Despite legislation to control and safeguard children and adults from athletic injuries, preventing athletic injuries needs close monitoring and a solid risk management strategy. Every year, many student and pro athletes suffer from various injuries, including strains and brain injuries. To reduce liability in school sports, a proactive safety approach is essential.
Educate Parents and Guardians
A comprehensive approach ensures parents are fully informed and engaged in their children’s safety in school sports. Prior to joining any sport, it’s essential parents and guardians to be informed of the following:
- Awareness of inherent risks
- Mandatory meeting: schedule a presentation by the coach and athletic director that requires mandatory parent/guardian participation.
- This is the best time to review risks, appropriate safety controls, and transportation requirements
- Q&A session: provide an opportunity to answer questions
- Release forms: ensure proper forms are signed
Medical Background Awareness
The athletic department must be made aware of the student-athlete’s medical background and any physical limitations they may have. Ensure all documentation is current and accurately reflects each athlete’s medical history.
For students with identified medical conditions, the following steps should be taken:
- Emergency action plan: develop and maintain a medical action plan for emergencies
- Medical support aids: have necessary medical aids available, such as an EpiPen (epinephrine auto injector) for severe allergies, blood testing kits and fast-acting sugar for diabetes, and relief medications for allergies
Additionally, consider the following:
- Training: Provide training for coaches and staff on recognizing and responding to medical emergencies.
- First Aid/CPR Preparedness: Ensure that all your coaches understand basic first aid and CPR procedures
- Communication Protocol: Establish clear communication protocols for handling medical emergencies during practices and games.
Supervision Must be Proportional to the Risk
The more dangerous the sport, the greater the responsibility of coaching staff to ensure proper supervision, training, and instruction for their student-athletes.
Take measures to ensure that:
- student-athletes follow the rules of the athletic event/practice to avoid injuries,
- warn against all known dangers that should have or could have been discovered in the exercise of reasonable care,
- student-athletes are supervised in proportion to the injury danger associated with the activity.
Coaches need to take reasonable precautions, providing proper instruction and supervision to do everything practical to minimize the risk of injury to their student-athletes.
A breach of duty may occur to a student-athlete if the coach does not:
- provide proper supervision,
- provide instruction or
- intentionally injures the student-athlete by engaging in conduct that is reckless – ‘totally outside the range of the ordinary activity.’
Provide Proper Protective Equipment: Coaches must ensure the student-athlete was properly instructed regarding the appropriate use and maintenance of protective equipment
Safety Proactiveness: Correct any dangerous conditions or unsafe behaviors immediately. Horseplay, bullying, harassment, or the use of unsafe practice activities must be strictly controlled.
Skill Levels of Student-Athletes: Never allow mismatched student-athletes to compete against each other if there is a chance of injury due to the differences in athletic skills.
Hygiene best practices: Instruct student-athletes not to share water bottles, towels, or equipment to avoid spreading infections. When equipment is shared, the risk of infection goes up. Make sure there’s a bloodborne pathogen policy in place for handling any body fluid spills.
Spectator Safety: Set clear policies for managing spectators near athletic events to reduce risk. Ideally, keep all spectators off the sidelines. If spectators are allowed, designate a fixed area away from the action and prevent them from moving around, except for approved photographers. Ensure there’s a safe distance between the event and the spectator area to avoid collisions. Limit the number of spectators on the sidelines, and keep small children away. For spectators with mobility aids, use extra precautions to prevent accidents.
Transportation Concerns
Transporting student-athletes to and from events can be challenging. Here’s a streamlined approach:
- Utilize School Transportation: Student-athletes should use school transportation unless approved otherwise by the athletic director or administration. Spontaneous rides with friends or other parents are not allowed.
- If alternative transportation is permitted, a signed “Transportation Waiver Form” from a parent or guardian is required. This form should be submitted 2-3 days before the event. Ensure prior approval from school administration.
- Do not allow student-athletes to ride with each other unless pre-approved by school administration and parents/guardians.
- Coach Transportation: Coaches must not arrange their own transportation with vendors. All contracts must be approved by the school administration. Coaches and teachers should travel with the team unless given prior approval.
- Private Vehicles: Coaches should avoid transporting athletes in their personal vehicles unless necessary and authorized. Always get written permission from school administration and parents/guardians.
- Insurance: Coach’s private insurance covers primary transportation, with the school district’s policy providing excess coverage.
- Gender Considerations: Avoid opposite-sex transportation (male coach with female athletes, etc.).
- Student-Athlete Rides: Do not allow student-athletes to ride with each other unless pre-approved by school administration and parents/guardians.
Key Takeaways
To manage athletic injury risks effectively, athletic departments should provide proper supervision and instruction. Regular staff training and clear emergency protocols are essential for student-athlete safety.
