TAMPA, Fla. — New safety standards go into effect next school year to help detect life-threatening heart conditions in student athletes but a screening this year found something concerning for one family.

What You Need To Know

  • A heart condition was detected in a Bay Area athlete during EKG & sports physical
  • EKGs are required for student athletes as part of 2026 sports physicals
  • Students with an EKG two years ahead of 2026-27 school year will be considered in compliance

The Second Chance Act signed into law in 2025 honors a high school football player who died after collapsing on the field. Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, along with the required sports physical for high school athletes, an EKG will also be mandated before student athletes before they can participate.

“It helps give us another layer of suspicion that something could potentially be wrong with the heart before they have a sudden event or any symptoms,” said Dr. Anjlee Patel, a cardiologist with AdventHealth.

That is exactly what happened with 15-year-old softball player Savannah Alloway, who got an EKG as part of her back-to-school physical this year.

“We didn’t think we were gonna find out anything because it was supposed to be just a physical. And then we found out I had the WPW, and it felt weird, nothing’s usually wrong with me I’m usually the healthy one,” said Savannah.

Patel said WPW, or Wolff-Parkinson-White is a heart condition that can be serious, even deadly if left untreated.

“She was born with an extra electrical pathway that conducts very fast and rapidly and can potentially result in lethal arrhythmias,” said Dr. Patel, who credits the EKG for detecting the heart condition.

“She was very lucky that we were able to find it incidentally just because of the EKG but with a routine history physical we would have never been able to pick it up,” Patel said of the test that will be mandatory next school year.

“We’ll definitely know that the electrical rhythm is intact and normal, there are no heart blocks, there’s no skipped beats, extra beats, pauses,” said Patel.

That extra layer of screening is what put Savannah back in the batter’s box.

After a procedure to correct the condition, the teen has been cleared to compete in travel ball and to play for her high school team.

“It feels really good because when I wasn’t allowed to play, I wasn’t allowed to play for a week after the procedure, so I just went to practice and just watched everybody play and I kinda like wanted to go out there,” said Savannah, who adds she is out there practicing harder than ever.