Dr. Gil B Fried

Imagine you are the general manager of a semi-professional baseball team. You want to minimize the amount of liability you have from fans being hit by foul balls and broken bats. That represents the problem to be researched. The data to help answer that problem could be gathered from incident reports from fans previously hit by foul balls, feedback from ushers, information from other teams, facility executives, information from the league offices, insurance companies, newspaper/internet stories about fan experiences, and numerous other sources of information. At that point you have to decide what the real risks are, if any, and then what strategies can be utilized to minimize the risks. Strategies could
include, what is often called, the layering technique: screening the most dangerous part of the ballpark, putting a warning notice on the back of a game ticket, announcing a warning
on the public address system, posting a warning on the scoreboard, having signs prominently displayed, and having ushers personally warn fans as they initially sit and throughout
the game (Fried, 2015). These strategies might have worked in the past or show promise for the future. Data can be leveraged to see what really works rather than just throwing
numerous strategies at a problem to see if something works. The team would not need to follow each strategy, but the more appropriate strategies they implement (i.e. the right
strategies derived from data) the greater is the likelihood that people will be effectively warned, protected, and will hopefully not be injured and/or sue for any injuries. This is
just one example of sport law/risk management as well as representing an overlap with facility and event management. Sport law is not an isolated area, but there are numerous
points where data can impact sport law.

Written by experts in the field, Emergency Management for Sport and Physical Activity is designed to educate non-Athletic Training practitioners such as; coaches, athletic directors, league administrators, parents, military personnel, supervisors, strength and conditioning coaches, and athletes to prevent and manage emergency situations during sport and physical activity. Often these non-medical professionals are the first on the scene and must, at times, serve the vital role of first responder and immediately act in the event of an emergency medical condition. Due to the rigorous training and conditioning programs that are being undertaken by athletes, effective emergency management is a growing concern.