stand-down, so an older or shorter figure you come across elsewhere may come from earlier guidance. If you meet two numbers, plan around the 21 days and ask the doctor.

The steps back, school first

The fact sheet lays out a ladder, and the order is the comforting part: school comes before sport. A child isn’t asked to do everything at once.

The first 24 to 48 hours are relative rest, which isn’t the same as strict rest. Daily activities carry on, with light activity such as walking, enough sleep and limited screen time. After that, the steps begin, and four ideas hold the whole ladder together.

First, leave at least 24 hours between steps. Second, move on only if there are no symptoms, or they’re mild and brief, meaning less than an hour. Third, in the school steps, if an activity brings on more than a mild, brief worsening, go back to the previous step; in the later sport steps (4 to 6), the sheet says a return of symptoms means going back to sport step 3 until they have resolved, including with and after exertion. Fourth, sport doesn’t start until the child is back at school full time.

You might find it easier to write the date each step began on the fridge or in your phone. Then the 24-hour gap is easy to check, and so is the step you’d return to if a symptom flares.

Steps back after a concussion, drawn from the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne’s fact sheet (RCH) and the AIS statement. It’s a summary of two sources, not a prescription.

Two rows carry most of the weight. Full-contact practice comes only after medical clearance, for example by a GP, and a return to normal game play isn’t before 21 days and not until every symptom has resolved. The first is a doctor’s decision. The second is a calendar plus a doctor’s decision. Everything before them is about patience, one small stage at a time.

Can they go to school, and do they need a certificate?

Parents tend to ask this on the Sunday night, when the week ahead starts to look complicated. School is part of the ladder, and it comes first. The hospital’s fact sheet says children “should not return to sport until they have successfully returned to school”. Its school steps include a part-time start, extra breaks, a quiet space at lunch and, where it’s needed, delayed tests. It also says to talk to your school about options.

On the certificate, the honest answer is that none of the sources cited here sets a rule on a school certificate or a letter. Schools set their own policies, so the helpful step is to ask the school what it needs, and to ask early. It’s wise not to assume that a GP will provide one, or that a school will ask for one. Those are local questions, and a short call to the school office usually answers them. For sport, the AIS guidelines point to a different document: a Concussion Referral and Return Form that a healthcare practitioner uses for clearance to return to contact activities. It’s worth asking the doctor whether they use it.

A few things are fair to raise when you ring. Ask whether the school can manage a part-time start, whether there’s somewhere quiet at lunch, and whether tests can be moved if your child needs that. Those are the same adjustments the fact sheet describes, so you’re not asking for anything unusual. You’re asking the school to join the ladder at the right stage.

When a doctor needs to see them

Some signs call for a hospital rather than a wait-and-see. The fact sheet says to go to a local hospital emergency department for unusual or confused behaviour or irritability, a severe or persistent headache not relieved by paracetamol, frequent vomiting, bleeding or discharge from the ear or nose, a fit or convulsion, difficulty waking or staying awake, or, in the sheet’s words, if they are “making you worried for any reason”. It adds that urgent care is needed too if symptoms worsen or new ones appear. That last phrase gives you permission. You don’t need a tidy reason.

As your child works back up the ladder, the same sheet lists what to watch for: headache, vomiting, feeling “in a fog” or not feeling right, balance problems or dizziness, sleep disturbance, being bothered by light or noise, confusion, slowed reactions, and being easily upset. If a child can’t advance a step without symptoms increasing substantially, the sheet says to see a doctor. If they still need support after two weeks, they should be reviewed by their GP. And full-contact practice happens only following medical clearance, for example by a GP.

That’s where a GP visit fits. A separate post on this site covers a different injury, foot and ankle problems, and says nothing about concussion, but it does look at what it means to ask your GP about something that’s worrying you. It may help you feel readier for the appointment itself.

Where parents’ views split, and where the guidance stands

Among parents, views on this tend to land in a few different places, and none of them makes anyone a bad parent. Some feel strongly that contact sport should stop after a concussion, often out of worry about lasting harm. Some follow the protocol: a stand-down of at least three weeks and a return in steps. And an older attitude says kids get knocked and should walk it off. The guidance doesn’t support that last one. “If in doubt, sit them out” says the opposite.

What the guidance does is narrower than any of those views. It doesn’t decide whether a family keeps playing contact sport. It sets a minimum stand-down, a staged return and a handover to a clinician, and it asks for more conservative management after multiple concussions.

Within that, there’s room for both instincts. A parent who steps a child out of contact sport after a first concussion isn’t overreacting. The AIS Chief Medical Officer has said “there is no such thing as a good concussion”, and the guidance itself leans cautious for under-19s. A parent who wants their child back after the stand-down and a clearance isn’t being careless either. Asking the doctor what the evidence says about your own child is entirely reasonable.

The conversation that settles it is the one with your child’s doctor. The guidelines are there to give you the minimums and a clear hand-off, not to make the family decision for you.

Steps Back, One at a Time

So here’s one step for the next Saturday. If you’re in doubt, sit them out. Write down the date of the knock. Book a GP visit. And plan on at least 21 days before a match.

It’s worth counting carefully. The AIS position statement says the 21 days run from the time of the concussion, with the day of the incident counted as day 0, and that the 14 symptom-free days run from when the athlete becomes symptom-free, not from the injury. newsGP reports the same (at least 21 days after sustaining a concussion), and the hospital sheet says a child “should not return to sport for 21 days” without saying when the count starts. Ask the doctor how the count runs for your child.

That’s the job for now. The rest can wait for the doctor.

Sources: Australian Institute of Sport, Concussion and Brain Health Position Statement 2024 (November 2024 edition) and Australian Concussion Guidelines for Youth and Community Sport (June 2024) (https://www.ausport.gov.au/concussion); Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Kids Health Info: Head injury, return to school and sport, reviewed December 2024 (https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Head_injury-return_to_sport/); RACGP newsGP, Three weeks on the bench for concussed players, 2 February 2024 (https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/three-weeks-on-the-bench-for-concussed-players)