ACC SportSmart

What

A player profile describes a player’s physical and behavioural composition.

Why

It helps identify strengths and weaknesses in a player’s physical and behavioural composition that may predispose them to injury.

How

Athlete profiling needs to be multifactorial and include general health, physical health, psychological health, neuromotor function and physique.

When

Players’ functional movement abilities and muscle imbalances should be established pre-season to identify those who are predisposed to injury.

Follow-up actions

Injury prevention strategies tailored to the individual athletes should be developed, based on the issues identified in their profiles. Follow-up screening is needed to assess the effectiveness of any strategies implemented.

Important points

In particular, the risk of ACL knee ligament, hamstring and ankle sprain injuries should be profiled. The injury profiles of specific sports need to be understood so that additional risk factors can be profiled.

What

Player physical conditioning involves preparing the musculoskeletal and neural systems of the body for sport. The physical conditioning components include warm-up and cool-down, flexibility, strength, endurance and power.

Why

It helps improve a player’s physical composition to improve their performance and reduce their injury risk. In particular the FIFA 11+ warm-up programme should be used to help reduce the risk of knee ligament, hamstring and ankle sprain injuries.

How

Player physical conditioning needs to be multifactorial, with warm-up and cool-down, flexibility, strength, endurance and power components.

When

Warm-up and cool-down are required for any training or competition. A physical conditioning programme should be planned based on the level of the athlete.

Follow-up actions

The strength and conditioning programme should be monitored to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

A single physical conditioning injury prevention programme is unlikely to be effective across multiple sports and between genders. Conditioning protocols for injury prevention should be tailored to individual sports and genders based on injury risk profiles.

What

Psychology is about preparing an athlete’s mind for sport. The components of an athlete’s psychological preparation include mental approach, levels of stress, fair play behaviour and risk-taking.

Why

It helps improve a player’s psychology and risk-taking behaviour to improve their performance and reduce their injury risk.

How

An athlete’s psychological preparation needs to include mental approach, levels of stress and risk-taking components.

When

Athletes should be psychologically prepared for any training or game. A psychological preparation programme should be planned based on each athlete’s level.

Follow-up actions

The psychological preparation programme should be monitored to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

Athlete psychology, mental approach, levels of stress and risk taking are all important in reducing the risk of injury.

What

The skill and technique principle is about the way in which a specific sport skill, eg a rugby tackle, is performed. Good technique reduces injury risk and is essential in enabling players to participate fully and enjoy their sport. Player skill and technique development involves preparing the neuromuscular system of the body for sport.

Skill and technique includes an understanding of the biomechanics of sport movements – particularly the fundamental movement patterns of coordination, jumping and landing, throwing and kicking, grip and posture and catching.

Why

It helps improve players’ skill and technique to enhance their performance and reduce their injury risk. In particular, techniques should be used to help reduce the risk of knee ligament, hamstring and ankle sprain injuries.

How

Player skill and technique development needs to use the neuromuscular system effectively and efficiently to enable fundamental movement skills to be performed. Sport-specific demands should be a focus.

When

Skill and technique programmes should be delivered in training, with applications in games. They should be based on the level of each athlete and the specific demands of the sport.

Follow-up actions

Skill and technique programmes should be monitored to assess their
effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

Technique changes should be addressed early in the pre-season and reiterated often to ensure that they are second nature come competition time. It is important that rugby, league and football players practise both being tackled and tackling – and the roles should be reversed often in practice to ensure that they are conditioned to respond to both situations. Consider forces during movements and how these can be moderated.

What

The food and fluid principle is about preparing the body for sport via food and fluid intake. The components of nutrition include carbohydrates, proteins, fat, water, minerals and vitamins.

Why

It helps improve a player’s body composition and fuel sources to improve their performance and reduce their injury risk – and in particular to reduce fatigue from inadequate nutrition, to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal issues.

How

Player nutrition needs to be multifactorial and include food and fluid.

When

Nutrition should be adequate for any training or game. A nutrition programme should be planned based on the level of the athlete.

Follow-up actions

The nutrition programme should be monitored to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

Sports drinks are not recommended except in very hot, humid environments with high physical activity where electrolyte loss and carbohydrate use may be increased.

What

Player wear is about preparing the body for sport using shoes, clothing, protective equipment, bracing, taping and monitoring devices.

Why

It helps improve a player’s wear and use of appropriate protective equipment to improve their performance and reduce their injury risk. The rules of sports’ governing bodies need to be considered.

How

Player wear preparation needs to be multifactorial and based on sports performance needs and rules.

When

Player wear preparation should be considered for any training or game. A player wear programme should be planned based on the level of the athlete.

Follow-up actions

The player wear programme should be monitored to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

Mouthguards, helmets and bracing appear to be effective in preventing some types of injury. However, the benefits and cost effectiveness of such interventions are sport specific. Protective eyewear for high-risk sports is an important injury prevention strategy.

What

Athlete environment applies to both a sport’s physical environment (weather, surfaces, equipment) and the social-behaviour environment (fair play, rules, crowd and player behaviour).

Why

Both the physical and the social-behaviour environments are important in helping to improve a player’s performance and reduce their injury risk.

How

The physical and social-behaviour environments need to be multifactorial, with components including warm-up and cool-down, flexibility, strength, endurance and power.

When

Environmental preparation and monitoring plans should be developed for any training or game. The environment programme should be planned based on the level of the athletes.

Follow-up actions

The environment programme should be monitored to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

• Regular ‘warrant of fitness’ inspections for sports facilities should be
  carried out to maintain safety standards.
• Sports played on hard surfaces carry an increased risk of injury.
  Be aware of the risk of concussion and other injuries and use the
  required safety equipment.
• Well-documented procedures for extreme weather conditions need
  to be developed specific to the sport. Athletes need to acclimatise to
  changes in surface conditions as well as hot and humid environments.
  Weather-appropriate clothing is encouraged, including additional
  layers in cold weather.
• Concussion information and protocols must be highly visible around
  facilities for sports with high concussion rates.
• Players need to be clear, early in their careers, about the reasons
  behind fair play and the potential outcomes of breaking rules.
  Understanding how rules lower injury rates will help in rule-related
  decisions. Governing bodies of high-injury sports should monitor
  how injuries happen and change rules to decrease the risk of injury.

What

The injuries principle is about preventing key injuries, assessing injuries quickly and accurately, managing injuries to ensure return to play, and reporting injuries to enable evaluations of their incidence and the effectiveness of injury prevention programmes.

Why

It helps reduce the risk of injuries so that players’ performance can be maintained and improved. Reducing the risks of concussion, acromioclavicular joint dislocations, knee ligament injuries, ankle sprains, groin pain, hamstring injuries and tendon injuries is particularly important for sport in general. The mechanisms of injury in each sport need to be understood so that injury prevention programmes can be implemented to help reduce injury.

How

Injury identification, assessment, management and reporting need to be coordinated and reported.

When

Injury assessments and initial injury management should be available for any training or game, ie concussion protocols, R.I.C.E.D. for soft tissue injury. An injury-specific prevention programme should be planned based on the level of the athletes and the sport.

Follow-up actions

The injury-specific prevention programme should be evaluated to assess its effectiveness in improving performance and reducing injury risk.

Important points

Ensure that players and support staff are aware of the importance of reporting concussions, and that withholding a return to play is not to prevent the athlete participating but to ensure brain healing to prevent potential catastrophic injury in the future. This is important at all levels of play, school to professional.

What

Athlete target populations include those with prosthetic limbs, those with hearing impairments or who are deaf, those who are visually impaired/functionally one-eyed, and those who have diabetes or heart conditions. Children are also considered a target population given the growth and development issues that need to be considered.

Why

It's about enabling access to sport for target population athletes, improve their performance and reduce their injury risk.

How

Athlete target populations need special consideration, with improved knowledge and technologies helping to improve their access and safe participation.

Important points

In the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship it is important that athletes with disabilities are accommodated within the sports of their choice to the fullest extent possible.