Youth Football Takes Another Step Forward
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San Francisco, CA - March 27, 2019 - In their continuing efforts to honor, improve, and advance youth tackle football, the California Youth Football Alliance (CAYFA) is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with InjureFree as a key technology partner to serve the youth tackle football community. This partnership will deliver a custom digital platform, called the Alliance Management Platform (AMP), that will simplify, standardize, and deploy the CAYFA risk management framework for youth tackle football organizations.
The AMP digital platform will provide three critical capabilities to CAYFA members: (1) delivery and managing completion of state / federal health and safety education mandates, (2) incident documentation & player eligibility management, and (3) return to play protocol administration.
CAYFA President, Joe Rafter, said, “This partnership signals our first step towards enacting improvements in youth tackle football with a digital management system focused on implementing health and safety risk management, demonstrating compliance with state and federal health and safety mandates, and offering an extensible platform that delivers incremental unique value to our members for years to come. We are honored to enhance health and safety for our communities while bringing youth tackle football into the digital age.”
“The AMP will be the premiere digital enabler of efficient and effective safety risk management and a trusted source of data, regarding the metrics we will use to accelerate the evolution of youth tackle football. There is too much speculation and not enough data regarding the truths of youth tackle football. The AMP will serve as the system of record to unambiguously clarify the management of health, safety, and football conditions for all our members today and in the future.” Rafter added.
Each season, volunteer roles like parent, coach, and others are managed to ensure proper education is provided per state requirements. Student-athletes’ play status is managed within the AMP as well. If a child is injured and medical attention is required, as is the case in any concussion protocol, the player is marked as ineligible to play. Parents are able to manage the return to play protocol by scheduling appointments with regional health systems, orthopedic groups, and even urgent care centers through the AMP parent portal. The new platform enables access to medical providers for parents and children in their time of need and offers an alternate path to specialty care outside of traditional models, which could require long lead times to schedule an appointment.
The CAYFA members who implement the AMP have improved measurement and monitoring of the health and safety conditions for their leagues, associations, coaches, parents, and players. The coaches who use the AMP play an active role in creating and sustaining a healthier and safer team. Parents who engage with the AMP gain access to better care for their child while increasing their visibility into the true health and safety conditions of their child’s athletic environment. Players benefit from the AMP through the creation of a healthier and safer tackle football environment with improved duty of care. Everyone knows that any League, Association, or Coach who has adopted the AMP is making a rigorous public health and safety commitment to Honor our game, Improve the player environment and Advance youth tackle football for years to come.
InjureFree CEO, Charlie Wund, states, “The Alliance is laying the foundation for the future of all youth football, contact or otherwise.”
“We have seen youth sports react to growing concerns regarding concussions and other injuries. State and federal legislation mandate safety protocols, in order for youth sports organizations to provide a safer environment for their children. With new legislative requirements regarding heat illness, sudden cardiac arrest, and other concerns around the corner, associations are scrambling to keep up and stay ahead. The AMP is an example of how the Alliance is rebuilding youth football from the ground up, with a safety-first mindset, and providing the technology to manage compliance within their membership.” Wund adds.
With InjureFree, the CAYFA is taking an important step by activating a modern digital platform for the coming 2019 season, while enabling our future generations to enjoy additional improvements as football continues to evolve. The CAYFA calls upon all states and legislators to create a better world for our future generations through improved data and process management made possible by the AMP, and avoid giving into the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is frequently presented in our current society.
This move comes just months after US Youth Soccer, the largest youth sport organization in America and the leader in youth soccer, partnered with InjureFree to develop a custom risk management platform for over 3 million youth soccer athletes nationally.
“We are revolutionizing pediatric healthcare access. Today, parents demand a personal experience for their children, and expect immediate access to care when a child gets hurt,” Wund said. Rafter added, “Through the AMP, parents will be able to connect with local health care providers, who are committed to delivering quality care and within 24 to 48 hours. That could be an existing partner provider, or one vetted within the InjureFree network. Each association has the autonomy to make its own choice who they partner with. This partnership creates remarkable value for our youth tackle football community.”
Contact:
Joe Rafter, CAYFA, joe@cayfa.org, 415-413-3313
Julie Beltz, InjureFree, julie.beltz@injurefree.com, 866-591-2747 x804
About the California Youth Football Alliance (CAYFA)
The CAYFA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to transforming youth tackle football by honoring our past, improving our present, and advancing our future so that more generations of student-athletes, coaches, and communities can experience the intellectual, emotional, social, and physical developmental benefits of the sport. For more information, please visit www.cayfa.org.
About InjureFree
InjureFree is a web-based technology service empowering child safety initiatives and risk management for youth sports organizations and schools. InjureFree provides an all-in-one solution that helps organizations maintain compliance with state and federal laws, reduce paperwork, and provide a communication platform during injury recovery - including return to play documentation. For more information, please visit www.InjureFree.com