Conditioning
Check with your family doctor to assess your children's fitness before they begin any sport programs.
Hydration
As you may have seen in the news recently, hydration is a big issue in sports. Teach your children the importance of hydration – send them to practice with water bottles, remind them to have water throughout the day, and greet them after practice with a nice cold bottle of water.
Nutrition
We all know nutrition is important. It becomes even more important for our youth athletes who are burning lots of calories during practice and games. Do your best to ensure your athlete is eating a balanced diet and touch base with your coach on special nutritional needs before practices and games.
Equipment
Make sure the equipment your children use for practice and games is safe. Make sure your children wear adequate protective gear and ask your children's coaches if you can examine blocking sleds or soccer goals for safety. Also, teach your children to use equipment only for its intended purpose.
Injury Prevention and Treatment
Partner with your children's coaches to ensure greater safety. For example, keep a first aid kit in your car to supplement the coach's first aid kit. Consider getting certified in first-aid and CPR and encourage other parents to do the same. You can never have enough qualified hands in case of an emergency. A first-aid kit and at least one adult trained and certified in first-aid and CPR should be present at all practices and games.
Driving
We take driving safety seriously – and we know you do, too! Anyone responsible for driving youth athletes to and from practices or games should be licensed and insured. Consider updating your own insurance policy to reflect carpooling care of passengers. For more information about auto insurance policies and coverages related to youth sports, visit Liberty Mutual's website..