SPORT FIRST AID

As a coach, you're likely the first on the scene when one of your athletes falls ill or suffers an injury on the field of play. Are you prepared to respond? What exactly is expected of you—by your athletes, their parents, and the law?

Newly revised and updated to reflect the latest research and best practices put forth by the American Heart Association and the American Safety and Health Institute, this fourth edition of Sport First Aid provides high school, collegiate, and club sport coaches with detailed action steps for the care and prevention of more than 110 athletic injuries and illnesses.

Organized for quick reference, Sport First Aid covers protocols for conducting emergency action steps and providing life support; performing the physical assessment; administering first aid for bleeding, tissue damage, and unstable injuries; moving an injured athlete; and returning athletes to play.

Also featured are the most recent guidelines for using cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the Heimlich maneuver, and automated external defibrillators (AED) as well as the latest information on controlling bleeding, treating concussions, and preventing and recognizing methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections (MRSA).

An expanded section on anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs assists coaches in recognizing the effects of performance enhancers and in educating their athletes on the dangers of steroid use. To prevent injuries from occurring in the first place, strategies for reducing athletes' risk of injury or illness are also featured, such as implementing preseason conditioning programs, creating safe playing environments, planning for weather emergencies, ensuring proper fitting and use of protective equipment, enforcing proper sport skills and safety rules, and developing a medical emergency plan.

Sport First Aid is a potentially lifesaving resource that you and your coaching staff can rely on to make smart decisions when encountering emergency situations with your athletes.

Produced by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), Sport First Aid is the text for the ASEP Sport First Aid course, which, along with Coaching Principles, Coaching Technical and Tactical Skills, and CPR/AED for Coaches courses, makes up the curriculum for the ASEP Bronze Level coaching certification program.

Melinda J. Flegel has more than 20 years of experience as a certified athletic trainer. For 13 years, she was head athletic trainer at the University of Illinois SportWell Center, where she oversaw sports medicine care and injury prevention education for the university’s recreational and club sport athletes. During that time, she also taught in the university’s undergraduate athletic training program.

As coordinator of outreach services at the Great Plains Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Peoria, Illinois, Flegel annually provided athletic training services to athletes at more than 15 high schools as well as consulted with their coaches about sport first aid. As the center’s educational program coordinator and an American Red Cross CPR instructor, Flegel gained valuable firsthand experience in helping coaches become proficient first responders.

Flegel is currently a doctoral student at the University of Illinois. She received a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Illinois in 1982. She is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and National Strength and Conditioning Association, and she has been a certified strength and conditioning specialist since 1987. She is currently associate director of professional education at Human Kinetics, Inc., where she oversees the development of online courses for athletic trainers and fitness professionals. In her leisure time, Flegel enjoys photography, walking, and crafts.