The Diocese of Birmingham Catholic Schools are strengthening their commitment to student health and safety through a new partnership with the CoachSafely Foundation, made possible through the generosity of the John Carroll Athletic Foundation.

Starting this fall, coaches associated with any youth athletic organization or team (14 and under) that uses our schools’ athletic facilities will be required to take an annual online injury recognition and prevention course through CoachSafely. This requirement extends not only to coaches affiliated with our Catholic school athletic programs (e.g., Toy Bowl, individual school teams), but coaches of any youth organization/team that rents or uses our schools’ facilities on a regular or extended basis. Coaches in our Catholic high schools already receive injury recognition and prevention training through the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

There is a genuine need for this kind of training. According to CoachSafely, youth sports injuries send roughly 8.5 million young athletes to the emergency room or a physician's office each year in the U.S. — and the CDC estimates that half of those, more than 4 million injuries, are preventable through proper coach education and preparation. The CoachSafely Foundation has emerged as a national leader in youth sports injury prevention training and advocacy. The organization was instrumental in Alabama's passage of the Coach Safely Act (Ala. Code 2018-496), which mandates this same training for coaches using public property anywhere in the state. 

By extending this same standard to our schools, the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama is taking the initiative apart from any legal mandate to ensure the health and safety of every young athlete who uses our facilities. This partnership is part of the Catholic Schools Office’s continued work to support student health and safety in all our schools.