WNBA star Tina Charles of the Connecticut Sun teamed up with Safe Kids Worldwide to educate kids about sports injury prevention at a Sports Safety Clinic in Harlem’s Riverbank State Park on Oct. 12.
To help raise awareness for the importance of sports safety, WNBA star and 2012 MVP Tina Charles teamed up with Safe Kids Worldwide and sponsors such as Band-Aid and Neosporin brands to host a Sports Safety Clinic for local youth athletes at Riverbank State Park in Harlem on Saturday, Oct. 12. The clinic featured interactive stations to teach local children everything they need to know to stay in the game and gave them the opportunity to learn important tips such as how to properly treat sports injuries and avoid dehydration.
The clinic was funded in part with a donation from the Topical Healthcare Brands of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, including Band-Aid and Neosporin. Charles participated on behalf of her Hopey’s Heart Foundation, which is committed to improving sports safety and raising awareness of sudden cardiac arrest throughout the country by providing automated external defibrillators (AED) to schools, youth groups, athletic teams, recreation centers, and community events.
Why is this important? In 2012, 1.35 million children were seen in emergency departments for sports-related injuries. Female athletes are eight times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than male athletes. With some simple tips, we can keep our young athletes healthy, active, and playing the games they love.
Safe Kids Worldwide is a global organization dedicated to protecting kids from unintentional injuries, the No. 1 cause of death for children in the U.S. Throughout the world, almost 1 million children die of an injury each year, and almost every one of these tragedies is preventable. Safe Kids works with an extensive network of more than 600 coalitions in the United States and in 23 countries to reduce traffic injuries, drownings, falls, burns, poisonings, and more. Learn more at safekids.org.
