Ed Lacerte, the longest-tenured trainer in the NBA, dating to 30 years ago when he was responsible for the health of players like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, is stepping down.
The Celtics are revamping their sports science and training operation, and, in addition to strength coach Bryan Doo choosing to forgo an altered role, the club is parting ways with Lacerte.
The longest-serving trainer in franchise history will not be back for a 31st season. In addition to numerous honors within his profession, Lacerte was notably the trainer for the U.S. Olympic Dream Team in 1992.
Doo announced his departure Friday via Instagram. He was with the Celtics for 14 years, and with the coming restructuring elected to step away from the club to focus more on family (he and his wife have five children) and the company he founded, Optimal Fitness.
The Celtics are about to move into a new training facility in Brighton, with the targeted opening of June 2018, and have already expanded their operation in that regard. Johann Bilsborough was added to the staff two years ago as the team’s director of sports science, after beginning his career working with rugby and Aussie rules football teams in his native Australia.
Several teams have gone in this direction, including the Philadelphia 76ers, who have entrusted their entire fitness and training operation to David Martin, a product of Australia’s acclaimed institute of sports science.
Nate Kees has a hands-on job as athletic trainer for the Humboldt Crabs.
At the Arcata Ball Park on a recent game day, pitcher Matt Richardson is stretched out on a folding table. With his fingertips, Kees is probing carefully along the player’s neck, massaging gently, twisting Richardson’s head from side to side.
“On days he throws, the pain spikes a bit,” Kees said. “We’re working to keep up his range of motion.”
For players like Richardson, it’s personalized therapy that makes a difference. “It helps big time,” he said.
With a shaved head, sunglasses, earrings in both lobes, Kees does not look like a typical sports medicine professional. He admitted he’s not the stereotype of a trainer – khaki pants, polo shirt, or with a manner that is overly “polite and proper.” He embraces his cowboy image.
When he talks, his hands constantly gesture. It’s a trait he inherited from his father. Both parents were Division I coaches in Montana, and his mom in California. Kees moved to Humboldt at age 19 in 1998 to attend HSU. He met his wife Amber here. They have three boys – Tanner, 8, Rylan, 6, and infant Jayon, barely 10 weeks old. They live in McKinleyville.
Kees is his ninth year of a regular gig as the athletic trainer for College of the Redwoods.
Andrew Aiello, the recruiting coach for Corsairs football program, was sitting eld side counting pitches for the Crabs. During the fall season, he coaches CR’s defensive line and special teams.
Aiello has coached professionally for 10 years. “Nate is one of the most knowledgeable trainers I’ve been around, but what separates him is how personable he is. From the moment you meet him, he makes you feel like you’re part of his own family. As a coach who is new to this community, that’s definitely a big deal. Every day I’m thankful we have Nate.”
Underrated asset for Crabs
Athletic trainers were underrated for decades. The American Medical Association recognized the importance of the role in 1990, but even today, therapeutic injury prevention and rehabilitation are often overlooked in the world of sports.
Aside from his unconventional – if definitely Humboldt – appearance, it’s not easy to overlook Nate Kees, even if he is not listed on the Crabs official roster.
Kees gets to know the guys on the team in ways no one else does. “It’s knowing what they’re feeling, what they like, what they don’t like, what they need before starts,” Kees said. “It’s getting to them know personally, so it’s borderline friendship but still professional. They can be candid with me because I don’t control their play time, I don’t control how many innings they throw.”
Sometimes players tell him things they don’t want anyone else to know. Other times, Kees is the intermediary between players who don’t want to be regarded as a crybaby or lacking in team spirit, and the coaches they do not want to disappoint.
“That way they’re not coming out in a way where they appear weak or giving up on the team or shying away from the pressure,” Kees said.
That bond of trust creates lasting friendships. “I still have guys, coaches and players, on the speed dial on my phone from years past. You’ve got to help somebody in one of their weakest moments.”
Kees has been an athletic trainer for the Crabs for a decade and half. He is in his ninth year with College of the Redwoods. He works with (or has served) Humboldt Roller Derby, Team USA Judo and Humboldt State University football. He can also be found taping the hands of the Lost Boys, the local mixed martial arts guys who participate in casino bouts.
Crabs baseball summer season is his opportunity to work with higher level athletes; Division I, Division II, and top level junior college ball players. During those 10 weeks, he can usually be found working on pitchers. “Pitching is one of the most violent sequences that a body can do,” Kees said. The duel with batters is the central element of the game, and that puts a uniquely heavy burden of pressure on pitchers – physically and mentally. When Kees observes a problem – a hitch in a throwing motion, a grimace of pain – he takes the initiative. “I’m a bit of a cowboy. They know that. I don’t wait for permission.”
Proud to pamper
It can be difficult for an athlete to admit being in persistent pain, so his assertiveness is appreciated by the Crabs. Kees regularly checks on players with aches and pains, and he follows his instincts if he thinks someone is silently hurting.
The athletes come from collegiate programs but usually do not get such pampering. With the Crabs, there is less pressure to hide injuries for fear of losing playing time or jeopardizing a scholarship.
Out of hundreds of Crabs players he has treated, Kees said he can count on one hand those who did not follow through with a specific treatment.
Kees is particularly happy to be working for first-year Crabs general manager Robin Guiver. They enjoy a close working relationship. “Robin is 100 percent behind me because he knows that coaches who send their guys here to play a position or as pitcher, those coaches know their guys are going to get taken care of.”
The 2017 season marks a maturation of Kees’ role with the Crabs. For his first five years with the ball club, he was the only athletic trainer. This year he enjoys a staff of two assistants.
He persuaded Lisa Martinez, a Sacramento State graduate, to help him for a year at College of the Redwoods. “She decided to stay,” he said, and she now contributes to the Crabs, as does Erica McMullen, a recent Humboldt State graduate in kinesiology and soccer player who is considering a master’s program in athletic training. It’s not com-monplace to see young women on staff as athletic trainers, and that is a source of satisfaction for Kees.
He also enjoys a close relationship with the local rivals of the Crabs, the Humboldt B52’s, and has recommended qualified trainers to that squad. But his heart and soul in summertime is with Arcata’s baseball bunch.
He is happy to be part of the Crabs 73-year tradition, especially his role in contributing to the positive relationships with colleges that act as feeder programs. “Summer after summer, we are getting guys who want to be here because of the Crabs reputation. Pitchers that work with me, they go home and tell other guys, ‘We get pampered, we get almost anything we want whenever we need it.’ Over the years, having those relationships has been really nice.”
Coaches will visit Arcata to see their guys play, and that includes checking on their health. Kees is involved in that conversation. And as the Crabs will sometimes get a ball player for more than one season, Kees has time to make a difference.
It’s a challenge he absolutely loves, not least because it forces him to continually learn and improve his craft. “Our bodies are very similar, but how we deal with the stress of our position, how we move, and the tendencies and patterns we fall into, those are different. It’s never going to be a textbook example of the same thing from person to person.”
Kees is always looking for insights – what he calls “pearls of information” about the human body. “The education process is never over.” With that, Kees moved on to work with another Crabs player, another hands-on experience for Humboldt’s uniquely qualified athletic trainer.
The Eastern League Double-A all-star game is Wednesday night in Manchester, N.H., and Bob Tarpey, a 1999 graduate of York High School, will be right in the middle of the action.
Tarpey is currently in his eighth season as athletic trainer of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, and will serve as the head trainer for the mid-summer classic at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
“It’s going to be awesome,” said Tarpey before Tuesday’s Home Run Derby. “We hosted this game back in 2011, that was good, and I am sure this will be just as good.”
The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., while a pre-game autograph session is scheduled from 4 to 5:45 p.m.
“I am pretty excited for (the game),” Tarpey said. “It will be pretty neat to see the players from around the league. Some people would love a three-day all-star break, but you never know how long you’re going to be doing this and you can’t take it for granted. It’s pretty neat to see that level of talent get together on the field.”
This is Tarpey’s fourth all-star game he has been a part of. His first was in 2008 in the Midwest League, and then the Double-A game in 2011, and most recently, being part of the 2015 Futures Game at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I’ve had some pretty good experiences with all-star games,” Tarpey said. “I am looking forward to this one, it’s nice to have it back at our home ball park. We’re going to get a lot of people at the stadium and a big crowd will be rocking, it should be a lot of fun.”
Tarpey, who played football, hockey and baseball at York, said being involved in the Futures Game and the Fisher Cats winning the Eastern League championship in 2011 are his career highlights.
“Two years have flown by (since the Futures game), that was an amazing experience in a great city with great people,” Tarpey said. “It’s certainly an elite memory that I hold a special place in my heart for.”
Rafael Devers, 20, is the top-rated prospect with the Boston Red Sox and is the youngest player in this year’s all-star game.
Tarpey and Devers shared a dugout two years ago in the Futures Game.
Tarpey will also be reunited with Jairo Labourt, a left-handed pitcher with the Erie SeaWolves of the Detroit Tigers organization. The Blue Jays dealt Labourt to the Tigers as part of the David Price trade in the summer of 2015.
Tarpey and Labourt were the lone Blue Jays representatives in the Futures Game; Labourt was traded about three weeks after the game.
“To be able to see (Labourt) go out there and dominate in Cincy was pretty special,” Tarpey said. “It will be fun to see him compete in another all-star game.”
Tarpey was voted the Midwest League athletic trainer of the year in 2008 when he worked with the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts. He is in his 10th year in the Blue Jays organization, the last eight with the Fisher Cats.
“The last eight years that I’ve had in New Hampshire have been nothing short of perfect,” Tarpey said. “I love working with the Fisher Cats, and have loved every minute here. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Blue Jays organization.
“If I get to the big leagues great, if not, then I am very glad I’ve been able to spend so many years with the Fisher Cats,” Tarpey continued. “They have been a first class organization and being able to spend eight years with one team, I am glad it was with the Fisher Cats, for sure.”
Portland Timbers Head Athletic Trainer and Director of Sports Medicine Nik Wald has resigned his position with the club.
The club did not announce the reason for Wald’s departure.
The resignation comes on the heels of a handful of injuries to key Timbers players, including Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell, who re-injured his quad last week in his first training session after missing three weeks with the same injury.
Wald had worked for the Timbers since 2007.
“On behalf of the club, I would like to thank Nik Wald for his many years of service and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” said Timbers General Manager and President of Soccer Gavin Wilkinson in a prepared statement.
T2 Head Athletic Trainer Taichi Kitagawa will join the Timbers first-team medical staff. The Timbers first-team medical staff also includes Director of Sports Science Nick Milonas, Athletic Trainer Alex Margarito and Performance Analyst Nick Lewis.
Article reposted from ESPN W
Author: Lynne Young, as told to Doug Williams
Lynne Young says she has four biological children and hundreds of “non-genetic” kids.
That’s how it is as a certified athletic trainer who takes care of scores of athletes at high schools all over the Anchorage, Alaska, area during the academic year, then spends her summers as an athletic trainer for the Alaska Baseball League’s Anchorage Bucs.
Young, who won the National Athletic Trainer Association’s Outstanding Athletic Training Service Award in 2016, began her 23-year career in the sports medicine field while she played volleyball and basketball at Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana-Lafayette).
“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Young, 48, recalls. “I love sports and I loved medicine and helping people, so my dad said, ‘Why don’t you combine them?’ I thought, ‘What a great idea.’ So I combined the two. I love my job.”
She tends to athletes of all ages and has worked all over the country, following her husband’s moves in the Navy. They lived in Louisiana, Texas, California and Florida before moving to Alaska, where Young grew up, 11 years ago. A decade ago, Orthopedic Physicians Alaska, a group that provides care for the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Valley areas, hired her. In her role, she helped Alaska adopt concussion legislation to protect student-athletes.
Young is one of six certified athletic trainers assigned to care for student-athletes at local high schools. Over the course of an academic year, she oversees all athletic trainers at OPA and works with boys and girls participating in football, hockey, basketball, volleyball, baseball and skiing at three schools. She teaches about injury prevention and health while tending to their injuries.
The past 10 summers she has worked for the Bucs, calling it “my dessert” because of her love for baseball and the incredible Alaskan summers. The Alaska Baseball League annually draws elite college talent — its notable alumni include Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Paul Goldschmidt. Players use wood bats to prep for a possible pro career.
For Young, being a certified athletic trainer is a year-round job with few breaks, but she still tries to carve out time for her family (with 16- and 15-year-old daughters and 9- and 6-year-old sons) and exercise (she’s a triathlete). Says Young: “It’s able to work, but you have to really keep a tight calendar.”
The story of her sports career, in her words:
Why summer ball?
Baseball, it’s just like life. There’s never a dull moment, and it’s short term. In Alaska we have 18 to 20 hours of daylight so you’re at the ball field almost the whole day and night. You have just under two months to be involved with these kids who are from all over the United States, and hopefully you make a positive impact. You get to be integrated and care for these athletes and they become part of your family. Then summer is over and so is your baseball family.
Work routine
If it’s not a day game, I’m either doing rehab work with them or we’re trying to arrange care for illnesses or injuries. I arrange schedules, appointments, and facilitate communication between care here in Alaska and their providers and family back home. For a 7 o’clock game, we show up at the ball field at 4, do some taping, preventative things, set up the field and watch the game, which can go anywhere from 2½ to 4 hours. If there’s an injury, you take care of that. After that you clean up and say, “See you tomorrow.”
A lot of these young athletes, especially male athletes, think if they do more they will definitely get better … You have to tell them, ‘Your body needs rest to recover as well.’
Lynne Young
The ailments
You hope nobody gets hurt. You try to prevent injuries, working to maintain their arm strength and preventing those overuse-type, upper-extremity injuries, shoulders and elbows. They’re just coming off a college season where they played 60, 70 games and we’re throwing them back into another 50, so we’re trying to manage that. They get hit by pitches and they have contusions. Every once in a while you’ll have something more substantial, fractures or dislocations.
Athletic trainer, confidante, mom
You travel with them, you’re on the road with them, so they do become your family. I’m not one of the coaches — even though I’m part of the staff — but they do rely on me to help them through an injury, and sometimes I’m the person they can confide in. Baseball’s such a mental game. You have to bounce back.
Sights beyond the diamond
We try to show them Alaska, too. This may be their only time they’ll ever be here. One of our road trips is to Kenai, about a three-hour drive, and we get them down to experience fishing for salmon. On days off we try to give them additional Alaskan experiences like rafting, hiking and enjoying the culture.
Staying in touch
I tend to follow these young men after they leave, too. I find myself texting them after a while, “Hey, I saw you went 2-for-3 last night, great job!” or say to them, “How come you’re not playing?” They tell you they had this injury and then you help them through it, even after they leave. So I have probably 300 kids I keep track of. What’s equally fun is I occasionally get these texts, “Hey, here’s a wedding announcement,” or “I just had my first baby,” so it’s fun.
Rewarding times
Watching the team win the Alaska Baseball League a couple of years ago was memorable, just being a part of that. And seeing them overcome day-to-day things. Even watching how they struggle and adjust to wood bats. But most enjoyable for me, we’ve had some athletes that have gotten hurt and had to leave for surgery and they’ve come back the next year and gone on to successful careers. That’s great. It’s not just overcoming surgery or rehab, but the mental aspect. To hope you had a little part in it is extremely satisfying.
The road (back) to Alaska
Gary Lichtenstein/Anchorage Bucs
Some of Lynne Young’s players will stay in touch with her when they leave Alaska and begin their pro careers, which she finds rewarding.
I grew up in Kodiak, but wanted to see something different, which is why I went to college in Louisiana. I did an athletic training internship in college, then became a graduate assistant for sports medicine at the University of Louisiana, then got a full-time position there. I fell in love, married my husband and we went to Corpus Christi (Texas), where I worked at a high school for three years. In California I did outreach in sports medicine outside San Diego. In Florida I taught in the athletic training and physical therapy department at the University of North Florida. I’m an Alaskan by heart, so I always wanted to come back here and live.
Working with the high schools
Alaska didn’t have a lot of athletic trainers providing outreach care, so in the last 10 years we’ve tried to build that up. I have a group of six of us that I oversee and we help cover the community. It’s the kids you love, no matter if it’s a sport you really love or don’t care for. The greatest reward is just hoping to make a difference of healthy lifestyles and protecting kids from injuries.
Message: Be smart
I teach about hydration, rest, proper stretching and taking care of their bodies. A lot of these young athletes, especially male athletes, think if they do more they will definitely get better, so they put in long hours in the weight room and then are on the field hours and hours. You have to tell them, “Your body needs rest to recover as well. You’re going to break it down.”
Concussion work
All 50 states now have a concussion law that passed in 2011. It’s legislation to protect kids that sustain a head injury, making sure they’re adequately evaluated by trained medical professionals to not put them in harm’s way by ensuring there’s education about the risk of concussions and making sure that properly trained healthcare professionals manage their recovery. The third component is making sure they’ve gone through a safe return to play before we throw them back into an activity.
Tri time
I stay active. Every once in a while I’ll grab a glove and I’ll just play catch with some of the Bucs or catch for the coaches when they’re doing BP. I do a lot of jogging and sprint triathlons, about two or three a year. That’s how I keep my sanity. I work out in the morning, very early. If I get six or seven hours of sleep, that’s a good night. There’s plenty of time to sleep down the road.
The Los Angeles Lakers head trainer grew up a huge fan . . . of the Dodgers.
Big dreams aren’t limited to the athletes on a basketball court. Sometimes the people on the sidelines, like Lakers head athletic trainer Marco Nuñez, have big aspirations.
“Being an L.A. kid, I thought, Why can’t I work for the Lakers?” Nunez recalled. “If I want to work with the best, that should be my ultimate goal.”
His roots
Nuñez was raised as an L.A. Dodgers fan, living with his family in a residence on the corner of Adams and Vermont, less than a mile away from the Staples Center.
“When I was young, all I knew was baseball,” Nuñez explained. “My dad wasn’t a basketball or football fan. He grew up in Mexico, played in the Mexican league.”
When the Nuñez family went to Dodgers games, Marco’s father had a certain tradition.
“My dad would always take his radio with him, and he would listen to [Spanish-language broadcaster] Jaime Jarrin while we were watching the game,” said Nuñez.
When young Marco reached his teens, the Lakers became the first team he followed after he started playing basketball.
“I decided to venture out and explore other teams,” said Nuñez, who promptly checked out the TV schedule for Lakers games and then set aside time to watch the team and learn the nuances of the game. “I knew the Lakers were a huge team in L.A.”
He became a fan of the Lakers, yet Nuñez stayed true to his first love of baseball, lettering in the sport at Bishop Mora Salesian High School in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of L.A.
“Basketball was a weekend-warrior thing,” Nuñez acknowledged.
His influence
When Nuñez started college at Cal Poly Pomona, he was motivated partly by representing his Hispanic roots in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field of civil engineering.
“There weren’t that many Latinos in engineering,” Nuñez pointed out. “I did it about a year and a half, and I didn’t like it. I was trying to figure out what else to do.”
Once again, Nuñez struck out on his own to discover what really appealed to him. He found it when he attended a lecture given by Ky Kugler.
“I give [athletic training talks] and do a lot of recruitment and mentoring,” said Kugler, now a professor of athletics training at Chapman University.
Nuñez was immediately intrigued by how Kugler described his profession, emphasizing that communication skills and empathy are as important as kinesthetic knowledge.
“The individuals that you work with have to know that you have a vested interest in their safety.” Kugler said. “People don’t care how much you know if you don’t care about them first.”
“[Kugler] invited me to shadow him for a week,” Nuñez recalled. “After that time, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Kugler, who noted he has also mentored Jasen Powell, the current head athletic trainer of local rival Los Angeles Clippers, says Nuñez was committed once he chose the career.
“I’m proud that I had a small investment in his future and that he recalled the talk that I gave,” Kugler said. “He stayed the course with the Lakers.”
Nuñez put in time as an athletic trainer for the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, as well as the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League. Still, working for the Lakers remained the ultimate objective.
“My goal was the top professional level,” explained Nuñez. “Being from Southern California, why wouldn’t I want to work where I lived and grew up?”
“Everywhere we go, I try to find good Mexican food. It’s tough in Milwaukee.”
Marco Nuñez, head athletic trainer, Los Angeles Lakers
In the 2008-09 season, Nuñez joined the Lakers staff as an assistant athletic trainer, working under Gary Vitti. Vitti has a well-established reputation, serving as head athletic trainer for 32 years and recommending Nuñez as his replacement before departing last year.
“If you have longevity in a position, you develop relationships with people,” Kugler, a close friend of Vitti’s, observed. “Athletic trainers are a sounding board … a go-between [for] athletes and the coaching staff. They become a confidant. They do a lot of role-modeling. They do a lot of mentoring along the way.”
His trust
Players trust Nuñez to help whenever they need it. Lakers forward Julius Randle passed Nuñez the phone when his fiancée, Kendra Shaw, called after the pregnant Shaw felt faint one day while the team was on a road trip across the country. Nuñez, who has three children of his own, spoke to Shaw, calming her down by assuring her that dizziness was a normal symptom before labor. He then helped arrange a flight for Randle to return quickly to his fiancée’s side. A healthy Kyden Randle was born on December 23, 2016.
“The one big thing I learned from Gary was that you’re kind of a big brother to them,” Nuñez said. “The trust is there, not just for the medical, but with every aspect.”
Still, there are limits.
“As head trainer, I have to keep that professional distance,” explained Nuñez. “You won’t see me at the club.”
Instead, he usually bonds with players by sharing meals on the road.
“Everywhere we go, I try to find good Mexican food,” Nuñez mentioned. “It’s tough in Milwaukee.”
Though it isn’t easy being away from his family, especially on holidays, history buff Nuñez also appreciates the opportunities travel with the team offers.
“We go check out the local sites,” Nuñez noted. “In Philadelphia, I went to see Independence Hall.”
His profession
There’s a lot of pressure involved in any position of such a high-profile team as the Lakers, but especially on the person who often decides if the players can perform in a game or not. Too often, competitive players are willing to risk making an injury worse by continuing to play.
“The higher level an athlete is and the more money that is involved, sometimes they become their own worst enemy when it comes to health care,” Kugler opined. “They have high-level salaries and status in society, and they’ll do a lot of things to protect that.”
It helps Nuñez to have a good working relationship with Lakers head coach Luke Walton, one that goes back to Walton’s time as a player when Nuñez first joined the organization. In one of his first acts of employment, Nuñez taped Walton’s knee, which suffered from tendinitis. Nuñez never forgot Walton speaking appreciatively to him and welcoming him to the team.
“I was never good enough as a player to get Gary Vitti’s time,” Walton said on the show Backstage Lakers. “He was reserved for Kobe [Bryant], Pau [Gasol], Lamar [Odom]. So it was me and Nuñez grinding away in the training room.”
“He got the job as head coach before I got the trainer job,” Nuñez revealed, mentioning how knowing Walton would lead the team motivated him even more. “I thought, ‘I have to get the head trainer job.'”
Now the two interact on a daily basis, working together to get the most out of the Lakers roster.
“Every morning, we discuss the status of every player,” Nuñez said. “We’re in constant communication.”
“The travel, the hours, do they sometimes stink — yes,” Kugler said, before praising the perseverance of Nuñez as an athletic trainer. “Marco is a great example. He went through many, many stops and long hours. You have to have a passion for what you do.”
Article reposted from Bedford Bulletin
Author: Melanie Schumilas
Not many people can say they are working their dream job, but Bedford native Joe Sharpe certainly can.
Joe Sharpe has been the head trainer of OKC Thunder since 2008.
“The running joke between me and my mother was that I was going to watch sports my whole life and get paid for it,” said Sharpe, who is currently the head trainer for the OKC Thunder.
Sharpe opted to “watch sports for a living” instead of playing them due to a myriad of injuries he suffered as a triple-sport athlete at Liberty HS. Sharpe’s struggles with reoccurring injuries inadvertently sparked his interest in athletic training.
“When it’s just a coach taking care of you, you realize there has to be a better way,” said Sharpe about the lack of athletic training staff in high school. “There has to be a better way than a coach telling you to put your foot in an ice bucket.”
After doing a research project about sports medicine in his high school English Composition class, Sharpe decided to continue studying the topic at Old Dominion University. He completed his bachelor degree in sports medicine education with a emphasis in athletic training and also received his master’s degree from ODU in 1993.
During his time at ODU, Sharpe got his first hands-on experience with athletic training.
He mainly worked with baseball and men’s and women’s tennis, but he dabbled in assisting basketball, rugby and soccer. To gain experience with football, Sharpe had to travel to Norfolk State University to work with their football team since ODU didn’t have a team.
Although Sharpe has been working in professional basketball for 15 years, he didn’t think this was the sport he’d end up working in.
“I thought coming out of college and doing my internships in the NFL that football was where I wanted to go,” said Sharpe, referring to the summer internship he did with the Cleveland Browns. “My goal was to work for the NFL and with a NFL team and then retire in the NFL, but now that all changed and basketball is my passion. I really enjoy what I’m doing now.”
After graduating from ODU, Sharpe began his journey into the NBA at the University of Connecticut, where he served as the head basketball athletic trainer for nine years. During his stint with the Huskies, Sharpe got to witness their 1999 NCAA Championship season. He also received a valuable piece of advice from UConn’s football coach, Randy Edsall.
“He told me ‘Make sure they know you care abut them, and then teach them how they can take care of themselves,’” reiterated Sharpe. “That was the best piece of advice I ever received.”
After nearly a decade with the Huskies, Sharpe broke into the NBA by becoming the assistant trainer and strength and conditioning coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2002.
“It was different in many ways,” said Sharpe of his transition from working in college basketball to professional basketball. “It’s a different approach. I was a little intimidated because the media can sometimes paint a bad picture of a player, so I didn’t know what to expect. But once the cameras are gone, they’re just like you and me… They like to have a laugh, they like to have fun and enjoy what they’re doing.”
Sharpe enjoyed two years of work with the Timberwolves, which included their Midwest Division title and run to the Western Conference finals.
Sharpe then moved on the the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004 where he became the head athletic trainer.
“It was interesting to go from a team like Minnesota that’s already been established, to a team that’s a start up,” said Sharpe on his move to Charlotte. “The community had lost a team and then had gotten it back for the first time. I had a chance to kind of establish things early and keep things going. I’ve seen an arena go from the ground to the ceiling and been a part of planning out my space in the building. That was cool.”
Sharpe spent four years with the Bobcats before landing at his latest job. In the summer of 2008, Sharpe had already verbally committed to becoming an assistant trainer for the Washington Wizards, but a surprise phone call from the OKC Thunder changed his plans.
“It was an opportunity to be a head trainer instead of an assistant,” explained Sharpe. “I also had a young family and I didn’t think living in Washington was going to be the best thing for them.”
Sharpe joined the Thunder at the same time Russell Westbrook did, and he said despite the media’s portrayal of Westbrook, he’s one of the nicest guys he’s met. Sharpe considers forging friendships with the players he trains and works with one of the favorite aspects of his jobs.
“We have great people to work with and I’ve developed great friendships over the years,” said Sharpe. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with big names in college such as Ray Allen, and then Kevin Garnett in Minnesota to Russell Westbrook… All men I consider to be better people than basketball players.”
Besides working for NBA teams for 15 years, Sharpe has been an integral part of USA Basketball since 2002. Through USA Basketball, he travelled to Venezuela in 2002 with the USA Basketball Junior National Team and then in 2008 to Thailand for The University World Games.
Sharpe also had the honor of working with the 2012 and 2016 USA Basketball Olympic Teams. Working with Coach K, a man he had admired for many years, and winning his first Olympic gold medal in London, are two memories he cherishes.
Evidently, Sharpe has been quite busy over the past few summers, which can pose a challenge to maintaining a balanced family life.
“The biggest thing I do when I’m home is that I’m home… That means I try to leave my phone away as much as possible,” said Sharpe in regards to finding the balance between a rigorous work schedule and being a family man. “Whatever the kids or my wife Jennifer want to do, I make sure I follow their schedule. When I’m home, I just want to be present.”
Strong family values are something that was instilled in Sharpe as a young boy growing up in Bedford. Sharpe said the lessons he learned from small town life are ones he still carries today in his everyday life.
“One, be respectful to others. Two, there’s nothing wrong with a hard day’s work. The values I learned as a kid were phenomenal and that hasn’t changed in me,” said Sharpe. “I wish the job was closer to Bedford, so I could be more there to share it with the folks. But, then again, I left a small town, but the small town never left me. No matter where I am, I’m still the little kid from Bedford.”
Article reposted from Panorama
Author: Adriana M. Chavez
For baseball fans, summer means long days and hot nights at the ballpark, taking in the smells of hot dogs and roasted peanuts, the sound of bats cracking as they hit a home run and the sight of a ball soaring high over the park walls.
Behind the scenes, athletic trainers are busy making sure your favorite athletes are healthy, warmed up and ready for action. Among the best in Major League Baseball are four athletic trainers who are also graduates of New Mexico State University, where they gained valuable knowledge that they still use daily. They crossed paths while attending the university, and continue to do so now whenever their teams face each other on the field.
Rays Head Athletic Trainer Ron Porterfield plays
an important role in keeping the team healthy.
PHOTOS BY SKIP MILOS / TAMPA BAY RAYS
Ron Porterfield
A native of Santa Fe, Ron Porterfield ’88 came to NMSU as a walk-on player for the football team. He played for two seasons, followed by two seasons as a walk-on for the baseball team. He’s now the head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Rays, and has worked with legends such as Nolan Ryan, Wade Boggs, Evan Longoria and Craig Biggio, just to name a few. Porterfield says the athletic training program at NMSU gave him tremendous opportunities beyond the classroom. While still a student, he received permission to leave classes in the early spring of 1988 to work for the Houston Astros for the summer. His goal had been to go to physical therapy school, but Houston asked him to stay on full time. Instead, he returned to NMSU and earned his degree before returning to the Astros full time. He credits the trainers he learned from at NMSU with his success. “The athletic training program that I worked under was special,” Porterfield says. “So many of the students I was involved with went on to work in professional baseball.”
Ken Crenshaw, second from right, watches the pitchers’ and catchers’ first workout before spring training in Arizona. PHOTOS BY SARAH SACKS/ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Ken Crenshaw
Ken Crenshaw ’90 has been the head athletic trainer for the Arizona Diamondbacks for the past 11 seasons. Crenshaw, originally from Carrizozo, N.M., hired Porterfield when Crenshaw was the head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Rays in 1997.
His father, Bobby Dan Crenshaw, played football for the Aggies and the Philadelphia Eagles, and Ken Crenshaw was interested in going down the sports route as well.
“I got hurt when I was a junior in high school. We didn’t have athletic trainers where we were at and my dad said, ‘Why don’t you go down and talk to (former NMSU head trainer) George Westbrook?’” Crenshaw says. “One of my coaches took me down there and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ That was my first taste of New Mexico State and sports medicine.”
While at NMSU, Crenshaw spent a lot of time in the training room following a ligament injury, and soon realized he wanted to be an athletic trainer. Crenshaw counts former NMSU head athletic trainer Ricky Mendini as another inspiration, along with some of his classmates, including Matt Lucero.
Matt Lucero
Matt Lucero ’93, a native of Santa Fe, initially came to NMSU without knowing what he was going to study. “I really liked the campus,” Lucero says. “The people were tremendous and the classes I started taking were really intriguing.”
Lucero, who is in his 11th season as the assistant athletic trainer for the Texas Rangers, was initially studying astronomy. Fortunately for him, his college roommate was Porterfield’s younger brother.
“Ron came over to our dorm room one day and asked what I was studying,” Lucero says. “He asked me how I liked it, and I told him the physics and the chemistry were really getting to me because that stuff’s really hard. And he said, ‘Why don’t you try sports medicine?’”
Lucero said that although he didn’t know a lot about sports medicine, he instantly fell in love with it. “The human body intrigues me, and when I started to learn about it, it just captured me,” Lucero says. “It made classes that much easier, because my interest levels were at a peak and it came really easily.” After graduating from NMSU, Lucero worked at private clinics before deciding he was ready to try some-thing different.
“I was hired by the Tampa Bay Rays,” Lucero says. “Watching Ken and Ron and the success they had, it kind of made the drive in me even stronger.”
Matt Lucero, right, works with Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo on various warmup exercises during spring training in Arizona.
PHOTOS BY KELLY GAVIN/TEXAS RANGERS
Nathan Lucero
Nathan Lucero ’92 (no relation to Matt) didn’t want to stay in his hometown of Las Vegas, N.M., after graduating high school, so he followed his older brother to NMSU. Lucero is now an assistant athletic trainer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Like Crenshaw, Lucero’s high school didn’t have athletic trainers. While playing high school football, Lucero would watch athletic trainers come in from other schools to work with injured players and saw how the players trusted trainers with their injuries. “I knew I wasn’t going to be an athlete, but I loved sports, and NMSU had a tremendous sports medicine program and still does,” Lucero says. Lucero’s advice to students interested in sports medicine? “Take in as much as you can from your mentors,” he says. “You can learn a lot just from being a fly on the wall. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.”
Nathan Lucero warms up before the Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres game on April 3, 2017.
PHOTOS BY JON SOOHOO/LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Chris Hofley sits down with Head Athletic Therapist Marcelo Cuenca to talk about how he found his way to Ottawa, what he loves about his job and what goes into keeping a team of football players healthy.
REDBLACKS: Where did the journey to becoming the REDBLACKS’ Head Athletic Therapist start for you?
Marcelo Cuenca: I was raised in Toronto and grew up in Vaughan before heading to school at York University, which was close by. I studied kinesiology initially and they offered a concurrent program in athletic therapy, so I did the combination of the two and spent six years at York.
REDBLACKS: Is that where you got your first taste of working with a pro sports team?
Cuenca: Yeah, in my program at York we did a lot of internships, working with universities and working in a clinical setting. In my last year, in 2010, I worked with the Toronto Argonauts. That’s where I got my foot in the door with the CFL.
REDBLACKS: Had you always wanted to be an athletic therapist?
Cuenca: I knew I wanted to be in health care and work in sports, somehow. Through the program at York, I came to love the profession and realized it was geared towards m own goals. I knew from my first year that the Argos full season internship was a big deal – they take four students for training camp and they kept one on all season. So it worked out pretty well.
REDBLACKS: Can we assume sports played a role in your life growing up?
Cuenca: For sure, but it was mainly soccer and martial arts – karate initially and now Muay Thai. But I didn’t grow up with football, I got into it through my job.
REDBLACKS: So from York University to working for the Argos…how did you find your way to Ottawa?
Cuenca: Getting jobs in athletic therapy is pretty tough and I was lucky enough to get a contract out of school working with Carleton University’s varsity teams. I was also fortunate to work with the Ottawa Senators at the same time. I had these two opportunities that I amalgamated to give me full time work for the year. After the NHL lockout and working in a clinic and at Carleton, Dave Wright was hired as the head of OSEG Athletic Therapy in 2014 and I got in touch and got the assistant job working under Dave.
REDBLACKS: Speaking of Dave Wright, he has moved onto the next chapter of his career and you have taken over the head athletic therapist job. What did you learn as Dave’s assistant along the way to help you prepare for the new responsibility?
Cuenca: Dave taught me a lot in terms of skills, no question, like rehab work, on-field management and in the clinic. But more than that, he taught me the other side of this job, the admin side.
You’re dealing with player insurance and working with all the different specialists, doctors, diagnostics, coordinating all that. Every player that signs with the club has to have medical before stepping onto the field and we regularly have new guys coming in, so that’s a big deal.
REDBLACKS: What’s the grossest injury you have seen in your line of work?
Cuenca: Every season there’s pretty bad knee injuries and bad fractures and they’re always concerning. But one that was really gnarly was a contusion one of our players had on his forehead. When he went to make a tackle, his helmet wasn’t on properly so most of the contact occurred at his forehead.
He didn’t fracture his skull or anything and cognitively he was good, but he had a massive bruise or hematoma above his eye. It was scary because it looked like something had shifted, but it was just the fluid, because your scalp there’s so much pressure that builds there and it’s very vascular, so it literally looked like a tennis ball above his eye. It was instant.
REDBLACKS: What do you like most about your job?
Cuenca: I love game day, no question. We work really hard and long hours for it and it feels like it’s all worth it on that one day of the week. We play a very small role but it is pretty cool when our team – there’s going to be four athletic therapists this season – see everyone’s hard work pay off, like seeing a player come back from a long-term injury.
REDBLACKS: What’s the toughest part of your job?
Cuenca: In pro sports, your time is spread very thin, especially during the season. There’s no days off, so you miss a lot of personal events. That’s the hardest part, no question. up early no problem. The hours are tough but more so I feel bad for my family, my wife. You feel a bit guilty sometimes but I know this is my calling and she supports me.
The REDBLACKS 2017 mini-camp kicks off Thursday, April 27 and all training sessions are open to the public. For more information, please click here.
USTA Pro Circuit http://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Hardees-Pro-Classic-competitors-receive-excellent-medical-care-by-veteran-athletic-trainer-420119723.html
Athletes, of course, need top medical care.
That’s why the USTA Pro Circuit sends a certified athletic trainer to every tournament they host. And it’s like a revolving door in the training room at Westgate Tennis Center with pro players coming in and out to receive treatments from trainer Sheri Hedlund.
Hedlund has worked for the U.S. Tennis Association since 1998. She’s based in Seattle, Washington and travels to about six to seven tournaments each year. Hedlund carefully tends to a variety of medical needs of Pro Circuit players. She says the majority of her time is spent performing joint mobilizations and would care, as well as, you guessed it, managing shoulder injuries. Hedlund estimates she’ll perform roughly thirty athletic treatments each day during this week’s tournament. It’s her job to help keep players healthy despite their demanding match and travel schedules.
Hedlund says she takes great pride in helping these young athletes stay sharp on their professional tennis journey.
“These ladies are an incredible group of young women to work with,” said Hedlund. “I’m always a better human after I’ve been able to work a tournament because it brings everything back into focus. They work so hard. If I can offer a little bit to help make their journey be a little better that makes it worthwhile to me.”
Interesting to note, besides her twenty years at USTA, Hedlund has also served as a trainer for both the Seattle Storm and the Seattle Sonics.
