Safe Stars Initiative - Promoting Safety in Youth Sports Organizations

The Safe Stars Initiative is a safety recognition program for youth sports organizations, aiming to standardize safety measures to protect young athletes. It offers Gold, Silver, or Bronze designations and addresses important injury topics like concussions, sudden cardiac arrest, emergency action plans, allergies, and more. With a focus on prevention and safety standards, Safe Stars collaborates with the Tennessee Department of Health and Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt to promote safety in youth sports, critical in light of the rise in preventable youth sports injuries. Additionally, the initiative emphasizes preparedness with detailed emergency action plans, including the use of Automated External Defibrillators to improve survival rates in cardiac emergencies.

• Safe Stars Initiative
• Youth Sports Safety
• Injury Prevention
• Emergency Action Plans
• Sports Safety

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1. Safe Stars Initiative Safe States Alliance Meeting September 2019 Terrence R. Love, MS, CPC

2. What is Safe Stars? Safety recognition program for youth sports organizations Collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Health & Children s Hospital at Vanderbilt Free and voluntary for all youth leagues and schools Organizations may achieve Gold, Silver, or Bronze designation Safe Stars goal is to standardize safety to protect young athletes

3. Why Have Safe Stars? Nearly 30 million children and adolescents participate in youth sports in the US Nationally, 141% increase in rate of sports related ED visits ages 10-19 from 2001 to 2012 In 2017 in TN, 15.6% of HS students reported sustaining a concussion from sport or physical activity According to the CDC, more than half of youth sports injuries are preventable Need to balance: promoting sports & activity with prevention and safety standards

4. Injury Topics Addressed Concussion Sudden Cardiac Arrest Emergency Action Plans Allergy/Anaphylaxis Weather Policy (Heat and Lightning) Child Abuse/Safeguarding

5. Emergency Action Plans Emergency Action Plan (EAP): Clear and detailed EAPs Practiced annually Have a plan for each practice and game site Make sure anyone could read and understand the plan Include plans for varying types of emergencies (medical, weather, etc.)

6. Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Statistics Survival rates decrease by 10% with each minute of delayed defibrillation 95% of sudden cardiac arrest victims die because of a delayed response Early defibrillation is critical in the event of a cardiac emergency Goal: Defibrillate within 3 minutes from the time of collapse to the first shock

7. Allergy/Anaphylaxis Allergic conditions are the most common health issues affecting children in the U.S. Prompt recognition is critical Kids can have allergic reactions even if they have no history of allergies

8. Public Health Relevance Sports participation is the most common pathway for youth to engage in physical activity Physical activity improves morbidity, mortality and quality of life TN: ranks 47 in overall prevalence with 36.5% of children considered either overweight or obese.

9. How to Meet the Bronze Criteria? Bronze is the initial level of recognition for Safe Stars A league must meet the following criteria: Emergency Action Plan Background checks Minimum of 2 coaches CPR/AED certified AED on site Concussion and sudden cardiac death recognition/management Severe weather policy Anaphylaxis and Allergy Emergency plan Safeguarding/Abuse Prevention Policy Safe Stars Initiative TN

10. Silver/Gold Level Recognition Must meet all Bronze level criteria for recognition To achieve Silver or Gold, organizations must complete 2 or 4 additional criteria, respectively Additional criteria include: Coaches complete additional health, safety and injury prevention training All equipment undergoes safety checks Pre-participation physical exams required for all athletes Implement tobacco policy, Young Lungs at Play Medical professional on site for all games Medical professional on site for all practices Promote positive culture and standard of expectations Provide risk and safety information/policies to parents/guardians

11. Silver/Gold Level Recognition Examples of promoting positive culture and standard of expectations concerning behavior No bullying policy All coaches and players complete the online bullying, hazing and inappropriate behaviors course Implement the Coaching Boys into Men program Examples of additional health, safety and injury prevention training Suicide prevention training (QPR) First aid training PREPARE course educates on recognizing symptoms of dangerous conditions Nutrition and hydration education

12. Application Process Application link is located on the TDH Injury Prevention website; https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/healthprofboa rds/Safe_Stars_Application.pdf Applicants are encouraged to preview the application before attempting completion Must upload certificates and other documents Resources listed on the Safe Stars website Recognition is valid for 5 years

13. Benefits for the League Signed certificate from the TDH Commissioner Safe Stars graphic to put on league materials Recognition on the TDH website AED for qualified applicants Parents may preferentially choose leagues and teams that value safety

14. Partners

15. NFL Medical Director

16. Ross Browner College Football Hall of Fame

17. Safe Stars Partners American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists Belmont University Athletic Department Children s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee Children s Hospital at Erlanger Cumberland Pediatric Foundation East Tennessee Children s Hospital LeBonheur Children s Hospital Lipscomb University Athletic Department Memphis Grizzlies Monroe Carell Jr. Children s Hospital at Vanderbilt Nashville Coaching Coalition Nashville Predators Nashville Soccer Club Nashville Sounds Nashville Sports Council National Football League Players Association Niswonger Children s Hospital Office of Tennessee Attorney General Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports at Vanderbilt Safe Kids Cumberland Valley Special Olympics - Tennessee

18. Safe Stars Partners Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians Tennessee Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Tennessee Athletic Trainers Society Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tennessee Children's Emergency Care Alliance Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Tennessee Department of Health Tennessee Governor s Children s Cabinet (Kidcentraltn.com) Tennessee Medical Association Tennessee Nurses Association Tennessee Orthopedic Society Tennessee Osteopathic Medical Association Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association Tennessee Physical Therapy Association Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Tennessee State Soccer Association Tennessee Tech University Athletic Department University of Tennessee Athletic Department Vanderbilt University Athletic Department Vanderbilt Sports Medicine Vanderbilt University Medical Center

19. Current Safe Stars Organizations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. LaVergne High School 11. LaVergne Middle School *New 12. Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Center 13. Northview Academy *New 14. Oakland High School 15. Oakland Middle School *New 16. Percy Priest Ducks Youth Program *New 17. Pigeon Forge High School *New Blackman High School Blackman Middle School *New Central Magnet School Christiana Middle School *New Eagleville High School Eagleville School *New Gallatin Soccer Club Gatlinburg-Pittman High School *New Kingston Parks and Recreation Center 18. Pride Lions Lacrosse 19. Riverdale High School 20. Rock Springs Middle School 21. Rockvale Middle School *New 22. Sevier County High School *New 23. Seymour High School *New 24. Siegel High School 25. Siegel Middle School *New 26. Smyrna High School 27. Smyrna Middle School *New 28. Stewarts Creek High School 29. Stewarts Creek Middle School *New 30. Thurman Francis Arts Academy *New 31. Whitworth-Buchanan Middle School *New 32. Hendersonville Parks and Rec *New 33. Youth Encouragement Systems*New

20. Successes and Challenges Challenges Volunteer (or part-time) league officials can be intimidated by the application process Program staff manually review every application Leagues often oversee multiple sites makes application difficult Injury data not readily available for evaluation Measured Success Great partner support (42) Program received widespread media attention for kickoff Infrastructure (model policies, website, staff support) in place Resources secured for AEDs Gold level status achieved by all leagues meeting Safe Stars standards

21. Lessons Learned Each policy submitted needs to be reviewed and often does not meet minimum standards Having sample policy templates can assist leagues in successfully completing the application Providing a checklist of needed documents before leagues begin the application makes the process easier

22. Conclusion Many leagues do not have existing safety policies and those that do often have policies that are inadequate to protect their young athletes. This underscores the important of having a youth sports safety rating system in place.

23. Contact Information Terrence R. Love Core SVIPP IVP Manager p. 615.741.1230 Terrence.Love@tn.gov

24. Thank you

25. Presentation references https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/concussions https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1896083/ http://www.your-heart-health.com/content/close-the-gap/en-US/heart- disease-facts/young-athletes.html http://www.your-heart-health.com/content/dam/close-the- gap/en/documents/CRM9-3921-0313_Athletes.pdf http://www.aafa.org/page/allergy-facts.aspx https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/index.html https://www.childhealthdata.org/docs/nsch-docs/tennessee-pdf.pdf