Where's The First Aid Kit? 

A while back I remember watching an episode of the NBC series "ER" in which Doctor Mark Green watches as his 10-year old daughter dives to make a save in a youth soccer game, slams headfirst into the goal post, and is temporarily knocked unconscious. Running on to the field to attend to his daughter, Dr. Green calls for the first-aid kit. The coach admitted that he didn't have one!

Unfortunately, this scene is all too typical. 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.

Some Questions To Ask 

Although most youth sports are comparatively safe, minor injuries are commonplace, and more serious injuries, while relatively rare, do occur. Some obvious questions to ask your child's coach are:

• If your child becomes injured, does he know what do?
  

• Does he know how to reach you quickly if you aren't there?
  

• Does he have a well-stocked first aid kit at all games and practices?
  

• Has he or she received basic first-aid training?
  

• Has he received specific first-aid training for the sport he or she is coaching?

Most programs across the country haven't developed emergency medical plans. Parents need to know that their child will be safe when they drop them off for practice or a game.

Disturbing Statistics 

Don't be lulled into believing that since adults are doing the coaching, they must surely have had first-aid training. "The truth is a large majority of coaches have no formal medical training. Yet it is often the coach who is on the 'front line' for handling any sports injury," says Marc Cadden of the Soccer Association For Youth.

The statistics on safety training are disturbing:

• Most youth coaches are not required by their state associations to take first-aid, CPR or even training for the specific sport they are coaching.
  

• According to the American Sports Education Program, 2.5 million of the nation's 3.2 million coaches have received no formal training
  

• Less than 30 percent of high school and college coaches have had safety training.
  

• Only 28 states required coaches to receive any training, according to a 1997 survey. Even those states cover only school-based programs and don't require training for all coaches.
  

• Only 33% of high school coaches in Massachusetts responding to a 1997 poll were trained in CPR and fewer in first aid. 134 coaches said they had licensed trainers on staff; 91 did not.

• For non-school based sports, the situation was worse. The average Bay State youth soccer coach is lucky to have received an hour or two of training, and even that focuses more on the rules of the game and soccer fundamentals than on safety or injury prevention.

What Experts Say 

Every person who works with children has a responsibility to keep them safe and injury free. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that "coaches at all levels ... be required to meet a minimum level of qualification necessary to meet these responsibilities. They should include basic knowledge of skills development, safety rules and equipment maintenance, competence in first-aid, and an introduction to appropriate training methods and coaching behaviors for working with young children."

According to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, sports injuries are the second leading cause of all injuries to children. Surprisingly, more get hurt at practices than in competitions. Properly educated coaches can help prevent sports injuries. Untrained coaches may unknowingly contribute to the occurrence of sports injuries.

Should Youth Coaches Be Certified? 

The National Youth Sports Coaches Association, an umbrella organization under the National Alliance For Youth Sports, is one of only a handful of organizations in the country providing certification programs for coaches.

In 1984, DeKalb County, Georgia became the first area in the nation to require that every coach of a youth sport team be certified. Fred Engh, founder of the coaches' association, reports that, over a ten-year period, the State of Georgia certified nearly 150,000 coaches.

Requiring certification could reduce the number of injuries suffered in youth sports. A coach not trained, for example, in teaching the proper technique for heading a soccer ball exposes his players to head, shoulder, back and neck injuries. A certified softball coach will know to limit the number of pitches a player makes so she doesn't suffer an injury to her throwing arm through overuse.

Since the majority of youth sports coaches are not required by their club or league to have any type of safety training, you should:

• Learn about the safety risks of the sport your child plays. You may have heard the ad slogan "An educated consumer is our best customer." It applies to sports programs as much as to buying clothes or furniture. Parents who are aware of the risks of the sport their child plays can do a lot to minimize its hazards.
  

• Lobby local youth sports groups to make training available and require that all coaches participate and complete the programs in order to coach.
  

• Insist that the training for all youth coaches cover three areas: sport-specific first aid, CPR, and skill development, with an emphasis on coaching safe playing techniques (such as the proper way to head a soccer ball).

Youth sports organizations that appoint coaches without ensuring that they have been properly trained are putting our children at unnecessary risk.