From family ski trips to athlete protection: Wouter Van den Broecke on FIS’ new Concussion Guidelines

For Dr. Wouter Van den Broecke, involvement in snow sports did not begin in a hospital or at a major championship. It began as a parent on the sidelines.

An orthopedic surgeon specializing in knee surgery and sports medicine in Ghent, Belgium, Van den Broecke became involved in skiing when his sons took up the sport at a young age. What began with family participation soon grew into club involvement, travel and a close-up view of the realities athletes face: training, competition, injury, recovery and the extensive demands of life in snow sports.

“I’ve got three boys and a girl, and all three boys followed each other quite quickly into competitive skiing,” said Van den Broecke, in conversation with Inside FIS. “And because I believe it’s important for young children to do a lot of different sports to become rounded young athletes, I ended up managing a club and even creating our own one, to make sure we were on the right path.”

That experience now helps shape his work as Vice-Chair of the FIS Medical Committee and FIS Medical Supervisor for the Olympic Winter Games Milano-Cortina 2026, roles centered on one core priority: protecting athletes and helping the sport learn from injury.

His route into FIS, however, came via an unexpected twist. The spark was first lit by his time spent with Dr. Jacques Rogge, IOC President between 2001 and 2013, who worked at the same Ghent hospital when Van den Broecke was starting out in medicine.

And ahead of the FIS Congress in Cape Town in 2008, Van den Broecke recalls asking the Belgian Ski Federation if he could apply for a place on the FIS Medical Committee, only to hear nothing more. A few weeks later, out of curiosity, he searched his own name online and discovered that he had already been elected.

It was an unusual start, but one that led to years of growing involvement, increasing responsibility and medical supervisorships at FIS events around the world. Today, that long-term experience feeds directly into one of the Medical Committee’s latest pieces of work: the FIS Concussion Guidelines 2025 update.

The revised guidelines underline a clear and uncompromising message. Concussion must be taken extremely seriously to protect athletes’ long-term welfare. Any athlete suspected of having a concussion must be removed from action immediately and must not return to competition or training that day.

Medical assessment is essential, and before unrestricted return to action, medical clearance is mandatory. Above all, the guidance reinforces a simple principle: “If in doubt, sit them out.”

For Van den Broecke, the importance of updating the guidance was not driven by a sudden increase in concussion cases.

Van den Broecke also underlined how crucial it is for “athletes, coaches, physiotherapists and medical teams to understand the early recognition signs of concussion and what happens to your brain when you suffer one”.

The real need was to build on existing knowledge and make sure FIS guidance kept pace with the latest evidence. Van den Broecke heaped praise on the original concussion work within FIS from 2017 led by former Vice-Chair Jenny Schute, a member of the organization’s Medical Committee and Children and Youth Committee, and it was Schute who urged him to attend the 2022 International Conference on Concussion in Sport in Amsterdam on FIS’ behalf.

Following the publication of an updated international consensus in 2023 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it was clear that FIS also needed an updated framework reflecting the latest research and practice.

Working with his son, also an orthopedic surgeon and a former FIS alpine skier, Van de Broecke combined the earlier FIS material with the new international consensus and additional updated elements. The draft was then reviewed further by Professor Wolfgang Schobersberger, an IOC expert and fellow member of the FIS Medical Committee, as well as a neurology expert, before publication.

The result is a document that is both evidence-based and practical. Among the key updates are the inclusion of the Amsterdam 2022 Consensus, revised assessment tools such as SCAT6 and Child SCAT6, and a more up-to-date understanding of recovery. While earlier approaches often emphasized stricter rest, the updated guidelines reflect evidence showing that, after an initial 24 to 48 hours of relative rest, a gradual return to light physical activity can support recovery.

Just as importantly, the guidelines are designed for real-life use as a pocket-sized reference tool in snow sports environments. They stress the importance of early recognition, immediate removal from play, continued monitoring and a graduated return-to-play process. They also acknowledge that in some cases, the first people assessing a potential concussion may be coaches, parents or officials rather than doctors, making clear recognition tools especially valuable.

That practical focus is something Van den Broecke returns to repeatedly. In his view, the goal is not simply to publish a strong medical document, but to communicate new understanding in a way that helps protect athletes more effectively.

For FIS, that is the wider significance of the Concussion Guidelines 2025. They are not only an update to medical advice, they are a reflection of the federation’s broader commitment to participant safety, athlete welfare and the continuous improvement of care across snow sports.

And for Van den Broecke, whose own journey into the sport began as a father watching his children ski, that mission remains both professional and deeply personal. He has seen the sport from multiple angles: as a doctor, parent, club leader, official and a member of the international medical community.

That breadth of experience helps explain why his message is so clear: better concussion care is about more than protocol; it is about protecting the people at the heart of the sport.