At a glance
Tennessee's success story highlights how Core SIPP implements, evaluates and disseminates injury prevention strategies into action.
What did Tennessee do?
The Tennessee Department of Health launched the free and voluntary Safe Stars initiative in 2018 in partnership with 33 sports and health organizations. This initiative recognizes Tennessee youth sports programs that meet high safety standards for athletes. Safe Stars consists of three levels of recognition: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each level requires that the sports program meet certain safety standards determined by a team of health professionals. The Safe Stars initiative success was used to support the Safe Stars Act in 2021.
Tennessee legislators passed the Safe Stars Act establishing certain health and safety requirements for school youth athletic activities in May 2021. The Safe Stars Act officially went into effect for the 2022-2023 school year. This bill applies to any "city, county, business, or nonprofit organization that organizes a community-based youth athletic activity," each local education agency (LEA), and all public/public charter schools that provide a youth athletic activity. The goal of this Act was to improve safety standards in youth sports by creating policies around concussions and injury prevention.
Each LEA and public/public charter school that provides a school youth athletic activity must develop a code of conduct for coaches under this Act. Schools should visit the department of health's Safe Stars initiative website to review the safety standards and communicate with the department to ensure that all safety measures are up to date. The Act also requires each LEA and public/public charter school to hold an informational meeting before the start of each school athletic season for students, parents, coaches, and school officials. The purpose of the meeting is to learn about the symptoms and warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest, heat illness, concussions and other head injuries, and other health, safety, and wellness issues related to sports participation.
How did the Safe Stars initiative inform this Act?
The Safe Stars initiative improved knowledge of concussions and other head injuries students might experience during sports which informed the Safe Stars Act. The Safe Stars initiative is a part of the state's Return to Learn/Play Guideline. This guideline helps athletes have a good recovery and get back to regular activities such as school and play, safely, following a concussion or traumatic brain injury.
The Tennessee Core State Injury Prevention Program (Core SIPP) created the sports league evaluation, application, and promotional materials for the Safe Stars initiative. The Core SIPP Director and Manager developed and maintained a strong relationship with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Program for Injury Prevention in Youth Sports to promote the Safe Stars initiative and encourage sports leagues to meet the minimum criteria.
Core SIPP presented at the state Tennessee Athletic Trainers' Society and two of their regional conferences about the Safe Stars initiative in 2019. Core SIPP shared Safe Stars information with county and city Mayors in October 2019. Mayors often oversee funding for county-wide school districts and recreational centers, which directly prompted an increase in sports leagues applying for Safe Stars.
The Safe Stars initiative is now a part of the Tennessee Department of Health Injury Prevention Program. Core SIPP staff help with the promotion and outreach for the initiative, collection and review of applications, and determination of Safe Stars status for leagues that meet the criteria. The number of sports leagues with a Safe Stars status in Tennessee increased by about 70% since 2018.
Why was this Act created?
About 283,000 children under the age of 18 go to emergency departments each year for a sports- or recreation-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the United States. TBIs from contact sports make up approximately 45% of these visits. Over 1,000 Tennessee youth under the age of 25 experienced a TBI in 2022 according to the Tennessee Department of Health. Of those, 222 were under the age of 10. Children may experience changes in their health, thinking, and behavior because of a TBI. Any brain injury in children can disrupt their development and limit their ability to participate in school and other activities, like sports. Tennessee legislators passed this Act to revise and add to the current law regarding injury prevention in school athletics.