The Safety Clinic

Overview

The SAFETY (Sports Awareness For Educating Today’s Youth) Clinic is a three-hour program that informs coaches on the psychological, legal, and medical/first aid aspects of coaching as well as general coaching concepts and training/conditioning youth athletes. 

Benefits

  1. Protects volunteer coaches with partial civil immunity (NJAC 5:52)
  2. Protects leagues, sponsors, & municipalities who certify their coaches with partial civil immunity (2A:62A-6 et. seq.)
  3. Gives coaches ease of mind to focus on athlete development instead of liability issues.

Objectives 

Help volunteer youth sport coaches to 

  1. Minimize the risk of injuries to young athletes by promoting safe play 
  2. Understand basic coaching techniques 
  3. Encourage good sporting behavior and teamwork 
  4. Communicate effectively with parents, guardians & youth athletes 

Volunteer coaches receive 

  • The Coaches’ Reference Manual 6th Ed (PDF) 
  • The Rutgers SAFETY Clinic Certification Card 
  • Permanent registration with the Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council. 

Where can I find a course? 

For coaches 

Coaches should contact their league administrators or local recreation department to find in-town dates and locations. Alternatively, if you missed your local SAFETY Clinic or have a schedule conflict, there are courses in other towns across the state that are open. You may search available open courses by clicking here.  

For administrators 

Organizations can learn how to teach the SAFETY Clinic to their volunteer coaches after completing a workshop with the Youth Sport Research Council. Having your organization have an in-house clinician teach the course is strongly recommended.  Alternatively, organizations can choose to have the YSRC provide a Clinician to teach the SAFETY Course to your volunteer coaches ($200 fee per course). If you need to confirm if any coaches have taken the course, we have an easily searchable database that can be found here. If you have any questions about how to get started, please contact us over email ysrc@rutgers.edu or call 1-848-932-7032 during business hours.