ASA Program Key Component of Sportsmanship Summit

Students from Torrey Pines High School and La Costa Canyon High School participated in a sportsmanship summit on October 28^th at San Dieguito Academy.  Athletes Saving Athletes™ was part of this summit in an effort to teach students potential life-saving information and improve cooperation among the students.  The hope was to create student leaders who could reinvigorate a positive competitive spirit among the athletes and their fans.

According to published reports the summit focused on improving leadership skills and sportsmanship between athletes at the schools because of a growing number of incidents at LCC vs. TPHS events.  The most cited event was the boy’s lacrosse championship game last May and thenegative fan behaviors and post-game actions.  While students involved in the rivalry say it is typically healthy competition on the field the number of negative actions of spectators has become increasingly more common.  The rivalry has been ever present given the quality of the athletic programs at LCC and TPHS, but sportsmanship has waned in recent months.

The summit included guest speakers, often alumni of either LCC or TPHS along with the ASA™ program.  The ASA™ program presented its typical “head, heat, heart” program along with teaching Hands-Only CPR™ and how to use an AED.  The program creates student leaders, ASA Ambassadors, who are expected to go back to their teams and share what they learned.  The program also provided hands-on opportunities for students from each school to work together.  The ASA™ program was a key addition to the summit because of its ability to empower students with potential life-saving information, irrespective of team/school affiliation.   

Beth Mallon, Advocates for Injured Athletes founder and CEO was originally contacted by Kari Digiulio, Athletic Director at LLC to help “restore the relationship between the LCC and TP communities.”  Those involved thought it was important to start with the athletes themselves and the ASA™ program seemed the perfect fit, as LCC already had 70 athletes who went through the program last spring.  Additionally, the Athletic Trainers, Sam Villa (LCC) and Christina Scherr (TPHS) taught the curriculum as an example of cooperation between the communities.

Each school nominated and selected 100 athletes to attend the summit. The summit was held at a neutral location (San Dieguito Academy) in an effort to promote a sense of common ground.  Athlete safety is a concern for everyone and knowing how to recognize potentially catastrophic conditions and where to locate AEDs on campus is important for all athletes whether they are teammates or opponents. 

Beth Mallon made the following statement regarding the experience:

“We were honored to participate. We hope the program has a lasting positive impact in the lives of the athletes. We hope the athletes see each other as competitors, but also as the one who might need to step up someday and save a life. Our motto is "What you know may save someone you know".

The group of athletes was AMAZING honestly, I was extremely impressed with the students attending the program. They were polite, respectful, engaged and attentive. It was truly a very special group of young men and women. They should feel very proud they were selected by their coaches and their administration to attend the summit and represent their school.  We are proud as an organization that they represent ASA.”

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

Athletes Saving Athletes Sponsor: Cymer, Inc.

Advocates for Saving Athletes™ is the trademark program of Advocates for Injured Athletes.  This peer-to-peer education program has taught students all over San Diego how to recognize potentially life-threatening injuries in their teammates.  Most recently two ASA™ ambassadors have saved a life with the skills they learned.  It’s obvious the program has made an impact in San Diego.  This would not have been possible without the help of program sponsors such as San Diego-based company, Cymer.  Advocates for Injured Athletes would like to take time this week to thank Cymer for its support of the ASA™ program as it continues to grow.

Cymer is a San Diego technology company that employs over 1300 employees worldwide (approx. 800 in San Diego) with a very strong culture of supporting the local community.  Cymer has logged 2300 volunteer hours in the last year and employees can be seen giving back to the community on a regular basis.  Cymer supports 40 local events and 20 regional events annually including the San Diego Zoo Food & Wine Festival, UCSD Luau and Longboard Invitational (a cancer research fundraiser) and the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering just to name a few.  Since 2005, Cymer has spent $6 million on a variety of projects and grants in the San Diego area.  Advocates for Injured Athletes has been a fortunate recipient of some of Cymer’s resources since 2011.

Cymer eagerly partnered with Advocates for Injured Athletes in 2011 because it was a “different spin” on the usual grant requests they receive.  The request wasn’t just about money to fund a one-time project.  Cymer realized supporting the ASA™ program meant supporting something that would have a long-term impact in the community because of its educational focus.  Knowledge is power and in the case of ASA™, knowing what to do could actually save lives.  It’s been exciting from Cymer’s perspective to see Advocates for Injured Athletes continue to grow and work to expand the program beyond San Diego.

Grant funding from Cymer has allowed Advocates for Injured Athletes to update all aspects of the ASA™ program including program audio, videos and handouts.  The primary promotional video, as well as many of the other video resources available on Advocates for Injured Athletes YouTube Channel were sponsored in part by Cymer.  Other videos in the works include A4IA’s hands-only CPR video.  Finally, the ASA™ program has been so successful here in San Diego that funding from Cymer will help the ASA™ program expand to other cities around the US.  This expansion means being able to find and train additional program instructors and educate more students, broadening the impact of A4IA and ASA™ into a national program. 

In the end, all non-profits depend on the donations and grants from the community to support their work.  It has been the privilege of Advocates for Injured Athletes to be supported by Cymer, a local corporation that has made a commitment to improving the community where they work and live.  Thank you for realizing the potential of Advocates for Injured Athletes and the ASA™ programs and we look forward to a continued relationship. 

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC

Trevor Brown, Athletes Saving Athletes Graduate, Saves a Life

WHAT YOU KNOW MAY SAVE SOMEONE YOU KNOW!

(or in this case someone you may not)

On April 10, 2013 Trevor Brown used skills he learned as part of the ASA program to save a life.  A PRESS RELEASE in the Del Mar Times highlights his actions.  Beth Mallon and those associated with A4IA are very proud of Trevor and his willingness to help. Moments like this are the reason so many of us are involved with A4IA and the ASA program.

To learn more about Advocates for Injured Athletes, click HERE.

To learn more about Athletes Saving Athletes, click HERE.

Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC