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Concussion education now required for supervisors of school sports in B.C.

BC School Sports, the governing organization for school sports in the province, has mandated a BC Children’s Hospital-based concussion education training module for its members who work with young athletes.
Concussion study

BC School Sports, the governing organization for school sports in the province, has mandated a BC Children’s Hospital-based concussion education training module for its members who work with young athletes.

Now those who supervise secondary school sports will be better prepared to prevent, respond to, and manage concussions in teens when these activities resume this fall.

The Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT) was developed by the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU) at BC Children’s Hospital.

“The training will enable every coach to recognize symptoms of concussion, whether injury happened while cycling to school, skateboarding on the weekend or during a coach-led skills development session,” says Shelina Babul, associate director of BCIRPU, an investigator at BC Children's and clinical associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. “Coaches will be trained to help support kids with concussions as their brains heal.”

Every head coach, assistant coach, manager, teacher-sponsor and student-manager will complete concussion education online so they can better care for more than 70,000 youth at the more than 450 public and independent secondary schools that are members of BC School Sports.

Jordan Abney, executive director of BC School Sports, calls it a proud day for his organization.

“I am thrilled our membership has chosen to mandate concussion education for every one of our coaches,” he says. “BC School Sports and our member schools are committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for our student-athletes to train and compete. Partnering with Babul and her team with CATT to ensure each person in a leadership capacity within school sport has this training is critical in delivering on that commitment.”