2. Club Responsibilities
January 30, 2016
Concussions -
Club Responsibilities
Managing the education and recordkeeping necessary to comply with Oregon law and risk concerns

3. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
What is a concussion?

4. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Sources for medical information about concussions:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website -
Moms Team website -
US Soccer’s Recognize to Recover site –
OYSA Risk Management page has links to additional resources -

5. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
History
Concussions have always been present in sports
Sports organizations have worked together to enhance player safety
The 1st international conference on concussion was in 2001 in Vienna
The 2nd conference was held in Prague in 2004 and every 4 years since then, most recently in Zurich in 2012
Consensus Statements on concussion have been the basis for concussion management protocols
Attention to concussions in public perception has changed recently – mostly driven by media attention
The legal landscape has changed dramatically since 2009
First state law was Zackery Lystedt law in Washington in 2009
Oregon adopted Max’s law (ORS ) in 2009
Now all 50 states have some law that covers management of concussion
Lawsuit against FIFA, US Soccer, US Youth Soccer, etc.
Most state laws only apply to school sports
Zack Lystedt was a middle school football player. Suffered a concussion, went back into a game after a concussion and suffered permanent brain damage.
Max Conradt was a high school quarterback from Warrenton. Suffered concussion and then another one in the next game. Permanent brain damage – coma for 4 months, slow recovery in long term care facility.
Almost all state laws on concussion only cover school players/teams
The lawsuit against FIFA, USSF, et al was partly based on the existence of the consensus statements on concussion and the failure of sport governing bodies to make the recovery recommendations mandatory across the sport. The suit was dismissed, but could have been amended and refiled. The settlement with USSF, USYS, and others made the plaintiffs go away, but has made changes that affect youth soccer in the US. Details later.

6. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Oregon Legal Framework
ORS – Max’s Law
Adopted in 2009
Applies only to school sports
Requires State School Board to adopt rules to implement
OAR
Administrative Rules of the Department of Education about concussions in school sports
Defines “Health Care Professional” for allowing return to play
Spells out coach, student, and parent education requirements
Authorizes return to play decisions by registered Certified Athletic Trainers for school/school district
ORS – Jenna’s Law
Adopted in 2013
There are no administrative rules implementing the law
Applies to non-school athletic teams (not affiliated with a public school)
Applies to all OYSA members and affiliates (non profit organization)
Jenna Sneva was a ski racer from Sisters. She had several concussions from her sport. She was one of the people whose testimony caused the legislature to extend concussion laws to youth sports outside of schools.
Oregon legislature did not extend the previous law – they wrote a new law for non school athletes
ORS is part of the education statutes under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education
ORS is part of the Juvenile Code dealing with interstate movement of juveniles, adoptions, and services to children and families. If there were administrative rules, they would be the responsibility of the Department of Human Services.
Private schools seem to be covered under the new statute, not the prior one
For profit organization

7. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Differences Between School and Non-school Teams:
The Oregon legislature created several important differences in concussion management between public school teams and non-school teams with the adoption of ORS in 2013.
School Teams
Administrative rules provide details about implementation
Health Care Professional is defined
Only applies to public school teams
Coaches annual training
No return same day, except - Certified Athletic Trainer may determine no concussion and allow return to play in same game
Non-School Teams
No administrative rules
Applies to teams not associated with a public school
Applies to nonprofit organizations
Referee annual training
Information to parent of player under 18 and player 12 and older
Parent of a player under 18 must acknowledge receipt
No return on same day, except - Certified Athletic Trainer may determine no concussion and allow return to play in same game
No liability for coach or referee who complies

8. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
What ORS requires clubs to do:
Make sure that all coaches receive concussion training every year [ORS (2)(a)]
Have a policy that establishes: [ORS (2)(b)]
What training will be used [ORS (2)(b)(A)], and
Ensures that coaches receive the training [ORS (2)(b)(B)]
Distribute educational materials [ORS (5)]
To parents of players under 18, and
Players age 12 and older
Obtain acknowledgement from at least one parent of a player under age 18 that: [ORS (6)]
The parent has received the required educational materials, and
The parent has reviewed the educational material, and
The parent’s child age 12 and older has reviewed the educational material

9. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Educating Coaches
There are several readily available online training courses for coaches
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an online training course on their website at
This is a video based course with questions
A printable certificate is generated at the end of the course
The CDC does not retain a database of the persons who have completed the course
The National Federation of High Schools has an online course at
The video and questions are based on the CDC course
Registration is required
A certificate can be printed
The NFHS maintains a database where a coach or administrator can confirm taking the course and print copies of the certificate
A relatively new online course is available through the Oregon Center for Applied Science at
Material is presented by video and interactive quizzes
A Certificate can be generated
There is no database of coaches who have completed the course

10. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Record Keeping for Coaches
The law does not say what records to keep
If you don’t keep records, how can you show coaches completed their annual training?
Without records how would you defend a claim that an untrained coach caused a health problem for a player?
You should get a copy of the certificate the coach gets for completing a course
You can collect paper copies
You can collect a pdf copy from the coach
You can require the coach to upload a copy of the certificate into the coach’s profile in Affinity
The training should be completed before the coach begins working with players/teams in the seasonal year
The statute does not require this for non-school teams
It is required for school based teams

11. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Education materials for parents and players
OYSA has partnered with Providence Children’s Health to prepare a fact sheet for parents
Download from OYSA website –
Direct link -
The CDC has a similar document that can be downloaded from the CDC’s Heads Up website -
Many of the CDC documents can be downloaded from the Risk Management page of the OYSA website
See the handouts or go online

12. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Recording Delivery and Acknowledgement
Club is required to deliver the document to parents and players
How do you record that this has happened?
Part of online registration
Capture a parent acknowledgement as part of online registration
Does every family in your club register all players through online registration?
If not, how do you reach the parents and players not using your registration software?
Team/club meeting
Specifically authorized by statute [ORS (7)]
Hand out the information sheet
Have a parent sign an acknowledgement form
Affinity can create a pdf form for any team that has been formed in the software
A Word Document form can be downloaded from the OYSA website - or directly downloaded as
Keep copies of the signed acknowledgements until players turn 21.
Keep electronic copies indefinitely.
Scan handwritten forms and save
Keep access to online registration records

13. Concussion – Club Responsibilities

14. Concussion – Club Responsibilities

15. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
OYSA Concussion Toolkit
OYSA has partnered with Providence Health Services to create a toolkit of documentation for coaches. Every coach, at all levels of play, should have copies of the documents in the toolkit with them at every practice and game.
Documents in the Toolkit:
Concussion Management Protocol
Provides an overview of recognizing and responding to possible concussions, including return to play protocols
Keep one copy at all times and review periodically
Sideline Quick Reference
Short summary of signs and symptoms
Guideline for when to call 911
Concussion Sideline Documentation
Questions to complete whenever a player is suspected of a concussion
Keep several copies – fill out page one in duplicate whenever there is a suspected concussion
Give one copy of page 1to parents and keep a copy
Page 2 has a medical release that can be signed and returned if no concussion (parents only)
If there is a concussion, HCP indicates where athlete starts return to play
Handouts of the kit documents available in the room

16. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Documents in the Toolkit (cont.)
Concussion Care Instructions for Parents
Keep several copies
Hand to parents with the sideline documentation
Graded Return to Participation documentation
Tracks symptoms over an extended period
To be used as instructed by HCP
Keep several copies on hand
Give a copy to parents to take with them to HCP
If there is a concussion, the HCP should clear the player using the Release on page 2
No play until OK

17. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
Recognize to Recover
Announced as part of the settlement of the concussion lawsuit this program provides rule changes and resources for Concussion and other player health and safety issues. Details at
US Soccer Federation Initiatives (see
Concussion Education
All USSF licensed referees must review concussion video each year
All USSF licensed coaches must review concussion video each year
Parents of players in Development Academies must review video and acknowledge receipt of information each year
Players over 13 in national teams and Development Academies must review video and information each year
USSF Member Organizations (includes OYSA) are strongly encouraged to require parent and player education
Health Care Professionals
All national teams and Development Academies are required to have a HCP knowledgeable in emergency medicine and concussions at all games
All major youth tournaments strongly encouraged to have HCPs accessible to coaches, referees, and players
Major = played over multiple days
Major = has age group champions
Major = has 64 or more teams at U11 and older

18. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
US Soccer Federation Initiatives (cont.)
USSF will require neuropsychological baseline testing for all national team and development academy players
Results will be a tool in evaluating return to play
USSF member organizations are encouraged to provide information about baseline testing resources to their members, but baseline testing is NOT required
USSF national teams and development academies will have HCP at games
Suspected concussion will be evaluated on sideline using specified tools
If no concussion found, player may be returned to play
If concussion is found, no return to play until RTP protocol has been completed
USSF recommends that its members use the same tools and RTP protocols at games where an HCP is present
US Youth Soccer uses this process at regional and national tournaments
When no HCP is present, player does not return to play until evaluated and cleared by HCP
When concussion is found graduated RTP should be required

19. Concussion – Club Responsibilities
US Soccer Federation Initiatives (cont.)
Rule Change – Substitutions
In Development Academy matches with limited substitutions
A player suspected of a concussion will be removed from the game for sideline evaluation by HCP
A temporary substitution can be made for the injured player
The substitution will not count against the number of available substitutes
If player evaluated player is found to not have concussion, player can return to play and the temporary substitute will still be available for later substitution
US Soccer recommends that its members adopt same substitution rule for matches with limited substitutions
Rule Change – Heading Limitations
Age 10 and younger – no heading in practice or games
Age – Limit amount of heading in practices
Maximum 30 minutes per week
No more than headers per player, per week
OYSA will implement no heading rule in Developmental League beginning spring 2016
Only USYS competition with limited substitution is National Championships
Rule change for temporary injury substitution will not happen before year.

20. OYSA & Its Members Teamwork
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
-Henry Ford

21. THANK YOU Questions? 7920 SW Cirrus Drive, Beaverton, OR 97008
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Site : oregonyouthsoccer.org