Designing and implementing strategies that address safety and injury prevention is a multi-faceted task. Most administrators, sports medicine personnel and coaches are well aware of the importance of pre-par ticipation exams and assessment, sport-specific strength and conditioning regiments, proper skill and strategy instruction, and continued attention to the safety of playing and practice facilities.

One area of safety and injury prevention that often is overlooked is the positive impact that referees, umpires and other contest officials can have during competition. By upholding the rules of the game, officials ultimately are responsible for administering a competition that promotes fair play and punishes conduct that compromises the spirit of the game or the safety of the participants.

Athletics administrators, coaches and officials can maximize safety and injury prevention by creating a partnership that emphasizes communication and support. The following two strategies can help bolster that communication and support:

(1) Pregame meeting. Before any contest begins, the site administrator and/or head coaches should quickly meet with the officials or at the very least provide them with a written statement that conveys (a) that a safe and fair contest is the ultimate goal, (b) that officials are encouraged to set the tone early by calling "close" games, watching for off-ball fouls, and by punishing acts of poor sportsmanship either by players on the field or by personnel on the bench, and (c) that officials should tell the coach or site director if fans are behaving in ways that are inciting overly aggressive play.

Head or lead officials also can play an important role in a pregame meeting by re-emphasizing that all officials are equally responsible for maintaining a fair and safe environment. The head official should remind his or her staff that: (a) it is important to call significant fouls even if they occur outside their "area of responsibility" and (b) it is important to make certain that fouls are called or warnings/ejections are upheld even if some time has elapsed between when the foul or problem occurred and when the game was actually halted.

(2) System of overt support. In order for officials to be effective in administering a fair and safe contest, there must be several elements in place to support their efforts. First, the coaching staff must play a pivotal role in recognizing the role of the official in safety and injury prevention and visibly support them when they respond to overly aggressive play. Too often, coaches marginalize officials by berating them, which can negatively affect player behavior and fan conduct during contests.

Site administrators should be directly responsible for crowd control. They should immediately respond to foul language or harassment toward officials or players. If an official conveys that there is a problem with a fan, the administrator should act quickly to warn the fans or eject them from the facility depending on the severity of the situation. After a contentious or emotional contest, it is the administrators' responsibility to assure the safety of the officials as they depart from the contest site.

The conduct of players and fans at sporting events has continued to deteriorate from the youth sport level all the way up to the professional level. Poor sportsmanship is a common occurrence and harassment and violence is escalating. There is no better time than the present for officials, coaches and administrators to work together to provide a safe playing environment.

Connee Zotos is the athletics director at Drew University.