NOW IS THE perfect time of year to review your football team’s overall safety and health program. Safety doesn’t just apply to injury prevention. Rather, it’s an extensive, “outside-the-box” look at every aspect of your program — including equipment, training issues, teaching proper tackling technique, field and facility conditions, certifications for the coaching staff, injury rehabilitation protocols, establishing a checklist of procedures for injuries sustained during practice and games, knowing the latest national and state safety regulations and many more critical items than could be listed here.
Dr. Richard Borkowski, a sports and recreation safety consultant from Narberth, Penn., who coached football for more than 30 years, has developed several year-round safety checklists. The following are some brief safety pointers that he says are critical to remember.
- The player late to practice must still go through a warm-up routine.
- Hot, humid weather requires additional water and rest breaks. It may require shorter practices and/or practices that avoid the hottest times of the day.
- Check your school’s gym for hazards and adjust the practice for those days you can’t work outside.
- Nutrition, rest and a proper lifestyle are all part of the process for player improvement.
- If a player is “about 75 percent” ready to play or can “only be used on offense” — he should not play!
- New and sometimes better equipment is always being developed. Wait until the “new idea” becomes a proven idea before using it. Remember bad ideas such as the spring-loaded tackling bag?
- If something deep down tells you there’s a safer way to do it — you are probably right.
- Keep and develop a detailed safety checklist and continuously develop and modify it.
To see more of Borkowski’s essential safety checklists turn to page 9 of this month’s issue.