Part A
1. Consider the following common sporting injuries
 A sprained ankle in netball, basketball or soccer
 A hamstring tear in athletics
 A head injury experienced in any football code.
Research a range of injury prevention strategies that can be put in place by individuals, coaches, clubs and
sporting organisations for each common sporting injury.
2. Use your findings to complete the table and indicate whether the strategy is related to safe participation (SP)
or correct technique (CT).
3. For each injury, identify the relevant professional personnel you could refer the athlete to for treatment and
rehabilitation/ prevention programs.eg. doctor, physiotherapist, orthopaedic surgeon, hospital
Injury
Fractured Tibia
(soccer)
Sprained Ankle
Hamstring Tear
Head Injury
Prevention Strategy - Safe participation and
correct technique
* Shin pads (SP)
* Tackling technique (CT)
* Players matched through grading (SP)
* Referees management of the game (SP)
* No studs up (CT)
Relevant Personnel
General Practioner
Physiotherapist
Exercise
Physiologist
4. Assess the effectiveness of a preventative measure you have taken to reduce the risk of injury in the past by
commenting on: (1/2 to 1 page)
a) What activity/ sport you were doing?
b)
c)
d)
e)
What preventative measures did you take?
Why you did this (e.g did you have a specific injury you were trying to prevent)?
Was it effective? Why/Why not?
If not what could you have done differently?
As a Rugby League player for 16 years I have
used a range of injury preventative measures
in order to improve my performance,
longevity and playing comfort. The
preventative measures that stick out in my
mind include; the use of PPE’s such as mouth
guards, shoulder pads and head gear; early
pre-season training and the use of strapping
tape to limit range of movement of injured
joints.
The use of PPE’s use first and foremost purely
a injury prevention strategy to avoid both
minor and major injuries. Mouth guards
obviously protect against hard tissue injuries
of the teeth, however they also greatly reduce
the incidences of soft tissue injuries of the
mouth and tongue primarily cause by the
upper teeth. These injuries are not only
painful initially they can cause discomfort
eating and drinking for a number of days. The
best PPE used in Rugby League in my
experience is head gear. It reduces the
severity of head injuries, however improves
performance by giving the athlete greater
confidence in defence as they protect the very
sensitive ears from being chaffed by attackers.
Additionally, I have used strapping tape to
immobilise or reduce the range of motion of
.
the specific joints including my shoulder, wrist
and left knee and right ankle. Over the years
of constant use and a growing body at times
in my career these joints required support as
the tendons were not sufficient to stand up to
the stresses of Rugby League. For all but my
shoulders the strapping tape provided
satisfactory support to prevent the injury
worsening and allow me to play on without
missing games. With my shoulders however,
strapping tape did not provide enough
resistance to limit my range of motion,
despite the advances in this area of sport
science. Therefore my evaluation of strapping
tape as an effective injury prevention strategy
is that it does not provide support for serious
injuries and should not be considered a
bandaid approach to get players through the
season.
For serious injuries the best and only real
strategy to prevent further damage is to rest
and seek medical advice on the best course of
treatment. As a coach, it would be
irresponsible to encourage injured players to
play before they are fully recovered from
serious injuries. Therefore if a suspected
injury occurs always request your athlete seek
medical advice before participating in sport
again
Part B
Timing
1. Warm Up Component
Gross Motor/ Increase HR
3min
30m
Start at one end of the line of cones. Complete the following movements up one side and down the
other.
1. Jog 30m
2 Back Pedal 30m
3. Skip 30m with Shoulder Flexion
4. Backward Skip 30m with Trunk Rotation
5. Side step Jumping Jacks 30m
6. Side Step Jumping Jacks 30m facing same direction
7. Leg Slide 30m (like carioca with no back step)
8. Leg Slide 30m Facing Same Direction
9. Carioca with high knee lift (After back step bring trailing knee to front with a high knee)
10. Carioca with High Knee Lift Facing Same Direction
Flexibility
1. Walking Calf Raise 10m
3min
2. Walking Quad Stretch 10m
with sprinter arms
with alternate shoulder abduction
3. Walking Knee to Chest 10m
4. Straight Leg Kick Skip 10m
Clap underneath raised leg
5. Frankenstein Walk 10m
Lift leg to alternate hand
6. Walking Windmill 10m
use two hands to touch the ground either side of foot
7. Walking Deep lunge 10m
8. Walking Backward Lunge with Trunk Rotation 10m
9. Side Lunge with Slide 10m
10. Walk back to start.
Rotate over raised knee
Sport Specific
3 min
1. Bum kicks 30m
With sprinter arms and forward lean
2. High Knees 30 m
With sprinter arms
3. Straight Leg sprint 30m
With Backwards Lean
4. Backwards sprint
Lean forwards and extend leg backwards at speed
5. Build ups 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%
6. Continuous 5 Passing Drill
5 min
Half-back, Five-eighth, hooker behind centre cone, Forwards left and right next two, outside backs on
widest cones. Ball starts on centre cone, is passed to forward who passes to back you switches
direction and throws it back to centre cone. The ball than travels in opposite direction. This is a
continuous drill. Develop passing and catching technique. Distance varies depending on ability.
Outline of Contraindicators ( common errors that may risk injury)
1. Use correct technique
2. Build up from low intensity to high intensity
3. Adequate spacing between athletes on course
4. Allow time for athletes to attend to personal requirements
Timing
2. Cool Down Component
Low intensity Gross Motor Skills
1. Jog 30m
slow
2. back pedal 30m
slow
3. Walking Calf Raise 10m
with sprinter arms
4. Walking Quad Stretch 10m
with alternate shoulder abduction
5. Walking Knee to Chest 10m
Static flexibility exercises
1. Hip Flexion
Push hip forward
2. Hip Abduction
Touch toes to extend stretch
3. Pretzel
Alternate shoulder rotates to meet flexed knee
4. Downward Dog
back straight
5. Back Extension
Keep hips off ground
6. Back Curl with Shoulder Flexion
Push palms into the ground
7. Shoulder extension
Fingers interlocked behind back and pull down.
Other recovery strategies that can be used to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and help with
injury prevention.
Massage
Hot Baths
Sauna
Pool Session
Evaluation
Positives
Negatives
Ways to improve
2. Discuss the importance of correct technique in the warm up process. (1/2 page)
To improve range of motion and avoid injury it is
crucial that an athlete always warms up before
commencing their performance. However, over the
years numerous studies have continually redefined
what a warm up should look like and feel like. In fact
some previously held warm up best practice beliefs
have now been shown to decrease an athlete’s
range of motion and increase the risk of injury.
Therefore, knowing how to use correct technique
and methods becomes just as crucial as performing a
warm up in the first place.
stretches should be performed slow and controlled;
they also don’t need to be complex. Simple
movements such as shoulder rotations or hip
abductions may be sufficient. However, these
movements should resemble the movements that
will be used in the planned performance. One other
consideration for dynamic stretches is to avoid
bouncing or sudden rapid movements until
adequately warm as well as being sure not to over
extend the joints range of motion. The phrase, “No
pain, no gain,” is certainly not correct for warm ups.
So what defines correct technique (at the moment
anyway)? A warm up should begin with light aerobic
exercise to increase heart rate, ventilation rate and
blood flow to the working muscles. Once this occurs
intensity can be gradually increased to closely reflect
the speed of the game. These gross motor
movements must be sufficient to cause the right
physiological adaptations required for the athletes
sport, as the muscle becomes warmer the collagen
fibres become more elastic. For instance, if you are
about to play a 90 minute game of Rugby League a
30 second jog won’t exactly cut it.
Finally, after completing the dynamic stretches the
athlete should then participate in sport specific
activities that prepares both their reflexes and their
mind for the coming competition. Sport specific
means that Rugby League players pass and catch and
tackle, soccer players dribble, shoot and fall over etc.
The next focus is dynamic stretches, not static.
Never ever stretch and hold a cold muscle. Dynamic
Overall the purpose of a warm up is to prepare the
athlete for their performance to do this incorrectly
could result in injuries and poor performance. Thus
ensuring that a warm up is performed correctly
using the latest methods is important.
3. Outline 3 strategies / resources you could access and use to improve your understanding and knowledge of warm up and
cool down procedures and their benefits to athletes. (1/2 page)
Three strategies that I could access and use to
improve my understanding and knowledge of warm
up and cool down procedures include; conducting
extensive research using primary sources, consulting
industry professionals and regularly evaluating and
modifying my own practice after conducting
sessions.
By reading and viewing the latest primary sources on
correct warm up and cool down procedures I am
sure to stay well informed of the latest findings on
correct technique. This ensures that I do not put my
athletes at undue risk of injury by not maintaining
my knowledge of contraindications associated with
exercises used in my procedures. By constantly
looking to learn and update my own knowledge the
greater my ability will be to provide advice and
variety to benefit my athletes.
By consulting and watching industry professionals I
am able to receive first-hand knowledge and advice
about current correct technique. Additionally, I am
able to view correct instruction delivered to athletes
which provides a huge learning opportunity for
beginning coaches to begin to refine and mimic
coaching styles. Consulting industry professionals
also provides the opportunity for myself to ask
questions and attain the information that I am
chasing from a reliable primary source.
Finally, it is my belief that self-evaluation is one of
the best learning tools in any industry and coaching
is no different. Continually and methodically
evaluating your own coaching and instructions is the
quickest and cheapest ways of improving the
benefits, attained from warm up and cool down
procedures, for your athletes. On top of this
theoretical knowledge gained from firsthand sources
means very little until you as a coach put it into
practice and see how it works for your athletes.
It is through these three strategies that coaches can
gain the understanding and knowledge of warm up
and cool down procedures and equate that
understanding and knowledge into direct benefits
for your athletes.