Article reposted from Hope Star
Author: Gerren Smith
Making the arrival of becoming the Hope Public Schools second certified athletic trainer, Emilee Martin has brought the expertise of professional health care, skills and knowledge from preventing serious injuries for all Hope sports programs. Her presence is securing safety and helping all student athletes recover successfully from injury. Most importantly, preventing many serious injuries.
As sports demands a lot of force and hard work performance, it’s been very key to have a knowledgable and trained professional to be able to acknowledge the situation fast if someone seek an injury. Thus far, Martin has provided her skills of training and continues to be a major asset to all of Hope athletic programs. As for most athletic trainer’s across the world, they have a strong passion and drive for sports. For Martin, it’s no different as a former athlete who brings the importance to know how serious injuries may occur for any sport.
Martin went to high school at Wonderview High School in St. Vincent and graduated in 2012. She went to college at UCA (University of Central Arkansas) in Conway and graduated in April of this past spring (2016) with a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training and a minor in nutrition. Her hometown is Morrilton and during high school, Martin was a part of history with the first girls basketball team to win a state title at Wonderview in 2012 as the Class 1A State Champions.
Among excelling on the hardwood in high school, she was as successful in the classroom to achieve many academic accolades. On the collegiate level, she was on the Dean’s List seven out of eight semesters at UCA. Martin also was a member of the Sigma Alpha Lambda National Leadership and Honors Organization as well as the UCA Chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
She’s always had a passion for sports and wanting to help athletes stay healthy and enhance their abilities if an injury occurs. Martin’s job is demanding, but she feels the need to be in position for the athletes to prevent serious issues from occurring.
“As the HHS athletic trainer, my duties include: providing care for injured athletes, rehabilitation of injured athletes, traveling with the varsity teams to away games, attending in-season sports practices, concussion management, first aid, and prevention of injuries thorough bracing, splinting, and tape jobs,” said Martin.
Having the opportunity to perform her skills at Hope has been a granted deed to keep the safety of the hometown athletes progressing if injured and onto the road of recovery.
“I wanted to be the HHS athletic trainer because I wanted to be at the high school level. At the high school level, I see more kids having fun playing their sport(s) compared to the college level. I loved playing sports in high school and had so much fun doing so; I want to be there for kids who also love playing sports but are injured or are recovering from injury,” said Martin.
Relationships with the athletes are very important in an athletic trainer’s job and profession. But to develop a close and trusting relationship with the coaches is even more important. Martin has developed a great relationship with the Hope coaching staff and her expertise and opinion about any athletes injuries has impacted the coaches decision for the best interest for recovery.
“The coaches at HHS are great. If I say a kid needs to be out due to an injury or concussion, they understand that I’m trying to protect that kid from further damage and they respect what I have to say. The coaches don’t try to overturn my decisions and they accept that sometimes, their star athlete is going to have to sit out of a game or a practice due to an injury,” said Martin.
Since high school football is very physical and aggressive, Martin has been in the act of duty extensively due to some of the injuries that have occurred with a few Bobcat football players thus far into the 2016 season. Her timing couldn’t have been more on time as the Bobcats are currently on the road to staying healthy in a very challenging gridiron season. But, Marin’s skills and passion for helping athletes health and safety prevention will impact them to compete productively to excel in their sport.
“As the HHS athletic trainer, I want to keep athletes playing and to get the injured athletes back to playing as quickly and safely as possible,” said Martin.
Now that the 2016-17 sports year has begun, Martin is currently in her intensive duties as athletic trainer and successfully keeping the Bobcats football players geared up as gridiron season progresses.
Martin replaces former Hope Public Schools first certified athletic trainer Angelo Goshen who serves as AT on the collegiate level at the Ouachita Baptist University. Goshen served two years as athletic trainer for Hope.
Among football, Martin like Goshen will oversee sports in Hope athletics such as tennis, golf, basketball, softball, soccer, baseball and track and field.
If any injuries occur, she looks forward to keeping all the student- athletes ready, healthy and able to perform to the best of their abilities to perform well for this 2016-17 year.