Are swimming coaches ready to help injured young swimmers?

Study aim: This study aimed to determine the knowledge and skills of swimming coaches in providing first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Material and methods: The sample consisted of 59 swimming coaches who responded to non-standardized questionnaire. The collected data were processed by the statistical program IBM SPSS (20.0), using the Chi-square test with cross-tabulation, with a level of statistical significance p ≤ 0.05.

Results: Obtained data showed a statistically significant difference in the knowledge of swimming coaches about first aid and CPR in relation to coaching experience (p = 0.025); in the knowledge of providing first aid and CPR between coaches who have a certificate of first aid and CPR and those who do not (p = 0.006) and in first aid and CPR knowledge between coaches who have renewed their first aid and CPR knowledge and those who did not (p = 0.045).

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, swimming coaches included in this research did not have enough knowledge and skills in first aid and CPR, which makes swimming programs unsafe. By obliging swimming coaches to acquire and constantly improve their knowledge and skills in first aid and CPR, the environment for all swimming programs would become safer.