Pledge to Protect
As the nation’s leading advocate of abdominal injury prevention and protection for secondary school athletes, the Taylor Haugen Foundation seeks to make abdominal protection gear standard for youth football within the next decade, while ensuring safer play on the gridiron today.
The Foundation, which was created in memory of high school sophomore Taylor Haugen, who at age 15 died of an abdominal injury suffered while playing the game he loved, is the only known nonprofit organization in the country dealing solely with this recurring injury.
The Taylor Haugen Foundation is a member of the Youth Sports Safety Alliance and works closely with the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The organization also receives support from the Andrews Institute for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
PROTECT AGAINST ABDOMINAL INJURIES IN YOUTH FOOTBALL
Abdominal injuries in football, particularly youth football, are more common than most people realize. They can cause serious damage to the ribs, spleen, liver and other organs, and they have even led to death for some. Our country is not taking these risks seriously enough.
By joining the Taylor Haugen Foundation’s national #PledgetoProtect campaign, you are potentially saving lives and encouraging action for better, more-widespread protection to prevent these traumatic injuries.
THE PLEDGE TO PROTECT
- By always wearing or ensuring proper abdominal protection, and by regularly checking for proper equipment coverage and fit.
- By talking about what abdominal injuries are, how they occur, and the severe risks they pose.
- By making sure that youth football players are receiving the most advanced instruction possible on tackling, blocking and other techniques, to protect against potential abdominal injuries.
- By confirming that a dedicated emergency medical service is readily available and on the sideline at every game and practice.
- By promoting open communication among players, parents and coaches about the football safety protocols that are in place, and by ensuring those protocols are being taken seriously.
- By encouraging those who regulate or supervise youth football, such as legislators, athletic associations and school system administrators, to make abdominal protection equipment standard throughout the United States by 2028.
Target Population:
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), participation in organized sports is on the rise. The National Council of Youth Sports estimates that 44 million kids play at least one organized sports activity. According to an article published by the US News…
- More than 50% of all high school students play a sport.
- Sports injuries account for 4.3 million hospital emergency room visits annually in the United States
- One out of every four sports related injuries is considered serious.
- High school athletes account for 2,000,000 sports injuries, 50,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually.
- In 2015, 50 children died from sports related injuries.
In spite of these statistics, only the most minimal set of protective gear is mandated by Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) for high school student athletes. For example, high school football requires only four pieces of equipment: a helmet, shoulder pads, a mouth guard, and padded pants.
Another startling fact is that sixty-two percent of organized sports-related injuries occur during practices rather than games . Despite this, one-third of parents often do not take the same safety precautions during their child’s practices as they would for games.
Our research indicates that no other organization provides abdominal sports safety equipment for student athletes.
On August 30, 2008, a fifteen-year-old football player
from Niceville High School sustained what proved to be a fatal liver injury during the school’s ‘kick-off classic’ game. Taylor Haugen’s death was caused by massive internal bleeding, the result of a torn liver sustained from impact injuries. To honor his memory and his unique character, Taylor’s close friends, family and community leaders created the course toward an official “Taylor Haugen Foundation.” Since its creation, The Foundation has continued to recognize exceptional student athletes; leaders who emulate T’s very best qualities and his personal motto of “Don’t Quit-Never Give Up”.
In 2011, upon hearing of another young football player who suffered similar injuries, the Haugen’s felt compelled to expand the Foundation’s reach by delving into the area of youth sports safety. This led to the development of the YESS© Program. The mission of the Youth Equipment for Sports Safety Program (YESS©) is to educate and equip student athletes with new generation, high-tech equipment to help better protect against abdominal injuries.
The vision of the YESS© Program is to raise awareness and educate about this next generation of Abdominal Injury Protection equipment, how it is made available for their team, and to facilitate access to this cutting edge equipment.