Keeping Good Medical Records Is Essential If You Run A Junior Or Youth Soccer Team!

Are you keeping good records?

I am sure that you will all be able to tell you win, draw, loss record if asked. But, what about keeping records on your players that get injured in training or during a game?

Any time a child suffers an injury that you provide any type of treatment for, you must keep a record of what you did, irrespective of how minor the injury. Even if you simply put clean water on a graze you should keep a record of your action.

In your medical kit, you should keep a medical record log, where you write down the nature of the injury, how it happened and what treatment you provided. Complete this record the after the training event or match and have the parent or guardian responsible for the player sign your log to accept that you provided the treatment and that they were made aware of what happened.

Unfortunately, we live in a society were litigation is now common place. So having an accurate account of what happenend and what you did will help you out at a later date should anything occur.

One more tip, don't discard these records after the season is over. Maintain the accident record along with all of your training session and match notes for as long as you coach and manage the team.

Having detailed notes of everything that happpened is critical to protect you from unwarranted accusations. For all of your training sessions and games, you should keep a log to state to record what you were coaching, that all the surroundings were fit and proper for soccer to take place and all details of any treatment to players should they need any.

By doing this simple task, you will be in a strong position to protect yourself against any ridiculous and totally unfounded action that might be brought against you.

You can find a basic Injury Record Card in the download area of Junior Soccer Coach. Please visit:

Soccer Injury Record Card

Please don't ignore this tip.

Best of luck this week in training,

Neil Travers

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