Ohio Youth Sports Concussion Law

What this actually means for your family

The statutory detail is further down, and it is all sourced. But if you are here because your child got hit this week, these are the six things you came to find out.

My child took a hit to the head. Does the coach have to take them out?

Yes. If your child shows signs of a concussion, or is suspected of having one, they have to come out of that practice or game right away. This is the part of the law that is nearly identical everywhere, and it does not require anyone to be certain — a suspicion is enough, and the coach is not supposed to wait for a diagnosis before acting.

Can they go back in the same day?

No. Ohio law says in terms that an athlete removed for a suspected concussion is done for the day. There is no version of this where they go back in after sitting out a few plays and saying they feel fine.

Whose note does the school have to accept?

Ohio names specific professions in the law, so this one is worth checking before you book — if your provider is not one of them, the school does not have to take their note.

A physician, or another licensed clinician who meets the education requirements set by their own licensing board. In practice that covers athletic trainers, nurses and physician assistants, each under their board's rule.

The exact wording, if you need to show it to a school

• physician
• licensed health care professional authorized by the school district board of education or the school's governing authority (interscholastic track), acting in consultation with, on referral from, in collaboration with, or under the supervision of a physician
• licensed health care professional who meets the minimum education requirements established by rules adopted under ORC 3707.521 by the professional's licensing agency (e.g., athletic trainers under OAC 4755-5-01, nurses under OAC 4723-8-11, physicians and physician assistants under OAC 4731-31-01)

That list comes straight from Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3313.539 (codes.ohio.gov). This is the text a school, a coach or an athletic director is bound by, so it is the page to print or forward if anyone tells you the rule is something other than what you have read here. Where a state's law runs across several sections, the rest of them are in the sources at the foot of this page.

Is there a minimum number of days out?

Not in the law. This surprises people, but the statute sets no minimum number of days — it just requires a provider to sign off. How long your child sits out is a clinical decision, not a legal one, and a provider who returns a child quickly is not breaking any law. This is the single biggest gap between what these statutes require and what current concussion medicine actually recommends.

Does the school have to help with schoolwork while they recover?

No. Ohio law is silent about school. It governs athletics only. That is a real gap, because recovering from a concussion is usually harder in a classroom than on a field — screens, noise, testing and concentration are exactly what an injured brain struggles with. Ask the school anyway, and if symptoms persist, ask about a 504 plan, which does carry legal weight.

What if the team is not run by their school?

Yes. This is worth knowing, because it is not true everywhere: Ohio wrote its law to cover organised youth sport generally, not just the teams a school runs. A club, a travel team, a municipal rec league — the same removal rule and the same clearance requirement apply. If a club coach tells you the concussion law is a school thing, they are wrong, and you can say so.

Read the law itself, in full: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3313.539 (codes.ohio.gov). This is the text a school, a coach or an athletic director is bound by, so it is the page to print or forward if anyone tells you the rule is something other than what you have read here. Where a state's law runs across several sections, the rest of them are in the sources at the foot of this page.

If this happened in the last few days

Rule out the emergencies first.

A concussion is not usually a medical emergency, but a small number of head injuries are. Go to an emergency department now for a headache that keeps getting worse, repeated vomiting, seizures, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, one pupil larger than the other, or a child who cannot be woken or is unusually confused or drowsy. None of this is what the concussion statute is about, and none of it should wait for a clearance appointment.

Get the evaluation booked, and book the right kind.

The clearance your school needs has to come from a provider the law recognizes, and that list is different in every state — it is the third question above. Confirming that before the appointment saves families a wasted visit and a second co-pay more often than you would think.

Write down what happened while it is fresh.

The date and time, what the hit looked like, who saw it, what symptoms appeared and when, and who was told. This helps the clinician far more than a general 'he got hit at practice,' and if there is ever a dispute with the school about what was reported, it is the only contemporaneous record anyone will have.

Finding a provider who can sign it

Knowing what the law requires is one half of it; finding someone who can actually do the evaluation is the other. Our directory lists 82 verified concussion providers in Ohio across 27 cities, and you can filter by the kind of clinician the answer above calls for.

Browse Ohio concussion specialists →

What makes Ohio's law different

Ohio is one of the relatively few states that regulates non-school youth leagues in a genuinely parallel statute rather than by a one-line extension: § 3707.511 imposes essentially the same duties on any fee-based or sponsor-funded organization serving athletes 19 and under, with its own immunity clause. Ohio also builds in coach and referee competence rather than only athlete education — coaches must hold a state pupil-activity program permit and referees must hold that permit or have completed concussion-recognition training within the prior three years. Finally, Ohio pushed the clearance question down to the licensing boards through § 3707.521; the resulting rules are unusually prescriptive, with the Medical Board's rule 4731-31-01 (eff. April 30, 2025) tying physician and PA clearance to the 2022 Amsterdam consensus statement and a mandatory model clearance form.

The statute in detail

Everything above is the short version. This is what the law actually says, section by section, for anyone who needs the precise wording — a school administrator writing policy, a coach checking a duty, or a family that has hit a disagreement with a district.

Who the law covers

Two parallel tracks. § 3313.539 covers interscholastic athletics at school district schools and at both chartered and nonchartered nonpublic schools. §§ 3707.51-.52 and 3707.511 separately cover 'youth sports organizations' — public or nonpublic entities organizing an athletic activity for athletes not more than 19 years old where participants pay a fee or the cost is sponsored by a business or nonprofit.

Education and acknowledgment

The Ohio Department of Health writes and posts the concussion and head injury information sheet (§ 3707.52). For interscholastic athletics, no student may practice or compete until a form signed by the parent or guardian — stating that both the student and the parent received the information sheet — is submitted, and a new form is required each school year for each sport. Youth sports organizations must give the same information sheet to the parent/guardian before participation.

Ohio Return-to-Play Law: Removal From Play

In interscholastic sports, a coach or referee must immediately remove a student who exhibits signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion or head injury from that day's practice or competition. In youth leagues the same duty falls on the coach, the referee, or an official of the youth sports organization.

Ohio Return-to-Play Law: Getting Cleared to Return

No same-day return in either setting. Before returning to any practice or competition the athlete must be assessed and receive written clearance from a physician or an authorized licensed health care professional. There is no statutory fixed waiting period or graduated protocol in the statute itself; those come from the assessing provider and from licensing-board rules.

Who the law lets sign the clearance

• physician
• licensed health care professional authorized by the school district board of education or the school's governing authority (interscholastic track), acting in consultation with, on referral from, in collaboration with, or under the supervision of a physician
• licensed health care professional who meets the minimum education requirements established by rules adopted under ORC 3707.521 by the professional's licensing agency (e.g., athletic trainers under OAC 4755-5-01, nurses under OAC 4723-8-11, physicians and physician assistants under OAC 4731-31-01)

Return to learn

Not addressed in the statute. ORC 3313.539 and 3707.511 deal only with athletic participation.

How the law has changed

• 2013 — S.B. 26 (130th Gen. Assemb.), effective May 28, 2013, amended § 3313.539 shortly after the original provisions took effect.
• 2014 — H.B. 487 (130th Gen. Assemb.), effective Sept. 17, 2014, restructured the youth-league provisions into § 3707.511, added the defined term 'licensed health care professional,' and required that anyone who assesses or clears a youth athlete meet minimum education requirements set by rule under § 3707.521.
• 2025 — Not a statutory change but a controlling rule change: State Medical Board rule 4731-31-01, effective April 30, 2025, requires physicians and physician assistants clearing youth athletes under §§ 3313.539 and 3707.511 to follow the 2022 Amsterdam consensus statement and to use the Board's model clearance form.

What happens if the rules are not followed

This is the part families ask about most and the part these statutes handle least. Almost every one of these laws sets out duties without setting out a penalty for ignoring them, and most go further and grant the school and its staff protection from being sued over concussion decisions. What that protection covers, and where it stops, is a state-specific question:

Both statutes grant immunity from civil damages. School districts, nonpublic schools, board members, employees and volunteers (§ 3313.539) and youth sports organizations and their personnel (§ 3707.511(F)) are not liable for injury allegedly caused by an act or omission under the section unless the conduct is willful or wanton misconduct.

Two things are worth being clear about. Immunity clauses of this kind generally stop short of conduct that is willful or reckless, so they are not unconditional. And a school district's or athletic association's own rules sit on top of the statute and can be enforced through the school or the association even where the law provides no remedy — that route is often faster than any legal one. If you believe the rules were not followed and your child was harmed as a result, that is a question for an attorney licensed in your state. It is not something this page can answer, and it is not something a directory should pretend to.

Common questions

Whose note does a school have to accept to clear a concussion in Ohio?

Ohio names specific professions in the law, so this one is worth checking before you book — if your provider is not one of them, the school does not have to take their note. physician; licensed health care professional authorized by the school district board of education or the school's governing authority (interscholastic track), acting in consultation with, on referral from, in collaboration with, or under the supervision of a physician; licensed health care professional who meets the minimum education requirements established by rules adopted under ORC 3707.521 by the professional's licensing agency (e.g., athletic trainers under OAC 4755-5-01, nurses under OAC 4723-8-11, physicians and physician assistants under OAC 4731-31-01)

Can a student go back in the same day after a head injury in Ohio?

No. Ohio law says in terms that an athlete removed for a suspected concussion is done for the day. There is no version of this where they go back in after sitting out a few plays and saying they feel fine.

How long does a student have to sit out after a concussion in Ohio?

Not in the law. This surprises people, but the statute sets no minimum number of days — it just requires a provider to sign off. How long your child sits out is a clinical decision, not a legal one, and a provider who returns a child quickly is not breaking any law. This is the single biggest gap between what these statutes require and what current concussion medicine actually recommends.

Does Ohio require schools to help with schoolwork after a concussion?

No. Ohio law is silent about school. It governs athletics only. That is a real gap, because recovering from a concussion is usually harder in a classroom than on a field — screens, noise, testing and concentration are exactly what an injured brain struggles with. Ask the school anyway, and if symptoms persist, ask about a 504 plan, which does carry legal weight.

Does Ohio's concussion law apply to club and rec league sports?

Yes. This is worth knowing, because it is not true everywhere: Ohio wrote its law to cover organised youth sport generally, not just the teams a school runs. A club, a travel team, a municipal rec league — the same removal rule and the same clearance requirement apply. If a club coach tells you the concussion law is a school thing, they are wrong, and you can say so.

When did Ohio pass its youth concussion law?

2012. The statute is Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3313.539 (interscholastic), 3707.51, 3707.511, 3707.52 (youth sports organizations); enacted by Am. Sub. H.B. 143, 129th Gen. Assemb.. It has been amended in 2013, 2014, 2025.

How this summary was written

Each summary was built from the statutory text and, where the statute delegates, the state rule or athletic association policy it delegates to. Where a detail could not be traced to a primary source it was left out rather than guessed at, so a section reading “not addressed in the statute” means the law is silent — not that nothing applies.

Not legal advice. This is a plain-language summary of a statute, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the law or asking a lawyer about a specific situation. Statutes are amended; school district and athletic association rules sit on top of them and are often stricter. Every source used for this page is linked below so you can check it against the text.

Sources

• ORC 3313.539 (interscholastic concussion)
• ORC 3707.511 (youth sports organizations)
• ORC 3707.51 (definition of youth sports organization)
• ORC 3707.52 (ODH information sheet)
• ORC 3313.539 (2013 version, Justia — HB 143 credit line)
• OAC 4755-5-01 (athletic trainers, youth concussion clearance)
• Analysis of new Medical Board rule 4731-31-01 (eff. 4/30/2025)