Coaches at the KickStart Football Club are now certified by the Barbados Red Cross Society in First Aid, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated external defibrillator). Nine coaches, including Director of Coaching David Porter, participated in the one day course held at the Club’s Wildey location. According to Mr. Porter, the club was of the view that with the risks involved in playing football that coaches should be taught how to respond to emergencies, both on and off the field.

“Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. It’s also a sport where players fall, have concussions, scrapes, cuts and suffer the occasional broken bone. For the safety of our players and the peace of mind of their parents, KickStart embarked on a first aid training course for our coaches,” Mr. Porter said.

The coaches, who work on a weekly basis with children from as young as three years old to seventeen, are now equipped to handle emergencies such as broken bones, concussion, bleeding, burns and to administer CPR.

“Safety is one of the top priorities at the Club. During the summer, the players had a session on personal safety with the Royal Barbados Police Force and now, the coaches are being trained in administering first aid. I want players and coaches to feel safe when they are at the club,” Mr. Porter added.

The first aid training workshop was conducted by Mr. Lawrence Marshall of the Barbados Red Cross, with each of the participants receiving a certificate at the end of the course. The certificate is globally recognized and accepted, and is valid from one year of training.