Sen. Bill Soules

STATE News:

SANTA FE – Sen. Bill Soules, D-Dona Ana and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Bernalillo & Valencia, recently introduced bills to protect young athletes who suffer concussions and brain injuries. Both bills would strengthen existing measures to protect young athletes by ensuring parents and coaches take the proper safety precautions for their children.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez

Soules’ bill would require brain injury training for student athletes. It also mandates that schools provide brain injury information, to be signed by athletes and parents, before any students can participate in sports.

Sanchez’s bill would extend brain injury protocols to athletes and youths who participate in non-scholastic athletic activities. Those protocols include keeping young athletes, who exhibit symptoms of brain injuries, from participating in sports until they provide a written medical release from a licensed healthcare professional. They also require that coaches receive proper training, should an athlete suffer a concussion.

According to the National Academies of Science, 1.6-3.8 million sports and recreation head injuries occur every year in the U.S.

“These safety precautions are necessary and important, especially with the high number of head injuries associated with sports happening in our country,” Sanchez said. “If we implement these safety precautions, we can properly identify concussions in young athletes and help prevent those concussions from turning into more severe brain injuries.”

“Our young athletes need more protection to make it safer to participate in sports. Their parents must know we take this issue seriously,” Soules added. “I hope this will encourage even more participation in sports. Keeping our kids active and safe are top priorities.”