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January 6, 2025 4 min read

Students playing intramural sports

Guidelines for Student Safety in Club, Intramural and Recreational Sports U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health (USCAH)

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Students playing intramural sports

When we think about college sports, the NCAA teams often come to mind. However, it’s far more likely that a college student will participate in club, intramural, or recreational sports during their college experience. Millions of students participate in club, intramural, and recreational sports in college, compared to the NCAA’s average of approximately 500,000 student participants annually.

Club, intramural, and recreational sports have many benefits for students such as helping them develop positive connections with social groups and supporting their physical health. However, participation in these activities does have risks. The injury rate in club sports is significantly higher than in NCAA collegiate sports – this includes catastrophic injuries that have resulted in death. This is a tragedy for all involved, and also opens up an institution to legal risk – colleges and universities have been held liable in court when a student becomes injured playing sports.

The American College Health Association (ACHA) notes there is a lack of consistency among institutional and governing body rules and regulations regarding athlete health and safety guidelines. For instance, a survey of campus recreation programs found that 75% did not require risk and protect students.

Although there is no way to completely prevent student injury, adhering to a set of standards can help colleges and universities reduce risk.

USCAH Guidelines for Collegiate Intramural Club and Recreational Sports

Adopting best practices in these six categories will help colleges and universities minimize risk and support the health and safety of student-athletes.

  1. Education and documentation. All club sport safety officers, coaches, and staff, and all intramural sports students, volunteers, and officials should complete annual health and safety education and training. Participants should also complete waivers prior to participation. This includes safety officer agreements, proof that a physician has cleared the student for physical activity, and other documents. Institutions should track and be able to provide documentation to show that the training was completed, and the waivers were signed. Documentation will help if any compliance questions arise.
  2. Sport-specific health and safety considerations for participation. Each sport/activity should have its own education, training, and emergency action plan. Institutions should consider using waivers that include sport/activity-specific information related to:
  • Risk factors for injury
  • Common and severe injuries, conditions, and concerns
  • Injury prevention strategies
  • Personal protective equipment associated with each sport
  • Other sport-specific considerations
  1. Availability of athletic healthcare providers. Athletic trainers or physicians with a sports medicine background should be available to help handle student injuries during training sessions, games, competitions and other activities/events.
  2. Designation of club sport safety officers and risk managers. Institutions should have a risk manager on staff who is responsible for overseeing and making final decisions regarding the health and safety of student athletes. Each club sport should also identify students to serve as safety officers, train them in first aid, and have them present at every club sport activity/event.
  1. Emergency preparedness. Institutions should have an emergency action plan for sports programs that is venue-specific, reviewed annually, and posted in multiple locations. There should be action plans for both physical injuries and for mental health emergencies.
  1. Policy and procedure development. Institutions should develop policies and procedures regarding:
  • Education, training, and documentation requirements for administrators, coaches, safety officers, staff, students, officials, and volunteers
  • Emergency preparedness and emergency action planning
  • Forms and waivers
  • Healthcare services and access
  • Injury and illness management
  • Management of numerous catastrophic injuries, incidents, and conditions most seen in sports
  • Mental health services and access
  • Organization/Institution specific guidelines
  • Roles and responsibilities of administrators, coaches, safety officers, staff, students, officials, and volunteers
  • Sport-specific health and safety considerations

All sports come with risk. The best way to reduce that risk and protect students from injury is to be proactive through education and emergency planning and have appropriate policies and procedures in place.

How Vector Solutions Can Help

Vector Solutions offers online courses to support college athletes and athletic staff on various important student safety, wellness, and compliance topics.  Vector also partners with USCAH to offer online courses for coaches, athletes, administrators, and parents to support health and safety and mitigate risk, including a Collegiate Intramural, Club, and Recreational Sports Health and Safety Library.  Learn More About Vector Solutions’ Courses for College Athletes

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Discover how Vector Solutions can help colleges reduce injury risks in club, intramural, and recreational sports by following expert safety guidelines. Stay safe, play smart, and enhance your college sports experience!

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