Sports
Associations
UV Exposure Is More Than A Sun Issue.
It is a duty-of-care issue. A health issue. A risk-management issue. And when organizations fail to act, it can become a liability issue.
Your Athletes Depend
On You To Protect Them.
Athletes depend on their organizations to protect them, and too many sports groups are failing at that basic responsibility. UV exposure is one of the most overlooked risks in sport, and on reflective surfaces like turf, water, tracks, and concrete, the damage gets worse fast.
With the vast majority of skin cancers associated with UV exposure, treating this like background noise is reckless. Sun exposure does not stop being dangerous simply because someone is training, competing, coaching, volunteering, or representing a sports organization.
That is exactly why keynote education, in-person training, and online training matter. Too many sports programs still operate without a formal sun-safety strategy, which means organizations may already be behind while continuing to treat the problem as somebody else’s.
If your association sends people outside for hours at a time, ignoring a known risk is not leadership. Organizations have an opportunity to recognize the hazard, educate their people, reduce exposure, and build prevention into the culture of the sport.
Todd’s education forces organizations to face the truth: repeated UV exposure is silent, cumulative, and absolutely predictable. It builds over seasons and years whether anyone feels it happening or not.
By the time the damage becomes visible, years of exposure may already have occurred. Sun safety is not optional. Organizations that fail to address foreseeable exposure are choosing preventable harm over real protection.
The Risk Is
Foreseeable.
Athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, staff, parents, and youth participants can spend thousands of hours outdoors over the course of their involvement in sport.
That exposure is not random. It is predictable. Practice schedules, tournaments, training camps, competitions, outdoor facilities, and playing surfaces can all create repeated UV exposure.
When the hazard can be anticipated, organizations have an opportunity to manage it before someone pays the price years later.
Understand when athletes and staff experience the highest cumulative UV exposure.
Do not leave protection entirely to individual athletes, parents, coaches, or volunteers.
Give coaches, athletes, volunteers, and staff practical education they can use immediately.
Build shade, clothing, scheduling, sunscreen, hydration, and UV awareness into everyday sport.
10 Hard-Hitting Facts
Every Sports Association Should Know
Season after season. Practice after practice. Hour after hour. The exposure keeps adding up.
Approximately 90% of skin cancers are associated with UV exposure, making excessive exposure one of the most preventable health risks facing people who spend significant time outdoors.
Many sports organizations still operate without comprehensive, formal sun-safety policies, potentially leaving athletes and staff exposed to a known and preventable hazard.
UV exposure is cumulative. Every practice, game, tournament, training session, and outdoor event can add damage that cannot simply be reversed later.
Athletes can accumulate thousands of hours of outdoor exposure throughout their sporting careers, often during periods of intense midday and afternoon UV.
Artificial turf, water, concrete, sand, snow, and other reflective environments can contribute to UV exposure beyond direct overhead sunlight.
Severe sunburn during childhood and adolescence is associated with an increased risk of melanoma later in life, making youth protection especially important.
UV damage begins early, meaning youth athletes can accumulate significant exposure during the years when they are spending some of the most time competing and training outdoors.
Ignoring UV exposure does not remove organizational responsibility. Sun safety should be treated as part of athlete health, wellbeing, and sensible duty-of-care planning.
Coaches prepare athletes for heat, hydration, injury, equipment, recovery, and performance. UV exposure deserves a place in that same safety conversation.
Skin cancer diagnosed decades from now can begin with exposure accumulated during today’s practices, tournaments, camps, and competitions. Prevention starts now.
Stop Treating Sun Safety
Like An Individual Problem.
Sports organizations already create systems for concussion protocols, hydration, equipment, injury prevention, and emergency response. UV protection belongs in the same conversation.
Education
Teach athletes, coaches, staff, volunteers, and parents what cumulative UV exposure actually means.
Scheduling
Where practical, consider UV levels and peak exposure periods when planning practices, tournaments, camps, and events.
Shade
Create practical shaded recovery and waiting areas for athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and spectators.
Protection
Normalize appropriate clothing, hats when suitable, sunscreen, sunglasses, and repeat application during prolonged events.
Policy
Establish clear sun-safety expectations rather than relying on everyone to create their own protection strategy.
Leadership
Coaches and administrators set the culture. When leaders take protection seriously, athletes are more likely to follow.
Protect Your Organization.
Protect Their Future.
Todd Keirstead helps sports associations turn UV awareness into practical action through keynote education, in-person training, organizational programming, and online learning.
