New NATA Program Advances Safe Sports in High School

In an attempt to keep high school student athletes free from injury the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) is formally recognizing secondary schools that take a series of recommended steps to keep their athletes free from injuries. The Iron County School District in Utah is the first school district in that state to have all three of its high schools designated as Safe Sport Schools, according to writer Becki Bronson. The schools are Canyon View High School, Parowan High School, and Cedar High School. Intermountain Sports Medicine manages the athletic trainers at each high school.

As Bronson wrote, in order to achieve Safe Sports School status, the athletic program at each high school must have done the following: “Create a positive athletic health care administrative system, provide or coordinate pre-participation physical examinations, promote safe and appropriate practice and competition facilities, plan for selection, fit function and proper maintenance of athletic equipment, provide a permanent, appropriately equipped area to evaluate and treat injured athletes, develop injury and illness prevention strategies, including protocols for environmental conditions, provide or facilitate injury intervention, create and rehearse a venue-specific Emergency Action Plan, provide or facilitate psychosocial consultation and nutritional counseling/education, and be sure athletes and parents are educated of the potential benefits and risks in sports.”

Rhett Farrer, manager of the Intermountain Sports Medicine program for southern Utah, says, “The Safe Sports School initiative requires a lengthy application that is signed by a school administrator, the athletic trainer and a team physician. I am grateful for our strong partnership with the Iron County School District, which makes it possible to best protect our student athletes. I feel receiving this designation, and being the first district in the state to have every high school in the school district receiving this, demonstrates our strong commitment to every single student athlete.”

The Safe School Award was launched in 2013. NATA president Jim Thornton said at the time, “This award not only highlights those schools that have put safety first, but will hopefully generate some competition among schools to be the first in their community to receive it. We hope that 10 years from now the award will no longer be needed because Safety First will have become the norm.”