Aspire guide
Team Resources
Team Resources manual
The referral chain inside a school
What actually happens after a coach decides to act: who you tell and in what order, what belongs in a note to the athletic trainer and what must never be written down, how the conversation goes when a parent is defensive or is the pressure, what each professional does with the handoff, and what happens to training while you wait.
Why this matters
What actually happens after a coach decides to act: who you tell and in what order, what belongs in a note to the athletic trainer and what must never be written down, how the conversation goes when…
Read time
38 min
Audience
Coach + Parent
Use it for
Team Resources
Start here
Notice, describe, hand off — athletic trainer same day, then the parent.
Coach prompt
Is your athletic trainer's number in your phone, and the AD's answer in writing?
Print & share
Printable handout preview
One-page sheet
The referral chain inside a school
Read time
38 min
Audience
Coach + Parent
Start with the printable
Notice, describe, hand off — athletic trainer same day, then the parent.
Best next move
Use it this week
Is your athletic trainer's number in your phone, and the AD's answer in writing?
Quick reference map
Use the guide like a structured handout
Protocol
Start here
Jump to this section and use it like a coaching quick reference.
Overview
First step
Jump to this section and use it like a coaching quick reference.
Timeline
The mistakes this page exists to prevent
Jump to this section and use it like a coaching quick reference.
Overview
Mandatory reporting and school policy — check this locally
Jump to this section and use it like a coaching quick reference.
In the library
Format
Read the full ebook here, then jump to the one-page handout when you need the shareable version.
Best use
Open the sections you need, print the handout, then send both to coaches, parents, or athletes.
Quick start
Start here
What actually happens after a coach decides to act: who you tell and in what order, what belongs in a note to the athletic trainer and what must never be…
Order
The default order, and when it flips
- Athlete first, athletic trainer same day, then the parent by phone.
- An emergency, self-harm, or risk at home does not run this order.
Write it
Six fields in the note, and a never-list
- Date, what you saw, how long, what you changed, who knows, the ask.
- Never write a diagnosis, a body, a plate, a cycle, or a teammate.
Meanwhile
Reduce on your own authority, never clear
- Cutting volume or pulling a race needs nobody else's permission.
- No news is not clearance, and only a clinician ever gives it.
First step
Find out today whether your athletic trainer is reachable by text, and get their number into your phone under a name you can find while you are holding a clipboard.
Find out today whether your athletic trainer is reachable by text, and get their number into your phone under a name you can find while you are holding a clipboard.
The mistakes this page exists to prevent
Going to the parent before anybody in the building knows.
Building a case instead of making a handoff.
Writing down a suspicion, or keeping a private file more candid than the one you sent.
Using privacy as the reason not to tell the athletic trainer.
Calling the physician yourself.
Mandatory reporting and school policy — check this locally
Every state has a child abuse and neglect reporting statute, and they do not agree with each other.
Every state has a child abuse and neglect reporting statute, and they do not agree with each other. What varies between them: who counts as a mandated reporter, what threshold triggers the duty, how quickly you must report, who you report to, whether an oral report needs a written follow-up, what immunity you have,…
Two things coaches get wrong.
Telling your athletic director may not discharge your legal duty. In some states the duty runs to the individual who formed the suspicion, and an internal notification to a supervisor does not satisfy it. In others, the district's designated official reports on your behalf. These are opposite answers, and you cannot…
- In this state and in this specific role, am I a mandated reporter — and is every assistant and volunteer on…
- Who exactly do I notify inside this district, in what timeframe, and does that notification satisfy my…
- What is the phone number, where is the form, and who is the backup if that person is unreachable?
TL;DR card
Default order for a non-urgent concern: tell the athlete, then the professional in your building,…
Three situations invert that order
an emergency, a disclosure of self-harm, and anything suggesting the pressure or the risk is…
Write observations, dates, and what you changed about training. Never write a suspicion, a body, a…
Your note stops being private the moment you send it. Write every one as if the family will read…
You may always reduce training on your own authority. You may never clear an athlete. "No news" is…
This week
Ask your athletic director, in writing, whether you are a mandated reporter in your state and in…
Ask your athletic trainer, in writing, who this school refers a distance runner to: physician,…
Print the one-page chain and put it in the binder that travels with you.
The five situations that change the order
The default assumes two things: that this is not an emergency, and that the family is a safe place to send the concern.
What you saw
Who you go to first
Why the default is wrong here
Collapse, chest pain, confusion in heat, a seizure, an athlete who cannot bear weight
911 and your athletic trainer, under the emergency action plan; the parent immediately after
Nobody works a chain during an emergency. The plan is written in advance precisely so nobody has to decide
A disclosure of self-harm, or of purging
Your district's reporting procedure, same day, before you decide anything else; then the athletic trainer and a counsellor
This is not yours to hold overnight, and who you call is set by policy rather than by your judgment
Anything suggesting the athlete is unsafe at home, or that the pressure on them is coming from a parent
Your district's designated official and the counsellor or nurse — **not the parent**
The default order sends the concern to the family. When the family is the question, that step can make things worse
An athlete who has turned 18
The athlete
At 18 they are the adult in their own medical decisions, and education-record rights transfer to them. Ask before you bring a parent in,…
Quick reference
Key targets to keep in view
Use these as planning anchors when you turn the manual into weekly actions.
Default order
Athlete, AT, parent
Treat this as a decision anchor, not a trivia stat.
Your authority
Reduce, never clear
Treat this as a decision anchor, not a trivia stat.
Never recorded
Body, plate, cycle
Treat this as a decision anchor, not a trivia stat.
Coach takeaways
Build it in August
These are the cues worth repeating before the week gets busy.
While you wait
Keep them at practice with a real job on meet day.
Say the roster consequence out loud before they ask.
Ask your athletic director
Am I a mandated reporter here, and is every assistant?
Does telling you satisfy my duty, or sit alongside it?
Never in the chain
Teammates as a source or a monitor, and other parents.
The group chat, the roster app, the bus, the finish chute.
What to do next
Use it this week
Is your athletic trainer's number in your phone, and the AD's answer in writing?
Source topics
referral pathway • athletic trainer • athletic director • school nurse • coach documentation • FERPA coach notes