Sports Safety for Parents, Coaches, Administrators
"Nearly all of the causes of death in sport are influenced by the care [provided] in the first five to seven minutes." (Ref)
Our Mission
At TeamSafe®Sports we love youth sports and watching our kids grow while they play. Our mission is to provide an Athlete Injury Response and Risk Management system to all youth sports organizations.
The perilous reality of youth sports is that rarely, if ever, are trained medical personnel on the sidelines. This leaves parents and coaches in the unenviable position of making on-the-field injury decisions for which they are untrained and unprepared.
We want our parents to have peace of mind, allow our coaches to "just coach", and give administrators the essential risk management tools to run a successful program.
We all assume that when we drop off our child(ren) at practice that they will be safe, that there is a person present who knows what to do in an emergency medical situation.
What if ...
Sports Injuries Are Part of the Game
Football. Two athletes collide.
There are no medical professionals on the scene.
Now what?
Do you turn him over?
Do you remove the facemask to get to his airway (do you have the proper tools to do so)?
Lack of Sideline Medical Personnel
Only 37% of public high schools (Ref) and 28% of private high schools have 1 full time athletic trainer (Ref). "Even at schools where ATs are employed, there is often not coverage of all athletic practices or contests or of all sports where there is an elevated risk of concussion. Coverage tends to focus on football." "a single AT on staff at a school can only be in one place at one time." (Ref).
These statistics are for high school sports. In youth sports there are no ATs on the sidelines!
"The young brain, especially under the age of 12 or 13, is particularly vulnerable to trauma compared to the adult brain, and then the other really important one is that mostly between the ages of 10 and 12 the connectivity and the pruning of circuitry within the brain is at its at its highest amount." (Dr. Robert Cantu)
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Who is responsible for removing your child from play?
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Who documents the removal (date, time, name of person, signs/symptoms)?
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Who is notified? How are they notified?
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Where is the doctor's note? What is the date on the note? What does the date mean?
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Again, who is notified?
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Are the coaches educated?
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And who keeps track of all this?
Why does everyone need training so they know how to respond to an incident?
“You take the CPR course at the Red Cross and it’s nothing like the real thing,” Benyarko said. “People are screaming and yelling all around you. It’s really hard to focus." (Ref)
Read more about injuries in youth sports ...
Liability is a Very Real Issue
"... the people who govern sports can't really be assured that the people who are actually present and coaching, officiating or administrating the particular event will know what to do unless they have developed policies and protocols and mechanics that people who are involved might actually utilize."
"... people need to understand that pamphlets won't do it and laws are not a panacea that if you have a law that all of a sudden magically everything will be OK. Somebody has to know when to have the child taken out and evaluated or the whole thing breaks down."
Read more on legal responsibility and risk mitigation ...
Data Accuracy
One of the fundamental issues with apps that provide information is the accuracy of that information. Everything in TeamSafe® is referenced and up to date. See our reference page here.