General – Conditioning | Sports: Could Your Child Survive This Crisis?

The following story appeared recently in the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City and I’m wondering how many people with kids playing youth sports would be saying to themselves, “I wonder if someone would be qualified to do the same as these two ladies if my child suffered a heart attack or any type of life-threatening injury.”

Here’s the story:

LAYTON – Two women are being praised as heroes for their quick action in saving the life of a 17-year-old Northridge High School student whose heart suddenly stopped beating at the school Wednesday afternoon.

Connor Moss, 17, was working out as part of Northridge High’s fitness program when he went into a hallway to cool off around 3:30 p.m. Within a few short moments, Moss lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground, according to Layton police.

Leigh Otis, a Northridge High fitness trainer who teaches EMS at the school, said she and another woman, a student fitness trainer from Weber State University, performed CPR on Moss.
You can read the entire story here.

It’s scary to think that with millions of kids playing organized sports in America, the odds of having someone around like these two individuals is a rarity.

The question, therefore, is have you, as a parent, ever checked to see who is around to help provide first aid in the event of a serious injury to your child? The coach, you say? Well, before depending on your child’s coach, it might be wise to talk to the coach and ask him or her who they have on their team that might be qualified to handle a serious situation.

My experience tells me that in most cases coaches are no more equipped to handle injuries any more than you are. So, before leaving things to chance, I’d suggest that you take a look at the following information from Safe Kids Worldwide.

It might help make you become a little more concerned about your child’s safety:

• More than 46.5 million children participate in sports each year in the United States.

• One in three children who plays a team sport is injured seriously enough to miss practice or games.

• Girls are up to eight times more likely to have an ACL injury than boys

• Most organized sports-related injuries (62 percent) occur during practice rather than in games.

• The most common types of sports-related injuries among children are sprains, muscle strains, bone or growth plate injuries, repetitive motion injuries and heat-related illness.

As the old saying goes, “A word to the wise should be sufficient.” I’m hoping a few parents will take a serious approach in knowing that their child’s coach is doing a great service by volunteering to coach.

But don’t expect them to be your child’s doctor, too.