Sports Safety Training Program

Lead: Coach's education program aims to teach how to head off and treat sports-related injuries.

Brief Synopsis
A young boy runs up the soccer field, preparing himself to head the ball into the opponent's net. The ball crashes down on his forehead with enough force to cause his brain to be shaken in his skull -- a concussion, as it is commonly known. His coach runs onto the field, remembering the guidelines he learned as part of the Sports Safety Training program, a national coaches certification program offered through the American Red Cross in conjunction with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Without this specialized training, the coach could well have been at a loss as to how to handle the injury.

Although federal law does not require any coach education for any level of sport, the Sports Safety Training program provides information to coaches at all levels of competition on how to prevent sports injuries, and trains them in how to give "immediate first aid between the time of injury and the arrival of emergency medical services." The program has the potential to reach one million coaches in the United States, annually. With a six and a half-hour certification course, a workbook and a quick-reference handbook, the program focuses on injury prevention, first aid care, adult CPR and child CPR. Aiming to keep athletes safer, to enable coaches to prevent and to care for sports injuries and to raise awareness of safety issues in sports and how they can have long term effects on athletes, the Red Cross offers this training at the Olympic and at the "grassroots" levels, so that every type and caliber of athlete can benefit.

Program
Maine American Red Cross, United Valley Chapter
Sports Safety Training
PO Box 439
70 Court Street
Auburn, ME 04212-0439

Story Contact
Judy Emch, Director of Training
American Red Cross Sports Safety Training
PO Box 439
70 Court Street
Auburn, ME 04212-0439
(207) 795-4004

Expert Contacts
Dr. Lyle J. Micheli
Director, Division of Sports Medicine
Children's Hospital
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
617-355-6751
Email: micheli 1@tch.harvard.edu
Micheli is an expert on sports injuries in children, especially in the area of concussions.

Background
In 1996, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that 1.3 million kids, ages 14 and under, were treated for sports related injuries in emergency rooms. (Rathburn, Mickey. "The best armor against kids' sports injuries is an informed parent". Sports Parents Magazine May 1998.)

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that kids sustain an average of 50,000 ball-impact injuries to heads and faces annually. (Rathburn, Mickey. Sports Parents Magazine May 1998.)

Sports activities are the second most frequent cause of injury for male and female adolescents. (National Youth Sports Safety Foundation 333 Longwood Avenue, Suite 202, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Phone: 617.277.1171, Fax: 617.277.2278. E-Mail NYSSF@aol.com Webpage: http://nyssf.org).

The United States is the only country in the world without a national coaching education program. There are no federal laws requiring coaching education at any level of competition. (National Youth Sports Safety Foundation 333 Longwood Avenue, Suite 202, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Phone: 617.277.1171, Fax: 617.277.2278. E-Mail NYSSF@aol.com Webpage: http://nyssf.org).

Less than 10 percent of the 2.5 million volunteer coaches and less than one-third of interscholastic coaches in the U.S. have had any type of coaching education. (National Youth Sports Safety Foundation 333 Longwood Avenue, Suite 202, Boston, Massachusetts 02115. Phone: 617.277.1171, Fax: 617.277.2278. E-Mail NYSSF@aol.com Webpage: http://nyssf.org).


Soccer ball heading can cause symptoms of concussion and small but measurable verbal deficits among children. (Ann Arbor Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine study. From Creager, Ellen. Knight Ridder Newspapers. March 4, 1999)

Second-impact syndrome is a rapid, fatal swelling of the brain that may occur if a person suffers another head impact - even a minor one -before the symptoms of the previous concussion have fully cleared. (Roos, Robert. "Guidelines for managing concussions in sports: a persistent headache." The Physician and Sportmedicine. Oct. 1996 Vol. 24, No. 10.)

Related Coverage
Baker, Michael. (Aug. 31, 1998). Red cross to offer series of basic classes. The Los Angles Times.
Teaching coaches how to handle emergencies calmly and efficiently.

Health. (July 21, 1996). The Times-Picayune.
Red Cross program provides classes to teach skills to coaches.

Hurley, Mary. (June 21, 1998). New Red Cross course helps coaches coach safely. The Boston Globe.
Cites lack of education as one cause of many injuries, and discusses the launch of a Boston branch of coach training program.



Compiled by Leigh Wald