Forty sports, health, and medical organizations have teamed up together as part of the Youth Sports Safety Alliance with the goal of improving safety in youth sports across this country. The Alliance is targeting the primary causes of death in youth sports including heat illness, sudden cardiac death, and brain injuries.
Second Annual Youth Sports Safety Summit
The second Annual Youth Sports Safety Summit was held on December 7, 2010 in Washington, D.C. to determine the progress that had been made during the last year on encouraging legislation, improving medical care, and supporting youth sports safety research (Grantham, J., 2011).
Created by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), the goal of the Alliance is a call for action by all organizations involved in advocating, educating, and promoting safety in youth sports. One of the new partnerships is the National Football league.
States with Concussion Legislation
During the recent Summit, the NATA announced a new partnership with the NFL to promote legislation across this country to raise awareness and protect young athletes from the consequences of concussion (Grantham, J., 2011). There are currently nine states in which concussion awareness and legislation to prevent the incidence of concussion and improve the management of concussion have been enacted including:
- Washington
- Oregon
- New Mexico
- Virginia
- Rhode Island
- Massachusetts
- Oklahoma
- Connecticut
- New Jersey
One goal of the new partnership is to get legislation enacted in the other 41 states. There is a lot of work ahead, but having the political influences of the NFL as well as their resources will certainly help the Alliance reach their goal.
The first legislation to protect youth athletes with concussion was enacted in the state of Washington and is known as the Zackery Lystedt law (Grantham, J., 2011). The law requires the following:
- Concussion education for youth athletes, parents, and coaches on an annual basis
- Immediate removal of a student athlete who appears to have suffered a concussion from play or practice
- Mandatory clearance of that student athlete by a health care professional trained in the evaluation of concussion.
With concussion awareness gaining attention at all professional and medical levels, the time is ripe for legislation to be passed throughout the country to protect and make sports safer for all athletes. Parents, coaches, and athletes need to do their part by becoming involved in one or more of the Alliance organizations to learn more about the steps they can take to help reduce catastrophic injuries in youth sports.
References
Grantham, J. (January, 2011). "Second annual youth sports safety summit a success". NATANews.
Terry Zeigler - Educating through writing with over twenty-five years of experience as a Kinesiology Professor and Certified Athletic Trainer.
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