YAKIMA, Wash. – The East Valley School District announced on Facebook that East Valley High School received the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Safe Sports School Award in January.
The award recognizes secondary schools that met the recommended standards to improve safety in sports.
“East Valley is honored to receive this 1st Team recognition from NATA,” said EVSD Superintendent Russ Hill. “We remain committed to keeping our student athletes safe during physical education classes, team practices, and games so they can accomplish their own goals of great competition, winning records, fair sportsmanship, and good health. Our goal is to lead our athletics program to the highest safety standards for our players.”
To earn the Safe Sports School status, EVHS did the following:
Created a positive athletic health care administrative systemProvided pre-participation physical examsPromoted safe and appropriate practice and competition facilitiesPlanned for selection, function and maintenance of equipmentProvided a permanent well-equipped area for injured athletesDeveloped injury and illness prevention strategies and protocols for conditionsProvided injury interventionCreated and rehearsed a venue-specific Emergency Action PlanProvided psychosocial consultation and nutritional counselingEnsured athletes and parents were educated on benefits, risks and responsibilities of sports
“The health and safety of student athletes is critical as it has both immediate and long-term effects,” said NATA President Kathy Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC. “The National Athletic Trainers’ Association created the ‘Safe Sports School Award’ to recognize and champion schools nationwide that are committed to safety in sports. We are proud to see the list of award recipients grow exponentially each year as schools see the immense value in holding themselves to best practices and policies that ensure a high standard of athlete care.”
More information on the award can be found online.
