Parents by the hundreds are saying NO MORE YOUTH SPORTS RELATED DEATHS!

August 20th, 2008 | Category: Fitness

Concord, Mass. (July 21, 2004). More than 300 children die each year from preventable sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) while playing sports, according to statistics compiled by Teams of Angels, a non-profit whose mission is to reduce the number of catastrophic injuries and deaths in youth sports. The majority of these deaths could have been prevented, according to medical experts, if an AED, (Automatic External Defibrillator), had been available within 4 minutes of the incident.

Now parents and youth sports organizations have a powerful new ally in their efforts to increase the number of AEDs available at local youth sports events: the ?Save A Child?s Life: An AED For Every Team? Campaign, an innovative partnership between Teams of Angels and MomsTeam.com, a leading Internet source of youth sports parenting and safety information.

Campaign Provides AEDs At Substantial Discount, Donations

The ?Save A Child?s Life: An AED For Every Team? Campaign will allow members of Youth Sports Organizations (YSOs) and other Campaign Partners to purchase AEDs for deep discounts off the regular retail price through the MomsTeam Cardiac Awareness Center, which is a special distributor of the state-of-the-art Defibtech ?Lifeline? AED.
In addition, for every AED purchased in the Campaign, MomsTeam will donate $50.00 to Teams of Angels to subsidize the purchase of more AEDs by needy programs and an additional $100 to the Campaign Partner to support efforts to make sports safer.

Teams of Angels: So That No More Youth Athletes Die While Playing their Sport

Teams of Angels serves as the umbrella organization for the efforts of more than fifty private charitable foundations, established in memory of children who died while playing sports, to prevent catastrophic youth sports injury and death through education and outreach. Teams of Angels supports a national hotline and registry for youth sports injuries, deaths and lives saved, and has been developing a set of standards for safety preparedness and life saving equipment.

The group also supports lobbying efforts, such as those in New York and Pennsylvania, where recent legislative changes require AEDs at public schools. ?Teams of Angels is pleased to be joining forces with MomsTeam in this innovative and important campaign to improve safety in youth sports,? said Board of Directors Chairperson, Barbara Jones. ?The money donated by MomsTeam to Teams of Angels for each AED sold will further our important work on the hotline and registry, for education and outreach, and in support of those of the charities under the TOA umbrella.?

Angela Ruggiero, two-time Olympic medalist with the U.S. Women?s Ice Hockey team and a member of the Teams of Angels Board of Directors, is an avid spokesperson for the Campaign. ?We need to increase awareness at all levels within sports of the incidence of preventable injuries and deaths. The AED Campaign is a legitimate effort to save athletes? lives through education and common sense, such as having an AED available at sports events.?

Leading Internet Source On Youth Sports Safety

Since its launch in August 2000, MomsTeam.com has become a leading destination on the Internet for parents and coaches seeking information on youth sports parenting and safety issues. The site currently attracts approximately 90,000 unique visitors a month, with monthly page views now exceeding 2.3 million. The Cardiac Awareness Channel has over 300 pages of important information for the Youth Sports Community.

?MomsTeam.com?s mission has always been to make youth sports safer, saner, less stressful and more inclusive,? said Brooke de Lench, President of MomsTeam.com and founder of Teams Of Angels. ?In offering an AED at a substantial discount to YSOs joining the AED For Every Team

Campaign, and donating $150 of the remaining profit to the YSO and Teams of Angels, MomsTeam is literally putting its money where its mouth is.

?The money earned from the sale of AEDs through the AED For Every Team Campaign will allow MomsTeam to do even more to educate the youth sports community about the dangers posed by each sport and ways to protect athletes from serious injury or death,? said de Lench. ?Together with MomsTeam and our Campaign Partners, we look forward to a successful Campaign and to a day when an AED is at every youth sporting game or practice.

In the coming months, Teams Of Angels will continue to provide critical information on youth sports injuries and treatment, both physical and psychological, and will be partnering with industry leaders to get its message out to children, parents, and coaches.