Tennessee became the 45th state to have a youth concussion law when Gov. Bill Haslam signed the legislation in mid-April of this year.
The law contains all three provisions of the National Football League’s model legislation. Parents must sign a conncussion information form before their child can participate in sports; any [show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]student-athlete suspected of a concussion must be immediately removed from play, and student-athletes removed from play for a concussion must obtain medical clerance before returning.
The Tennessee law also requires coaches and school athletic directors to undergo an annual concussion training course. Only about half of the states with youth concussion laws mandate those courses.
The Tennessee law takes effect in January, 2014.
Meanwhile, the new law has prompted the state athletic trainers association to step up efforts to require all high schools to have trainers. The initial push is to have a trainer onsite for all varsity football games beginning in 2014.
However, while that would be a step in the right direction, student-athletes at all athletic levels sustain concussions in all sports, both in games and in practice.
In fact, statistics show, the the highest number of concussions in girls athletics occurs in girls soccer.
It has been reported that the trainers organization has found that of 119 high schools, about 32 percent in the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association do not have athletic trainers.
TSSAA officials, while acknowledging the problems regarding lack of trainers onsite, have been hesitant to address requiring member schools to hire qualified trainers to their staffs.
It appears that the two primary reasons schools have not hired athletic trainers is cost and availability in some parts of the state.
Some schools have opted to pay $100/game for coverage at football games, but in a significant number of cases, trainers are simply not available.
While the new law is a very useful tool in awareness and treatment of head injuries, there is much work yet to be done to solve trainer availability.
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