HAMILTON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VoxNeuro and the Canadian Football League Alumni Association (CFLAA) are joining forces to offer objective cognitive assessment to CFLAA members, including Canadian football players, former CFL players, and other communities of interest. Through the partnership, these groups will also raise awareness of long term impacts of head trauma, like concussion. For ageing Canadians who have experienced head-trauma throughout their lives, a growing concern is understanding its relationship with cognitive decline.

Let’s start with the most obvious reason: The Canadian Football League is professional. COLD SNAP Canadian Pro Football Game sells for $49 postage-paid. Football game card sets range in price from $10 to $21, based largely on the number of cards in the set.International shipping is extra. Please review the ordering information page before placing your order. Dynasty leagues push fantasy football to its highest intensity, forcing owners to think like real-life general managers. Whether new or old to the format, we have strategy tips and draft advice. Edge rusher (alternately edge defender or simply edge) is a term designating a position in gridiron football.Some analysts consider 'edge rusher' to be its own position entirely. Players considered to be edge rushers are usually 4–3 defensive ends or 3–4 outside linebackers.Note that 3–4 outside linebackers often act as an extension of the defensive line, in that they will.

Under the terms of the agreement, VoxNeuro and the CFLAA will collaborate to share the message that long-term effects of head-trauma, from concussion and sub-concussive blows, are prevalent, and not exclusive to athletes who have dedicated their lives to playing impact or high-risk sports. Brain injuries can happen to anyone and each injury is unique - meaning they need to be assessed and treated accordingly.

“We are excited about our collaboration with VoxNeuro. The CFLAA is committed to provide health and wellness support to our members and to the community we serve. We can only do that by aligning with like minded partners. VoxNeuro and its team are such a partner.” - Leo Ezerins, Executive Director and Founder of CFLAA

The CFLAA and VoxNeuro will introduce a significant new neurotechnology to support the health of the CFLAA’s members. The neurotechnology, which assesses cognitive function in an easily accessible clinical setting, will give guidance to providing a solution to any cognitive deficiencies the CFLAA members are experiencing.

This partnership and neurotechnology have a historical tie - VoxNeuro was founded following a breakthrough study of ex-CFL players that used the neurotechnology VoxNeuro has since advanced and made clinically available, called Cognitive Health Assessments™.

VoxNeuro’s Cognitive Health Assessments™ combine imaging and functional tests, drawing on strengths from the most trusted brain assessments used clinically today. The data provided in a patient report differentiates between true cognitive decline and perceived decline due to symptoms caused by situational factors, such as stress, general fatigue or mood.

The ability to make these differentiations is massively impactful for this patient population who are uncertain about the health of their brain, and long-term impacts they may be experiencing from historical injuries. Regardless of the time post injury, the reports help healthcare professionals create targeted plans specific to a patient’s needs and track their performance over time.

VoxNeuro’s technology is the only cognitive assessment in the world today that uses objective, quantifiable neurophysiological data to inform healthcare providers & patients with the specifics of various cognitive brain functions, such as:

• Executive Function
• Memory
• Information Processing
• Concentration
• Attention
• Language Comprehension

The awareness campaign will involve various speaking engagements, events and collaborations with other not-for-profit organizations focused on brain health that both groups actively collaborate with, following the mission to improve brain health across Canada.

“Many CFLAA members have experienced numerous concussive and sub-concussive blows throughout their careers. VoxNeuro’s Cognitive Health Assessments™ objectively confirm if their historical injuries have had an impact on their brain function. If they have, their results provide data to help direct their healthcare plans. As a part of this collaboration VoxNeuro is excited to offer an exclusive discount for all CFLAA members to help them take control of their brain health.” - James Connolly, CEO of VoxNeuro

About the Canadian Football League Alumni Association

Founded in 2008, the CFLAA supports Canadian football, former CFL players, and other communities of interest while fostering collaborative relationships with CFL stakeholders and others that enhance the well-being of its members. The CFLAA is actively involved in philanthropy with not-for-profit organizations like Never Alone Foundation (through the Never Alone Rose Project), Alzheimer’s Canada, Canadian Men’s Health Foundation, CFL Fans Fight Cancer, and Canadian Concussion Center. The CFLAA is also actively involved in research, including a study of long-term neurocognitive function in their work with Canadian Concussion Center, led by Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, with an advisory committee led by Canada’s preeminent concussion doctor Dr. Charles Tator; as well as a study to explore the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, such as treating pain, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. The CFLAA is driven to find health and wellness solutions for its members to thrive and enjoy a full and dignified quality of life. www.cflaa.ca

About VoxNeuro

Founded on the world-renowned research of VoxNeuro’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. John F. Connolly, VoxNeuro is headquartered at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, ON, Canada. VoxNeuro’s Cognitive Health Assessments™ help healthcare professionals streamline individualized cognitive rehabilitation and training plans, and unlock the full potential of brain performance.

VoxNeuro is a platinum sponsor of Brain Injury Canada, sharing the central mission to enhance the lives of individuals, their families & caregivers living with brain injury. VoxNeuro is working with The Kite Research Institute (KITE), the research arm of Toronto Rehab – University Health Network (UHN), to complete a multi-month study at The Hull-Ellis Concussion and Research Clinic to demonstrate how VoxNeuro’s EEG/ERP data measurement techniques can improve how concussed patient’s cognitive function is assessed and managed. VoxNeuro is a member of the Canadian Technology Accelerators (CTA) first ever bi-coastal program dedicated to the development of high-potential, early-stage digital health start-ups into the San Francisco and New York healthcare ecosystems. The program is a global initiative led by the Government of Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service.

Cognitive Health Assessments™ are available at VoxNeuro Certified Clinics. www.voxneuro.com

Every few years, you’ll see a group of football people and entrepreneurs create a new league to either compete or provide complementary entertainment to the NFL. Not that any other entity is going to go head-to-head with the 800-pound gorilla anymore — the days of the American Football League going from zero to forcing a merger in seven years are gone for all kinds of reasons — but as they say, the more football, the better.

The newest league to try its luck is the Fan Controlled Football league, an indoor league created by Project Fanchise, which really got rolling in 2016 when Project Fanchise purchased an expansion team in the Indoor Football League for the 2017 season. Fan involvement was the predominant idea, with the idea that fans could gain equity in the league and even call the plays.

A version of 7-on-7 with a three-man offensive line, the FCF brand of football has teams starting at their own 10-yard line and attempting to travel 40 yards for touchdowns. There are no kickoffs, no punts, and no goal posts — extra points are determined by one-on-one battles between receivers and defensive backs. Team owners and co-owners include past and present NFL players Richard Sherman, Marshawn Lynch, Dalvin Cook, and Austin Ekeler.

The FCF reached out to Joe Montana in 2018, and he came on board as a key investor and Chief Strategic Officer. That involves assisting with the development of the league’s business strategy, including its approach for sponsors and partners; guiding the league’s front office operations, and ensuring its focus on fan engagement.

“They approached me with this idea, and I thought it was great,” Montana told me this week. “It’s great for a couple of reasons: You keep a lot of guys employed and on the radar of some of the teams in the NFL. On the other side of it, you’re creating something that the fans haven’t seen before, and it’s truly fan engagement — being able to call the plays, being able to be part-owner. I think the one-hour streaming on their app or Twitch — I think it speaks to where everyone is going today. It’s faster. Nobody really wants to sit there for three-and-a-half hours and watch games every weekend anymore.

“I think when you look at the engagement numbers — last week, we already had over 800,000 viewers, and what that leads into is hopefully more participation on the fan side, and seeing that the game is real, and you do actually have some say in called plays. I think that keeps the engagement high, and the hour goes really fast when you’re involved in the game.”

At that point, I had to turn the tables and ask: How would Joe Montana, as a quarterback, responded to fans calling your plays in, say, a Super Bowl — as opposed to, say, Bill Walsh?

“Well, isn’t the coach just a fan anyway?” Montana said with a laugh. “No. It’s fun to see… the quarterback gets plays called to him anyway, and I think having the fans involved more at that point, but also trying to make things happen with the fans. is going to do his best to make that play a success, no matter what comes in.”

(And honestly, I’d take an even bet with an FCF fan calling a passing game as opposed to, say, Adam Gase).

Perhaps the most prominent player in the FCF right now is Johnny Manziel, whose professional career hasn’t gone quite as well as Montana’s did. From the NFL to the Canadian Football League to the Alliance of American Football to FCF, Manziel has certainly had quite the world tour over the last decade. I asked Montana if he’d spoken to Manziel directly about how to create a professional rebound, and what he’d tell any quarterback at any level who’s trying to turn it around.

Canadian Football Vs American Football

“Yeah… I think the thing he has to prove is that he wants to play,” Montana said. “That he doesn’t want to play the games that are outside the game. Too much running around, too many things going on on the side, and not enough concentration on really showing an understanding of what it takes to play at that level. It can be a hard transition once you have that label, so it’s going to take twice as much work and twice as much dedication to be able to prove that he now has made changes in his life that will take those distractions away as he gets more and more involved in the games.”

American Football Strategy

(Perhaps sticking to one sport would help).

Pro Strategy Football

“A big reason I’m here is I’m a little bored,” Manziel told USA Today’s Josh Peter in February about his own involvement in the FCF. “I’ve been playing golf five days a week, hanging with my boys and playing cards and running around Scottsdale having a blast with a great group of friends that I’ve acquired out there. But I don’t have much of a schedule unless I create one, and I haven’t really created one.”

So… maybe it isn’t Manziel who’s interested in an NFL future. Perhaps it’s Josh Gordon, the ridiculously talented receiver whose battles with substance abuse have created unfortunate barriers to the NFL career his athletic gifts would otherwise ensure.

Canadian Football Players

You can find out more about the FCF here.