Concussion care starts before the season begins.
At Complete Concussions, our mission has always been to provide the best evidence-based concussion care and management. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we have integrated with Sports Buddy, an Australian-based technology company focused on improving player safety and governance across community sport.
Through this new partnership, Australian clubs can now see directly within their HURT (injury and concussion management) portal whether a player has completed a baseline neurological test. This simple but critical connection gives clubs a clearer view of their athletes’ concussion preparedness alongside the player information they already manage.
Baseline Before the Season
The timing for this integration couldn’t be better. With the end of the AFL season approaching, leagues, clubs, and players are already beginning to think about preparation for Season 2027.
Pre-season is the ideal time to complete a neurological baseline test—before an injury ever occurs. A baseline test gives our clinicians a crucial pre-injury reference point to understand how an individual player’s brain is functioning. If a concussion is sustained during the season, that personal baseline provides a highly individualized reference point when assessing recovery and guiding a safe return-to-play.
While baseline testing is already a pre-season expectation for many representative and higher-performance teams, its value goes well beyond just a team requirement. By making this status visible within HURT, we are helping grassroots sports make concussion preparedness a normal part of their annual pre-season checklists.
What Our Leaders Are Saying
Aerin Di Leva, Director of Program Development – Australia and New Zealand at Complete Concussions, spoke on the importance of this new visibility:
“We’re excited to integrate with Sports Buddy and extend access to baseline testing status at the grassroots level across Australia. One of the biggest opportunities we have is to continue educating clubs, players and families about the value of completing baseline testing before the season begins. Making that status visible within the HURT portal gives clubs another practical way to encourage players to complete their baseline annually and to make concussion preparedness part of normal pre-season planning.”
Kim Vespa, Co-Founder of Sports Buddy, added:
“This integration is another important step in bringing information that has traditionally existed in silos together – creating greater visibility into one central, trusted portal for both the club and the athlete… When clubs make baseline testing part of normal pre-season preparation, they also help educate players and families about concussion, recovery and the importance of protecting long-term brain health.”
About Sports Buddy
Sports Buddy is a sport-agnostic technology company designed to support clubs, leagues, associations, and governing bodies in moving away from fragmented, paper-based processes. Alongside HURT, their platform features SAFE (for safeguarding and complaints) and PROOF (for certifications and compliance), creating clearer visibility and stronger oversight across sporting organizations.
To learn more about how their technology is supporting community sports, visit their website at: www.sportsbuddy.com.au