Effective trainers know the general safety issues that affect players and take steps to ensure their safety. For example, motivated players might try to power through a training session even if they're injured, which jeopardizes their health and safety. Whether you're a coach or a player, learn to recognize the symptoms of common injuries in your sport so that you can prevent long-term damage. Also, watch out for other training safety issues particular to your sport.
Youth Training
Generally, participating in sports is good for children, but you can't push them too hard. Their bodies still are developing, so some activities, such as weightlifting, might inhibit their skeletal or muscular growth. Talk to your child's pediatrician to determine whether your child's sports training is too intense. Children 2 to 5 years old can engage in gentle forms of physical activity, such as running, tumbling, climbing and dancing. Children 6 to 7 years old can start participating in organized sports, such as soccer, gymnastics and martial arts. By 8, children can participate in most sports provided they wear proper protective gear and train under the supervision of a qualified coach.
Overtraining
Recovery is an essential part of any training regimen. Your muscles need time to rebuild themselves, so overtraining can decrease your performance and undermine the effectiveness of your training program. Some signs of overtraining include excessive fatigue, irritability, insomnia, loss of appetite, decreased physical performance, elevated heart rate at rest and during activity, and increased incidence of illnesses, especially upper-respiratory infections. Overtrained women might suffer from menstrual cycle disturbances. To avoid overtraining, incorporate days of rest into your sports-training regimen and don't exercise past the point of exhaustion.
Nutrition
For your training to be effective, you must eat properly. As your body develops, it uses the nutrients your diet supplies to build new muscles, strengthen bones and improve your physical condition. If you don't eat enough or if you eat the wrong things, your body won't develop properly and your performance won't improve. Wrestlers, boxers and participants in other sports that have weight-based eligibility requirements must be especially careful to maintain proper nutrition. Competitors in these sports are under pressure to meet specific weight guidelines and some respond to that pressure by engaging in unsafe, rapid weight-loss activities, such as starvation, binging and purging.
Dehydration
Dehydration might not seem serious but it's more than just being thirsty. If your body isn't adequately hydrated, it begins to shut down. At first, you might not notice the effects of dehydration, especially if you're focused on your training. Soon, however, your performance will begin to suffer. In the worst-case scenario, you can pass out and die. For this reason, coaches and athletic trainers must ensure players drink enough liquids during training sessions. This is especially important on hot days, when players are most at risk of overexertion and dehydration.
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