Youth Sports Safety: Keeping kids safe while playing sports this summer

by: Steve Munsey, Carilion Clinic

Each year nationwide, sports and recreation injuries send more than 2.6 million children ages 19 and under to the emergency room. Over 750,000 of these injuries were related to football or basketball. And in team sports, most injuries — 62 percent — occur during practices, not games.

“Always insist that your kids wear the same protective gear, do the same warm-ups and take all the same precautions when they practice as when they’re getting ready for a game,” Jill Lucas, Safe Kids Roanoke coordinator and Carilion Clinic health educator, said.

“Keeping kids safe is a team effort. There is nothing more important than growing healthy, happy kids,” Lucas said. A recent Safe Kids Worldwide survey found half of coaches admit to being pressured by a parent or athlete to keep an injured athlete in the game. Coaches need to be educated and supported in making decisions that protect the immediate and long-term health of young athletes.

Safe Kids Roanoke recommends these tips for all children playing or practicing any individual or team sport:

• Before signing up for a sport, get a pre-participation physical exam.

• Always wear appropriate protective gear for the activity — for practice as well as games — and make sure it’s the right size and properly adjusted.

• Do your warm-ups. If it’s important before a game, it’s important before practice, too.

• Have adult supervision. Make sure responsible adults know and enforce the safety rules of the sport and are trained in first aid and CPR. Also, make sure the field is in safe condition.

• Never “play through” an injury. Get immediate help from a coach or trainer and be sure to mention everything that hurts or aches.

• Parents should learn the signs and symptoms of a concussion and immediately remove a child from play if he or she has any of the signs.

The child needs to be cleared by a medical professional before returning to play.

• Follow the rules. In most sports, the rules are based not only on sportsmanship, but safety.

Last but not least: “Stay hydrated,” Lucas said. “Drink plenty of water before, during, and after the activity, and rest frequently during hot weather. A child can lose up to a quart of sweat during two hours of exercise, and kids get overheated more quickly than adults and cannot cool down as easily.”

For more information about sports safety, call Safe Kids Roanoke at 540-2666568 or visit www.safekids.org.