High school coaches deal with the injury of their young players throughout each season.
Thanks to a chance to assess readiness and response for game-day injuries during a practice drill Wednesday, the coaches are more prepared. The drill was scheduled for the football field at Carterville High School, but moved into the auxiliary gymnasium because of bad weather.
“It’s time for us to work as a team for emergency preparedness — all the way from severe weather up to spine-boarding,” said Sarai Yates, the head of Sportsology and the athletic trainer at Herrin High School.
Sports medicine specialists with Sportsology offer the training every two years through a collaboration with Southern Illinois Healthcare, Rehab Unlimited athletic trainers and SIU Healthcare sports medicine physicians and fellows.
Yates said, “We will go over all of the emergency plans we have developed for the school so they know where to find the plan and what to do.
“The other element is that we’re not always here for practices so the coaches need to know what they can do to keep that child safe, when to call an ambulance and how to work with the ambulance crew to make the kids as safe as possible before ambulance personnel take over.”
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner recently signed legislation requiring students who suffer a concussion to get permission from a doctor or trainer before they may fully return to class or sports. All schools must create a plan for dealing with concussions.
“What the schools have in place right now are what the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) has regulated; so that’s obviously just the high schools,” Yates said. “The big thing with this law it is affects all schools — all public schools, charter, private — all the way down to any child that plays at any level..
“That’s huge on concussions because a lot of those kids didn’t really ever get looked at at all. The other change is ‘Return to Learn.’ We’ve always heard about Return to Play in sports so now he’s (Rauner) looking at Return to Learn, which looks at when it is safe for the kid to return to school.
“School is so hard on the brain and it slows down the healing process of the brain.”
Yates said it’s not clear who will enforce the legislation, although medical personnel will monitor each situation carefully.
“Kids will not come back to school to play without seeing a certified athletic trainer or one of the doctors,” Yates said. “And it’s not just any certified trainer or doctor. They have to be trained in concussion management.”
Sarah Brumley, head athletic trainer at Carbondale High School, said concussions are diagnosed through signs and symptoms.
“There’s no medical test or imaging that can be done that can say, ‘yes you have a concussion.’ Back in the day, you were supposed to wake them (victims) up every hour, look at their pupils, and things like that. That’s not necessary any more. Research has shown the brain needs rest and when your brain is resting it’s healing.”
Keenan Clark, Carterville High School golf coach, said the training is valuable.
“I think it’s important when kids are in an activity that there is a responsible adult there that understands the protocol and how things are supposed to work,” Clark said. “If coaches aren’t trained in this sort of thing then you don’t know what kind of situation you’re putting your kids in. Safety first for the kids is the most important thing.”
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