California gave youth sports leagues an AED deadline. Not every league can afford one.
California has put a date on it.
AB 310, the Nevaeh Youth Sports Safety Act, applies to youth sports organizations across the state, including nonprofits and schools that run competition for athletes 17 and under. It sets two deadlines. By January 1, 2027, coaches have to be certified in CPR and AED operation, with recertification every two years, and the organization has to adopt a written cardiac emergency response plan and review it annually. By January 1, 2028, athletes have to have access to an AED at official practices and matches, and that AED has to be maintained and tested to the manufacturer's guidelines.
That is the right law. It is also, for a lot of leagues, an unfunded one.
The part nobody budgeted for
Coach certification is cheap. A CPR and AED course runs a few tens of dollars a head, and most leagues can absorb it.
The AED is the wall. Play With Heart partners with Response Ready to donate AEDs and even then, it costs between $1,200 and $1,400 per unit, before the wall cabinet, before the spare pads, before the replacement battery that comes due in a few years. For a club that charges low fees on purpose, because the families it serves cannot pay high ones, that is not a line item you move around. It is most of a season's budget for equipment.
So the law lands unevenly. Well-funded programs will comply and barely notice. The leagues serving kids who already have the least access to preventive care are the ones that will be scrambling in 2027, and they are the same leagues where a cardiac emergency is least likely to have a hospital minutes away.
This is the gap that Play With Heart works on.
Where the AEDs have gone
We have donated 10 AEDs to date and have been placing them with youth programs across California and beyond. A few of our California donations include:
EPATT — East Palo Alto. East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring pairs one-on-one academic tutoring with tennis for students in East Palo Alto, many of whom arrive multiple grade levels behind. They tutor somewhere between 100 and 249 students a year. We donated an AED and hosted an in-person learning session. Kids are on those courts every weekday afternoon.
San Diego Little League — San Diego. Donated May 2026 during their Little League Opening Day.
All Court Tennis Academy — San Diego. AED plus a storage case, so the unit is mounted and findable.
Point Break Volleyball Club — Chula Vista. Two AEDs with storage cases donated.
We have also placed units with Birch Grove Community School and Oshki Ogimaag Community School in northern Minnesota; small, remote schools where the nearest ambulance is a long way off.
What we are asking for
If you run a youth sports program in California and AB 310 is a problem you do not have a budget for, tell us. Email amy@iplaywithheart.org with your organization's name, where you play, roughly how many athletes you serve, and what you already have.
If you want to fund one, an AED is a clean thing to give. It is roughly $1,400, it goes on a specific wall at a specific club, and we will tell you which one.
Sources
AB 310 — Nevaeh Youth Sports Safety Act, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore — scope, requirements, and the January 2027 and January 2028 compliance dates
California AB 310 bill text, LegiScan — statutory language on AED access, coach certification and cardiac emergency response plans
East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring, Stanford NSSA — EPATT's mission, population served, and annual student numbers
Play With Heart Foundation internal AED donation tracker, last updated September 11, 2026 — purchase counts, recipients and unit costs