| 12.
Miscellaneous Soccer Safety Tips
Individual Kit Bags
Think your gym bag is a good place to keep your water bottle?
Sweat glands are used by the body to help excrete waste. Sweat
is made up of urea, salts, fatty acids, 400 odoriferous compounds
and can even include heavy metals (15 minutes in a sauna can excrete
as much heavy metal as it would take all day for the kidneys to
do.
Researchers have even found that sweat can transmit Hepatitis
B and the SARS virus. Sweat does not transmit HIV, the AIDS virus.
Use a kit bag that has different compartments for clean versus
dirty, sweaty clothing.
By the way coaches, the same applies the team pinnies used for
training sessions. These items get soaked in sweat and are usually
tossed back into a single bag. Since you can't tell the difference
between pinnies, one player can end up wearing another player's
sweat from the last practice.
Injury Stoppages
Although it is considered good sportsmanship for players to kneel
down during injury stoppage, this practice encourages blood to
pool in the legs after running has brought blood into the leg
muscles.
It is far better for players to remain standing and even better
to keep moving gently during the game stoppage. This will allow
blood to circulate more freely both to the legs and also back
again to the heart.
Player Safety - Jewelry
Jewelry can injure both the owner and the player who comes into
contact with the piece. All referees have been instructed to ensure
players remove all jewelry before a game.
Allergic Reactions
Allergic reactions may include the need for the EpiPen. Anaphylaxis
is a severe allergic reaction that may include swelling of the
throat and airway. When it strikes it is a life threatening emergency
in which every second counts. If this is a requirement for one
of your players it is important that more than one person is aware
of the EpiPen and aware of how it works. Essentially the EpiPen
delivers a dose of epinephrine (also called adrenaline) to the
body to counteract the anaphylaxis
First Aid Kit
Every team needs a first aid kit that accompanies the team to
games and practices. A basic sport first aid kit should contain:
| Item |
Number |
Uses |
| Abdominal Pad |
1 |
Covers large wounds and can be used to absorb large amounts
of discharged fluids. |
| Green Soap Sponges |
12 |
Clean wounds and scrapes to prevent infections. Used by
many first response teams. |
| Ammonia Inhalant Pads |
3 |
Can prevent fainting or rouse a fainted person |
| Alcohol Pads |
12 |
Disinfectants for intact skin. |
| 1 ½" Trainers Tape |
2-3 |
Taping ankles to taping socks. This stuff could rival duct
tape for its many uses. |
| Non-Stick Sterile Bandages |
1-2 |
As the name says - when you do not want the bandage to adhere
to the wound. |
| Gauze Pads (5x5 cm) |
4 |
Cover wounds, stop bleeding, pad an area. |
| Gauze Pads (7.5x7.5 cm) |
4 |
Keep a couple of different sizes on hand. |
| Gauze Pads (10x10 cm) |
4 |
n/a |
| Conform Bandage |
1 |
Flexible. Can be used for padding and protection. Also useful
for a bleeding head wound that requires treatment for the
player to continue. |
Elastic Support Bandage
(eg. tensor bandage)
|
1 |
Useful for holding an ice bag over the injured area and
for applying compression during the acute stage of injury. |
| Band-Aids various sizes |
12 |
n/a |
| Safety Scissors |
1 |
For tape or clothing removal, these scissors have a flat,
rounded tip to prevent cutting skin. |
| Triangular bandage |
1 |
For slings and also to help create a splint if required. |
| Safety Pins |
6 |
n/a |
| CPR Aid Device |
1 |
This is a barrier used during the administration of CPR.
Most if not all first responders now use these devices to
prevent disease transmission. |
| Disposable Nitrile Gloves |
4 |
Use when dealing with blood. Non-latex composition is less
likely to cause irritation or allergic reaction. |
| Forceps |
1 |
Used when fingers are too large to grasp or when many areas
need to be held at once. I prefer the locking style so I can
let go of the forceps and they maintain their grip. |
| Instant Cold Packs |
4 |
Chances are you will need to buy more of these as the season
progresses. twist and squeeze to activate, cold in 30 sec. |
| Eyewash Solution 30 ml |
1 |
Dirt, fingers rubber pellets - anything in the eye can cause
serious irritation. |
Know what's in your team's first-aid kit and know where it is
located at all times.
One of the great lessons I learned while working in professional
soccer is that the pros do many of the same drills and exercises
that we teach our players even from a young age. The difference
is that they did these drills extremely well. The touch, the tempo,
the intensity were just fantastic to watch. The results of the
hours of training spoke for themselves on the field.
Soccer safety is like the game itself. There are many basic
things that we can do to make the game safer. So lets do these
things extremely well. |
