Sports Emergencies: Asthma, Low Blood Sugar, Heat

Three groups prepare and act out a common sports emergency: an asthma attack, low blood sugar, and heat illness. The audience freezes the scene when they spot a mistake, and then another group replays it correctly.

How to play

1. Form three groups of 8; each gets a card with the signs and response for its case: asthma, low blood sugar, or heat illness.
2. Prep (6 min): each group creates a 90-second scene during a game with a victim, bystanders, and rescuers, and includes one deliberate response error.
3. Performances (3 × 3 min): while a group performs, the audience can call 'Freeze!' if they spot the error. The scene stops and that student explains the correct response.
4. If nobody finds the error, the group reveals it at the end and the teacher clears up questions.
5. Swap (6 min): each group performs another group's scene, this time with no errors, using the card.
6. Wrap-up (4 min): list on the board one warning sign and one key action for each case.

Rules

• Never give anything by mouth to an unresponsive person.
• The victim lies or sits carefully on the mat; no real falls.
• Respect the performing group; only stop a scene by calling 'Freeze.'

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: serve as narrator or as the coach who directs the response.
• Shyness: play a bystander with one short line or act as the group's prompter.
• Students with asthma or diabetes: may share their experience and show their inhaler or meter, only if they want to.

Learning goals

• Recognize the warning signs of three common sports emergencies.
• Apply the right basic response for each case.
• Critically analyze an emergency response.

Equipment for a class of 25

• scenario cards: 3
• mats: 3
• first-aid kit: 1

Teacher tip

Card keys: asthma, sit leaning forward and use their own inhaler; low blood sugar, sugar only if alert and able to swallow; heat, shade, cool down, small sips of water. Check with families first before referring to any student's condition.

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