Questions for my son's community service project.

I am a HS coach in TX

1) As a coach or parent - have you ever heard of Commotio Cordis? yes

2) Does your league/program/school provide training to coaches so they could recognize signs of  cardiac events? yes

3) Are there AED devices readily available at the fields where you play? They are on campus, field house, etc., but many fields are off campus and do not have AEDs

4) If you are involved in a program that travels to other fields - do you feel it would be a reasonable expense to have your own portable AED to bring along wherever you play? Yes, I will try to take the one the football team uses in the fall.

Rob, I'm an athletic trainer at a high school in Texas...

1) I am aware of commotio cordis, learned about it in college along with having read many articles since then.

2) All coaches are required to have CPR training. Parents and athletes have to sign a form on sudden cardiac arrest, but I'd have look at the form to see if commotio cordis is listed.

3) With 17 AEDs on our campus, and six of those residing in athletics, I would say that yes we have AEDs readily available. For baseball specifically, we have one which sits in a building approximately 130 feet behind the backstop at all times. Additionally, on game days one of our athletic trainers brings a portable unit into the dugout with us.

4) unfortunately we do not believe it would be economically feasible for each of our teams to travel with an AED. Fortunately the majority of our games have an AT present, so the teams should be covered. My assistant and I were talking about this the other day. We figure we already have about $18k in emergency equipment on campus and to give an AED to each sport program (not even every team) we'd spend an additional $31k to get started, plus need about $7k a year to maintain the equipment. Put it into perspective... My entire sports medicine budget is around $9k per year for all of my supplies, etc. 

Hi Rob,

I am a parent of a HS baseball player.

1.) I have never heard the term Commotio Cordis. After looking it up, I realize what it is and have heard of instances of it happening.

2.) Yes, our HS coaches are governed under the state athletic association and are required to learn about the signs. When I was involved in running our youth baseball league, the majority of information we provided (as mandated by state law) focused mostly on concussions. We did not provide additional training on cardiac issues.

3.) I do not know if there are AED devices at our main HS baseball fields. I have never been provided that information as a parent. Our youth league did not own an AED device.

4.) Given the financial circumstances of both our HS team and our youth league, I do not think it would be financially viable for us to acquire an AED to travel with. Although it would be optimal to have this equipment, I don't see the HS being in a position to provide them to each travelling team. As for our youth program, we could never raise enough money to purchase one to stay at our home field, so there is no way we could purchase a portable machine.

Currently, the emphasis in our area is on concussions. Recognizing the symptoms, getting proper treatment and the rules around how long someone has to be out of the sport when one occurs. I hear very little about cardiac events and other first aid emergencies. My husband is an assistant HS coach and I've reviewed his training materials with him and it severely lacks in cardiac training. There is an athletic trainer at all of our HS events, but the baseball and softball fields are separated by several blocks, so he is not always readily available if something happens. There was a discussion on this board a couple weeks ago about the importance of AEDs (it might be a good thread to search out) and I will be asking our coaches and trainers where the AEDs are located in case they are needed.

Good luck on his presentation!

1) As a coach or parent - have you ever heard of Commotio Cordis? Yes

2) Does your league/program/school provide training to coaches so they could recognize signs of  cardiac events? No, but we have at least one trainer at each event.

3) Are there AED devices readily available at the fields where you play? At the HS, yes. But during travel ball? No. AND THAT'S WHY I WENT OUT AND PURCHASED ONE!!!* Carried it around with me in my backpack to each and every event. Damn batteries are expensive.

4) If you are involved in a program that travels to other fields - do you feel it would be a reasonable expense to have your own portable AED to bring along wherever you play? Yes, but the unit is very expensive.

Sidebar: Throughout his career, I forced joemktgson to wear the EvoShield Chest Guard. He hated it, but I didn't give a crap: no chest guard, no play.

* I won the NCAA pool one year, and used the winnings to purchase the AED.

Thanks for the thoughts all.  I will pass them along.

Bulldog -

My son is planning on getting his bachelor's and master's in Athletic Training (anticipated school has a 5 year program with summer internships with local pro teams).  Eventually he wants to go to med school - and he feels the biology/physiology coursework along with a lot of hands on experience will give him a good foundation.

We're waiting on some scholarship decisions to determine if he will skip his senior high school year and begin college this fall (He has the credits). 

Rob, let me know if you've got any questions. Happy to help out! I got my masters at the University of South Florida..