Once practice ended, the daily routine was always the same.
Head coach Pete Shinnick would go over a few details with the University of West Florida football team. He would then look beyond the players.
“Hey Mel, whaddya got?”
Mel is Melanie Burt, the UWF head football athletic trainer. Known as Mo or Momma Mel to many players. A counselor, adviser and injury healer. Plus, a post-practice messenger.
Burt, a 1997 Pensacola High graduate, who earned both her undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at South Alabama, had a commonality with the players. She had never been involved with a college football program until this season.
“Everybody (fellow trainers) would tell me before I came into this and I would say, I am working football next year. They would say, oh that is a whole different animal,” said Burt, who has worked every sport at UWF with the exception of swimming, since joining the UWF athletic program in 2006.
“I thought, no, the body is the same … Now, I see, yes it is a whole different animal. Not an untamable one though. This has just been an awesome experience. We’ve had a blast.”
The Argos completed their fall practice season last Thursday. This week has been spent with exit physicals and position meetings with the coaches.
On Friday, Burt gets to be a fan again. She will be cheering on the Pine Forest side of Lon Wise Stadium when the Eagles face the Tate Aggies in Region 1-6A semifinal. Her husband, Lee Burt, is the defensive line coach on head coach Jerry Pollard’s staff.
In the Eagles’ opening playoff game last Friday, Melanie was among the first to arrive at the stadium with friends, clutching blankets and rooting for the team.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “My husband and I … we live this intense life. I leave here and head out to his games. And come Saturday, we are watching football on the couch together. I watch him break down film of his games. You learn more about the game that way.”
Her enjoyment of the sport has made her new role at UWF an easy transition. Arnold Gamber is UWF’s head athletic trainer. Burt and Kacy Noblit are two assistant athletic trainers, along with graduate assistants.
For football, Burt and Kelly Kessler, a Pace High graduate, worked together in handling the day-to-day demands. The two women are part of a growing trend of female trainers working in the sport.
“Eighteen years ago, I got the Azusa-Pacific job. That year we had a male trainer,” Shinnick said. “Within a year, a women who as a former softball and soccer player was our trainer. Now, it has become more and more prevalent.
“Mel has done a great job for us. We really feel good about how she has handled our team and worked with our team.”
Good fortune occurred this year. Among the 120 players who began the year, Burt said only one player sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) that will require surgery. She said four others sustained medial collateral ligament (MCL tears). No broken bones.
“We’ve been very lucky,” she said.
Given football’s rigors, it was a good year in the training center. Burt’s biggest challenge was dealing with player concussions.
“We have a set protocol,” she said. “They have to be 48-hours, symptom free. We run a CAT test on them and an impact test. There is a certain level they must test. We don’t release them (for practice) till they back to that level.”
Burt knows the perception football has become more violent, more injury riddled.
“At the same time, the medicine is getting better, the equipment is getting better,” Burt said. “The braces we put on offensive linemen are better. The helmets we are putting them are better, the science is getting better. The coaches’ knowledge of preventive measures in practice are better.”
Burt has mandated players constantly remain hydrated throughout practice. She said there are constant reminders of drinking water throughout the day and night.
“That is my big thing. keeping these guys hydrated,” she said. “If you stay hydrated and free of leg cramping, that cuts down on most of your injuries.”
On the final day of practice, Burt said she wished the season kept going. It was a year of adapting to a training center at the UWF Aquatic Center that had never handled a football team before.
“You just have to be loose and just roll with it,” she said. “You have to be on the top of your game every single day. I have worked our other sports, high intensity sports.
“But It’s like your bigger injuries you have out there (in other sports) every few months or every few weeks, well, you have those injuries every day here. You have to be on top of your game every day.”
Burt said she’s been able to quickly gain the trust and respect of the players.
“They have been very respectful, really good kids,” she said. “This has been a great group. And the coaches here are absolutely wonderful. It’s been long hours, long days, but it has been a blast.”
Melanie Burt bio
Hometown: Pensacola.
High School: Pensacola High, 1997
College: University of South Alabama (graduate, post-graduate degrees).
Experience: Began working as assistant trainer for a high school football team in Mobile. Joined the UWF athletic training in 2006. Has worked with UWF volleyball team past three years, Also worked with UWF men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.pnj.com/story/sports/college/university-west-florida/2015/11/17/momma-mel-fits-role-uwf-football-trainer/75635778/