Arizona high school athletic programs recently were reminded about the importance of having an emergency action plan in place.

An umpire was struck in the head by a softball before a game on Friday, and the actions of Saguaro High's players and coaches likely saved the life of the official, said Chuck Schmidt, the AIA’s executive director. Before the incident, the AIA was already planning to implement a plan to save lives in case of emergencies such as heart attacks.

On Monday, the AIA’s executive board approved that plan, the Anyone Can Save a Life Program, during its monthly board meeting. Every postseason team hosting games will implement the program first. 

The program calls for every host team to have an automatic electronic defibrillator on its campus.  

“It’s something that we are very excited about,” Schmidt said.

The Anyone Can Save a Life Program was started by the Minnesota State High School Leagues, and the program has already saved lives in that state, Schmidt said.

If a school doesn’t have a defibrillator and can’t afford to buy one, grant money will be available for those schools, Schmidt said.

“It’s a really significant step in insuring everybody has an opportunity to save a life,” Schmidt said.

More headlines from Monday’s board meeting

The board approved the completion of the varsity schedules for the 2013-14 school years.

On Monday, the 4A conference might make some revisions to some schedules to help some Flagstaff soccer and tennis programs that had trouble scheduling games. For an in-depth memo by the AIA on the schedules being finalized go here. 

Also:

The board approved a new rule that will reduce the amount of contact during each preseason and regular season practice.

The new rule (only half of each preseason practice can be dedicated to full contact, 1/3 in the regular season) goes into effect July 1. Dr. Javier Cardenas, the leader of the AIA’s sports medicine advisory committee, helped the AIA come up with the new rule to help reduce the amount of head injuries.

• Centennial’s football program received a warning from the board for allegedly violating the recruiting rule (15.12). 

As a result of the alleged violation, every coach, principal and athletic director in the Peoria Unified School District will need to attend a meeting to review the recruiting rule.

• Baseball scouts are inviting high school athletes to attend work outs for Major League teams during the high school season.

Gilbert district athletic director Mark Cisterna attended Monday’s board meeting to see if the work outs violate the AIA’s tryout rule (14.8). The board wants the AIA’s baseball advisory committee to look into the issue in May before a decision is made.

• Michele Staples of the AIA announced that River Valley will receive the Tony Komadina Award for outstanding Class 4-5A girls program during the AIA’s annual award luncheon.

The University of Phoenix Stadium will host the luncheon May 20. 

• A big welcome goes out to the newest member of the AIA, Tayler Levi, the association’s new front office assistant.

Levi attended Arcadia High, where shed played volleyball, and graduated from Arizona State.