Current Popular Topics in Youth Sport Safety

Taking inspiration of the recent State of Union Address I thought I would take some time to scour the Internet to see what types of things are brewing in the area of youth sport safety.  As always, concussions at all levels are a hot topic, but what else has happened in recent weeks that you might have missed?

 
Padded Caps Approved for MLB Pitchers
This has been a widely reported story in recent days.  I applaud MLBs efforts to address a growing problem in professional baseball.  If pitchers make the decision to wear the caps (it’s currently optional) it may protect them from hits directly to the front and side of the head.  I do have concerns that it may provide a false sense of security given the fact that it does not protect the face, jaw or ear region of the head and face.  Some of the most severe injuries of late resulted in hits to the head in the ear area; a region not currently protected by the new cap.  Perhaps this is the first step to face shields at all levels of baseball.

New York City Councilman Proposes Youth Football Safety Act

Councilman Levin has proposed legislation that will require a physician and/or athletic trainer be available at all youth football games and full contact practices for teams that use Department of Education or Parks and Recreation fields in New York City.  The leagues impacted by the legislation would be PSAL, Catholic High School League and Pop Warner.  The proposal has been supported by the New York State Athletic Trainers’ Association (NYSATA).  I hope this move is the beginning of mandating necessary coverage with all youth sport leagues around the country.

Girl Soccer Players Play With Concussions

Recent research from the University of Washington shows that young girls often continue to player soccer through concussion symptoms.  Additionally, many of them did not seek evaluation, even after the match concluded.  It’s not just young football players who want to continue to play after suffering a concussion, you must be diligent with all youth sports.

Friday Night Tykes Continues to be a Hot Topic

Sports at a young age are supposed to be about fun and learning sport and life skills, but Friday Night Tykes is quite the opposite.  The growing concerns regarding the culture and behaviors chronicled in the show continues.  The concern has grown to such a level that the National Athletic Trainers’ Association has issued an official statement regarding the show and its disregard for player safety.

Are Hit Counts Going to Become the Reality in Youth Sports

Supported by the Sports Legacy Institute, Hit Count® is a program that utilizes impact sensors to track the number of hits a player receives in any given game or practice.  If a player receives a certain number of hits (20G force or greater of linear acceleration) they would be removed from play.  There are some concerns whether the program is realistic given the cost to implement the program.  Also, can it be implemented in non-helmet sports such as soccer?

Researchers Test a Protocol to Diagnose Heart Conditions That Could Lead to SCA

Efforts continue to find an appropriate and fiscally reasonable test that could be included as part of a typical sports pre-participation physical to detect potentially fatal heart conditions.  The intention would be to reduce the incidence of SCA in young athletes.

Surveyed NFL Players More Concerned About Knee Injuries

A recent anonymous survey of over 200 players shows that players are more concerned with sustaining a knee or leg injury since it is seen as potentially more immediately career end than suffering a concussion.  This is despite the available information that continues to demonstrate the long-term effects of suffering repeated concussions.

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

A4IA Featured in Wall Street Journal Article

A Wall Street Journal article published on September 16, 2013 brings attention to cervical spine injuries in high school sports and recent tragedies.  The article features A4IA and the work we're doing through the ASA Program to educate students on how to recognize such injuries,  The hope is these efforts will help prevent cervical spine injuries and have a more positive outcome in situations where these injuries do occur.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

Mike Ryan, Head Athletic Trainer for Jacksonville Jaguars Joins A4IA

Head Athletic Trainer for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mike Ryan, PT, ATC, PES is the newest member of the Medical Advisory Board for Advocates for Injured Athletes.  He comes to A4IA with 25 years of experience working in the NFL and involvement with a variety of organizations ranging from the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society, Korey Stringer Institute and Gatorade among others.  Mike was drawn to A4IA after speaking with Beth and hearing Tommy’s story and how a potential tragedy was averted.  He is also an advocate for increasing the number of athletic trainers in the high school setting and understands the value of the ASA™ program and the athletic trainers who teach it. 

Mike has achieved a life-long dream by becoming a head athletic trainer in the NFL.  Once his high school guidance counselor made him aware of the athletic training profession he took an almost single-minded focus toward achieving his goal.  He did not achieve this goal on his own, but with the help of many mentors along the way including Carl Krein, Head Athletic Trainer at Central Connecticut State University and Ronnie Barnes, Head Athletic Trainer for the New York Giants to name a few.  They gave of their time and knowledge to help him be the outstanding professional he is today.  In the same way they mentored him, Mike has worked to mentor and give back to others.  Mike’s desire to mentor others and give back is exciting for A4IA and the ASA™ program.  Mike’s experience and outlook on advocating for athletic trainers and athlete safety will be extremely valuable in expanding the impact of the ASA™ program to more and more youth athletes.

Mike has been in the NFL long enough to really see the focus on player safety increase.  There are several organizations associated with the NFL, athletic trainers and sports medicine that are working diligently to make the game safer for all players.  The focus covers a variety areas from rule changes to injury management and injury documentation expectations.  Unfortunately, player safety at any level is not an exact science, but he believes efforts to improve player safety should continue.  He believes the value of the ASA™ program is in its potential to provide peace of mind for parents who can be assured their children are safer.  Their children will be safer because the program has resulted in an increased number of athletic trainers at youth events as well as preparing teammates to help each other recognize potentially dangerous situations.

Mike is an athlete himself, completing six (6) Ironman Triathlons and numerous international extreme athletic events.  He loves the challenge and the opportunity to travel to see different cities while pushing himself to his limits. Mike believes in the positive benefits of sports participation not only for himself, but for others.  Benefits such as improved self-confidence, teamwork and meeting a challenge can potentially be part of the value of the ASA™ program because it can help keep more youths involved in sports.  The ASA™ program can potentially minimize the number of parents who opt against sports participation for their children feeling as though the safety concerns outweigh the positive benefits. 

In the brief phone conversation I had with Mike I could hear his passion for his work as well as for challenging himself and giving back.  He said it best himself, “I always want to feel that at the end of the day I am better than I was when I woke up.”  To that end, he works hard to keep his athletes healthy and gives freely of his knowledge to others.  A4IA is proud to be one of the organizations Mike has agreed to give his talents to, it will only make A4IA and the ASA™ program better.  A4IA believes very strongly in collaboration in order to maximize what we’re able to offer and Mike is now a part of that collaborative effort.  If you want to learn more about Mike and his passion for sports medicine and fitness check out his website HERE.  Welcome to A4IA and the Medical Advisory Board!

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

Athletic Training Advocacy: Personal Reflections

“Everybody Needs an Athletic Trainer” is the slogan for 2013 as National Athletic Training Month (NATM) quickly approaches.  Each year in March those of you who have been working in the trenches healing bodies and minds or challenging the next generation of professionals to do it better than we did take a moment to remind everyone else what we do and who we are.  This year’s slogan is particularly appropriate given the growing push for the availability of athletic trainers at the high school and youth levels in order to provide improved safety and health care for athletes of all ages.  This slogan has also become particularly meaningful for me personally.  I recently found myself relocating to San Diego after over 10 years in New York Metro teaching the next generation of professionals wondering how I was going to contribute.  Thanks to Beth Mallon and A4IA I am developing a new role as an advocate for both professionals and young athletes by trying to find informational, educational, and inspirational stories to blog about each week. 

This week I have decided to write about something very personal to me that may help you all understand why I take the time each week to bring you new information about how to make your families and yourself safer when participating in physical activity.  Perhaps after I tell this story you will understand why A4IA is so important to me and why I hope for the day when all athletes can participate under the supervision of a highly trained athletic trainer as part of a broader safety plan. 

The story begins back in 2001 when I was a first year assistant athletic trainer at a smaller Division I institution in New York.  I relocated to New York from Corvallis, Oregon following the completion of my graduate assistantship with the women’s soccer program.  It was mid-November and I was finally starting to settle in.  I has just completed my first women’s soccer season, I was getting to know the men on the baseball team and was looking forward to getting used to the surroundings and culture of New York, since I wasn’t traveling for games every weekend.

This particular afternoon started like any other.  It was slow since many of the soccer players were off enjoying the end of the season and the baseball team was just outside on the quad doing some conditioning work.  I was in the athletic training facility catching up on paperwork and going through an assignment with a student, when everything changed. 

One of the pitchers ran in yelling, saying that something was wrong with one of the other players and I needed to run outside quickly.  I knew without asking something was terribly wrong, grabbed a pocket mask and my phone, and ran outside.  I arrived to find one of the players lying face-up on the field, unresponsive, not breathing and without a pulse.  I immediately instructed the coach to contact 9-1-1 and instructed the student who followed to retrieve the AED (which we has just received a few weeks before) and immediately began CPR.  I continued CPR until the AED arrived at which time it was applied and activated.  During this time, the ambulance arrived and the young man was transported to the hospital.  I followed the ambulance to the emergency department and waited for family, coaches and other relevant personnel to arrive, during this wait I was notified that the young man did not survive.  I was shocked.

That young man was named Jerry Gambardella and he was 19 years old.  He was one of the most happy-go-lucky men I had ever met and now he was gone.  I had done everything I could and all we could do is live with the pain of his loss.  I will never forget the look on his teammates’ faces or the sobs from his parents as they were told of his passing.  That particular baseball season would be the longest in my career.   We were all just trying to find a way to get back to normal, but with Jerry being gone we knew nothing would ever be the same.

It has been over 12 years since that fateful day in my career and I still remember it as if it happened yesterday.  Over time, I have come to understand that despite the fact that I had acted appropriately and was fortunate enough to have an AED available (not common at the time) that sometimes we cannot help everyone.  While Jerry may be gone, I have always tried to use that experience to push myself to be a better professional.  I think that it can be easy to fall in the trap of, “but that will never happen to me.”  The truth is, it can.  Emergencies do not consider whether you have prepared for the possibility, you are a new professional or you have been providing care for years; they just happen.  You need to be ready, whether you are a parent, an athlete, a health care professional. 

I have spent the years since that event trying to help students learn having to save someone’s life is part of the job description of an athletic trainer, anytime you are working.  Have a plan, so when it happens you will be ready.  While Jerry’s story did not end happily, I am determined to use his story to help others have a positive outcome.  I am not currently teaching students, but through A4IA, I hope to continue to advocate for the availability of athletic trainers at more events and occasions as well as help parents and athletes be more prepared to prevent and survive potential emergencies.  

I hope Jerry  and his family would be proud of the work I have done through the years.  Jerry's family did set up a scholarship program in his honor.  If you'd like to know more about that program, or even make a donation:  Jerry Gambardella, Jr.Scholarship

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

4th Annual Youth Sports Safety Alliance Summary

The Youth Sports Safety Alliance (YSSA), founded by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), hosted its fourth annual summit February 5-6, 2013 in Washington, DC.  YSSA, created in 2010 with the goal of “raising awareness, advancing legislation, and improve medical care for young athletes” according to their website.  The alliance currently includes over 100 members, all with this one goal in mind.  Advocates for Injured Athletes is among the alliance members and Beth Mallon was a speaker at the summit as a parent advocate.  She was among several prominent advocates and researchers who are trying to make sports participation safer for all athletes.

The summit launched the National Action Plan for Sports Safety and introduced the Student-Athlete Bill of Rights.  The primary focus was improving sports safety and achieving appropriate medical care at the secondary level.  The specific focus was on 1) cardiac events, 2) neurological injuries, 3) environmental/exertional injuries, and 4) substance-induced conditions.  Many of the speakers and others in attendance met with and lobbied legislators around these topics.

“Momentum continues to build for comprehensive action to protect student athletes.  Public interest has remained strong; however, much of the focus remains on concussion in high school athletes despite the higher number of student athletes in all grades that suffer other serious or even fatal injuries.”

                                                                        -NATA Press Release

SPEAKER LIST:

James L. Thorton, MA, ATC, CES President National Athletic Trainers' Association

Christopher Nowinski, founder Sports Legacy Institute

Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, University of Connecticut; Korey Stringer Institute

Dawn Comstock, PhD, Colorado School of Public Health at University of Colorado, Denver

Beth Mallon, Founder Advocates for Injured Athletes and Alliance representative

Charles Gfeller, Esq.

Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:  Matthew Gfeller Sport Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center

NATIONALACTION PLAN FOR SPORTS SAFETY:

The plan includes a brief list of general recommendations as well as condition specific recommendations around cardiac events, neurological injuries, environmental/exertional injuries, and substance-induced conditions.  The general recommendations are as follows:

• Require that all schools have a comprehensive athletic health care administrative program and an athletic health care team to prevent and immediately manage injuries and illnesses.  The team consist of a physician, athletic trainer, school nurse or other health care professional and the athletic director.

• Require that all schools assure safe practice and safe play facilities appropriate to each sport to reduce accidents and the spread of disease.  Safe facilities are regularly inspected and maintained, routinely cleaned to avoid spread of disease and accessible to treatment and/or transport areas.

• Require that all schools provide permanent, appropriately equipped areas in which injured athletes may be evaluated and treated by health care professionals, because early assessment and intervention encourages proper healing and decreases the risk of re-injury.  Having a designated area is critical in the management of life- or limb-threatening conditions.

• Require that all schools have a place for confidential conversations with athletes and parents about medical issues.

• Require that all schools have a plan for selection, fit, function and proper maintenance of athletic equipment, as well as training for school staff.

• Require that all schools have injury and illness prevention strategies, including protocols for environmental conditions.  Educated personnel in every sport should understand and utilize professional guidelines for preventing and treating injuries and sports-related illnesses.

• Require that all schools inform athletes and parents of the potential risks in sports as well as their individual responsibility to avoid and minimize injuries. 

• Parents should educate themselves in the potential benefits and risks of optional protective equipment.

• Advocate for the creating of a national fatality registry of secondary school athletes who have died during or as a result of sports-related injuries, such as cardiac arrest, neurologic damage, steroid abuse, etc.

STUDENTATHLETE BILL OF RIGHTS:

Student Athletes have the right to be coached by individuals who are well trained in sport-specific safety and to be monitored by athletic health care team members.

Student Athletes have the right to equality, regular pre-participation examinations and each athlete has the right to participate under a comprehensive concussion management plan.

Student Athletes have the right to participate in sporting activities on safe, clean playing surfaces, in both indoor and outdoor facilities.

Student Athletes have the right to utilize equipment and uniforms that are safe, fitted appropriately and routinely maintained, and to appropriate personnel trained in proper removal of equipment in the case of injury.

Student Athletes have the right to participate safely in all environmental conditions where play follows approved guidelines and medical policies and procedures, with a hydration plan in place.

Student Athletes have the right to a safe playing environment with venue-specific emergency action plans that are coordinated by the athletic health care team and regularly rehearsed with local emergency personnel.

Student Athletes have the right to privacy of health information and proper referral for medical, psychosocial and nutritional counseling.

Student Athletes have the right to participate in a culture that finds “playing through pain” unacceptable unless there has been a medical assessment.

Student Athletes have the right to immediate, on-site injury assessments with decisions made by qualified sports medicine professionals.

Student Athletes have the right, along with their parents, to the latest information about the benefits and potential risks of participation in a competitive sports including access to statistics on fatalities and catastrophic injuries to youth athletes.

 When my son was injured in 2009, little did I know when rushing to the hospital that just eight months’ post injury, Tommy and I would be speaking in Sacramento, at the Capitol, to reporters and experts on sports injuries.  I know that some of you have had that same experience.  One day we’re parents, the next – parent activists.

                                                                                    -Beth Mallon

The Youth Sports Safety Alliance has come a long way since its inception 2010 and Beth and Tommy and Advocates for Injured Athletes continue to work to improve the safety conditions for young athletes all across the country whether it’s through Athletes Saving Athletes® or speaking as a parent advocate. 

"I am very humbled and proud to be involved with the NATA and the YSSA since the initial summit in 2010 when Tommy and I gave testimonials in Sacramento.  Since that time, it has been very rewarding to see the number of YSSA members grow to over 100.  In addition, we have seen student athlete fatalities drop.  I cannot help but feel when we all work together we have a much larger voice and impact on the mission of protecting student athletes.  I was honored to deliver the YSSA update and look ahead to seeing the benefits of our collective efforts for this coming year."

                                                            -Beth Mallon, following the Summit (2013)

If you’re interested in some of the press from the summit (including a video interview with Beth) check out Advocates for Injured Athletes’ Facebook page.  Additionally, for those of you who would like pdf versions of either the National Action Plan or the Student Athlete Bill of Rights feel free to contact A4IA for copies or click the links above that will take you to copies available on the YSSA website.

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC