In the last 12 years, a startling 21 football players in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) died during conditioning workouts. For 11 of these young men, death occurred at the very beginning of training, on the first or second day.

“Though the overwhelming majority of conditioning-related deaths since 2000 among college athletes were among football players, a few conditioning-related deaths have occurred among college athletes who played other sports, too,” I learned recently from Douglas J. Casa, PhD, chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education in Storrs, Connecticut. He is the chair of the task force of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, which has written the first-ever guidelines attempting to change business as usual when it comes to how conditioning programs are conducted at colleges. The goal is to make students’ health and safety a higher priority.

If you’re a parent of a college athlete—or even a high school athlete, because these problems affect athletes at that level, too—then you’ll want to pay special attention to the new recommendations.

PRESSURE ALL AROUND

The deaths of those NCAA players mentioned earlier were primarily the result of one of three conditions—sickle cell trait, an underlying genetic condition that is benign unless excessive exercise causes blocked oxygen flow to vital organs…an underlying genetic heart defect, which can lead to sudden death when excessive exercise pushes the heart into overdrive…or heatstroke, which can happen to any healthy person who exerts himself/herself excessively.

Dr. Casa told me that many coaches and athletes on the collegiate level (and even some on the high school level) are pushed too hard by the expectation to succeed—no matter what the cost. If athletes are out of shape early in the season and if they’re exercising in the late summer heat, that surely doesn’t help matters. The intent of the guidelines is to get coaches to focus more on health and safety.

WHAT THE GUIDELINES ADVISE

There are a total of 10 guidelines. For a full list, click here. In the meantime, Dr. Casa highlighted the most important ones…

  • Start gradually. Coaches should slowly introduce an increasing number of drills over the first seven to 10 days (when nearly all the deaths occur), rather than introduce all of them on day one. In addition, the guidelines suggest a work/rest ratio of 1:4—for example, if an athlete does a 15-second sprint, he should rest for at least 60 seconds afterward.
  • Make sure there is sufficient medical supervision. A certified “strength and conditioning coach,” plus an athletic trainer or a team doctor, should be present at practice during high-risk conditioning sessions (such as sprinting, timed sessions and mat drills). For lower-risk training sessions, the athletic trainer should be on campus and accessible.
  • Don’t use exercise as punishment. The coach should not make any athlete do 50 push-ups for being late, for example.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Unfortunately, the guidelines are not mandates but recommendations. But the more you raise awareness about them, the safer your child is likely to be. Here’s how Dr. Casa suggests raising awareness…

  • Write a letter or make a call. Reach out to the coach, the athletic director and/or the school president or principal to ask whether these new guidelines will be followed. In case the school is unaware of the guidelines, either e-mail the link above or print the guidelines and mail them. Remind the person that while this is primarily about protecting students’ health and safety, it’s also about avoiding costly lawsuits. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also contact your state’s high school athletic association, your state’s high school sports medicine advisory committee and the NCAA.
  • Make noise. Speak up at public athletic meetings and public online athletic forums, and/or talk to other parents whose kids will be in the school’s sports program. Be sure that they, too, have seen the guidelines.
  • Talk to your kid. Remind your child to alert the coach if he ever feels dizzy, extremely hot, exhausted, excessively thirsty and/or sweaty, or has muscle cramps, chest pains, trouble breathing or other abnormal physical signs and symptoms.

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