On Sept. 23, the NATA Board of Directors approved the NATA Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine (ICSM) document to support adoption and compliance to new Recommendations released by NCAA.
The Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine (ICSM) believes that health and safety should be a priority for all participants, regardless of level of competition. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently released Interassociation Recommendations: Preventing Catastrophic Injury and Death in Collegiate Athletics effective Aug. 1, 2019, as an association-wide policy approved by the NCAA Board of Governors, and stemming from the 2016 NCAA Safety in College Football Summit. Because the quality of healthcare should not be dependent upon sport or level of participation, the ICSM has put together the following suggestions for becoming and maintaining compliance with the Recommendations document. As stated in the document, “In both name and structure, the document is presented as recommendations, rather than legislation...The Board of Governors’ endorsement of the recommendations under the Uniform Standard of Care policy does not transform them into legislation. Instead, the Board of Governors’ endorsement a) establishes the recommendations as Association-wide policy and priority and b) simultaneously creates a pathway to uniformity and consistency in guidance provided to the Association as a whole.” That being said, ICSM strongly supports compliance with these recommendations, as they enhance the care and safety of student-athletes at all levels.
The ICSM guidance document uses a condensed version of the original interassociation checklist. Also included as bullet points are suggestions provided by ICSM to help institutions determine any changes necessary to comply with the Recommendations, to enhance the level of protection for student athletes and to reduce the risk of liability. Following the guidance in this report does not necessarily result in compliance with the Interassociation Recommendations, and there could be suggestions not addressed in this report that may be applicable to a reader’s particular circumstances.
The original Recommendations document and Frequently Asked Questions about the document can be found on the NCAA web site.
