On Thursday, Aug. 20, Rep. Lois Capps (CA-24) visited Pioneer Valley High School’s football practice, to highlight the Supporting Athletes, Families and Educators to Protect the Lives of Athletic Youth (SAFE PLAY) Act, a bill she authored to promote safety in youth athletics.
Capps watched the practice with Pioneer Valley High School Principal Shanda Herrera, Athletic Director Greg Lanthier, and Varsity Football Coach Dan Ellington.
The SAFE PLAY Act (H.R. 829) would take a multipronged approach of research, community education, and federal support for school districts to adopt best practices and guidelines regarding common concerns, including heat exposure, CPR and AED training, concussion response, and energy drink consumption.
“Participating in youth sports can be incredibly beneficial to young people. But we need to support these student athletes to make sure that they are adequately protected. I am dedicated to ensuring their safety through the SAFE PLAY Act, which would give our local schools the resources necessary to help protect our children,” Capps said.
Bill language from the SAFE PLAY Act was recently included in the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), a rewrite of federal K-12 education policy, which passed the Senate in July with large bipartisan support.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2015.