INDIANAPOLIS — Heat preparedness training has long been recommended by the Indiana High School Athletic Association. As of July 1, the training will become a requirement for all interscholastic and intramural coaches in the state of Indiana.

The new law, named Public Law 19, was signed into effect March 8 after passing unanimously through the Indiana House by a vote of 91-0. The law will require all head and assistant coaches in the state to pass a heat preparedness training course. Authored by Rep. Ronald Bacon (R), the law will also require that those coaches renew that training every two years, training designed to help coaches prevent, recognize and respond to heat-related medical issues that could arise during student-athletes’ training.

The National Federation of State High School Association’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee asserts that exertional heatstroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletics and cites a report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury that 35 high school football players died of the condition between 1995 and 2010.