Saftey Course for Athletic Coaches
Safety Course for Youth Sport Coaches and Trainers Offers Valuable Skills on Reducing Injuries and Saving Lives
According to the Children’s Hospital of Boston, approximately 3.5 million injuries occur from sports related activities each year in children and teens. Many of these injuries could have been prevented, through proper injury prevention education for coaches. Many organizations, schools, and states are taking action for this by requiring that all coaches must take a safety course.
The National Center for Sports Safety (NCSS)
This is an organization founded by Lawrence J. Lemak, an orthopedic surgeon. This nonprofit organization promotes injury prevention and youth athletic safety. The NCSS developed the program called prepare for these purposes. Dr. Lemak stated that, “If we can prevent just one fatality or injury, it will be worth the effort.” What is PREPARE?
PREPARE is a sports safety course offered at a reasonable price to coaches of all sports. It teaches coaches how to prevent injuries from occurring and teaches them how to recognize potentially dangerous conditions. It also teaches coaches how to respond to these and other types of injury-related issues.
PREPARE is an acronym that stands for:
P: Pre-plan for emergency purposes.
R: Recognize emergencies.
E: Emergency plan once an emergency occurs.
P: Principles of first aid.
A: ABCs or airway breathing and circulation.
R: Return to play once the injury is healed.
E: Enjoy.
How to Take this Course
Coaches and athletic organizations can log on to the NSCAA’s website to take this course for only $36. The course lasts for three hours, and all who complete the course, receive a certificate and a sport’s safety patch. PREPARE is not required in all states or with all organizations; however, the popularity of this course continues to increase.
Many states and organizations are now beginning to require all coaches, volunteers or school coaches, to take this short course.
The main idea of this course is to protect the well-being and safety of all young athletes. This program promotes the prevention of injuries by teaching coaches how to accomplish this. It also teaches coaches what to do when an injury occurs. It covers all types of injuries, including neck and facial injuries, first aid, and warm-up and cool-down injuries. Injuries are prevented everyday through the help of this course and other safety-related courses.
All organizations should develop policies regarding safety in sports. Educating coaches on the subject of safety is the first step in the prevention of sports related injuries.
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