Safety and Security

S afety M easures to P revent I njuries It is always said that ‘prevention is better than cure’. Many accidents during sports can be prevented by taking appropriate preventive measures. Students who participate in games and sports activities should be given safe and secure environment and facilities for enhancing the confidence of parents as well as students. Injuries can be prevented by knowing the reasons due to which injuries occur and observing the safety measures during playing.

While constructing play arena and sports facilities, the needs of differently abled students should also be kept in mind. Why do sports injuries occur? Injuries during sports take place due to many factors, which includes careless attitude of the player towards fitness and training. Some of the important factors that are responsible for the sports injuries are— a) poor equipment, surface and floor.

b) lacking in the knowledge of rules of the game. c) lack of technical and tactical knowledge. d) lack of fitness and conditioning. e) not observing safety rules while playing technically difficult sports like gymnastics, diving, judo and wrestling, etc.

f) lifting of heavy weights without helpers may lead to accident and cause severe injury. How to prevent sports injuries? Sports injuries can be prevented in sports arenas, during competition and in technical sports. Supervision by coach and instructor will always help to avoid sports injuries during playing, training and competition.

Activity . Gather information regarding the sports injuries that occur in swimming pool and gymnasium. Do You Know? Developing physical fitness may help a player to prevent injuries up to per cent in that particular game, it is scientifically proven that good physical fitness helps in better reaction ability, decision making ability and enhances self-confidence of the player.

Prevention of injury related to sports facilities There are various ways to amend sports infrastructure in order to curb accidents during competition and during training of sports. Prevention of injury related to competition Preventive measures to prevent sports injury should also be taken before competition. a) Proper warming up should be done before going for any games or sports. Warming up helps to enhance body’s reflex actions and reduce the chances of injury.

b) Proper safety measures should be adopted for competition such as safety gears and clothing for sports. c) Players should follow rules and regulations of the competition to prevent injuries. d) All the equipment related to the sports should be checked thoroughly and any equipment which may not be in good shape or broken should be replaced or get repaired. e) Officials of the competition should also evaluate the playing arena before the start of game.

Technical measures for prevention of injuries Besides the above preventive measures to avoid sports injuries, some important technical measures should also be observed to prevent injuries. a) Players should work on their fitness and conditioning to avoid tiredness during sports competition. Tiredness hampers the reaction and negatively influences the speed of players. A tired player is most likely to get injury during performing or playing, which can be prevented only by enhancing the physical fitness level.

b) All the sports where difficulty level of movements is high, possibility of occurring injury are likely to be higher. It is suggested to the players to practise difficult technical movements of sports before taking active participation. c) Coaches and trainers should guide students regarding the safety rules at regular intervals and observe the safety measures taken by them. Activity .

•• Collect more information about the preventive measures to be taken while developing sports facilities. •• Compare and analyse it with the steps taken by your school. •• Discuss with your classmates. •• Suggest ways.

d) Proper nutrition also helps to avoid sports injuries occurring due to stress or overload training. Nutrition helps to repair and build the ruptured muscle fibers. e) Selection of the right kind of shoe and sports uniform also helps in preventing injuries like bruises, blisters, broken nails, sprain, strain and shin pain, etc. Every sport requires different kind of sports movements and speed.

Thus, it is suggested to select the shoe and sports uniform according to suitability to a given sports condition to avoid injury.