As some of you may or may not know, the State of California enacted a new law, effective January 1, 2017, regarding concussions in youth sports.  It is an amendment of a previous law that covered high school athletes under the age of 18.  The new bill, “California Bill AB 2007, McCarty. Youth athletics: youth sports organizations: concussions or other head injuries”, now includes sports outside of High School, including any organization that offers activities in the list of sports outlined in the original law.  Youth Baseball is included in this law, and we now fall under this new law.

As a youth sports organization that elects to offer an athletic program shall comply with all of the following:

(1)  An athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or other head injury in an athletic activity shall be immediately removed from the athletic activity for the remainder of the day, and shall not be permitted to return to any athletic activity until he or she is evaluated by a licensed health care provider. The athlete shall not be permitted to return to athletic activity until he or she receives written clearance to return to athletic activity from a licensed health care provider. If the licensed health care provider determines that the athlete sustained a concussion or other head injury, the athlete shall also complete a graduated return-to-play protocol of no less than seven days in duration under the supervision of a licensed health care provider.

(2)  If an athlete who is 17 years of age or younger has been removed from athletic activity due to a suspected concussion, the youth sports organization shall notify a parent or guardian of that athlete of the time and date of the injury, the symptoms observed, and any treatment provided to that athlete for the injury.

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