Our deep dive into youth sports’ glaring on-field safety gap has been produced in partnership with Go4.
Youth sports is often called a $40B industry, but the truth is it may already be twice that size — and still growing.
But a significant — and concerning — on-field safety gap persists.
When it comes to player safety, national governing bodies and organizations place heavy emphasis on abuse prevention, SafeSport training and mandatory reporting.
These policies are a response to federal law passed in the wake of USA Gymnastics’ Larry Nassar scandal. But they remain far from foolproof, as evidenced by recent headlines involving USSSA and the city of New Orleans. And while those efforts are well-meaning, they do not address on-field injuries.
In-person safety measures are far more reliable, but often lacking or non-existent, putting athletes, families and staff at risk while creating immense liability for organizers.
“You wouldn’t operate a school day without a school nurse,” said Ellis Mair, the co-founder and chief clinical officer of Go4. “You shouldn’t have a sporting event without a healthcare provider on site.”
Many still do, though, despite tech platforms like Go4 — which connects operators with certified athletic trainers for long-term or per diem work, creates emergency action plans and HIPAA-compliant injury documentation and generates risk intelligence data.
Go4 has over 26,000 ATs available for hire across all 50 states. The company works with 12,000 youth sports organizations, schools, tournament operators, clubs, colleges, and facilities, including Pennsylvania’s Spooky Nook Sports — the largest indoor complex in North America. Go4 has staffed over 1 million hours of AT coverage and has created and distributed over 20,000 venue-specific EAPs and documented over 20,000 injuries.
High Stakes
Hiring an AT and taking other common-sense steps is easier than ever. Yet many operators inexplicably do not address what should be table stakes.
One in three high schools lacks access to a certified athletic trainer, according to NATA. The disparity is believed to be even greater for competition below that level, especially among clubs and travel programs. And many facilities — even major ones — do not have EAPs.
The consequences can sometimes literally be life and death.
There were 470 youth sports-related fatalities between 2008-18, according to NATA. Studies involving two major sudden death causes in youth sports — cardiac arrest and heat stroke — found survival rates are far greater when ATs are present.
ATs are specifically trained to identify and quickly treat these life-threatening conditions and other issues, like brain injuries. All ATs on the Go4 platform are vetted and verified, working as 1099 employees. They are also required to carry professional liability insurance. Liability transfers to the PLI the minute an AT engages an injured person.
ATs also work to safeguard events before they start by assessing supplies, testing AED devices and writing EAPs.
Ambulance ingress, egress points
Pinpointing major nearby road intersections
GPS coordinates in the event of medivac landing
Clear delineation of roles, communications
Identifying closest hospital, urgent care facility
Weather policies for lightning, heat, tornadoes
Regulation is coming
While the Let Kids Play Act and the effort to ban private equity from the industry is generating the bulk of the headlines, youth sports safety is also becoming a focus area in Washington.
“One of the areas that we've seen take hold is the growing injury concerns with youth athletes — ACL tears, Tommy John surgeries, the really fragmented approach states have taken to concussions,” said Stephen Weyler, a senior director at Invariant, a public affairs advisory firm.
“Safety is paramount — [the one area] that I can assure you will get bipartisan support.”
Underwriters could take action well before Capitol Hill.
Youth sports organizations are required by insurers to have off-field safety protocols — abuse prevention, background checks, SafeSport compliance. There is an industry belief that on-field safety will soon become a mandatory component of policies as well.
These realities, and platforms like Go4, have shifted the industry to the point where failing to take appropriate measures is no longer about access or knowledge, but negligence.
“In the moment, people make bad choices,” Mair said. “That’s why you have policies ahead of time, circulate them, practice them. There are many things that with a little bit of education and preparedness and the right healthcare provider, it is easy to prevent these deaths.”
We’re new— help us build up our social media accounts by following along:
Good game.