Alva Review-Courier -

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State health officials are seeking to shore up and standardize safeguards against brain injuries in youth sports beyond schools in non-scholastic athletic leagues and clubs.

Coaches and many youth athletes automatically would undergo training to detect signs of a concussion and understand the potential consequences of a brain injury under rules proposed by the New Mexico Department of Health.

The agency has scheduled a public hearing later this month on the proposal requiring annual training about concussions not only of coaches but also parents and young athletes themselves — once they turn 11. Agency official were unavailable Friday for comment.

Those children would sign a form each year that shows they completed brain-injury prevention training session linked to standards from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2010, New Mexico adopted far-reaching prevention and education measures to address concussions and potential brain injuries in school sports, and more recent legislation in 2017 extended training and education to student athletes.

State Senator and high school teacher Bill Soules of Las Cruces said he sponsored the 2017 bill after conversation with students who felt left out of decisions about concussions in athletics. He said protocols for non-scholastic youth sports were not fully addressed — and applauded the idea of expanding youth education.

"The idea is that students have an awareness as to what the symptoms are of concussions because sometimes they don't show up until one or two hours afterward, and the coach is long gone," he said.

The newly proposed brain injury rules echo guidelines already in place at organizations such as New Mexico Youth Soccer that oversees affiliate clubs and leagues across the state. Little League Baseball defers to laws in each state.

The proposal in New Mexico includes a standard sit-out period for symptoms of a concussion or brain injury — of at least 10 days. Players would return only with a written medical release.

In 2015, a New Mexico judge overruled state concussion protocols to allow a high school football player in Rio Rancho to play in a title game after his parents challenged the school's diagnosis.