A school or independent youth sports organization (YSO) should require a preparticipation physical exam or evaluation (PPE) before allowing a child to practice or play an organized sport. In most places, not just any PPE form will do. Most schools or sports programs specify the PPE form that has to be completed.
After the sports season is over, a school or YSO should save the PPE until the child becomes an adult because children have the right to bring lawsuits as adults for injuries they suffered as children. A school or YSO will fare better in court if they can produce their PPEs.
Most schools and YSOs have lawyers who require that a specific PPE form be used. In my position as an athletic commissioner, I occasionally encounter parents who have trouble with this requirement, often telling me that they have used other forms to certify that their child is healthy. I always have to let these parents down gently, explaining to them that the reason for requiring a specific form is a legal one: no school or YSO can afford to run the risk of one child being certified under one standard and another child being certified under another standard.
The problem is that there is no uniformity in the forms being used: the decision is made on a school-by-school, program by program basis. It would be far better if there was one form used by every school and sports program.
There is one PPE form which is now used widely enough that is considered the "model form." The form, produced by a consortium of medical societies, has come to be known as "The Six Society Monograph." This unwieldy descriptive sounds like a reference to a mysterious conspiracy but in truth it just is a high falutin way of saying that six medical groups (the American Academy of Family Physicans, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Medical Society For Sports Medicine, The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine) got together and developed a model PPE form [1]. If you go on the Internet and search "preparticipation physical examination" you'll find a number of versions of the Five Society Monograph form. [Editor's Note: A 2014 study [2] finds that only 23 states mandate a single statewide PPE form, and, of those, only 8 (covering 11% of US high school athletes) use the Six Society Monograph].
But wait! Don't rush out and pull a random version of the form off the Internet to give to your child's doctor to complete. Some schools and YSO modify the form in stylistic and substantive ways. Check with your school first to make sure your child's physcian uses the precise form it requires.
In most places, the completed PPE allows a child to play sports for a period of a year, although the time period is longer in some states (in Connecticut, for instance, a physical is good for 13 months). It is therefore important for you to check with your child's school or club so you'll know when your child needs to take another physical exam and can schedule the exam in advance. The last thing you want is to have your child kid pulled off the team in the middle of the season because her physical expired or because you couldn't get her an appointment with her pediatrician.
Schools and YSOs need to save the PPE forms for a long time. I suggest saving the forms until the youngest child on a team is an adult. Then, hold the forms for four or five more years - just to play it safe.
Children don't generally have an independent right to sue. Their parents get to make those choices for them. However, once the child becomes an adult he can void his parents' decision not to sue, and bring lawsuits for things that happened a long time ago.
The new adult receives a period of time to bring his/her suit. After that period of time, the kid can't sue. That time period is called the statute of limitations. It's usually one to three years. A sports sponsor should check with its attorney to find out when children become adults for purposes of bringing a lawsuit in its state and to find out how long the stature of limitations period is. The forms should be saved for that length of time - and probably a year or two extra just to play it safe.
Schools, YSOs and parents will occasionally try to make excuses about doing and maintaining PPEs. I've seen schools lose forms because they had a change in athletic directors. I've seen athletic directors who gave the originals to a coach to take to the game, only to have the coach lose them (a tip: give the coach the copies and file the originals). I've had parents argue that their insurance company only covers so many medical checkups per year, or they don't have any health insurance at all, so they can't do a PPE. At the end of the day, no excuses are acceptable. Our kids' health and our schools' money are on the line.
Links:
[1] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/consistent-use-updated-preparticipation-physical-evaluation-form-goal-of-new-coalition
[2] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/study-finds-few-doctors-schools-states-use-national-preparticipation-physical-evaluation-form-PPE
[3] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/standardizing-preparticipation-physical-exams-goal-new-nata-position-statement