Do not play with lightning

Last week I wrote on how lightning strikes, how to prevent yourself from being struck and what warning devices you can buy to track so that you don’t, as an athlete or coach, end up being in a dangerous situation.

The mere thought of lives being lost on sports fields anger me. Sure, Mother Nature plays her part and sometimes there is nothing we can do to prevent it. What I can’t understand is how a coach on a sports field dies.

The problem I believe comes in two forms; human attitude as in “this will never happen to me” and the poor protocols that schools and clubs follow. No coach should die on any school principal’s watch and I hope there comes a time where government steps in and holds management at schools accountable for something that could potentially have been prevented.

A good friend of mine, Nick Shan, reached out to me after reading my column last week and was horrified of the recent spate of deaths by lightning in South Africa. Nick has some pretty impressive credentials and has worked as the Senior Tournament Co-ordinator/Tournament Director of the Sunshine Tour for nine years. He is currently Assistant Director in Asia/Pacific for the Royal and Ancient. He and current Sunshine Tour Director Ludwich Manyama run a tight ship when it comes to protecting their golfers from lightning strikes.

Golf is technically the most dangerous sport you can play simply because you are exposed to four of the five ways in which lighting strikes. How has Nick over the past 12 years kept some of the most high-profile elite golfers in the world safe from lightning when all the elements are against them? Nick explains the non-negotiable protocol he used and still uses for his tournaments.

The most important asset the Sunshine Tour has is guru weatherman Evert Scholtz who has been with SA Weather for over 30 years and came out of retirement when Nick asked him to look after the players’ wellbeing during tournaments. Evert tracks the weather cells and patterns and feeds the critical information to the tournament director to allow him to take action and make the call to suspend play. The general rule of thumb is that the electrical activity has to be at least 20km away. “That might seem far but with a good wind it can be on top of the course in no time,” warns Nick.

When the call is made to suspend play, the team jumps into action, notifying all players through a siren. Players are notified that the tournament director and his team are monitoring the weather and will notify them in 30 minutes of any changes. The weatherman has access to radar and satellite and will give an estimate as to how long the electrical activity will last and how long it will be before it is safe to resume.

The team executes their “evacuation plan” which they have practiced days before their event. Players are fetched by vehicle and brought back to the club house or made sure that they are underneath structures that are earthed. Once the storm has cleared and the weatherman has given the “go ahead”, players are ushered out to the field to resume play. The weatherman still monitors the situation to ensure the weather cell doesn’t circle back.

In Singapore, the government set up a protocol that schools, constructions sites and golf courses all abide by the government’s notification of when there is a weather cell close by. Everything shuts down and people move to a place of safety immediately. This protocol was put in place because of the numerous deaths on social golf courses around Singapore.

Nick and Ludwick follow strict protocol to make sure that players lives are kept safe. They get a lot of flak from players who sometimes feel play was called early. They are happy to take the abuse knowing that players will go home to their wives and kids at the end of the tournament.

It’s up to the parents and communities to hold schools liable for proper protocols; you can’t wait for government to pass a law. You as a parent should demand better safety protocols for your kids, coaches and teachers at your schools. By applying pressure, this means you care enough for the safety of others.