NATA issues safety tips ahead of preseason practices, return to school

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) has updated its secondary school sports safety recommendations as preseason practices begin and student-athletes head back to school, offering general questions and guidelines to ensure proper sports safety protocols are established and followed.

Over the last several weeks, NATA has also published guidelines for preventing and treating exertional heat illness in football, particularly among linemen, and a position statement to help athletic trainers and athletes navigate dietary supplement use.

General questions athletic trainers and other support staff can ask include:

Does the school have an emergency action plan? According to NATA, every team should have a venue-specific written emergency action plan that is reviewed and rehearsed by the athletic trainer and local emergency medical service, and individual assignments, emergency equipment and supplies must be included. If the institution does not employ an A.T., other qualified individuals must be available to render care.

Is the equipment in working order? NATA recommended examining all sporting equipment and surfaces to ensure they are in safe and working order. This includes emergency medical equipment, which should be checked one a month, and batteries and pads, which require more frequent monitoring and replacing.

Does the school have an AED and someone who knows how to use it? AEDs, or automated external defibrillators should be readily available within three minutes — preferably one minute, NATA said — during both practices and games, and ensuring the sports medicine team knows where it is located is crucial.

Does the school have lightning and poor air quality protocols? Because lightning can appear without warning, schools should have a lightning-specific emergency action plan that ensures lightning and general weather awareness, addresses large venue planning protocols to get athletes and spectators to safe places and provides for first aid as needed.

What are the warm weather recommendations? Practice and game schedules should be reconsidered to avoid participation during peak hours of the day, NATA recommended. If an athlete is feeling overheated, it is best to remove them from play and determine the proper cooling considerations.

NATA also provided safety tips and recommendations for student-athletes, parents and athletic trainers to prepare for sports participation, including getting a preparticipation exam by a medical professional, assessing mental health and burnout, getting CPR training and recognizing heart health conditions, achieving optimal acclimatization and addressing overuse injuries.

Finally, tips for athletes and the sports medicine team include being well-educated on concussion prevention and management, building in recovery time to ensure healthy sports seasons and paying attention to sport-specific injury prevention.

NATA has a public educational website that provides information on reducing risk of injury and other safety tips, including interactive state-by-state maps and resources for parents, coaches and more.

“It’s critical to have the right protocols in place to ensure young athletes have the best physical and mental health care,” NATA President A.J. Duffy III said in a news release. “Working with athletic trainers can help to reduce the risk of injury and prevent potential sport-related injuries and illnesses.”