Zackery Lystedt Law
Requirements
The Lystedt Law dealing with concussion
and brain injury in youth sports was passed this spring and became
law in Washington on July 26th. Despite the first impression
of the new law, it does not only apply to teams or clubs using
public school facilities, but to all youth sports in the state. The
law sets out certain requirements and gives responsibility for
implementation to the Washington Interscholastic Activities
Association (WIAA), the organization that runs high school and
middle school sports. Normally the WIAA has nothing to do with us,
but in this one narrow area the legislature has given them
authority over us. Note that the legislature and WIAA have gone no
further than to simply make mandatory the recommendations of the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a federal health agency. The
most important requirement of the law is that whenever a youth
athlete suffers any possible concussion that the athlete must be
withheld from all practice or competition until a competent medical
professional has cleared the athlete in writing to return.
“If in doubt, the athlete sits out.”
In the next few
days you will find a statement of compliance in your
mailbox. We ask that you read it over, sign it, and return to
your coach soon. You can see the form by clicking
here.
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