EKG to be required for Florida high school athletes starting in July

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A medical test will soon be required for all Florida high school student-athletes, thanks to new state legislation called the ‘Second Chance Act‘. 

An electrocardiogram, also known as an ECG or EKG, is a non-invasive test that records the heart’s electrical activity. 

The test aims to prevent kids from going into cardiac arrest. 

Evan Ernst, the co-founder of the non-profit Who We Play For, said they can detect 95% of the conditions that can cause cardiac arrest with the procedure.

“There’s 23,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every single year in America,” he said. “For the kids who have underlying heart conditions, this will catch most.” 

Thanks to the non-profit, more than 70 students between the ages of 10 and 25  got an ECG at the Galen College of Nursing in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

This includes 16-year-old Hadley Stenberg. 

She attends school in Tampa, and while she’s never gotten this test before, she wasn’t worried and wants others to feel comfortable. 

“It’s cool to see what your heart is doing,” said Stenberg. “No pain at all. It was quick and easy, maybe took two minutes for them to do everything.” 

The procedure tests for multiple conditions that 1-300 kids may have. 

Evan lost one of his childhood friends on the soccer field because of cardiac arrest.

With the Florida legislature passing the act in 2025, he said this will prevent other kids from having to go through the same thing. 

“This becoming the standard of care for Florida kids is absolutely massive,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest accomplishments in children’s health care in this country in decades.” 

The legislation officially goes into effect for the 2026 school year on July 1.