While intervention and reporting may be uncomfortable, the most important thing you can do for your athlete is protect them, and it’s your responsibility as a parent, coach, official, or other present adult to educate yourself and act. According to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, here’s what you need to know about recognizing, responding to, and reporting abuse and misconduct.

RECOGNIZE Abuse and Misconduct

Recognizing abuse and misconduct is a critical first step to both preventing and responding to it. To start, it’s important to realize that abuse and misconduct can happen between an athlete and many different people, including another athlete, a coach, coach’s assistant, athletic trainer, or physical therapist.

We’ll cover the types of misconduct and abuse below, but keep in mind that even if you can’t label a behavior or it doesn’t violate a policy, you should always report anything that concerns you. Additionally, while the below are referred to as misconduct, they can all be considered child abuse depending on severity, as per federal and/or state law.

• Emotional Misconduct: Emotional misconduct can include both verbal and physical acts, from name-calling to throwing equipment at an athlete. Stalking and denying support can also be considered emotional misconduct.
• Physical Misconduct: Physical misconduct is any behavior that does or could lead to physical harm, which includes both contact and non-contact acts. Examples include punching, knowingly letting athletes return to play after injury without medical clearance, and withholding food or water.
• Sexual Misconduct: Sexual misconduct includes a wide range of sexual actions that are done without consent. It also includes grooming, sexual harassment, nonconsensual sexual contact or intercourse, sexual exploitation, exposing a minor to sexual content/imagery, sexual bullying behavior, and sexual hazing.
• Bullying: Bullying involves repeated and severe physical, verbal, social, or sexual behaviors, including name-calling, spreading rumors, taunting, or ridiculing someone based on gender or sexual preferences.
• Harassment: Harassment refers to repeated or severe conduct that causes fear or humiliation, degrades an athlete, creates a hostile environment, or attempts to establish superiority based on an athlete’s age, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, national origin, or disability.
• Hazing: Hazing involves physical, mental, emotional, or psychological conduct that could intimidate, degrade, abuse, or put an athlete in danger in order to be socially accepted. This could include conduct like making people play drinking games, physically restraining them, or depriving them of water, food, or sleep.

RESPOND to Abuse and Misconduct

If you witness or know about misconduct or abuse, never assume that someone else is taking care of it. Be sure to intervene and put an immediate stop to any misconduct or other harmful behavior you witness. If you learn about misconduct after the fact, determine if it has stopped, and if not, take action to stop it.

As you prepare for your role as an active bystander and/or mandatory reporter, keep these best practices in mind:

• Understand your sport organization’s policies and know what actions to look for, how you are expected to respond, and how to report.
• Regularly discuss acceptable and unacceptable behavior and hold everyone accountable for their behavior.
• Respond quickly to inappropriate behaviors to prevent escalation and continued harm.
• Respond consistently to misconduct you witness or learn about so there is no confusion about boundaries and accountability.
• Consider the developmental level of those involved when identifying acceptable behaviors and responses to those behaviors.

If abuse is disclosed to you, respond with these best practices in mind prior to reporting:

• Listen with empathy and let the athlete tell you the details they want to share at their own pace. Keep your body language and facial expressions open and non-judgmental.
• Thank them for telling you and trusting you.
• Remind them that you and others are here to help.
• Inform them of your next steps, including who you will report the information to. Remember, even if a child does not want the incident reported, mandatory reporters must follow legal reporting requirements.

If abuse is disclosed to you, do NOT:

• Doubt the accuracy of the report. Remember that false reports of abuse are very rare.
• Ask leading questions. Only ask open-ended questions and let the athlete tell you what happened in their own words.
• Call a child’s parents. Let authorities like child protective services identify when to communicate with parents and the appropriate steps needed to ensure a child’s safety.
• Check with other people to uncover more information or confront the perpetrator, as this can jeopardize the athlete’s safety.

REPORT Abuse and Misconduct

To best protect athletes, report abuse or suspicions of abuse immediately and regardless of your mandatory reporter status. Make sure you familiarize yourself with federal and state reporting requirements, as well as SafeSport reporting requirements.

For adults affiliated with the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, the SafeSport Code requires you to first follow applicable state or federal laws around reporting abuse and misconduct, but also to report:

• Child abuse, including child sexual abuse, immediately to law enforcement and the U.S. Center for SafeSport
• Sexual misconduct regardless of age immediately to SafeSport
• Emotional and physical misconduct (including bullying, hazing, and harassment) to your National Governing Body or SafeSport
• Violations of proactive prevention policies (such as the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies) to your National Governing Body

Your athlete’s team should have an abuse prevention policy already in place, which should include detailed instructions for reporting suspicions of abuse. If you haven’t seen this policy, ask the coach. Often, part of the reason abuse and misconduct are allowed to continue is that they are reported to the wrong people. Don’t automatically go to the athlete’s parents, the school administrator, or the coach.

If you’re unsure who to report to, go directly to local law enforcement, where they are better trained to handle these situations. You can also direct questions about abuse and misconduct to the SafeSport Helpline at 866-200-0796 or safesporthelpline.org. More information on reporting to the U.S. Center for SafeSport can be found here.

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Takeaway

Additional resources on recognizing, responding to, and reporting abuse are available here. Other local and national organizations are also available to help, including RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.

A recent recommendations report from TrueSport  detailed the ways different stakeholders can best serve young athletes in terms of mental wellness, and included recommendations for those systems and communities. Here, one of the authors of the report—widely recognized sports sociologist Jay Coakley, PhD,—and Jennifer Royer, PhD, Senior Director of TrueSport and Awareness at USADA, share the tangible ways communities* and systems can best support mental wellness for student-athletes.

1. Understand the impact an organization can have

“We have to have a healthy system in order to have healthy athletes,” explains Royer. “We need the tools to teach athletes resiliency, self-confidence, and self-advocacy. If we don’t have that in place at the systemic level, it’s really difficult to successfully support athletes.”

“I think it’s important to focus on restructuring youth sports, rather than dealing with individual issues here and there,” adds Coakley. While a coach may have a direct impact on their athletes, we will see more lasting and durable change from the community and larger systems.

2. Understand your responsibility as an organization

As the report lays out, individuals like coaches, families, and athletic trainers can actively support young athletes, but organizations are tasked with making broader changes at the policy level and then executing and enforcing those policies. Mental wellness as a complement to physical wellbeing for athletes must be the highest prioritization for any organization working with or supporting young athletes. Seeing each individual athlete as a human being who needs to be addressed in the broader context of their humanity rather than solely for their prowess on the playing field must be the starting point for any stakeholder in youth sports.

3. Understand the pressures that student-athletes face

“We have to recognize that this group of young people is not experiencing life, culture, sport, school, or work the same way as past generations,” says Royer. “Everything is different, including the fact that they live in an entirely global society that is more transparent because of social media. We have to advocate for athletes differently because they are living in a different world now. And sport has to be different going forward, or it stands to lose the participation of all these young people.”

4. Understand the importance of youth sport accessibility

Given that sport is a potentially crucial protective factor in many young people’s lives, ensuring access becomes a key step in addressing mental wellbeing for our children. As youth sports have gotten progressively more privatized and expensive, communities and larger systems can play an important role in improving access to sport for all young people, regardless of income status. The report notes that creating partnerships between public and private sport organizations as well as sport governing bodies may be key in helping bridge the gaps in sports participation.

This is best done at a systemic level: On a small scale, a private club coach may connect with a high school coach to help student-athletes coordinate training and competing for two teams. But that doesn’t address the issues of pressure and access that are facing many more athletes within that same system.

5. Understand the individualism of each athlete

It’s easy to see youth sports as a singular mass. A baseball team, for example, may seem like a singular entity. But in reality, it’s a group of individual teens with entirely different life experiences and stressors. As a community stakeholder, understanding that each athlete has a different cultural context, a different family or financial situation, and a different set of thoughts and feelings is key. And regardless of the economics in the community, statistics indicate that young athletes are likely to be struggling with their mental wellness.

Sport can’t help these individual athletes build resilience and healthy tools for managing emotion if they continue to drop out at alarming rates. “The report supported the assertion that in an advantaged situation where families could afford the pay-to-play model, athletes are facing burnout and anxiety and leaving sport,” says Royer. “Conversely, athletes in challenging economic situations aren’t getting the opportunities to play because they can’t keep up with the financial demands of individual coaching, year-round instruction, or travel for competitions.”

6. Understand what’s needed in your community

The report points out that looking for unconventional solutions to difficult problems—like the ability to use a local community center or gym after hours for practice time or providing public funding for sport—can help begin to solve the overarching problem of accessibility to sport. If your area is economically diverse, this can be even tougher to reconcile, as some athletes will have access to private clubs and travel teams, while other athletes may be struggling to find a place to simply train or practice. Look for ways to bring communities together and pool resources. The more athletes we can keep engaged in sport, the greater our chances to support healthy development and growth.

7. Understand that support should come from multiple sources

Even if you believe that the area you’re in has a thriving, healthy youth sport community, there are always more ways that you can support athletes. Remember, each athlete has unique needs. And beyond the current young athletes already participating in sport, there is a huge percentage of the youth population who aren’t playing a sport because of various external and internal factors. “Athletes get their support from multiple sources,” says Coakley. “Support doesn’t only come from one place. It’s best if it comes from multiple places.”

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Takeaway

The overall health of a youth sport program is dependent upon organizations and communities taking responsibility and creating change. Most importantly, systems need to prioritize athlete wellness alongside performance, find ways to support access to sport, and recognize the individual needs of athletes.

* Note: We’re using ‘organization’ and ‘community’ interchangeably here and are simply referring to any larger-scale group that has a stake in youth sport and the general health and wellbeing of children.

With this in mind, how can you best support their mental wellness while helping them grow as people and athletes? Here, one of the authors of a recent recommendations report on mental wellness in youth sport—longtime sports sociologist Jay Coakley, PhD—is helping break down the tangible ways that caregivers and coaches can support athletes.

1. Humanity over athleticism

The title of the report is “Humanizing Sport,” speaking to the fact that taking care of young people needs to be the top goal for coaches and caregivers. Adults often struggle to remember that young athletes are under immense amounts of pressure while still developing the life skills and resilience necessary to cope with that pressure. It’s important to understand that the situations a young person is dealing with are valid and important, even if as an adult, you can look back and see how minor those problems are in retrospect. For example, an athlete fighting with a teammate may seem minor, but for that athlete, it can take a huge mental toll.

As a coach, it’s also easy to see a team of athletes as one singular mass—’the team’—but Coakley urges coaches to remember that each team member is their own individual with a different set of skills and struggles. For family members too, it’s easy to focus on a young athlete’s talent on the field rather than prioritizing their happiness on that field.

2. Relieve pressure

Even without meaning to, caregivers and coaches can add huge amounts of pressure for athletes. “For example, sports are often expensive these days, which is a source of pressure for a child who knows that parents are using discretionary money for their sport participation, and because of that, they feel trapped,” says Coakley. Mentioning things like the price of sport or the need for an athletic scholarship can put an unhealthy burden on your young athlete.

Coaches often create similar pressures for the team or for certain players by setting outcome-specific goals like winning certain games and placing more emphasis on wins than progress. Coaches and caregivers who limit unnecessary triggers for stress and pressure, while seeking opportunities to develop athlete resilience, create an optimal environment to support student-athlete mental wellbeing.

3. Take mental health as seriously as physical health

Often in youth sport, mental health is an afterthought, if it comes up at all. But Coakley says that mental health is potentially more important than physical health for young athletes. “Unfortunately, within sport culture, it used to be defined as a weakness if you had a mental health problem,” he says. “It’s hard to change that culture, but that’s our goal.”

To start, have open conversations with athletes about mental health, let them know that they can come to you if they’re experiencing any distress, and focus on mental wellness alongside physical wellness on the team. You can do goal-setting exercises throughout the season, make sure athletes and their families understand your open-door policy, and host weekly check-ins with the team to tackle any issues that have come up.

4. Have regular one-on-ones with athletes

Whether you’re a caregiver or a coach, having individual conversations with your athlete on a regular basis is an important part of monitoring their mental wellness. “Good coaches have weekly one-on-one conversations with their athletes,” says Coakley. “They might be short conversations, but these quick talks let the athletes know that the coach cares about them and helps coaches catch any potential issues early.” In alignment with athlete safety best practices, be sure these conversations are always observable and interruptible.

The same is true for parents and guardians: Make sure you’re having at least one check-in with your athlete each week, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. Intentionally creating time to connect with your athlete leaves room for them to share anything they may be struggling to process or move through on their own.

5. Don’t be afraid to refer out

Many of the recommendations in the report center around seeking appropriate help and guidance from other professionals. While coaches may feel as though they need to be the therapist, nutritionist, physical therapist, and sleep specialist, it’s important to remember that wearing all of those hats isn’t actually in the best interest of you nor your athletes. It’s simply overburdening you and keeping your athletes from getting the professional care that they need. Instead, build relationships with experts who are qualified in these different areas and try to make them readily available for your athletes. If financial means are a concern, Coakley suggests reaching out to local universities and seeking out students looking for internships in the fields of physiotherapy, sports dietetics, or psychology. Consider the sport administrators in your particular system as a great ally in this effort. Seek their guidance and support to identify appropriate resources to supplement the important work you’re doing as a caregiver or coach.

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Takeaway

Serving young athletes means taking care of their mental wellbeing as well as their physical health. This begins with seeing athletes as whole humans, rather than viewing them as one team, or as individuals who are only defined by their athletic achievements. For coaches and caregivers who interact closely with athletes, this should include regular check-ins and open conversations about mental health. It should also include seeking expert help when needed, rather than trying to do everything yourself.

Given that concussion treatment today is very different than it was several years ago, Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician, is explaining the latest information on concussion protocols. Remember, it’s important to speak to your athlete’s doctor and athletic trainer to create the best recovery protocol for each individual athlete, but having this updated information allows you to ask the right questions and best advocate for your athlete.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, 1.8 million sports-related concussions happen annually in youth under age 18 annually. This number can be devastating, especially since many athletes who sustain concussions struggle to return to play, particularly in high-impact sports. But concussions are an unfortunately common part of many sports, and all too often, are unavoidable. So, how can an athlete best recover?

One fundamental change during recovery has been the move away from prolonged periods of rest and time away from school. This may be a surprise, especially for coaches or parents of older athletes who have long been told that athletes with concussions need to be kept in dark rooms, forced to rest, and stay away from screens and exercise. “The pendulum has been swinging the past number of years in terms of concussion treatment,” says LaBotz. “The things we believe now are quite different from what we were telling people a couple of years ago.”

Now, LaBotz says, there’s a lot of good evidence that getting kids back into physical activity early—after a day or two of taking it easy (unless other injuries require more rest)—can be helpful for recovery. This doesn’t mean showing up at practice and doing sprints, though. Instead, athletes should start with low intensity physical activity like walking or spinning on a stationary bike.

“As long as they’re able to participate in physical activity without a significant increase in symptoms and without undue risk of another head injury, they can continue,” says LaBotz. “Those prolonged periods of inactivity are not good for the athlete, on any level.”

LaBotz believes part of the reason this return to activity aids recovery is the element of isolation that can happen when an athlete is forced to rest, skipping school and practice. “We know that when these kids are socially isolated after concussion, that appears to lead to prolongation of symptoms,” she says. “The days of keeping kids out of school, or away from social activities with friends, for weeks at a time are over.”

Even screen time recommendations have changed. While screens often aren’t optimal for those suffering from acute concussion symptoms, LaBotz notes that because many young people engage in social interactions via the computer versus in real life, keeping them away from all screens may do more harm than good.

“The Academy of Pediatrics still recommends a maximum of two hours of non-academic screen time per day,” she says. “But as long as kids are not having a significant increase in symptoms, maintaining those social connections with friends via screens is very reasonable.” LaBotz notes that for those who do experience symptoms with screen use, reducing screen brightness and/or increasing font size may help. “Even playing with different background colors can make a difference,” she says.

Furthermore, going to major events like prom or graduation can be safe for athletes dealing with concussions, says LaBotz. “I tell parents that if there is an important social or family activity, it’s fine for them to participate, as long as the activity does not involve risk for additional head injury” she notes.  However, LaBotz does add that it’s important to have a plan in place if the athlete feels concussion symptoms start to increase. “They have to have an ‘exit strategy’ where they can retreat to a quiet place or be able to leave and go home if symptoms become much worse” she says.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, concussion recovery typically takes between two and four weeks for young athletes. Concussion recovery is not linear, and  symptoms may come and go during this recovery time, says LaBotz. It’s normal for symptoms to seem to go away, then come back, particularly with strenuous mental or physical effort. “I often reassure patients and families that a slight increase in symptoms with light exercise or schoolwork is okay, and the athlete can continue,” she says. “But, if there’s a big increase in symptoms, then that is a signal that the athlete is doing too much and needs to back down.”

When it comes to concussion recovery, there is no substitute for the passage of time. But there are some symptoms, such as issues with balance, vision, or neck pain that often benefit from dedicated treatment and rehabilitation, particularly if they are not improving with time, adds LaBotz. Working with a physical therapist or athletic trainer to address these issues often helps to reduce concussion symptoms and shorten recovery periods.

The last outdated piece of concussion advice is the concept that the third concussion needs to be your last concussion. “There’s no magic number for concussions,” says LaBotz. “It used to be that after three, you were out of the sport. Now, recommendations are much more individualized and the decision-making process takes multiple factors into account, and not just the number of concussions.”

One problem with sustaining multiple concussions is that it seems to increase the likelihood of recurrence. “In some athletes, we see that after a concussion, the threshold for getting another concussion appears to go down,” LaBotz says. “I’ve seen athletes who have had a couple of concussions, and they come to see me with symptoms of a new concussion but don’t remember sustaining a hit. In these cases, it may take less of a hit to sustain a concussion for them now. And again, in those cases, considering a switch to a non-contact sport may be advisable.”

Although many concussion treatment recommendations will continue to evolve, it is important to remember that the following criteria for return to contact sport after concussion has NOT changed:

• Athletes must be symptom-free at rest and remain symptom-free during several days of a progressive “return to play” protocol
• Athletes must be back to their pre-injury level of school performance and cognitive function
• Athletes must be cleared by a health care professional before return to sport

More research is still needed in the concussion arena, and one area of interest for LaBotz is regarding the potential effects of subconcussive head impacts. These happen when smaller impacts to the head are sustained (like heading a soccer ball or hitting your head after a tackle in football). At the time of the impact, there’s no pain or symptomatic aftereffects. But those hits accumulate over time, she says. “Really, the less force that goes across the brain, the better,” she adds.

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Takeaway

Concussion protocols have changed in recent years. Athletes should return to easy, light movement within a day or two of sustaining a concussion to improve recovery outcomes and they shouldn’t be kept in social isolation. Work with athletic trainers and medical professionals to create an optimal return to play plan for your athlete, and remember, athletes must be cleared by a health care provider to return to play after sustaining a concussion.

“If an athlete is optimal physically, that is going to enable them to optimize their mental health as well,” says Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician. “If they’re sick, injured, or otherwise not well physically, then mental health often suffers too.”

Here, LaBotz shares five ways physical health issues can give rise to struggles with mental health for athletes.

1. Injury

“When you’re injured, the risk for depression or anxiety is higher,” says LaBotz. “Being physically well isn’t just the absence of illness, it’s being able to pursue those things that enhance your overall well-being. Activities that enhance physical health, like exercise and good nutrition, generally benefit mental health as well.”  Athletes with injuries that prevent them from participating in sport and/or conditioning activities place them at risk for mental or emotional difficulty.   LaBotz states, “Most athletes will have some degree of sadness after injury, but for some athletes an injury can precipitate more severe mental or emotional effects, including depression, anxiety and a loss of self-confidence.” LaBotz has even seen athletes experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after injuries like ACL tears or severe concussions that can make it hard for them to return to sport.

Mitigate it: Keep an open line of communication with athletes and their families, and “check in” with how athletes are coping with their injury. Encourage athletes to stick with their rehabilitation plan. Many athletes benefit from staying engaged with team activity and should be encouraged to check with their health care provider for any exercise or conditioning they can do during the recovery period. If you suspect an athlete is dealing with a more serious issue like PTSD or depression, encourage them to seek professional help.

2. Illness

“We know that depression and anxiety are eased by spending time in nature and with exercise,” LaBotz says. “Illness often takes away those capabilities temporarily.” Whether your athlete is dealing with a long-term illness like mononucleosis or long COVID, or a short-term illness like a severe stomach bug or flu, it can have an impact on their mental well-being. Short-term illnesses are less likely to be an issue, but if an athlete is out for weeks or months with something more chronic, they’re at higher risk for depression or anxiety.

Mitigate it: Even if an athlete is ill and can’t take part in practice, they can still likely enjoy nature to some extent—and even images of nature have been found to be beneficial for mental well-being. Urge athletes, especially those with more long-term illness, to find ways to get outside and develop a conditioning plan that is doctor-approved and feels good for them.

3. Underfueling

It’s a cliche, but we do know that hunger can lead to stress and anger. Anyone who’s been on the team bus with hungry teen athletes can attest to this. Research has found that chronic underfueling in and around workouts can lead to ‘increased emotional distress due to hunger, fatigue, and stress related to following an energy-restricted diet.’ And when done for intentional weight loss and body image-based reasons, underfueling may be an indicator of disordered eating patterns or even a more severe eating disorder.

Mitigate it: If you suspect an athlete’s mental well-being is suffering due to underfueling, whether intentionally or unintentionally, ensure that they have access to the help and information that they need. A registered dietitian and/or a counselor or mental health expert can help an athlete work through potential food-related issues and make a plan that optimizes physical health and energy.

4. Overtraining

As LaBotz points out, overtraining can lead to an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, which can have adverse effects on mental health as well as physical health. “When athletes “overtrain” for brief periods, they will often feel fatigued but can recover quite quickly after backing off,” LaBotz says, but warns that “when overtraining persists for longer periods athletes can develop a true ‘overtraining syndrome’ which can lead to all sorts of emotional and psychological symptoms.”  Research has found that overtraining syndrome can lead to various mental health side effects, including fatigue, depression, low motivation, insomnia, irritability, and agitation.

Mitigate it: Recovery from overtraining syndrome can take many months, so prevention is the best strategy.  As a coach, you may not be able to dictate exactly how much an athlete trains on their own, but you can make sure that your athletes have a rough understanding of what an ideal week of training should look like for them. Particularly during periods of high intensity training, focus on the importance of high-quality recovery.  For athletes in multiple sports and activities, or those who are balancing school, sport, and work, help them optimize their training in a way that prioritizes a balanced lifestyle to prevent burnout.

5. Concussions

When an athlete sustains a head injury that causes a concussion, they are at a much higher risk of developing a mental disorder. In fact, a recent study found that one in five people who sustained even a mild head injury would develop a disorder like depression, anxiety, or PTSD.

LaBotz states, “There is a tight link between long-term concussion symptoms and anxiety and depression, and it’s important for coaches and families to be aware of that.”

Mitigate it: First, start by ensuring that if an athlete sustains any head injury during competition or practice, concussion protocols are observed, even if the athlete has no immediate symptoms. If an athlete does have a concussion, follow the most up-to-date concussion protocols around return to play, and ensure that your athlete has access to help if they do notice signs and symptoms of a more serious mental or physical issue stemming from the injury.

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Takeaway

Mental and physical health are interrelated and each one affects the other. If an athlete is dealing with a physical health problem stemming from illness, injury, concussion, overtraining or under-fueling, coaches and caregivers should be on the lookout for signs of mental health issues like depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and even PTSD, and should have a low threshold for seeking professional assistance when symptoms are persistent or creating significant issues for the athlete. And, while physical health impacts mental health, the reverse is also true: concerns related to an athlete’s mental health may be the underpinning behind physical symptoms or difficulty with performance during training or competition.

Here, TrueSport Expert Stephanie Miezin, MS, RD, CSSD and Director of Nutrition at Canyon Ranch, shares some of the nuances and information you need to know before recommending your athletes start measuring sweat rate.

What does a sweat patch do?

Sweat patches give an athlete an estimation of sodium concentration in their sweat as well as overall sweat volume. They’re not perfectly accurate—that would require in-lab testing—but they come close and can provide a starting point when it comes to knowing how much fluid and electrolytes to consume to maintain optimal hydration status. There are other simple ways to calculate an athlete’s sweat rate, but the patch also provides information on electrolytes in the sweat.

What are the limitations of a sweat patch?

“Sweat testing by using patches is still in its infancy in terms of how we as coaches can really use it to make change for our athletes,” says Miezin. “There has been some research and validation from the maker of the most widely available sweat patch, but it’s still only been around for a couple of years.”

Similarly, it is important to consider the source: If the sweat patch is coming from a sports hydration brand and the information is only available through their app, it’s worth taking the brand’s recommendations with a grain of salt. But more importantly, we need to remember that the young athletes we work with may simply not need this level of data this early in their athletic careers.

“If we are doing sweat testing on young kids, are we starting to push them too hard and focus too much on the performance, rather than the process?” asks Miezin. “As coaches, we have to find that line between having fun and improving performance. Sweat patches can be useful in some cases, but especially with a younger population, I have some hesitancy recommending them for all athletes.”

When are sweat patches a good idea?

Recommending sweat patches for athletes shouldn’t be done as a blanket recommendation for the whole team, but rather, on an athlete-by-athlete basis. “If an athlete feels like they are having issues with hydration, meaning they regularly feel like they’re becoming dehydrated during activity, that could be a good reason to try a sweat patch and see the results,” says Miezin. “The patch may also be helpful for events where coaches have heightened concerns about an athlete maintaining good hydration: If an athlete is training for an event that’s going to take place in a really hot and humid environment, or the event is a long duration, the sweat patch can be a tool to support their safety.” She notes that the sweat patch may also be helpful in ruling out hydration or electrolyte imbalance as the issue if an athlete is dealing with regular cramping during workouts.

Should an athlete wear a sweat patch all the time?

Logistically, sweat patches aren’t an ideal long-term monitoring solution for a team, since they are single use and can become cost prohibitive. Because of that, if you do want an athlete to use a sweat patch, it’s best to use the patches during specific practices or competitions that are happening in the conditions you want to assess.

What should you do with the data from the sweat patch?

This is one of the limitations of the sweat patch: The accompanying app provides broad ranges for hydration and electrolytes based on the readings, but it’s up to the athlete and their support team to find the hydration plan that works the best. No patch can account for all of the variables that help an athlete know how much to drink during any given workout. While it’s tempting to think that a sweat patch will solve your athletes’ hydration problems, it really just provides some information that needs to be combined with other subjective and objective data from the athlete to find the right balance. If you do use a sweat patch with your athletes, Miezin recommends finding a sports dietitian who can help decode the data and provide more solid recommendations to your athletes.

Are more athletes starting to use sweat patches?

“You are probably going to be seeing more patches as more companies come out with their own,” says Miezin. “But like any performance tool, we need to be very careful and conscious about how we use it with younger populations. When it comes to sweat rate, there are other obvious indicators, and before considering a sweat patch, try paying attention to the free cues! If an athlete is sweating profusely and soaking their clothes, or if the sweat is drying white or the athlete says it tastes sweaty, those are obvious signs that the athlete needs more fluids and electrolytes. Rely on those cues first, before adding something like a sweat patch.”

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Takeaway

You may be seeing more and more athletes using sweat testing as a tool in training but remember that most athletes are perfectly fine without it, as long as they (and you) are paying attention to how they’re feeling and hydrating appropriately. Also, reserve the use of things like sweat rate testing for older athletes who are more high-performance-oriented, and consult with a sports dietitian to put the data from the sweat patch into a proper hydration plan.

“Athletic trainers have such a strong influence on the athletes they work with,” says Dr. Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician. “And teaching athletes the importance of recovery is one of the most valuable things an athletic trainer can do. Athletes already know the importance of training hard. But they also need to pay attention to their recovery.  If you’re going to train at high intensity, then you have to recover ‘like you mean it.’”

So, what exactly does that look like? ATs can support recovery by helping athletes understand the importance of sleep, how to dial in nutrition, and how to reduce stress and strain, both physically and mentally.

Sleep Duration Matters

When it comes to sleep, it’s hard to overdo it for young athletes.  In fact, athletes between 13-18 years old need 8-10 hours of sleep per night, and athletes 12 and under need 9-12 hours. Recent evidence shows that these recommendations are not only important for health, but for athletic performance and injury prevention as well. This means actual sleep (not just time in bed) and the amount required for young athletes is higher than the 7-9 hours of sleep recommended for adults. For busy student-athletes balancing full school, sport, and social schedules, getting that amount of sleep can be incredibly difficult.

Research has shown that nearly 70 percent of adolescents get under seven hours of sleep, and LaBotz thinks the number is likely even higher than that, especially for busy athletes. “Junior year is a real pressure cooker year for students, and it’s not uncommon for student-athletes to laugh and say, ‘How the heck do you expect me to be able to sleep 8-10 hours a night?’” says LaBotz. “Between schoolwork and practice, there aren’t enough hours in the day. But if performance is a priority, then sleep should be too.”

Acute loss of sleep from an all-nighter may leave students feeling drained, but chronic sleep deprivation is the bigger problem, says LaBotz. “You don’t feel tired when chronically sleep deprived, but that’s when injuries and illness are more likely to occur. Performance will also suffer. If an athlete is not getting enough sleep, extra time sleeping is going to be better than the equivalent amount of extra training.”

Dial in Sleep Hygiene

As an AT, you won’t be able to control how much an athlete sleeps, but you can counsel them and send recommendations home to help create an optimal sleep environment. Aim for cool, dark, and quiet in the bedroom, and keep that space as uncluttered as possible.

Recent research shows lower sleep time and quality when screens are in the bedroom. We know this is tough for teenagers, but if they take their sport seriously, it’s key! Encourage athletes to avoid too much screen time before bed and practice a nighttime routine that helps them wind down.

For athletes who are consistently “under-sleeping,” LaBotz often recommends that they set a sleep schedule by the clock rather than going by how they feel. “The first couple nights can be a little rough,” she says. “But if they can stick with it for a week or two, they often notice a big difference.”

Dial in Post-Practice Nutrition

While overall good nutrition is critically important to recovery, the biggest gains are made with the post-practice or post-game meal or snack. “The big gap in nutrition that I see most frequently is a lack of consistency and appropriate fuel intake, especially immediately following a training session,” LaBotz says.

After a hard or long effort, athletes require a combination of carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores and protein to aid in the rebuilding of muscles. Often, LaBotz says that athletes are picking one or the other, rather than combining them. Endurance athletes tend to focus on carbohydrate intake, while those in strength-based sports often focus more on protein. In reality, the blend of the two is what makes for the best recovery fuel.

“Ideally, an athlete is getting some form of carbohydrate within 20 minutes of finishing a workout,” she explains. “This might even be a sports drink and some fruit while in the locker room or during the post-practice team meeting. It doesn’t have to be complicated. And then, ideally within an hour of practice, the athlete should have a full meal that contains a good balance of carbohydrates and protein.”

While a meal after practice sounds simple in theory, when games and practices run late in the evening, it can be hard to make time for a meal if an athlete isn’t getting home until 9 or 10 p.m. But even in that case, it’s important that your athlete is having a protein and carbohydrate-rich snack ahead of bedtime at minimum. Otherwise, they’re missing that valuable recovery window, and potentially negatively impacting their sleep by going to bed under-fueled. They’ll also head into practice the next day already low on fuel. If this is the case for your athlete, consider these simple snacks and easy meals for late night practices.

Find a Mindfulness Routine

While physical recovery is important, mental recovery is critical as well. TrueSport Expert Kevin Chapman, PhD, clinical psychologist and founder of The Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, is a fan of helping athletes find a mindfulness practice that works for them. “Doing some form of meditation is very important,” he says. He also recommends having a mental health professional or sports psychologist as part of your network if possible. While an athlete may not need to work with a mental health professional right now, as an AT, it’s helpful to have recommendations available if an athlete does begin to struggle with something in life or sport.

Recover on Recovery Days

Training leaves the body a bit broken down, and the biggest gains happen during recovery periods. “Beyond sleep, it’s important for ATs to emphasize that rest days are meant to be actual rest days,” says LaBotz. “Often, athletes have this idea that more is better, and think that recovery days should be used to work with a personal trainer or sneak in extra cardio, but athletes should spend 1-2 days per week away from structured sport training or competition.”

This can be especially tricky if you work with an athlete who is on multiple teams, either for the same sport (on a school and travel team) or in multiple sports. Often, those athletes won’t have recovery days because the overlapping schedules don’t leave any day empty. In that case, as an AT, your authority and advocacy may encourage coaches to find the best options for rest and recovery days for these athletes.

“It’s ideal if ATs are able to help an athlete avoid double practice sessions or weeks without rest days,” says LaBotz. For example, if an athlete is on a school soccer team and in a travel soccer program, they can likely skip one of the team’s strength training sessions each week. Most coaches actually prefer that athletes aren’t doubling up on practice, conditioning, and competition.

“It can be hard, but ATs have the relationships with the athletes, and the authority and expertise within their programs, that make them ideally suited to advocate for good recovery practices,” LaBotz adds. Sometimes, you’re the only person in an athlete’s life who has this overarching point of view, and you can make a big difference.

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Takeaway

As an AT, you’re in the unique position of ensuring that your athlete is recovering physically and mentally. This means taking time off during the week, getting plenty of high-quality sleep, and prioritizing the right nutrients after a workout or competition. It also means supporting an athlete’s mental wellness, whether that’s through meditation or access to mental health professionals.

Here, TrueSport Experts Kevin Chapman, PhD, clinical psychologist and founder of The Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, and Nadia Kyba, MSW, the President of Now What Facilitation, share a few important ways that coaches, athletic directors, and school administrators can help athletes navigate traumatic times and become better prepared for moments like these.

Understand what athletes face

Hamlin’s traumatic cardiac event had the nation focused on what caused his heart to stop, and what his road to recovery looks like. But there are traumatic injuries in sport happening constantly, and at every level of sport. According to the CDC, high school athletes account for an estimated two million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually. Student-athletes are also under a tremendous amount of stress, which can be hard to acknowledge as a coach or administrator. As adults, we tend to forget that students have high levels of stress because we often look back at our teen years as feeling worry-free relative to the challenges we face as adults. But acknowledging that students are feeling stress even without a specific tragedy or trauma can help you better understand and guide your team through good and bad times.

Communicate as a team

“It’s so important for coaches to not push away tragedy and instead, talk about it openly,” says Chapman. “I think that it’s really important for coaches to explicitly set time aside to have in-depth conversations with their team about the tragedy, the transient nature of life, the importance of relationships, that kind of thing.” This doesn’t mean waiting for a tragedy to befall your own team: Coaches can look at a situation like Hamlin’s and use that to start the conversation. It’s likely that many students, especially the serious athletes, are looking at Hamlin’s cardiac arrest and feeling stress or anxiety about how something similar could happen to them—or are fans of Hamlin’s and are concerned about his welfare. “Having these conversations as a team acknowledges that when life happens, we as a team are going to come together as opposed to pushing things away and ignoring them,” Chapman adds. “When we can talk about these things, we all heal in healthy ways.”

Create an open door policy

You may not know about a tragedy or trauma that happens to an athlete on your team, but as a coach, you can have an open-door policy that makes it more comfortable for athletes to come to you when they do have a tragic event. “Adopt a team culture where talking about hard things, and talking about emotional experiences on and off the field, is normalized,” says Chapman. “That’s incredibly important to a team’s culture. I believe in a preventative mentality as opposed to what most coaches do, which is an intervention mentality. When it comes to tragedy, trauma, and emotional hardship, it’s necessary to have a healthy team culture where those conversations are welcomed. We want to be prepared for adversity, on and off the field.”

Encourage athletes to stay IRL, not on social media

“Especially at a youth level, encourage athletes to stay away from social media as much as possible,” says Chapman. “Tragedy and trauma are retweeted and reposted at a stunning rate now, and our society is obsessed with seeing things happen in real time, often at the expense of other people. Spending time online searching and scrolling can retraumatize many people and keep athletes emotionally dysregulated.” Some students will turn to social media to seek support and healing, but as a coach, you can help provide resources like a mental health professional to better help athletes deal with trauma.

Remember not every injury is visible

It’s easy to overlook the more ‘invisible’ injuries that can lead to trauma and tragedy, says Chapman. While Hamlin’s traumatic incident was impossible to miss, we’re also seeing thousands of athletes suffering from post-concussion symptoms because they aren’t outwardly showing signs of injury, or they appear to be recovered and return to play too early. Unfortunately, the aftermath of an injury like a concussion can be impossible to see but can impact an athlete for years afterwards. And despite the evolution of coaching best practices, the typical response of ‘no pain, no gain’ or ‘suck it up’ is still far too prevalent.

Instead, encourage athletes to be on the lookout for signs and symptoms of concussion-based symptoms, overtraining or chronic fatigue issues, or even more basic injuries like muscle tears and strains that may not be obvious to the naked eye. Helping athletes who are struggling with any type of ‘invisible injury’ feel seen, validated, and taken seriously is important as a coach or administrator.

Engage in community care over self-care

Telling athletes to take more time for self-care may not be entirely helpful. “We hear a lot about teaching athletes to focus on self-care, but community care is equally important, if not more so,” says Kyba. “There’s so much emphasis on self-care in the media, but that’s not always helpful for an individual who’s having a tough time coping with a situation but feels powerless to change anything in their lives. Self-care can be useful, but it also puts the responsibility of care on the athlete. Instead, it should be about the community coming together to support those who are in need. Telling an athlete to take a hot bath isn’t as helpful as bringing a therapist in to speak to the team about a tragedy that has impacted them.”

Have a plan

Ultimately, if you’re reading this article and thinking, ‘I don’t have any tragedies to worry about with my team,’ now is the optimal time to plan for how you will handle those tough moments. “Be prepared for when those situations arise—don’t wait for when trauma or tragedy happens,” says Kyba. “When things are going smoothly is the best time to think about how to support a team in times of trouble.”

“Each school will have to identify and determine what makes the most sense practically in a given situation,” says Chapman. “A tragedy at your school might lead to holding an assembly for a larger discussion and/or having smaller conversations within teams. But any of these conversations should, in my estimation, be done with a grief counselor or a mental health professional present along with coaches and administrators. Coaches should be working with administrators, psychologists, therapists, and trainers to create an action plan that you can easily put into place if the need arises.”

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Takeaway

Tragedy and trauma are, unfortunately, often part of the athletic experience. As a coach, administrator, or other sport official, you can help athletes navigate these difficult moments by creating a culture of openness and communication, and having an action plan and resources ready for when there is a need.

Here, Natalie Hummel, founder of Every Kid Sports, is helping explain the nuances of access to sport and sharing a few ways that families and coaches can be more aware and responsive.

The Situation

Understand the importance of sports

We know that sport isn’t just about winning or bringing home a trophy at the end of the season: Sport can be a way for young athletes to make friends, grow leadership skills, and develop healthy habits that can last a lifetime. When you look at sport through this lens, it’s easy to understand just how important it is that every child has the opportunity to play—and how little it should cost them to do so. “Playing sports was the most important thing I did as a kid,” says Hummel. “It shaped who I am today, and when I learned that most kids weren’t playing sports simply because they couldn’t afford it, I knew that was something I needed to address.” That’s why she founded Every Kid Sports.

Cost of sport is on the rise

“There is a broken narrative around sports that says to play, you need to pay,” explains Hummel. “When I was growing up, sports were prevalent everywhere and the access was incredible. You could play sports at school for free. Now, the majority of schools around the country are actually pay-to-play.” Only 22 percent of kids who come from income-restricted families are playing sports, and a large part of that is due to the associated costs. Hummel points out that the average cost for a recreational season in a sport is $138. “If you’re talking about a family that can hardly put food on the table, they’re not going to be able to spend that money to get their child playing,” she notes.

Access issues start young

Even if a high school offers free access to sports, there are marginalized communities who will already be left behind, says Hummel. “If someone hasn’t played recreational sports growing up, they’re going to have a hard time making a high school team if the try-outs are against students who’ve been playing in recreational clubs from a young age,” she adds. “To play basketball or volleyball in high school, it’s expected that athletes already have the physical literacy and a basic competence. One of the things we’ve seen is the over-commercialization of youth sports, with the addition of these travel teams and elite teams from a young age. The people who have the money put their kids in those programs, and that just further erodes the youth sports marketplace.”

Understand the breadth of access issues

We tend to think of socioeconomic access to sport in very simple terms, often looking at gear as the starting point. But beyond the gear, there are many hidden costs that can cause a kid to lack access to sport. These costs can include:

• The need to work after school or on weekends to help with family expenses, thereby missing ‘mandatory practices’
• A parent who works long hours and can’t drive an athlete to the specific practice area on weekends or early in the morning
• Not being able to afford the ‘recommended’ extra coaching, physical therapy, personal trainer, gym membership, etc., that is suggested by a coach
• Lack of resources to get proper care for certain sport-specific injuries
• High costs for ‘away games’ and matches that involve overnight stays out of state
• Expensive mandatory gear and enrollment costs of being on a team

Access for whole communities

There are also more widespread access issues that can cause a divide in athletes from a young age. Hummel cites a section of Detroit that she refers to as a ‘sport desert’ where there’s no programming available, and even access to parks and greenspace is limited thanks to the way the highways are gridded in certain areas. The rise of costly travel teams also then limits the less expensive options that used to be available, says Hummel. “All the people who can afford to put their kids in those programs move to those programs, and that means the recreational sports programs in the communities can’t sustain themselves because the only kids who are left to play in those programs are the kids who need scholarships. Those programs end up folding because they aren’t sustainable.” At Every Kid Sports, Hummel’s mission is to help those programs by funding scholarships for kids in need.

How to Help

How a coach can help improve access

As a coach, you can help improve access by getting rid of your assumptions about athlete ability levels. “Especially in middle school sports, start by working on building those basic skills, and don’t assume that all of the kids on your team have had the same equal access to sports,” Hummel says. “There are a lot of fun ways that you can build the physical literacy that kids need, like doing fun drills to learn new skills. It’s also important to help kids realize that exercise and being part of a team feels good. And part of that means letting every kid play in games. We need to move away from the culture of winning to focusing on a culture of growth. And what I’ve seen is that the more a team focuses on inclusion and growth, the better they perform in the long run.”

How families can help improve access

Good news: The right choice to improve access is also the best choice for your athlete! “Be aware of the choices that you’re making as a parent or caregiver about what programs your kids are joining,” says Hummel. She recommends avoiding ‘elite’ programs that are costly and promote sole focus on one sport in favor of recreational programs that allow athletes to pursue multiple sports. “What happens for a lot of kids who get into those elite programs is they end up burning out, they get injured, or they end up not being athletic as adults because they don’t have the best experience,” she says. “And if we have more families putting kids in recreational sports, it would fix a lot of these sports desert issues. That helps with access because if you’re paying a registration fee to a recreational program, you’re supporting that recreational program and making it possible for them to offer scholarships for the kids who can’t afford it.”

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Takeaway

Access to sport isn’t simple and there are many obvious, as well as many hidden, barriers to entry for youth sport. As a caregiver or coach, you can help by offering options like easy-to-access scholarships or gear donations, and coaches can ensure that practice and competition schedules are flexible enough for young athletes who need to work as well as play. Coaches can also improve access simply by having an open-door policy, making it easy for athletes and parents to explain their individual needs.