Athletic Trainers are focused on the field/court during competition making sure all of the players are playing safely. Recently there have been a trend of injuries occuring off of the field. Another football injury last week occured off the field and on the sidelines when the Baltimore Ravens punter Sam Koch collided with the coach. Although the injury may not be severe this time, there have been more severe cases such as Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints breaking his left leg and Charlie Wise tearing all of his ligaments in 2008.
Our role as the Athletic Trainer is to ensure that not only the players are sfe but the coaching, referee, and other staff as well as spectators are all safe. In high school the MIAA has passed a rule that all players must remain in the players box during the game and failure to do so can result in a penalty for the team. Although this rule has been created many referees do not enforce it as it should be. It is also understandable that these football players and coaches are full of adrenaline that they do not obey these rules simply because they are in "the zone". If enforcing this rule will result in less unecessary injuries then it needs to be enforced more. Less injuries means a less stressful day for the AT and medical staff.
Should this rule be inforced in the NFL also? Please read the article below and tell me what you think.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7154802/jaguars-jack-del-rio-latest-coach-injured-sideline
Very interesting article. When people think of ATC's they associate us with running on the field/court to help an injured athlete. People don't understand (especially in a sport like football) the risk for injury in sideline collisions. With big athletes running full speed there have been numerous times where I have to dart out of the way at the last second because a collision takes the athletes out of bounds. As an ATC I should be looking at the field so I will be able to see it coming, but athletes may not be paying attention and they could be blind-sided resulting in injury. Enforcing of this rule may bring down sideline injuries but athletes should be paying attention too.
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