Women’s 27 squad starts Euros prep with CPR training

The England Women’s 27 squad began their winter training programme not with ball skills or game play, but with a half-hour session which could save a person’s life.

Women’s 27 head coach Gary Lambert – himself a vascular consultant surgeon – organised the CPR session in the wake of England Touch’s charity partnership with the British Heart Foundation and being mindful of high profile on-field cases such as Fabrice Muamba and Christian Eriksen.

“A number of the squad are medical professionals and one of our athletes is a cardiac ITU nurse, so have witnessed first-hand the difference early CPR makes to survival,” Lambert commented.

“As a squad we felt this was a global skill we should all commit to learning. It's a commitment to one another, as well as officials and those around us that says ‘I’ve got your back’, and we hope that by setting the example other squads and clubs will follow.

“It's so simple and takes just 30 minutes to learn a skill that we hope we never need but would never want to regret not having.

“After all, if there was a skill that only took 30 minutes for a whole squad to learn which tripled their chance of winning every coach and player would be all over it in a second!”

Some facts and figures:

• 60,000 people have a sudden cardiac arrest within the community every year in the UK
• 12 each week are under the age of 35
• Only 1 in 10 survive.
• If effective action is taken within the first minute, it can treble chances of survival

Sport England and UK Coaching have a free online training resource that the Women’s 27s used, which can be seen at www.ukcoaching.org/sca

And to find out more about how your support can help the British Heart Foundation continue its life changing work visit www.bhf.org.uk