4 Ways Your Athlete Can Save A Teammate’s Life

School is back in session, and that means many of our athletes are back on the courts or playing fields. I have two children playing football, one in high school and one in college. I will be honest that having my children play football scares me. (I am the one silently saying her “Hail Mary’s” that no one gets injured during the games.) I am also the coach who is nervous having young players on the tennis courts all day in extreme heat. Unfortunately, we all know that things can go wrong, very wrong. Let’s all start the school sports season being educated on keeping our athletes safe on their playing fields.

“Last year, 40 young athletes lost their lives on the playing field.  Not one more needs to die. YOU can be the change.”

How about that message? This quote is the opening statement in the Athletes Saving Athletes (ASA) video.  How many games and matches have we watched our children play, just assuming all will be fine?  Assuming that there are people on the field knowing the steps to protect our children?

Think about it, 40 student athlete’s lives lost in youth and high school sports. Forty families crushed, 40 coaches devastated, 40 school communities in turmoil. After hearing that opening statement in the Athletes Saving Athletes video, all I could do was think about the parents, sitting on the sidelines watching their child compete, chatting away,  just as I have done day after day after day, never knowing anything could harm their child.

The Athlete’s Saving Athletes’ message hit home with me on two levels: one as a former professional athlete and second as a mother of three boys in competitive sports.

I started playing competitive tennis at the age of 7, on the international level at 14 and professionally at 18 for 11 years. As athletes, we are trained over and over again to NOT listen to our body, to ignore the signs of pain or exhaustion. In many training sessions we push ourselves to our limit and then some. It is that feeling of not being able to take one more step, and then having a coach (or that friendly voice in your head) say “Come on, get up, give me 5 more, give me 2 more” and many times you turn a corner and get a lot more work done. But when is it too much? When do you go too far?

Often times, the athletes themselves are the last ones to recognize a dangerous situation, because we are trained to ignore it, override it and certainly not to succumb to it.

Athletes being trained to save fellow athletes. 

The Athletes Saving Athletes program, taught by athletic trainers, is designed to empower middle and high school athletes with skills that could potentially save a life, whether their own or that of a teammate. ASA teaches student-athletes how to recognize signs and symptoms of potentially life-threatening injuries encompassing concussion, head and neck injuries, heat illness, sudden cardiac arrest, diabetes, and asthma. Also, athletes attending the program learn hands-on CPR and how to use an AED.

I still get nervous every time my boys step onto the football field, but I do feel better knowing that my boys, their fellow teammates, and coaches have gone through the ASA training. They have a certified athletic trainer on the sidelines; they now know CPR, how to use an AED and where to find the AEDs on campus, signs & symptoms of concussions, spinal injuries, sudden cardiac arrest, and are well versed in how to avoid heat illness.

How prepared are your children? Are you? Are their coaches? Who is watching out for your children on their playing field?

1. Ask your children if they know the signs and symptoms of concussion, spinal injuries, heat exhaustion, and sudden cardiac arrest. Know the warning signs!

2. Do they know where to find the closest AED? Ask the coach or school where the AEDs are located.

3. Is there someone on their team with diabetes or life-threatening allergies? If so, where are the insulin and epi-pens kept? Know your teammates!

4. Are the coaches CPR/AED trained? All coaches in any sport should be CPR/AED trained and know where the AEDs are located.

Hopefully, we never need to use this knowledge, but for the one time that you do, YOU can save a life.

Please see the ASA website for more information on having ASA come to your community and educate your student-athletes with these life-saving skills.

ASA educated more than 7,000 student-athletes to recognize signs and symptoms of serious injury learn life-saving techniques of CPR and how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator).  To date, five ASA Athletes have been responsible for saving lives with the knowledge and skills they gained in the ASA program.  Five lives saved… five families, five coaches, five schools, five communities saved from the devastation of losing a young student-athlete.