GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — With school sports teams starting practice soon, athletic trainers are practicing what to do in the case of a medical emergency.

Although sports involve fast action, cheering and the glory of winning, they also come with the risk of getting hurt.

“When something happens, especially in the athletic arena, you have fans, parents, as well as the student athlete,” Mark Meijer, president of Life EMS Ambulance, said. “And everybody needs to know what to do in a pretty high-pressure situation.”

That’s why athletic trainers in West Michigan gathered at the Life EMS Innovation and Education Centre for its annual emergency preparedness training.

“It gets the athletic trainers and the paramedics and EMTs from Life EMS who will be at the event on the same page, knowing what each other is going to do in case of an emergency,” Meijer said.

With college and high school sports starting soon, the training is even more important, according to Meijer.

“Practice is starting for a lot of the student athletes as we speak. And so gearing up for that so that everybody’s prepared,” he said. “We hope that nothing happens. It is fairly rare. But if we’re prepared, that means we know what to do if something needs to be addressed with a student athlete.”

Life EMS will hold two more trainings Thursday night.