Additional safety precautions for athletes of all ages were discussed during the Youth Sports Safety Summit Tuesday morning. Professionals, including athletic trainers, orthopaedic surgeons, parents, students, physicians, professors and state legislators all presented possible solutions to help decrease the risk of catastrophic athletic injuries and illness among athletes.    Last year, Tommy Mallon, a student at Santa Fe Christian High School in San Diego, broke his neck during a lacrosse game.  His school athletic trainer, Riki Kirchhoff, saved his life by following proper procedure.  It turned out Mallon had a fractured neck and without the help of an athletic trainer, he would have d

The National Athletic Trainer Association (NATA) will be holding a Youth Sports Safety Summit at the Capitol on Tuesday in hopes of educating legislators, athletes, parents, coaches and the community about catastrophic dangers young athletes are exposed to.  In December, NATA partnered with 30 organizations, including American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and California Brain Injury Association to name a few, and formed an Alliance to combat the "youth sports safety crisis in America." The event will feature various speakers from the alliance including: Cindy Chang, MD, representative for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM); Dian