The risk management knowledge of basketball coaches and their influence on the injury prevention strategies of their players

This study examined coach influence on players to use injury prevention (IP) measures and whether coaching accreditation influences a coach’s knowledge of injury prevention. Twenty-seven coaches were surveyed in a face to face interview. A total of 132 players completed surveys with approximately one half being in teams with a coach. The researchers also observed games and noted IP measures before and after games. Twenty of the coaches had completed a coach accreditation course with 70.3% believing that they had good or better knowledge of IP measures. Over 50 % of coaches obtained their knowledge from playing and only 18.5% of coaches believed that their knowledge came from coach accreditation courses. Three-quarters of the coaches believed that they had a major role in IP education of players and they believed that warm-up was the major IP measure which reduced the risk of injury. Only 29.6% of coaches indicated that they would not allow an injured player to compete in a game. A total of 65.9% of players indicated that they warmed up prior to a game however 100% warmed-up on observation although the maximum warm-up observed was 3 minutes. The coach was the major influence (42.5%) on players’ IP use. Players believed that the coach encouraged warmups the most followed by cool-downs however no team cooled-down after games. Coached players displayed more IP strategies than players without a coach. This study highlighted the importance of coaches in IP and efforts must be made to include IP information in accreditation courses