Risk in sport
Issue: Volume 29 Number 1
There are risks involved in sport. We accept an element of risk when we agree to participate. However, is there a point at which the risks associated with a sport make it simply not a viable activity to undertake, or is it accepted that as long as every possible precaution is taken to avoid serious accident or injury, then it’s alright to keep doing it?
Much is made of the serious accidents that have occurred over the years in a variety of sports – deaths and injuries in Formula 1 car racing and car rallies, the serious injuries incurred in equestrian three day eventing or horse racing, the regular serious accidents in cycling when a cyclist suffers a serious crash in a race or is hit by a motor vehicle, or the incidence of quadriplegia in rugby union and rugby league. It is important to keep these accidents in proportion. Accidents occur in every walk of life. People die or suffer serious injury in motor accidents every week. Pedestrians are killed or suffer serious injury crossing the road on their way to work. And people hurt themselves falling off ladders and roofs in their own homes.
Rather than focussing on the results of serious accidents and condemning the sport or activity as dangerous, or trying to lay blame on individuals, there are two vital ingredients to recovering from such an incident, that everyone involved in sport should be focussing on. The first is utilising the appropriate people and services that are available to assist in recovery from a traumatic event. The second and equally important is learning lessons from accidents and making adjustments to the rules, equipment, risk assessment process and safety practices, in order to attempt to prevent such an accident occurring again.
Unfortunately, some accidents are just that – accidents – and no amount of preparation or post event system change will have any bearing on the likelihood of such an accident occurring in the future. In these cases, utilising recovery services is the most important thing a sport or coach can do. This is all the more important because these are the accidents with which the media and other ill-informed individuals will have a field day, and attempt to use as evidence that such-and-such a sport is ‘dangerous’, ‘unsafe’, ‘shouldn’t be allowed’, and so on. For all the rest of the accidents that can be attributed to one or several factors, sports administrators, coaches and officials should analyse those factors, identify changes or modifications that can be made to reduce future risk and move forward in the knowledge that a lesson has been learnt from the accident or injury. In the long run, everyone involved in sport will benefit.
