Submitted by SCAFoundation on Wed, 05/15/2013 - 12:00am

DALLAS, TX–With the spring sports season well underway and summer preseason practices and youth league games around the corner, young athletes are already enjoying warm weather activities and competition. “Every team and athlete should have sports safety as a top priority,” says Larry Cooper, chair of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Secondary School Committee and head athletic trainer at Penn Trafford (Pa.) High School. “It’s vital for coaches, athletic trainers, parents and the athletes themselves to maintain good communication and follow guidelines to ensure all participants are fit for play.” 

NATA hosted the 4th Youth Sports Safety Summit earlier this year with the support of the Youth Sports Safety Alliance, now composed of 109 organizations, including the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, committed to keeping athletes safe, and launched the first-ever National Action Plan for Sports Safety and Student Athlete Bill of Rights (www.youthsportssafetyalliance.org). “Each athlete is entitled to appropriate care, prevention and treatment of injuries should they occur,” says Cooper.
 
NATA offers several sports safety tips to keep athletes in the game. Among other things, NATA recommends:

  1. Make sure the athlete is physically and mentally in the game: Parents, with assistance from coaches, should determine whether their children are physically and psychologically conditioned for the sport/activity level they’re playing. Do not push children into something they do not want to do. Additionally, if an athlete has been injured and is returning to sport, it’s critical for him or her to have the right mind set and confidence to return to play and avoid repeat injury.
  2. Get a pre-participation exam: All athletes should have a pre-participation exam to determine their readiness to play and uncover any condition that may limit participation.
  3. Maintain heart health: Recognition is vital to treatment: sudden cardiac arrest should be suspected in any athlete who has collapsed and is unresponsive. Public access to early defibrillation is essential: a goal of less than 3-5 minutes from the time of collapse to delivery of the first shock from an automated external defibrillator (AED) is strongly recommended. (Many) schools now have AEDs. Ensure that the medical expert and other personnel know where they are located, how to use them and that they are placed on sidelines during competitions and games.
  4. Ensure equipment is in working order: Make sure all equipment ranging from field goals, basketball flooring, gymnastics apparatus and field turf are in safe and working order. This also includes emergency medical equipment such as spine boards, splint devices, AEDs (which should be checked once per month; batteries and pads need consistent monitoring and replacing). All it takes is a slip on a wet surface or twist of an ankle on an ungroomed field to lead to lower extremity injuries, among others.
  5. Ensure an emergency action plan is in place: Every team should have a written emergency action plan, reviewed by the athletic trainer or local Emergency Medical Service. Individual assignments and emergency equipment and supplies need to be included in the emergency action plan. If an athletic trainer is not employed by the school or sport league, qualified individuals need to be present to render care. Knowing that a school has prepared for emergency will give parents peace of mind.
  6. Adopt a “Time Out” system: Each health care team should take a “Time Out” before athletic events to ensure emergency action plans are reviewed and in place. Determine the role of each person; communication coordination; presence of ambulance; designated hospital; test of all emergency equipment; issues that could impact the plan such as weather or other considerations. 

“It’s critical that all members of a school’s athletic health care team, parents, teachers and others involved in the care of the athlete have ongoing communication to ensure a safe sports setting,” says Cooper. “With those protocols in place, athletes can enjoy the great spirit, competition, and accomplishment that come from safe and fair play.”  
 
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SOURCE: NATA