An online sports safety course for youth sports coaches is now available from the National Athletic Trainers' Association. 
The 14-section course offers youth sports coaches a comprehensive review of the latest information on health and safety issues facing young athletes and includes up-to-date information from experts on the prevention and care of concussion, heat illness, conditioning, over-use injuries and other sport-related illnesses and injuries.
Other modules include emergency planning, equipment fitting and safe playing conditions. The course is $19.95 and includes a concussion (traumatic brain injury) module free with purchase. The concussion module can also be taken as a stand-alone course and costs $4.95 separately. Those who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion and will be automatically listed for two years for free on NATA's Youth Coaches Registry.
Increased safety knowledge is goal
While 81 percent of youth coaches said they believe it is important to be very knowledgeable about sports injuries, only 52 percent said they felt like they were very knowledgeable, according to a recent survey commissioned by SafeKids USA®. Another 43 percent of coaches said they felt only fairly knowledgeable on sports safety. Coaches want more training, especially in concussion prevention (76%), pre-participation physical exams (73%) and heat illness prevention (73%)
With increased sports participation prior to high school and in league sports, NATA leaders believed it was important to share their expertise through a convenient, affordable education tool. Coaches and parents of youth athletes will benefit from knowing that their sports safety training was written and designed by athletic trainers, the health care professionals who specialize in working with professional, collegiate and high school athletes.
"Coaches cite lack of time and access to a quality, credible sports safety course as barriers to improving their knowledge," says NATA President Marjorie J. Albohm, MS, ATC. "The NATA Sports Safety for Youth Coaches course will fill the national need to educate our coaches when athletic trainers are not available at the sport complex facilities and fields."
The course has been endorsed by the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS), which has long been known for its dedication and attention to safety-related issues. "Whether a seasoned professional or one just entering the field, the NCYS strongly encourages all youth sports leaders and coaches to enroll in this excellent training course," said Sally Johnson, NCYS executive director. "Completing the NATA Sports Safety for Youth Sports training course is the right and responsible thing to do for leaders, coaches, teams, leagues, organizations and communities."
Additionally, one dollar of every purchase of the full course will be donated to NATA NATION, a national effort to collect data on injury surveillance, injury treatment and clinical outcomes so researchers can study how to better care for young athletes. The Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention also conducts the NCAA Injury Surveillance data collection program.
NATA plans to release an instructor's course in 2013 so that coaches and parents will benefit from face-to-face instruction from professional athletic trainers.
For more information, click here.
Source: National Athletic Trainers' Association
Posted June 14, 2012
