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19 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 1 (2019-2020)
Swimming against the Current: Mayall v. USA Water Polo and Its Potential Impact on Overseeing Athletic Organizations

handle is hein.journals/virspelj19 and id is 3 raw text is: FALL 2019                SWIMMING AGAINST THE CURRENT                    VOL.19:1
Article
Swimming Against the Current: Mayall v.
USA Water Polo and Its Potential Impact on
Overseeing Athletic Organizations
Sam C. Ehrlich'
Introdu ction ...........................................................................................................1
I.    The Events Leading Up to the Ninth Circuit's Ruling ................................4
A .   The  Tw o  D istrict Court Rulings.............................................................7
II.   A t  the  N inth  C ircuit...................................................................................10
A.    Briefing Mayall........................................10
B .   The  N inth  Circuit D ecision  ..................................................................12
i.    Duty of Care and Primary Assumption of Risk...............................13
ii.   Promulgation of Safety Rules as a Voluntary Undertaking.............14
iii. Gross Negligence ............................................................................16
C.    M  oving  for En  Banc  Review ................................................................16
III. The Potential Impacts of Mayall..........................................................18
A.    Secondary Injuries and Assumption of Risk ........................................18
B.    Voluntarily Undertaking Responsibility through Promulgation of .........
Policy ...................................................................................................20
C.    Inaction by Overseeing Athletic Organization as Gross Negligence....25
Conclusion ..........................................................................................................27
Introduction
The concussion epidemic has been a major source of discussion among
commentators in a variety of different subject areas, as many attempt to determine
how to solve this crisis and curb the threat it poses to sport participation. While
much of the discussion is centered around professional and intercollegiate sports,
amateur youth sports have been affected as well. According to medical
researchers, around 600,000 sport- and recreation-related concussions by youth
sport participants are treated each year; between 22.5 percent and 52.7 percent of
high school students' concussions are not reported to medical providers for
treatment.2 It may be impossible to entirely remove concussions from sport. Even
still, significant efforts have been made by state legislatures and overseeing
athletic  organizations,  including   promulgation    of  effective  concussion
management policies, education of coaches about the threat of concussions and
Sam C. Ehrlich, J.D./Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Boise State University College of
Business and Economics.
2 Mersine A. Bryan et al., Sports- and Recreation-Related Concussions in US Youth, 138 Pediatrics 1,
4-5 (2016).

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