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Life Saving Lessons

June 24, 2015

In 2015-16, we enter the fourth quarter of a heightened eight-year health and safety emphasis. We began with Health Histories in 2009-10 and 2010-11; the second quarter focus in 2011-12 and 2012-13 was Heads; the third quarter focus in 2013-14 and 2014-15 was Heat. In 2015-16 and 2016-17, it’s Hearts that we bring in focus ... especially addressing sudden cardiac arrest which is the No. 1 cause of death to youth during exertion.
Sudden cardiac arrest seems to us to have a random, unpredictable nature; and medical experts tell us that screening is somewhat unreliable, often missing some likely candidates even as the tests identify many false positives. There are symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, but they often reveal themselves too late to be of much help, like sudden collapse, no pulse, no breathing and loss of consciousness.
Nevertheless, there is something we can do. We can be prepared. We can develop emergency plans, display AEDs and deliver CPR. And, like any good sports teams, we need to practice our preparations.
Through the energy of the Minnesota State High School League and the generosity of Medtronic and the NFHS Foundation, the MHSAA has sent to every MHSAA member high school athletic director this month the ANYONE CAN SAVE A LIFE Emergency Action Planning Guide for After-School Practices and Events. This publication suggests a game plan that establishes four teams on every level of every sport in a school – a 911 Team, CPR Team, AED Team and Heat Stroke Team.
This resource can help schools revise or revitalize their existing emergency plans in ways that engage team members in planning, practice and execution. This could help save lives now and also convey important lifelong lifesaving lessons to students involved on these teams.

Every Coach, Every Year

April 20, 2018

Fourteen years ago, the Michigan High School Athletic Association retooled its coaches education program and launched the Coaches Advancement Program. We charged MHSAA Assistant Director Kathy Westdorp to take CAP “anywhere, any time” ... to deliver this face-to-face coaches education anywhere and any time school districts or leagues or coaches associations gathered a sufficient number of coaches to attend. Kathy delivered. Kathy and a committed cadre of trained instructors/facilitators who give up many evenings and weekends to deliver in-person education.

We launched CAP with the slogan, “anywhere, any time.” But it’s time now for a second slogan ... “every coach, every year.”

It doesn’t have to be CAP, but it does have to be every year for every coach. A coaches education program that is organized and documented, research-based and relevant. Student-centered coaches education that goes well beyond Xs and Os.

We cannot define and defend educational athletics – we cannot deliver educational athletics – without this commitment to such education, every year for every coach.

In the wake of tragic events in Michigan that have received nationwide attention, it is not surprising or unmerited that our State and Federal lawmakers are busy with bills. Legislation is on the way, and much of it will focus on coaches ... including coaches among those who are mandated to report suspected sexual abuse and requiring specific training for coaches.

All of this screams for the need for coaches education ... for every coach, every year ... no matter how experienced or revered. In business, politics, entertainment and sports, it has often been the most experienced and respected persons who have acted the worst.

The need is for every coach, every year.