Youth NeuroSports Research & Innovation Department 

Youth NeuroSports Research & Innovation

The Martin Legacy Foundation is building a community-based youth sports health initiative focused on concussion awareness, injury prevention, sports medicine access, neurological health education, and safer return-to-play pathways for student-athletes. 

The Problem
Youth athletes are training harder, specializing earlier, and competing more often, but many families, schools, and community leagues lack access to pediatric sports medicine, athletic trainers, concussion education, neurology-informed recovery guidance, and affordable injury-prevention resources. For underserved communities, that gap can mean delayed care, unsafe return to play, missed school, preventable injuries, and long-term physical or cognitive consequences.

Our Mission
To protect youth athletes by combining sports medicine education, brain health awareness, injury-prevention programming, data-informed community research, and trusted referral partnerships.

What We Do
MLF’s Youth NeuroSports Research & Innovation Department focuses on four core areas:

Brain Health & Concussion Safety
Coach, parent, and athlete education on concussion signs, symptoms, removal-from-play, return-to-learn, and return-to-play best practices.

Sports Medicine & Injury Prevention
Community clinics covering movement quality, overuse injury prevention, hydration, heat illness, recovery habits, knee/ankle/shoulder injury awareness, and safe training loads.

Community Data & Outcomes
Consent-based tracking of youth sports injury trends, access-to-care gaps, safety training completion, referral needs, and program impact.

Care Navigation & Partnerships
Connecting families, schools, and leagues with pediatric sports medicine, neurology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic trainers, mental health support, and emergency-preparedness resources.

Who We Serve
Student-athletes, parents, coaches, schools, youth leagues, underserved communities, adaptive athletes, and programs without regular access to sports medicine professionals.

Why Fund This Work
A grant to this department supports measurable, prevention-focused health equity. Funding can help MLF deliver safety clinics, train coaches, support athletic trainer participation, collect community injury data, provide educational materials, create referral pathways, and reduce preventable harm in youth sports.