Analysis: Serious knee injury among teen athletes grows 26%

Among the most dreaded injuries in sports, the rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries among high school athletes has grown significantly over the past 15 years, according to a new data analysis by organizations collaborating to assess and address the problem of serious knee injuries.      

The National ACL Injury Coalition reviewed injury data for 12 major girls and boys sports over five three-year periods from 2007 to 2022, as supplied by certified athletic trainers in the High School RIO surveillance program. From period one to five, the average annual ACL injury rate grew 25.9% to 7.3 injuries per 100,000 athlete exposures. ACL injuries now represent more than 14% of all injuries involving the knee.  

MLS exec: Soccer system should work together to compete for best athletes, fans

Like other professional leagues that are members of Project Play 2024, MLS has come to recognize both the need and the opportunity to introduce programs at the very opposite end of the talent pipeline that delivers their commercial product. Tom Farrey, executive director of the Sports & Society Program, sat down with MLS executive VP and chief engagement officer Sola Winley to ask why.

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Olympic and Paralympic commission hears reform ideas

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Rewarding National Governing Bodies that best support grassroots sports and tying financial incentives to coach training were among the ideas heard Sept. 6 by an independent commission studying entities that shape the sport ecosystem for 11 million Americans.

The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics (CSUSOP) was established by Congress in 2020 to study recent reforms after the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandals and make recommendations for policy changes in governance and oversight of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and its affiliated NGBs. After funding delays, the commission began its work in early 2023 and will deliver a final report to Congress and the public in the spring of 2024.

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Project Play Summit recap: Olympic reform panel explores big changes

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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The independent commission set up by Congress to review recent reforms and governance of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its affiliated National Governing Bodies of sport plans to do so with an eye toward how those organizations fit into and contribute to the larger sport ecosystem, a co-chair of the commission said at the Project Play Summit.

In a livestream session, Dionne Koller discussed the scope of the work of the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, and the need for better sports policy. The USOPC and NGBs get their statutory authority from the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the law that created the current U.S. Olympic system in 1978.

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Health experts: It’s time for more high schools to budget money for athletic trainers

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“We have to change the mindset. The priority has to be the health and safety of the athletes.”

Although about 80% of high school athletes have access to an athletic trainer, just 56% of schools have one, down 10% since 2017, according to the Korey Stringer Institute. Rural and inner-city schools have far less access than those in the suburbs.