Coach and Administrator Checklist
Create visibility in your locker room!
Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life has created the posters below to hang up in your schools. Please feel free to print these out and hang in your athletic training facilities or other highly visible areas within your athletic facilities. You can request a hard copy, or use the link below to print out color copies to hang around your facilities.
Review and Update your Schools EAP
Emergency Action Plans (EAP’s) are concrete written plans that outline what should be done in the event of a catastrophic injury/illness in sports. EAP’s are one of the cornerstones when it comes to providing quality care for our athletes. They are essential to reducing delays in care. Make sure your EAP’s have been reviewed and are up to date. Use the links below to get help designing your EAP.
Practice your EAP!
Like anything, practice makes perfect. An emergency action plan is only effective if each and every member of the team knows their role in case of emergency. Take time to educate and practice your EAP with other members of your team (Coaches, Admin, EMS, AT, etc.).
Update all heat illness policies and procedures
Please review and ensure that your school’s heat related policies and procedures are up to date and following best practice. Use the links below for guidance on ensuring you policies are current. Dr. Brendon McDermott at the University of Arkansas is also a great resource.
Plan activity around the heat!
Use the local forecast to help make decisions about what part of the day it is safest to be activity and adjust practice days/times. The National Weather Service in LR has a great predictive tool to help make decisions. While not real-time, it gives you an idea of what to expect. It includes hourly updates to regional wet bulb and heat index values and WBGT forecast maps.
Monitor the heat in REALTIME and make adjustments
In 2019 the Arkansas Activities Association approved the Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer (WBGT) as the recommended measurement device for measuring acceptable heat/humidity levels for practices. The WBGT device is a measurement tool that uses ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind and solar radiation from the sun to get a measure that can be used to monitor environmental conditions during exercise.
Have a way to cool your athletes!
Rapid cooling through ice water immersion is the gold standard for treating someone suffering from exertional heat stroke. Ensure you have the tools needed.
The Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life foundation launched a cool immersion tub program this past year with the help of a donation by AATA. The program is designed to help schools that do not currently have access to a cold water immersion tub. If your school does not currently have this life-saving piece of equipment, please reach out to Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life at 479-200-1313 or email Laurel@kendrickfincher.org
Communication is key!
The AAA handbook states that all football teams MUST have an annual parent meeting concerning heat illness. This meeting typically occurs prior to pre season and should include items such as; hydration, predisposing factors, prevention, recognition and management and return to play. While the AAA only lists football as being required to have an annual meeting, it would be good practice to conduct meetings with all teams that participate outdoors in the heat. The Kendrick Fincher Foundation provides parent meeting toolkits available below.
Visit the AAA and IDEAS/Arkansas PBS links below for videos and additional resources
The Arkansas Activities Association and the Arkansas High School Coaches” Association hosted their first sports safety week the week of July 12-16th of 2021. The purpose of the week was to bring attention to key areas (Heat Illness, Concussion, and Athletic Physicals, Sudden Cardiac, Communicable diseases, Emergency Action Plans, and Athletic Training) and give resources to member schools to provide sports medicine professional development to coaches.
Please visit the AAA website link below as well as the Ideas/Arkansas PBS link for resources and videos.
Promote Heatstroke Awareness on Social Media.
Follow and like organizations like the AAA, the Arkansas Athletic Trainers’ Association, and the Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life Foundation. Use the link below to go to our special social media page with sample tweets and who to follow.
Contact your local media.
Reach out to your local radio, TV, or newspaper to get a featured story on what steps your school is taking to help protect your student athletes from the heat.