The Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, during its meeting in Indianapolis last week, discussed next steps following the NCAA Summit on Performance Technologies in Collegiate Athletics that was hosted May 1-2 by the Sport Science Institute.
CSMAS noted that discussions from the event will inform a consensus-building process that may result in recommendations for CSMAS to create nonbinding membership considerations for the responsible use of performance technologies in collegiate athletics.
At the summit, participants discussed topics related to the responsible use of performance technologies, including:
- Nomenclature (wearables vs. performance technology).
- Impacts on student-athletes, including mental health.
- Contemporary use trends.
- Considerations for intent, transparency and privacy.
- Planning, implementing and evaluating performance technologies, including involvement of sports medicine staff.
- Performance technologies in data-informed and/or medical decision-making.
- The evolving landscape of sports science and technology.
CSMAS will continue to discuss performance technologies, including review of consensus-based membership considerations, at its next meeting.
Injury Surveillance Program modernization
CSMAS supported modernizing the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program through methodological updates, expanding operational capabilities and introducing substudies.
This modernization would bring the program in alignment with best practices in injury surveillance data analysis methodology globally.
It is expected these updates will:
- Enhance precisionin projecting and calculating injury rates. Population estimates play a crucial role by helping to identify the population-level injury burden on the basis of reported data.
- Improve utility. Enhanced methodology for incidence calculations would produce more meaningful and interpretable injury metrics while generating actionable insights, even in data-constrained contexts. This update would also offer Injury Surveillance Program analyses the ability to answer more specific questions.
Another aspect of the modernization project would be the ability to introduce substudies to address identified needs, membership interest and/or gaps in research literature. CSMAS and the membership would be able to receive actionable evidence and insights into key student-athlete health, safety and performance topics.
Since 1982, athletic trainers at member schools have collaborated with the NCAA to make the Injury Surveillance Program the largest collegiate sports injury database program. To learn more about participating on your campus, visit theNCAA Injury Surveillance Program page on ncaa.org.