As a coach, you'll likely be first on the scene when one of your athletes falls ill or suffers an injury. Are you prepared to take action in a medical emergency?
Sport First Aid provides high school and club sport coaches with detailed action steps for the care and prevention of more than 110 sport-related injuries and illnesses.
Organized for quick reference, Sport First Aid covers procedures for conducting emergency action steps; performing the physical assessment; administering first aid for bleeding, tissue damage, and unstable injuries; moving an injured athlete; and returning athletes to play.
The new edition explains the latest CPR techniques from the American Heart Association; guidelines for the prevention, recognition, and treatment of concussion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and guidelines for the prevention of dehydration and heat illness from the National Athletic Trainers' Association.
Beyond simply treating injuries and illnesses, Sport First Aid seeks to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Included are strategies for reducing athletes' risk of injury or illness, such as establishing a school-based medical team, implementing preseason conditioning programs, creating safe playing environments, planning for weather emergencies, ensuring proper fit and use of protective equipment, enforcing sport skills and safety rules, and developing a medical emergency plan. Sample forms, checklists, and plans take the work out of developing these documents from scratch.
With Sport First Aid, you and your coaching staff will be prepared to make critical decisions and respond appropriately when faced with athletes' injuries and illnesses.
Produced by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), Sport First Aid is the text for the ASEP Sport First Aid course, which, along with Coaching Principles and Coaching Technical and Tactical Skills courses, makes up the curriculum for the ASEP Bronze Level coaching certification program. For more information on ASEP courses and resources, call 800-747-5698 or visit www.ASEP.com.
About the Author: Melinda J. Flegel has 27 years of experience as a certified athletic trainer. For 13 years, she was head athletic trainer at the University of Illinois SportWell Center, where she oversaw sports medicine care and injury prevention education for the university's recreational and club sport athletes.
As coordinator of outreach services at the Great Plains Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Peoria, Illinois, Flegel provided athletic training services to athletes at more than 15 high schools and regularly consulted with their coaches about sport first aid. As the center's educational program coordinator and an American Red Cross CPR instructor, Flegel gained valuable firsthand experience in helping coaches become proficient first responders.
Flegel has taught a sports injury course at the University of Illinois. She holds master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Illinois, is a member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and has been a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist since 1987.
In addition to writing Sport First Aid, Flegel has written several book chapters, including Injury Prevention and First Aid for the Health on Demand textbook.
