From The National Federation

INDIANAPOLIS— In its ongoing effort to minimize the risk of participating in high school athletics, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has produced a free online course entitled “A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention.”

The course, which provides critical information designed to minimize the risk of activity-related heat stroke among high school athletes, is the fourth and latest free course in the NFHS Coach Education Program available online at www.nfhslearn.com.

With fall football practice set to begin across the country in about a month and with record heat in many locations this year, the information contained in this course could help save lives, according to Tim Flannery, NFHS director of coach education.

“Heat stroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletics,” Flannery said, “and results in thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the nation each year. Many times, deaths from heat strokes are preventable, and we believe this course can be just the tool that players, coaches and parents need to guard against serious illness or death.”

To provide more options for individuals to access the course, “A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention” can be taken on mobile devices, including iPads and tablets.

The heat illness course will serve as a great companion to the free “Concussion in Sports – What You Need to Know” course, which has been taken by more than 430,000 individuals since its debut in May 2010. The other free courses offered through the NFHS Coach Education Program are “Sportsmanship” and “The Role of the Parent in Sports.”

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this important course on heat illness free of charge,” Flannery said. “With more than 7.6 million participants in high school sports, minimizing the risk of serious illness and injury is a top priority, and we believe this course will help prevent unnecessary deaths from heat illness and heat stroke.”

The NFHS Coach Education Program offers 29 online courses, including the two core courses – Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid Health and Safety for Coaches. The NFHS also offers 13 sport-specific courses and seven elective courses.

All NFHS Coach Education Program courses are available at www.nfhslearn.com.