A new online education course regarding ACL injury prevention is now available on the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Learning Center, thanks to a partnership between the NFHS and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS).  

The "ACL Injury Prevention" course is part of a sponsorship agreement between the NFHS and the NFHS Network, and HSS, the leading orthopedic hospital in the United States located in New York City. HSS is ranked No. 1 in orthopedics for the ninth consecutive year in 2018-19 by U.S. News & World Report. The course is available free of charge on the NFHS Learning Center at www.NFHSLearn.com. 

While the course is designed to help coaches reduce the risk of ACL injuries to their student-athletes, it can be beneficial for administrators, students, parents and others as well. The course deals with the causes of ACL injuries, how to identify and correct movement deficiencies that can lead to these injuries, and how to effectively lead a neurodynamic warm-up before practices and games. 

Through the partnership, the NFHS and HSS hope to build a program that delivers national awareness around ACL injury prevention and related sports safety information. 

"We appreciate the work of the experts at Hospital for Special Surgery to provide this tremendous resource for high school students, parents, coaches and administrators," said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director. "These type of knee injuries can sideline athletes for long periods of time, so the availability of prevention strategies will be a tremendous resource for everyone involved in high school sports."

"We are thrilled to now offer our digital workshop to NFHS’ vast coalition of over 3 million people," said Joseph Janosky, director of HSS Sports Safety. "Since its creation, our program has positively impacted coaches by providing them with tools to reduce the risk of ACL injuries for young athletes."

As a part of the agreement, the NFHS Network will promote the ACL course throughout the year during the expected 100,000 events that will be streamed during the 2018-19 school year at www.NFHSNetwork.com. The NFHS Network, a joint venture between the NFHS and its member state associations, and PlayOn! Sports, is in its sixth year of streaming high school sports and activities through its first-of-its-kind, all-digital network. 

"This is a great opportunity both for the NFHS Network and for HSS," said Mark Koski, CEO of the NFHS Network and NFHS director of marketing. "Through advertisements and videos, we will be able to share the messages of ACL injury prevention with the thousands of viewers on the NFHS Network and also help to promote the online course. We look forward to this partnership with HSS."

Since its founding in 2007, the NFHS Learning Center has delivered almost eight million online education courses. The Coach Education Program started with two courses – Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid for Coaches – and now boasts 65, including 31 that are available free of charge.  

In addition to 16 sport-specific courses for coaches, the Learning Center offers eight sport-specific officiating courses, as well as Teaching Sports Skills and AACCA Spirit Safety Certification.  In addition to the ACL Injury Prevention course, some of the other new free offerings are Protecting Students from Abuse, Understanding Copyright and Compliance, and Adjudicating Speech and Debate. 

The most popular course has been the Concussion in Sports course with four million courses delivered. Other popular free courses are Heat Illness Prevention, Sportsmanship, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, and Bullying, Hazing and Inappropriate Behaviors. 

"We are excited to add the new ACL Injury Prevention course to our Learning Center, and to be able to offer free of charge helps to ensure that more individuals will take advantage of this great resource," said Dan Schuster, NFHS director of educational services. "We appreciate the work of the HSS staff and the opportunity to offer the course to high school students, parents, coaches and others."

About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)
The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 16 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,500 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including almost 8 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.