When it comes to head injuries, the NFL gets most of the headlines.

But between 1.6 million to 3.8 million concussions occur each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and most are not occurring in pro football.

Maika Hanta knows all about this first-hand. She was a sophomore softball player at Maui High School two years ago. After a pinch-hit single, she tried to steal second base.

“I was tagged under the chin,” Hanta wrote in an essay. “Momentum threw me backwards and I hit the back of my head on the dirt. I felt like I was being swallowed by darkness as I was being lifted from the ground. Everything went black.”

You don’t have to be a football player to incur a serious brain injury. You don’t have to be male. In fact, recent studies have indicated females are more likely to suffer concussions than males — and with more symptoms and longer recovery time.

One recent study indicated female high school softball players are concussed at twice the rate of male high school baseball players. Female ice hockey players report concussions at a higher rate than football-playing boys.

Also, other research shows that high school athletes tend to suffer more severe symptoms and need longer recovery time than college or pro counterparts.

In Hanta’s case, she had to relearn some simple skills, like how to use a three-hole punch, and did not remember some major family events that had happened before her injury. Adverse reactions to stimuli including sunlight and crowds forced her to take a modified school schedule. Hanta said she “withdrew,” and “did not have the energy to go out with friends or participate in any team activities and socials.” She suffered from depression.

But she gradually got better. By the end of her junior year she had recovered well enough to return to a regular schedule and even earned a 4.0 GPA. She also was cleared to play sports again.

Hanta was recently selected as the winner of the first Brian Kajiyama Heart of a Warrior scholarship, which will go annually to a Hawaii high school senior headed to the University of Hawaii who has overcome great personal challenges.

Kajiyama is a UH graduate who is now an instructor at the school’s special education department. He was named a graduate assistant by coach June Jones in 2006, making him the first person with cerebral palsy to serve on a college football coaching staff. The scholarship was conceived by former Warriors assistant coach Jeff Reinebold, and is administered through the June Jones Foundation.

“Brian was a daily reminder of the power in belief, embodying true toughness and exhibiting what a positive attitude can accomplish,” Reinebold said. “This scholarship honors his true warrior spirit and ensures his inspirational story will continue to be heard.”

As will those of others who reflect his spirit, like Hanta.

Although her symptoms were severe and debilitating, Hanta battled back to a normal academic and social life. She returned to sports, too, competing in soccer, bowling and cross country at Maui High.

“My concussion was just the start of my life’s journey and does not define me,” she wrote. “I am no longer looking at my life through a haze but in clarity.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.