Reducing Injury in Sport with Kids: youth injury prevention programme for grass-root coaches

The objectives of this project were directly related to coach education, focusing on enhancing the well-being of youths involved in sport, through injury prevention training at grass root level. A pilot study was undertaken to develop, deliver and evaluate the effectiveness of an injury prevention workshop and associated materials. The RE-AIM framework was utilised to examine the adoption, implementation and maintenance of the programme designed. The programme was designed to have a direct impact on coaches and an indirect impact on the youth sports performers they coach. Through the injury prevention material being strategically implemented into the grass-root coach education pathway, the project also has the potential to bring about changes in policy and practice. A workshop was developed by the partners to include a theoretical and practical element that was appropriate for grass-root coaches and which accounted for country-specific needs. The project also developed videos of all the movements to be taught/delivered. The theoretical presentations and these videos are available on the project website (www.theriskproject.eu). In total 269 grass root coaches attended a 3 hour workshop delivered in three European countries (UK n = 68; Spain n = 90; Czech Republic n = 111). The total sample consisted of 238 (88%) male and 31 (12%) female coaches. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the product, a validated questionnaire survey was used at the start and end of the workshop to explore coach knowledge of, attitude towards and confidence to deliver youth injury prevention as part of their coaching. An online questionnaire was used 5 months post completion of the workshop to explore adoption, implementation and adherence to the programme. Following extensive reminders via e-mail and social media 62 coaches (23%) completed the follow up questionnaire (UK n = 16 (24%); Spain n = 21 (23%); Czech Republic n = 25 (23%). The success of the development and delivery of the workshop is evident in the evaluation showing an 68% increase in knowledge around youth injury prevention; a 57% increase in change in attitude towards injury prevention training; and a 60% increase in confidence to deliver injury training. Importantly 93% of all participants were satisfied with the workshop; 98% felt the workshop provided them with the knowledge and skills to deliver injury prevention training and 99% of coaches said that they would use the skills gained. This sentiment was echoed in the follow-up survey, in terms of subsequent adoption, implementation and maintenance. 90% of coaches who responded adopted the movement competency programme, with 76% of coaches delivering movement competency training in all of their coaching sessions. Of those who adopted the training following the workshop, 93% continued to use the training 5 months later. The project findings have been widely disseminated at national and international conferences, and we won the best presentation award at the 20th International Conference on Physical Education and Sports Science in Paris. The project website and resources are already being used by regional and national sports organisations in the partner countries. The website has been visited 1361 times and will continue to be developed beyond the lifespan of the project. As part of the legacy of the project, the team is in advanced talks with other EU countries regarding further roll out of the resource/workshop. The team is also looking to develop an APP to help coaches’ delivery during coaching sessions. The evaluation of the workshop shows a clear impact on the participating coaches, through whom the movement competency programme is now being delivered to circa 4000 youth footballers across the 3 partner countries. The outcomes of the project have far exceeded our expectations and the work is already showing impact on practice and policy as well as directly on people (eg coaches and youth players).