Now that we completely took this off topic, one thing about youth sports that has always bothered me is why as coaches we are not required to have an formal first aid training. Recently at a tourney we had a kid trying to clear a ball from and a kid from the other team was crashing down and took a very hard ball to the left eye. My kids kicked the ball out to stop the play and after watching the other coaches not know what to do and the kid began to hyperventalate I went out, we got him to control his breathing, calm down and then we weare able to see what was actually wrong. We pulled out our first aid kit and patched the kid up enough so his parents could be calm and see exactly what was wrong and get him checked out by a Dr. After the game the other coach and I were talking and he thanked me and my assistant coach for helping. Now I had some advanced first aid training in the Army and my assistant went this off season for a quick Saturday class and it got me wondering .......Why the heck isn't it required for coaches (at least the travel ones) in any sport to have this so that when we encounter an injury we at least don't make it worse but so we also know the signs when it's not just something that rubbing a little dirt on it will take care of. Most hospitals do free clinics for this. I know it's a random thought but it's always bothered me.
