This year I’ll be volunteering at the BASC Santa Claus Shuffle to support Safe Sports Network student-athletes. We know that kids benefit, physically and emotionally from participating in sports, gaining valuable skills like resilience, teamwork and responsibility. But, kids must be safe as they participate. We work to prevent injuries when possible, prepare for emergencies when they are unavoidable and properly treat injuries and illnesses when they occur. We work to keep kids engaged and working toward their goals to return to play as quickly and safely as possible. This is important to me because I myself have delt with a serious injury and I want to keep other athletes safe.
Please help me reach my fundraising goal. Your donation supports the kids in our community when they need it most.
Thank you for helping keep kids safe and thriving!
Sincerely,
The Safe Sports Team
Click Here if you want to learn more about Safe Sports Network athletes and student ambassadors for sports safety.
Santa Claus Shuffle
Saturday, December 6th, marks the 15th running of the BASC Santa Claus Shuffle. The shuffle is a 3-mile out-and-back course that starts and finishes at Veteran’s Park in downtown Manchester. Safe Sports Network is the Charity Beneficiary of the BASC Santa Claus Shuffle. Please join us in helping to keep kids safe and thriving through sports!
THE CAUSE
Imagine: A young athlete has collapsed on the field and isn’t moving. What happens in the next few minutes could make the difference between life and death. Is this something you want to leave to chance?
Safe Sports uses proven tools to help reduce the risk of sports participation. That’s our mission: to keep kids safer by promoting and providing a safe sports environment. All services provided free for over 6,000 students per year, including:
- injury care on site at high schools and an injury evaluation clinic in downtown Manchester;
- emergency action plans created and practiced for over 100 teams per year;
- CPR and first aid training;
- athletic health care on site at practices and games
- comprehensive concussion management programs;
- education on sports medicine topics.
Our athletic trainers work under the direction of Jim Vailas, MD who has been the Safe Sports Network Medical Director since its inception. Coordinating the daily operations is Program Director Dawn Belmore, MEd, N.H.LAT, ATC.
In the 2021-2022 school year, Safe Sports athletic trainers evaluated 1,200 new injuries, provided over 17,500 treatments at no charge to the athletes, and provided care at more than 250 appointments through our injury evaluation clinic. In partnership with ExpressMed we have performed approximately 10,000 free sports physicals over the last 3 decades.
For more information go to www.safesportsnetwork.org.