First Aid Personnel / Sports Trainers 

It is optimal for sporting clubs to have a suitably qualified first aid representative or sports trainer for each team or each operating venue. This is very hard to achieve, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• Request details about member (or parents) first aid / sports trainer / medical qualifications and their willingness to provide support to a team, a time slot or a venue as part of your registration process
• Appoint a Safety Officer to coordinate appointments, equipment and record keeping 
• Develop a data base of all people willing together with their availability
• Organise a meeting of all first aid personnel / sports trainers to run through injury recording procedures and to ascertain any further training needs e.g. using a stretcher
• Conduct an "in house" First Aid, Sport First Aid or Sports Trainers Course inviting other local clubs the opportunity to send people along - (in Victoria, VicHealth's Active Club Grants and/or Country Action Grant, DPCD may be worth looking at for this)
•  Advertise for adequately qualified people to support the club in a paid capacity. The Sports Medicine Australia Employment Page may be a good place to start
• Subsidize the cost of training for people willing to volunteer - you could even consider establishing relationships with a local TAFE or University to provide students with work experience (paid or in exchange for course costs)
• Note that some sports have minimum requirements for the presence of first aid or sport trainer support which you need to be aware of. Contact your state sporting organisation for advice. 

Where clubs are unable to offer first aid / sports trainer support on site, there are a few things that should be considered:

• Having a statement for signing on your registration form indicating agreement that in the case of an emergency an ambulance will be contacted and/or medical assistance sought at the expense of the member or parent / guardian in the case of a minor 
• Ensuring that Medical Emergency procedures are in place e.g. clear ambulance access, access to a telephone
• In the case of juniors, keeping parent details and contact numbers on file for immediate contact.