Bill Text: HI SCR91 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 91 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging The Hawaii High School Athletic Association To Adopt The Pitch Smart Guidelines For High School Baseball Pitchers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-29 - Report adopted, referred to CPH. [SCR91 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SCR91-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	91
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging the Hawaii High School Athletic Association to adopt the pitch smart guidelines for high school baseball pitchers.

WHEREAS, there is strong anecdotal evidence to support the conclusion that young, amateur baseball pitchers are undergoing Tommy John surgery to repair torn or ruptured ulnar collateral ligaments of the elbow at unprecedented rates; and

WHEREAS, Tommy John surgery regularly requires a year or more of recovery time and does not improve a pitcher's performance levels; and

WHEREAS, the single most significant risk factor contributing to the need for Tommy John surgery is daily, weekly, and annual overuse; and

WHEREAS, it is important to provide coaches, pitchers, and parents in the State with guidelines for pitch counts and rest periods designed to limit the risk of serious arm injury to young pitchers; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association sanctions high school interscholastic athletic events, including baseball, for its ninety-six public and private high school members across the State; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association recently adopted a daily pitch count limit and mandatory rest requirements for baseball pitchers pitching in preseason and state tournament games; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's newly enacted pitch count limit and mandatory rest requirements are a good first step, but do not do enough to protect the arms of young, high school pitchers in the State; and

WHEREAS, USA Baseball and Major League Baseball have developed Pitch Smart guidelines pertaining to pitch counts and rest periods across all competitions for pitchers up to age twenty-two based on the recommendations of an advisory committee consisting of, among others, world-renowned physicians and leaders in the field of Tommy John surgery; and

WHEREAS, adopting the Pitch Smart guidelines for high school pitchers in the State would direct coaches and players to follow the best, most up-to-date guidelines for protecting high school pitchers' arms from serious injury; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Hawaii High School Athletic Association is urged to adopt the Pitch Smart guidelines pertaining to pitch counts and rest periods to reduce the risk of arm injury in high school baseball pitchers to be followed by all baseball players and coaches of member schools; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Executive Director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.