The hustle and bustle is typical for a group of high-energy teenagers, but it’s also quite organized.
Welcome to the Passaic Valley High School training room, right after school has ended. Just a half hour earlier, head athletic trainer, Rich Garcia, is sitting somewhat relaxed in the large room, chatting about what’s soon to happen when that final bell rings.
Garcia, himself a young man, but well traveled as an athletic trainer, smiles when it comes to his job. He loves what he’s doing, and getting the opportunity to pass that knowledge on to a new generation keeps him fired up.
“It will be mass chaos in a few minutes,” Garcia says with a chuckle. “But it’s fun. We have some great kids here at PV. There’s no other place I’d rather be.”
Garcia is in his third year at Passaic Valley. He started in the fall of 2013 and it didn’t take long for him to get acclimated to the perils of his work. Just two months after he began, a potentially serious injury occurred during a basketball practice when a player accidentally hit his head on the floor during a drill and began to have complications. Garcia was in the building, but not in the gym at the time of the incident. He had left a portable radio at the team practice, as a matter of protocol, and within a minute, he had received the call and rushed to the gym. Also in tow was athletic director, Patricia Lynch, herself a seasoned EMT, who immediately reached for the defibrillator, which was located in the gym, as Garcia began to work on the athlete.
Within eight minutes, the ambulance had arrived and Garcia had the player stabilized. The player in question would thankfully be okay and returned to the team within a few weeks.
“Those are the things you worry about the most in this job,” said Garcia. “There are so many things that can happen, but you always worry about a head, or neck injury. There’s so much complexity there. With concussions, it’s also a mystery. You just don’t know sometimes.”
For the most part, the work on a day-to-day basis for a trainer is assessing (hopefully) minor injuries, taping appendages and/or helping a student-athlete rehab an injury. Garcia has a group of eight student trainers for the fall season. When the winter season begins, eight new students will transition for that part of the athletic calendar. In the spring, eight more students will get a chance to learn the training craft. All tolled, 26 students had expressed an interest in being a part of Garcia’s program.
“We have a good mix of kids, from sophomores to seniors,” said Garcia. “The numbers really went up from when I first put this together a year ago. It’s good because the younger kids will hopefully come back next year and have some experience as to what we do here.”
On this particular day, a young lady on the field hockey team is being treated for an injury to her finger, incurred when the rock hard ball used in the game slammed her hand a few days earlier. The finger is multiple shades of black and blue, and still somewhat swollen.
A football player is working out on a treadmill in the office as he seeks to get back to action after a concussion. A couple of soccer players have leg injuries and are getting a form of ice stimulation. Other athletes run in to get taped, but each has to follow the rules. Karen Villagomez is sitting at Garcia’s desk. All student-athletes have to check in with her, and she’ll complete a check list as to why the athlete needs treatment. Villagomez doesn’t stand for small talk, and is quite focused on her job.
Another student trainer, Jazmine Cruz, an aspiring trauma nurse, is filling water buckets and answering questions about where an athlete should be for a particular case. Fallon DeJesus is making sure everyone who is seated in the ‘waiting area’ has properly checked in with Villagomez. DeJesus, a senior, also volunteers at a local hospital and works part time at a podiatrist’s office. It’s clear that her organization skills are a priority.
Villagomez explained how the rotations go for the student trainers.
Villagomez and Cruz had worked the previous week’s football game with Garcia. While the two had specific assignments, they were also completely into the game, itself, as the Hornets and West Milford went into overtime.
Football players are coming by, in droves, for ankle and wrist taping, as they prepared for a road game at Lakeland High School. Villagomez and Taylor Puluse will be the student trainers accompanying Garcia for the game, but first they will be at the Passaic Valley girls soccer game, also against Lakeland.
A native of Hackensack, Garcia and his wife, Neha, recently welcomed their first child, Elias Richard Garcia. Rich earned an Associate’s Degree from Bergen Community, then completed his Bachelor’s at William Paterson University, before becoming a certified licensed athletic trainer. He’s worked at multiple New Jersey high schools, including Bergen Catholic, Immaculate Heart Academy, Ridgefield Park, Old Tappan and Paramus Catholic.
The fall trainers include seniors Andrieh Darwich, who aspires to be an orthopedic surgeon, Fallon DeJesus, Sabrina Soloninkin and Taylor Puluse. The juniors are Brianna Costic and Mariam Nassery while Karen Villagomez and Jazmine Cruz are sophomores.
In the winter season, Garcia just announced that seniors Nicole Groh, Judith Gatei and Rachel Ward, along with juniors Janica Nuestra and Jennifer Llerena and sophomore Maria Tovar will join the staff. Villagomez will also stay on for the winter season and Garcia plans to add one more volunteer to the staff for the winter.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/football/passaic-valley-s-garcia-holds-down-the-fort-1.1438812