Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act

School sports are a great way for students to stay healthy while learning important team-building skills.  However, some students are staying in the game not recognizing the risks of playing hurt — especially when they’ve had a concussion.

Concussions for student athletes are a growing problem that demands immediate attention. According to recent research, high school athletes suffered 400,000 concussions in the 2005-2008 school years and studies show many sports-related concussions go unreported.

Youth athletes are at greater risk of sports-related concussions than college or professional athletes because their developing brains are more susceptible to injury. Female youth athletes are even more susceptible to concussions.

It’s up to parents and coaches to help recognize and make the decision to pull a student athlete off of the field, ice, court, or track if they think a student athlete might have a concussion. The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act would make this decision easier by making sure school districts have concussion management plans that educate students, parents and school personnel about how to recognize and respond to concussions.

Specifically, this legislation will:

Increase Awareness of Concussion Signs, Symptoms and Risks

• Provide student athletes with information about how to prevent and manage concussions by requiring school districts to develop and implement a standard, community-based plan for concussion safety and management, as well as conduct outreach to parents and students about concussion and the plan.

Improve Concussion Safety and Management for Student Athletes

• Inform and empower student athletes, parents and school personnel about concussions by requiring schools to post information about concussions in a way that is publicly visible within the school and on the school website.
   
• Support students’ health and recovery by implementing “when in doubt, sit it out” policies that require a student suspected of sustaining a concussion during a school-sponsored athletic activity to be removed from participation, prohibited from returning to play that day and evaluated by a health care professional. Parents must also be notified. 
   
• Prevent prolonged recovery by making sure students recovering from concussions have the supports they need as they return to athletic and academic activities in school.