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The 30-second answer
Act first and explain later. Stop the athlete, get them sitting or lying down in shade or a cool room, keep an adult with them, offer water or a familiar sports drink in sips, and do not send them back into the session because they say they feel better. Dizziness during exercise usually means the brain is briefly short on blood flow, and heat, too little fluid, a skipped meal, standing still after a hard effort, a recent illness, or a hidden heart or health problem can all cause it; a coach cannot tell which from the sideline. Confusion, collapse, a seizure, chest pain, trouble breathing, or fainting during exertion is the emergency route now. Everything else goes to the family the same day, and the reason goes to a clinician.
What to do next
- 1
Stop the athlete immediately, move them out of the sun, sit or lay them down with feet raised if they are lightheaded, remove extra layers, and keep one adult with them until they are fully back to normal.
- 2
Offer sips of water or a familiar sports drink and cool them with shade, a fan, cold towels, or water on the skin; if the athlete is confused, staggering, vomiting, or not clearly better within a few minutes, treat it as an emergency and activate the school emergency action plan.
- 3
Tell the parent or guardian the same day in plain terms: what happened, the weather, when the athlete last ate and drank, and how long recovery took. Ask the family to check in with the pediatrician or athletic trainer before the athlete returns.
- 4
Before the next practice, fix what the team controls: bottle access and refills, planned drink and shade breaks, a heat plan tied to the forecast, and a clear message that food before practice matters.
The first ten minutes, and the next day
- Sideline kit: shade or a cool room, a cooler with ice and water, towels, a fan or spray bottle, every athlete’s emergency contacts, and the written emergency action plan with the address of the field for EMS.
- Recovery check before anyone leaves: the athlete can stand and walk steadily, answers questions normally, has had fluid, and has an adult picking them up; if any piece is missing, call the family and the athletic trainer.
- The message to the family names the pattern, not the cause: “They got lightheaded in the last set in 88-degree heat and had not eaten since 10:30” is useful; “They were probably dehydrated” is a guess.
- Return to running is the family’s and clinician’s call whenever the episode was more than a brief, fully recovered lightheaded moment, and always when there was fainting, chest pain, or a second episode.
What a coach can say
“Stop and sit down right here. I am staying with you, and you are done for today even if you feel fine in five minutes. I am going to call your parent or guardian and tell them exactly what happened. I cannot tell you why it happened and I am not going to guess; your doctor or the athletic trainer decides that. Before you run with us again, I want to hear that an adult at home has checked in with them.”
What to avoid
- Do not let the athlete jog it off, stand at the back of the group, or finish the workout to prove they are fine.
- Do not blame the episode on toughness, nerves, or not drinking enough, and do not turn it into a team lecture that names the athlete.
- Do not leave a lightheaded athlete alone, in a hot car, or in a locker room while practice continues.
When general guidance stops
One brief episode that fully clears with rest, shade, and fluid still gets a same-day call to the family. Fainting, a second episode, dizziness on ordinary days, an athlete who is getting dizzy while skipping meals or restricting food, a recent illness, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or a family history of sudden cardiac problems needs evaluation by the pediatrician or sports-medicine clinician before the athlete returns, and the school’s athletic-training and return-to-play process applies. The coach reports what was observed; the clinician decides the cause.
Urgent boundary
Fainting or collapse during exertion, confusion or unusual behavior, a seizure, chest pain, trouble breathing, vomiting that will not stop, a body that feels very hot with or without sweating, or an athlete who cannot stand or answer questions is an emergency: activate the school emergency action plan and call EMS. If exertional heat stroke is suspected, trained staff begin cold-water immersion or the school’s rapid-cooling protocol immediately, before transport.
Use the matching resource
These open the complete public handout or released tool. There is no email gate.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics: Dizziness and Fainting in Children and Teens (opens in a new tab)
- American Academy of Pediatrics: How to Keep Young Athletes and Active Kids Safe in Hot Weather (opens in a new tab)
- National Athletic Trainers’ Association: Heat Illness Resources and Position Statements (opens in a new tab)
For the whole school season
Want this built into the week? See Program Access.
Open the week, review the parent message, send it through your school channel, give the two-minute team talk, and share the matching resource. Families join privately with your program code; Aspire never messages families for you.
Individualized assessment, diagnosis, and 1:1 treatment are separate from Program Access.
See exactly what the school gets