Oklahoma Soccer is joining forces with the National Center for Sports Safety (NCSS) to encourage its members to take PREPARE, an online sports safety course that meets the D License requirement.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, more than 775,000 children under age 14 are treated in emergency rooms each year for sports-related injuries and nearly half of these injuries were preventable. To combat statistics such as this, and to raise the national standards of coaches responsible for the safety and well-being of millions of young athletes, NCSS, in conjunction with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), developed PREPARE, an online sports safety course. This course is targeted at all individuals working with youth athletes to provide them with the basic sports safety education they need.
PREPARE is aimed at educating coaches on how to prevent common injuries, how to recognize symptoms of potentially dangerous conditions, and how to respond in emergency situations. Oklahoma Soccer, in conjunction with NCSS, if offering the course through it’s website at http://www.sportssafety.org/prepare/.
The three-hour course is available at a cost of $28 and the flexibility of online learning allows participants to complete the course at their own pace. After completing the course, participants receive a certificate of completion, sports safety patch and their name is added to NCSS’ National Registry of Coaches.
The PREPARE course covers seven topics:
o Emergency Plan
o Heat and Cold Illnesses
o Emergency Recognition
o Medical Considerations
o Principles of First Aid
o Head, Neck and Facial Injuries
o Warm-Up & Cool-Down
“We believe parents with active children will be heartened to know that PREPARE exists,” says Lawrence J. Lemak, M.D., founder of the NCSS. “There is not one parent that would drop their child off at a community pool that did not have a certified lifeguard on duty, and that same standard of care should apply to every sports facility in this country.” PREPARE will provide coaches and parents with the knowledge to appropriately respond in an emergency situation until professional help arrives.
