Map of USA showing TUFSS has visited most of the southern and north-eastern states. The program is planning to visit the rest of the southern states, as well as many more norhterly states, in 2024.

Team Up for Sports Safety (TUFSS)

“The TUFSS initiative builds on research published by KSI in 2017 which examined existing state mandates to assess their inclusion of best-practice policy recommendations for catastrophic injuries in sport. KSI found that many state policies do not include even the most widely-accepted standards. For example, data shows more than 90 percent of sports-related deaths among secondary school athletes are due to cardiac arrest, exertional heat stroke, traumatic brain injuries and exertional sickling, a medical emergency occurring in athletes that carry the sickle cell trait. Simple, cost-effective strategies can prevent nearly all deaths, but currently no state meets 100 percent of the minimum best-practice standards.” – Press Release from October 10th, 2019

TUFSS Initiative

The TUFSS initiative, led by the Korey Stringer Institute was established to drive changes and adoption of policies proven to reduce catastrophic sport injury in the secondary school level. To accomplish this goal, KSI and the TUFSS initiative will travel state-to-state to meet with policymakers to facilitate adoption of life-saving policies nationwide. The TUFSS project identifies and brings together the key individuals responsible for improving health and safety policies for high school athletes within a particular state. These individuals include, but are not limited to, state athletic/activities association, state athletic/activity association SMAC members, superintendents, principles, state legislators, athletic trainers, coaches, and medical personnel. These state specific meetings facilitate the collaboration of key stakeholders with the objective to formalize actionable items for adoption or improvement of health and safety policies as it pertains to secondary school athletic healthcare.

TUFSS Project

The TUFSS project is able to support athletic safety initiatives in secondary school athletics across all 50 states and the District of Columbia with substantial financial support from the NFL Foundation, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) and several private donors. The TUFSS initiative build on research published by KSI in 2017 which examined existing state mandates to assess their inclusion of best-practice policies to mitigate catastrophic injuries and illnesses in sport. In the initial 2017 review, KSI found that most states did not include the most widely accepted standards shown to reduce the risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat strokes, and exertional collapse associated with sickling, conditions that comprise 90% of all sport

 

 

The Mission of TUFSS

The goal of TUFSS is to propel adoption of policies proven to reduce the incidence of catastrophic sport injuries for secondary school athletes.

The TUFSS project accomplishes this by identifying and bringing together the key individuals responsible for improving health and safety policies for high school athletes within a particular state. These individuals include, but are not limited to, state athletic/activities association, state athletic/activity association SMAC members, superintendents, principles, state legislators, athletic trainers, coaches, and medical personnel. These state specific meetings facilitate the collaboration of key stakeholders with the objective to formalize actionable items for adoption or improvement of health and safety policies as it pertains to secondary school athletic healthcare.

Together, with the NFL Foundation and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, along with many private donors, TUFSS continues to support athletic safety initiatives in secondary school athletics across all 50 states (& the District of Columbia).

States TUFSS Has Visited So Far:

Map of USA showing TUFSS has visited most of the southern and north-eastern states. The program is planning to visit the rest of the southern states, as well as many more norhterly states, in 2024.