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A 12 months in the past to the day, the lack of 16-year-old Teddy Balkind despatched shockwaves all through the hockey world.
“It’s horrible, clearly,” mentioned Ryan Daigle of Hartford. “You concentrate on the household and this was only a child taking part in his sport.”
Balkind was minimize by a skate blade throughout a prep college recreation in Greenwich final 12 months.
Simply yesterday, a skating accident of comparable nature despatched one participant to the hospital throughout final night time’s school hockey recreation between Military and Sacred Coronary heart.
“Each time one thing like this occurs, you concentrate on how it may be prevented, and I feel the protection of the gamers comes first,” Daigle mentioned.
That’s what Connecticut lawmakers thought final winter once they first launched a invoice requiring neck guards throughout youth hockey.
At present, member faculties of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Convention (CIAC) are required to put on neck guards, however that doesn’t embody non-public faculties.
“The preliminary conversations had been actually as a result of accident that occurred on the ice right here in Connecticut,” mentioned Rep. Elizabeth Linehan (D-103), Home chair for the Kids Committee.
However based mostly on a scarcity of analysis concerning the effectiveness of neck guards, the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports activities Medication Committee opposed the motion.
“It doesn’t imply that we must always do it, and we do suggest neck guards, however we’re not requiring them as a result of the proof isn’t there,” mentioned Stephanie Arlis-Mayor, chair of the Connecticut State Medical Society Sports activities Medication Committee.
As an alternative, new wording known as for extra analysis throughout all sports activities to “set up a job pressure to check damage prevention and security protocols.”
“As an alternative of placing one thing in state statute that claims neck guards are required, in state statute, we wish to say it’s required so that you can take a look at these items, take a look at the newest science and make suggestions based mostly on that on a continuous foundation,” Linehan mentioned.
Final 12 months, that invoice by no means got here up for a vote, however with sports activities medication and security on the forefront of immediately’s discourse, a brand new invoice is within the works with an analogous objective in thoughts.
“It’s essential to grasp the proof of why we’re doing what we’re doing fairly than simply making selections based mostly on intestine emotions or common worries,” Arlis-Mayor mentioned.
The invoice is as soon as once more targeted on getting medical information throughout all sports activities that the CIAC, and faculties all through the state, can use to maintain its protocols as protected and up-to-date as potential.
Linehan says the invoice might be mentioned on Tuesday when lawmakers will vote to ship it to public listening to.
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