As blazing hot temperatures spread across Alabama, mayors from several Birmingham area cities today joined forces to encourage more city officials to train youth coaches to protect against heat-related sports injuries and illnesses.
Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey, Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer and Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon joined together at a press conference in Homewood to advocate a sports safety program offered by the Birmingham-based National Center for Sports Safety.
The program, called REACH, stands for Reach Every Athletic Community Household, and was developed over the last two to three years as a follow-up to another sports safety course offered by the National Center for Sports Safety since 2004.
The program is designed to help municipalities train their youth coaches about what to do and not do in emergency situations and how to prevent and recognize injuries and illnesses.
So far, six municipalities are involved, including Alabaster, Gardendale, Homewood, Hoover, Irondale and Red Bay, said Jay Roberson, the center’s director of business development. Another 10 to 15 municipalities in Alabama have expressed interest, Roberson said.
Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey talks about the importance of youth sports safety training for coaches during a press conference with the National Center for Sports Safety in Homewood, Ala., on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. (Jon Anderson/janderson@al.com)Ivey said Hoover since 2010 has required all its youth coaches to go through sports safety training offered by the National Center for Sports Safety and has trained close to 4,000 volunteer coaches with it. This coming year alone, more than 900 youth coaches will go through further training, Ivey said.
When youth coaches have children out there in 100-degree weather, it’s important that they know what they’re doing, Ivey said.
“It’s an investment that you can’t afford to do, but you really can’t afford not to do,” Ivey said. “The programs are working. We believe in it.”
McBrayer said Homewood has been working with the National Center for Sports Safety since 2011 and invests about $18,000 a year to train the city’s youth coaches.
“If we’re going to ask our parents and others to come in and volunteer their time to coach the children, I just think it’s a city’s obligation and responsibility to provide resources that help protect them,” McBrayer said.
Many public officials think of police and fire department personnel and equipment when they think about public safety, but one of the biggest aspects of public safety is children playing sports, McBrayer said. The risk of something happening to a child while playing sports may be greater than the risks involved with other public safety activities, he said.
“For us, it’s just such a great and responsible thing to do to get our coaches trained and gain awareness of things that can go wrong and things they can do until professional medical help can arrive,” McBrayer said.
Berkley Squires, Homewood’s parks and recreation director, said most school sporting events have plenty of trained medical personnel present during games, but city youth sports programs may have 15 to 20 games going on at one time and less available medical personnel.
Plus, municipal sports programs usually are working with volunteer coaches, often parents, instead of certified, paid coaches, Squires said.
Alabater Mayor Marty Handlon talks about the importance of youth sports safety training for coaches during a press conference with the National Center for Sports Safety in Homewood, Ala., on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. (Jon Anderson/janderson@al.com)Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon said her city has just recently started working with the National Center for Sports Safety but she believes it is a good investment. She has never been a youth sports coach, but as a mother, it’s comforting to know that coaches will be better prepared to help prevent and react to illnesses and injuries, she said.
Roberson said some cities also have seen their insurance premiums decrease as a result of having sports safety programs in place.
Dr. Larry Lemak, who founded the National Center for Sports Safety in 2001, said heat-related illnesses and injuries are 100 percent preventable. Coaches need to be properly trained about timing for sports practices and games, hydration and treatment for athletes who experience problems, Lemak said.
For a city with roughly 200 coaches, the cost for the REACH program is less than $6,000, according to the center. That’s less than $2 per athlete on average, the center says.
Cities can pay for the program either through their city budget or by increasing athletic fees, seeking grant money or finding private companies to serve as sponsors.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System estimated that 54,983 heat-related injuries occurred in the United States from 1997 through 2006. Of those injuries, 47 percent occurred in people age 19 and younger and 76 percent of all the injuries reported occurred during sports and exercises.
For more about the National Center for Sports Safety’s REACH program, visit the center’s website.
This article was updated at 4:28 p.m. to correct the number and list of cities involved with the REACH program thus far.
