Asthma and youth soccer: an investigation into the level of asthma awareness and training among youth soccer coaches

Abstract

PurposeAsthma is the most common chronic disease among children. Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction which is common in asthmatic patients also occurs in individuals with no prior asthma diagnosis. Despite this and the fact that soccer is a high ventilation sport, there are no validated asthma management protocols in place for soccer coaches. This study aims to address 1) soccer coaches’ current knowledge on asthma, 2) whether there is a need for asthma-related training, and 3) any barriers to administration of such training.Patients and methodsA total of 2,300 volunteer youth soccer coaches from the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA) were invited to participate in completing a 22-question online survey. The survey was open for 1 month from June 8, 2018, to July 8, 2018.ResultsThere was a response rate of 22% (513 of 2,300). Respondents were on average, inexperienced coaches, coached younger age groups, and approximately one-third of respondents had personal experience with asthma (either themselves or their child had asthma). 93% of respondents had not received any asthma-related training at any coaching level, whether it be from EMSA or the Alberta Soccer Association. Coaches had strong knowledge on how to treat asthma attacks, but mixed levels of knowledge on asthma attack prevention. Experienced coaches were better at identifying the number of players with asthma on their team and the number of asthma-related incidents they had encountered as coaches. Coaches demonstrated a receptive attitude toward receiving asthma-related training, with 91% of respondents saying training would be beneficial and 69% of respondents saying training should be mandatory.ConclusionThe results of this study indicate that soccer coaches have limited knowledge regarding asthma management, acknowledge a need for asthma-related training, and are willing to participate in and could benefit from educational interventions as it pertains to their roles as coaches.

Developing type 1 diabetes resources: a qualitative study to identify resources needed to upskill and support community sport coaches

“…Our study is the first study to investigate the attitudes of young people with T1D, parents and sports coaches towards T1D management in a community sport setting. The interviews with all three groups identified that sports coaches lack adequate knowledge about T1D and that there is a lack of educational resources currently available to meet this need, Despite the benefits that existing educational resources have shown in the delivery of exercise programs, similar findings have been reported in previous research which showed parents and young people strongly expressed a lack of available resources for both T1D and other health conditions within the community (12,15,21,24,25). Consequently, the concerns expressed by parents and young people with T1D about the lack of current T1D exercise educational resources along with the participants in our study cohort reinforce the importance of developing educational resources to fill the gap in knowledge in sports coaches.…”

“…Hence, based on the interviews conducted with the sports coaches in our study, the outstanding format idea was a simple resource that is small enough to fit with their other coaching equipment. A similar type of resource format has been previously identified for exercise and asthma, where coaches favoured a pocket guide (21).…”