Safety Training

Parents should ask their child's club or league to make the course available to coaches, or, better yet, make taking the course, or something similar, mandatory.

Volunteer coaches are not receiving proper safety training. Few carry first aid kits with latex gloves, ice packs, bandages, anti-bacterial cream and smelling salts. With the explosion in the size of organized youth sports programs, many well-intentioned volunteers are coaching a sport they have never played and thus lack any first-hand exposure to its potential dangers.

Not all states require first aid or CPR training for coaches. Some states require no training of any kind to coach school sports.