Category: Secondary School

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Colorado Physician: Athletic Trainers a Must in Schools

Article reposted from The Pueblo Chieftan
Author: Jon Pompia

A local physician who has long volunteered his services at area high school sporting contests believes certified athletic trainers should be mandatory at Pueblo City Schools’ (D60) four high schools.

Rocky Khosla, a medical doctor with expertise in sports medicine, said D60 should follow the lead of Pueblo County School District 70 and make full-time certified trainers a staffing requirement.

At present, there is one certified trainer and one first-aid responder (non-certified but with training experience) at each of D60’s four high schools.

But the trainer positions are part-time or extra-time, meaning that an educator may fill that role as an additional duty, as an example.

“But all major/physical contact sports have a trainer at all events,” said Rick Macias, D60 athletic director. “In addition to this, many doctors volunteer their time to cover all football games at Dutch Clark Stadium, with American Medical Response present at all athletic contests played at the stadium.”

Dalton Sprouse, D60 communications director, said East, Central and South high schools “are in the process of hiring a certified trainer, but the job pool is limited.

“At this time, however, funding four full-time positions to serve solely as a certified trainer is not a feasible option for us.”

In District 70, the starting salary of a certified trainer is similar to that of a first-year teacher, with job duties to include training, evaluation and injury prevention.

Khosla said D60’s “patchwork quilt” approach to athletic training ultimately falls short, potentially endangering students injured in action.

“Some are certified, some are not. Some are EMTs, some are not,” Khosla said of D60’s trainer corps. “And they are well-intended, don’t get me wrong. But the truth is that certified athletic trainers have to go through a really rigorous curriculum, so you know you have a standard of what to expect.”

There is no Colorado High School Activities Association requirement that certified trainers be on-site during athletic contests or practices, Khosla said. In fact, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association reports that “no state has legislation that requires every high school to have an athletic trainer,” despite several instances in which athletes have been fatally injured during games and practice sessions.

Khosla said several organizations he supports, including the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the NATA, have long pushed for a full-time trainer requirement.

“The majority of high schools do not have certified athletic trainers,” Khosla said. “And I think CHSAA did not want to make that requirement because of the financial drain on schools. But why can’t CHSAA say, ‘If you have enough kids to have a Class 3A or higher team, you should have the finances to hire a certified athletic trainer.'”

And while Khosla praised the presence of AMR at D60 contests, he added, “Those people are well-trained for emergencies and the big catastrophic events, but not necessarily for bumps, lumps and concussions, as examples.”

 

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Grand Rapids High School adds a full-time athletic trainer

Article reposted from Hometownfocus.us
Author: Hometownfocus.us

Grand Itasca Clinic & Hospital announced the addition of full-time athletic trainer, Ashley Palmer, ATC, at Grand Rapids High School. She is originally from Floodwood, MN, and attended Bemidji State University where she got her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science degree. She then went on to get her Masters of Athletic Training from North Dakota State University. Before coming to Grand Rapids, Palmer worked for Essentia-St. Josephs in Brainerd where she was the head athletic trainer working at Brainerd High School.

Palmer is employed by Grand Itasca, but works full-time at Grand Rapids High School. She provides sideline practice and game coverage, evaluates and treats injuries and coordinates rehabilitation plans with the injured athletes’ health care teams. She is also responsible for conducting baseline concussion tests. If an athlete sustains a concussion, this test helps to determine when they are back to their “baseline” and, thus, ready to return to their sports.

The addition of Palmer at the high school continues a long-standing tradition of Grand Itasca therapists and doctors providing sideline coverage at Grand Rapids sporting events. For more than 20 years, a team of physical therapists and physicians has provided game-day sports medicine care at Grand Rapids High School and for 17 years that same team has provided coverage at Itasca Community College. The full-time position allows for more practice coverage, more training room time and greater depth of game coverage than ever before.

“Every year we have done more and more at the high school. The addition of a full-time athletic trainer really brings the care for our athletes to the next level,” says Gerry Wyland, Grand Itasca rehab director.

Anne Campbell, ISD 318 athletic director says, “Ashley brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our school and athletes. She has already proven to be an invaluable asset. The school leadership, students, coaches and parents are ecstatic that she’s here. We are very excited to call Grand Itasca our ‘Official Provider of Sports Medicine Services.’”

For more information about sports medicine services provided by Grand Itasca, visit www.granditasca.org.

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Few Oklahoma schools have athletic trainers, which could prove dangerous for student athletes

Article reposted from ABC 8 Tulsa
Author: Charles Ely


The Oklahoma Athletic Trainers Association is conducting a campaign to improve the safety of high school athletes.

That group reports 9 percent of Oklahoma high schools have trainers on staff and less than 30 percent have access to a professional trainer.

They said that ranks us last in the U.S. where the average is almost 75 percent.

In Jenks, they have a full training staff and facilities. That district has made the investment because sports injuries can have long-term consequences if not handled properly.

Head athletic trainer Michael Catterson says that starts immediately after an injury takes places.

Catterson said, “In the case of broken bones, if they’re not splinted properly they can cause more damage. Concussion on the sidelines or cervical neck injuries, a lot of times in our profession we have to prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

He said those injuries that get fast and proper care tend to heal more quickly.

At peak times in Jenks, they can be treating 60 or 70 of 1,000 kids who take part in sports.

Since good care up front is crucial, this state’s trainers are pushing to get more help on the sidelines.

Darren Lunow is the president of the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers Association and he said schools have done it during the budget crisis.

Lunlow said, “They’ve filled some of their science or math teaching positions with athletic trainers. They’ve likewise brought athletic trainers in as risk management for their entire district. They’ve seen their liability insurance go down.”

There’s also a trade off in the fact that the more care the school provides the less it costs the parents.

Having care on campus is very efficient for everyone. It means fewer trips to a doctor’s office and more time with the books.

Catterson said, “They don’t have to miss school to get their therapeutic exercise. They can do it here during sixth hour or before school.”

Only about half the schools in the Tulsa metro have athletic trainers.

Lunlow said the farther you go from our big cities, the lower the number.

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National soccer team athletic trainer Yoshi Ono tends to Plymouth High School players

Article reposted from  Sheboygan Press
Author: 

The smell of sweat hung in the air as athletic trainer Yoshi Ono moved from athlete to athlete, taping muscles, bandaging feet and massaging muscles — all in preparation for the Plymouth High School soccer game later that evening.

Then Ono boarded a flight bound for New Jersey, where he would repeat the ritual, but this time on members of the United States national men’s soccer team.

As an athletic trainer, Yoshi Ono makes it his mission to help athletes be their best.

Whether its students at Plymouth High School or the nation’s top athletes on the United States men’s soccer team, Ono is on the sidelines ready to tend a pulled muscle or wrap a sore ankle.

“Their success is obviously our success,” he said of being an athletic trainer. “We have a huge impact on how successful athletes are. We try to make sure everyone is available to be out on the field.”

The Aurora athletic trainer leads something of a double life in the profession. He works with students at Plymouth High School through his job with Aurora but also freelances regularly with the nation’s top athletes, who are currently prepping for World Cup qualifying matches.

“It’s one of the biggest honors I could get called into,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve been called into the final qualifiers.”

This week, Ono is working with the U.S. athletes on strength and condition before their first qualifying match against Costa Rica on Sept. 1. From there, the team will fly to Honduras for its second match Sept. 5. If the team does well, it’ll advance to the World Cup next summer in Russia — and Ono hopes he’s invited along.

“Hopefully we qualify. My long-term goal has always been to go to a World Cup or the Olympics and be one of the athletic trainers there,” he said.

As an athletic trainer, Ono is a health care professional often spotted on the sidelines during games, but his role involves more than just treating injuries on the field. Ono said his main goal is to stop injuries before they happen through proper training and conditioning of athletes both before and after a game.

Ono began working with professional athletes out of college, first with junior and youth development teams, and later with Minnesota United FC and the national U.S. men’s team.

Ono said he recently relocated to Sheboygan County to focus on his family and travel less, and he said he wants to give back to the community by taking what he’s learned with the pros and applying it in Plymouth.

“Pretty much what I do with the (national) team I try to do here,” he said. “I don’t want to call them guinea pigs, but what works with the national team I want to bring here. That’s my way of thanking the community for allowing me to do this.”

Of course, there are differences between the two jobs. With the professional teams, Ono said he spends a half hour or more tending to one athlete, while the high school athletes require less one-on-one attention.

“With so many sports here, you can get stretched thin,” he said. “I barely have enough time to tape everybody, then there’s treatment and rehab. It can be frustrating, because you can’t do everything to everybody.”

Ono said he enjoys working with athletes of all skill levels and was humbled to be asked to help the national team this year. Long term, he said he will keep working hard — with his eyes set on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

“I’m actually Japanese, so I’m really hopeful I can make it there,” he said. “I think ultimately I have to keep working hard and, as long as I do the right thing, I’ll get the opportunity.”

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South Carolina Athletic Trainers Take Part in Fentanyl Training

Article reposted from WMBF News
Author: Meredith Helline

WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

The people taking care of student-athletes have received a special type of training to be proactive against one of the biggest epidemics sweeping the country.

Athletic trainers with Horry County Schools learned how to safely identify, handle and report any questionable substance found in school during training with Grand Strand Hospital and the Horry County Police Department.

Dr. Jim Berry is a teacher and the head athletic trainer with Conway High School. He said he and a few others decided to team up with an emergency room doctor and narcotics police officers to better train athletic trainers as the drug epidemic becomes more evident in communities.

Fentanyl is causing overdoses across the nation, even leading to accidental overdoses by non-drug users who come in contact with it.  Berry said finding drugs in school athletic facilities is not an issue in the county, but it’s a big enough issue in the community to work with other leaders to help solve the problem.

Berry said athletic trainers often serve as the primary health provider for student-athletes in the county.

“I know, personally, I monitor very carefully our athletes that have had some sort of surgical procedure and have been prescribed pain medication because we want to get them off that pain medication as quickly as we can because it is so addictive,” Berry said. “And our physicians that we work with are very good about that as well.”

Berry said Horry County Schools’ 21 athletic trainers also help in battling the drug epidemic by getting student-athletes off of post-surgery pain medications as soon as possible.

Only the school nurse has permission to administer a prescription during school, as students cannot carry them, according to Berry.

Fentanyl can be deadly. Berry said from now on, questionable substances found will only be handled by administrators if necessary, and gloves will be worn.  Otherwise, it will be reported and police will be called.

“Because if it’s laced with fentanyl, all you got to do is touch that pill and you’ll have (an) almost immediate overdose because of the skin uptake. So what we have cautioned, and what Sgt. delPercio cautioned us to do, is if we come across an unknown substance – a pill, a powder, whatever – is to use extreme caution when dealing with that stuff.,” Berry said.

This is the first times athletic trainers have taken part in a fentanyl informational course.  Berry said he thinks other teachers and staffs would benefit from it as well.

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The 12th Man

Article reposted from Georgia Public Broadcasting
Author: Sam Crenshaw

They are a vital part of Football Fridays In Georgia; although, they seldom come onto the field. They are present on the sidelines and if all goes well, they will remain there throughout the night. Certified athletic trainers have become a necessary part of the high school football scene. A trained healthcare professional can provide an advantage that makes them more like a 12th man to the team that they serve, but it wasn’t always that way.

For many years there was nobody with any medical training on the sidelines during high school football games. Most of the time it was a coach, maybe the head coach, who had to decide if the player continued to play after an injury. Wrapping and taping was basically what they did, but the role of trainer wasn’t reserved just for coaches.

“In 1996, at Brookwood, we had a mortician working as a trainer on the sidelines,” remembers Dr. Gary Levengood. “He was giving the coach heart medicine and the coach didn’t have a heart problem.”

The next year, Levengood, Founder of Sports Medicine South, saw to it that Brookwood had a certified athletic trainer. Levengood appealed to Gwinnett Medical Center to get involved. “As a community outreach, we needed to have athletic trainers at all of the high schools in the county,” says Levengood. “We need to have someone on the sideline during the game and at practice during the week”.

It makes sense, having someone assigned to a school to be at the games and at practices allows the trainer to observe the player more and develop a one-on-one relationship. In so doing, that training earns the respect and trust of parents and school administrators. “The trainers being around the kids all year is a huge advantage in treating them,” says Dr. Dale Yake, CEO of PT Solutions. “We know how to get them back on the field and get them back on safer so they don’t end up with a bigger injury.”

These days the most important role of the athletic trainer on Friday nights is the diagnosis and treatment of concussions. Not only are they helping today’s players, but they are also helping to preserve the game for the future. “Concussions are what is going to kill this sport.” says Levengood ” It’s causing parents to reconsider whether their kids should play football or not.”

Dr. Yake agrees that head injuries could have a bad impact on the sport’s future. “I’m on the Board of Directors of the Concussion Legacy Foundation in Boston,” says Yake. ” Managing the game is key. When we recognize concussion symptoms we manage that quickly and [try to] not allow a second impact.”

Yake also likes the trends of playing flag football before the age of 14 and high schools limiting full contact at practice to once a week. Levengood sums up the future this way, “As long as we train and do the needed things up front we’re going to be ok. ”

Certified athletic trainers making a difference on Friday nights around our state. It sounds great, but here is a downside. Not all schools or school systems in the state have athletic trainers. In fact, there are probably more schools that don’t have trained medical professionals than those that do. Sure, there is a cost, and not all can hire the athletic trainers to be at the schools on game night and throughout the week for practice. This means that there are some games that are played without athletic trainers on either sideline. The trainers are not mandated by the GHSA. In fact, the GHSA only mandates that emergency vehicles be in place at playoff games.

Sports Medicine is a growing field in our state. I find it difficult to believe that there isn’t a way to get interns and apprentices to be on sidelines on Fridays and visit practice at least once a week during football season. You would think that there would be an entity, institution or organization that would find it worthwhile to help provide an extra measure of safety for the young people that bring our communities so much pride and excitement on football Fridays.

The one organization that comes to mind for me is the National Football League Players Association. Georgia is the home of more retired NFL players than any other state. Each year scores of former Georgia high school players get to live the ultimate dream of playing in the National Football League. Why not unite NFLPA past and present to create a fund to help provide athletic trainer interns and apprentices for high schools that need them around the state. It would only require a modest donation from current players and would produce a living legacy for the NFL Alums. Consider it an investment, an investment in the health of the future of Football Fridays in Georgia.

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Mississippi athletic trainer Courtney Dossett doesn’t leave any player behind

Article reposted from Picayune Item
Author: Taylor Welsh

As Poplarville High School’s athletic trainer, Courtney Dossett is one of the few people on the Hornets’ sideline who doesn’t stop when the whistle is blown.

Dossett has a desire to be the person student athletes turn to when they get hurt, even when an athlete on the opposing team tumbles. Dossett strives to be the first person helping an injured player.

“I feel like I am here to protect everyone I possibly can. I’m not shy to lend a hand to anyone, that’s the way I’ve always been,” Dossett said.

Even though she is new to the job, this isn’t the first time she has been in Poplarville. The Hattiesburg Clinic employed trainer is going on her second year with the Hornets.

Dossett started her journey to become an athletic trainer at Pearl River Community College in 2006, where she gained genuine experience as a student athletic trainer for the Wildcats.

After two years at PRCC, and another couple of years at Nicholls State University, Dossett established herself at West Alabama University, where she earned her masters in teaching with a concentration in physical education.

Then, Dossett was offered a position as the athletic trainer for the Starkville High School Yellow Jackets, where she worked for a number of years. Although she enjoyed her job in north Mississippi, the Collins native said she wanted to be closer to home, and when a job opened up in Poplarville, she saw her opportunity to do just that.

“When I was told that I could live in Poplarville again, I immediately became ecstatic. As a Wildcat graduate, I already know how great the community is and how good the Hornets’ athletic programs are, so to be part of that was something I really wanted in the next step of my career,” Dossett said.

Dossett assists every sports program at Poplarville High School, and when possible, she will help out at middle school games as well. Her most memorable moments with the Hornets are from Poplarville’s run to the 4A state championship game in football last year.

“In the past, I have not had the pleasure of working with a team quite like this one. The players work with me and really soak in what I tell them, and the coaches are all great at what they do. It’s a fun atmosphere to be around. Working the state championship game, instead of watching it in the stands, it was an amazing feeling,” she said.

Dossett is anxious to see what the 2017 season holds for the Hornets as they play for the right to make another trip to the 4A state championship game.

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Florida Counties Scramble To Keep Athletic Trainers On The Sideline

Article reposted from wusf public media
Author: MORGAN MCMULLEN

It’s the first day of organized football practice at Sunlake High School in Pasco County and about 60 students are running drills out in the field, wearing jerseys, shorts and helmets.

Barking some of the calls is head coach Bill Browning, who’s been at this now for 40 years. Today, he’s encouraging a team of offensive linemen to block as defensemen wielding large yellow shields attack.

He said he doesn’t pine for the days when coaching staffs had to make important medical decisions – without a professional athletic trainer on the sideline.

“In this day and age, when they know so much more about concussions, heat-related type stuff, the importance of hydration,” Browning said. “Having an athletic trainer is a necessity just for the well-being of your student athlete.”

Earlier this summer, Browning and many other coaches in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties were uncertain that these people who have become staples on the sidelines would return. A change in contracts and the loss of state funding left athletic directors in two Tampa Bay area counties scrambling to get trainers on the job.

In Pasco, that meant trainers like Tara Mendres spent the summer not knowing if they had a job. Mendres is entering her sixth year as athletic trainer at the Land O’ Lakes school – a job she says is more than just taping up ankles.

“I encompass everything from hydration, because that can prevent injuries or heat illnesses,” she said. “We do nutrition counseling because wrestling and weightlifting (athletes) like to make certain weight classes.”

Mendres, who calls the athletes her “second family,” takes care of all the Sunlake teams – football, softball, even the marching band on occasion. That includes former football players like Carson Reavis, who came back to watch the Seahawks practice for the first time without him.

“You’ll never see an NFL team without a trainer,” he said. “You’ll never see a college team without a trainer. You have to have a trainer.”

Matt Wicks agrees. He’s the Pasco County Athletic Director who oversees the $160,000 budget that will pay for trainers at all 16 public high schools this school year.

After Florida Hospital, which had overseen trainers in Pasco, ended its contract, Wicks started looking for a third-party that would take over the same trainers that had been at local schools.

“This was the best way for us to still continue to get the quality of care for our athletes,” he said. “And that’s really what I had to do.”

Mendres said there was a lot of support for her and other longtime trainers.

“They took to social media,” Mendres said. “They were calling anybody that they felt had anything to do with keeping us around. Coaches did the same, administration did the same.”

Keeping trainers wasn’t that simple in Hillsborough County. State money that paid trainers at 13 of its 27 high schools was lost at the end of June.

Athletic Director Lannis Robinson says the University of South Florida, which provides the student trainers the Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma Institute (SMART), was able to find money to cover 10 positions.

“For this year in particular, since that cut, the number of athletic trainers provided to our school district from the SMART Institute has been reduced from 13 to 10,” Robinson said. “If there’s not funding found in future years, then we won’t have those 10 moving forward.”

Robinson says even with help from USF at least three schools in Hillsborough won’t have a trainer on the sidelines this year.

The three high schools that had been served by SMART Institute trainers that are now going without athletic trainers are Strawberry Crest, Leto and Blake, Robinson said. Hillsborough County could not confirm at the time of publication if the remaining 14 high schools in the district would have trainers this year.

The lack of athletic trainers at sporting events and practices leaves athletes in danger of suffering from serious injury without proper, on-site treatment. An examination of 14 Hillsborough County Schools in the 2014-15 school year revealed 726 injuries were reported by athletic trainers.

Robinson said there’s an additional issue when trainers are not present. It can also lead to high out-of-pocket bills for students and their families.

“Obviously, if a student athlete has to deal with an injury, then we will have to refer them to medical attention away from campus,” Robinson said. “The (health) insurance will obviously help defer most of the cost, if not all of the cost, but (additional) cost is definitely passed on to the individual family.”

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FOND FAREWELL Houston High honors longtime athletic trainer

Article reposted from Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
Author: Jeremiah Bartz

Dozens of roses, Life Savers candy, a pair of Xtratufs, some tears and a difficult goodbye.

Houston High School and the Hawks football program honored longtime athletic trainer Carolyn Black Thursday evening during halftime of a C-team game against Wasilla. Black has served as Houston High’s volunteer athletic trainer for 21 years. But Thursday marked her final night on the Houston High sideline.

Black is moving with her family to Dutch Harbor. But before she leaves, Houston High players, coaches, administrators and parents took time to recognize, Black, a Houston High sports staple for more than two decades.

There were gifts. The Xtratufs boots, a must-have for her new life in Dutch Harber. And the Life Savers candy, because as one parent told the Houston High crowd, Black has been, “a life saver.”

A handful of those close to Houston High athletics spoke, including Jared Barrett and Colton Conner, a pair of Houston High graduates who returned to coach at their alma mater. Both told stories of Black’s help during their playing days.

Whether it was Houston High activities director Dave Porter or Mat Bredburg, the Houston football program’s first head coach, the message delivered by each person who spoke was similar.

Heartfelt appreciation for Black’s time working with Houston High.

Black said leaving is certainly bittersweet. Black’s husband, John, has a job opportunity in Dutch Harber, and Black has the chance to stay at home with their 4-year-old son Steven.

“It gives me one year of fun and adventure,” Black said of spending time with her son, who starts kindergarten next fall.

But she’s also saying goodbye to her position at Back In Action physical therapy in Wasilla, where she has also been for 21 years.

“I loved working at my job at Back in Action,” Black said. “They supported me the whole time, being out here at Houston. It has been amazing.”

Black also praised Dr. Dan Larson, also known for volunteering his time during local high school sporting events for decades.

“We both transitioned into helping so much with sports,” Black said.

To Black, working at Back in Action and with Houston High was the perfect combination, she said. She had her patients in the office and the players on the field.

“It’s been an absolutely amazing life. I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” Black said.

During her first year at Back in Action, Black said she helped out during a couple of wrestling tournaments and basketball games.

“It just got more and more. I couldn’t leave it,” Black said.

She’s been with Houston football, since the school’s program made its debut. Black’s journey with Houston High has also included her brother and best friend, Norm, a longtime Hawks mentor who has coached a handful of sports during his time at Houston High.

For last 21 years, Houston High has been a big part of life for Black and her family.

“Oh my gosh, it’s everything,” Black said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

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California High School Adds Full Time Athletic Trainer

Article reposted from The Tribune
Author: JOHN FITZRANDOLPH

Coast Union’s sports programs have not had a full-time, on-site athletic trainer for a number of years.

Qualified, competent trainers have filled in at the high school on a part-time basis from time to time, but the uncertainty surrounding the situation is no longer a problem with the hiring this month of Megan Swanlund.

Interviewed in her trainer’s room at the school Monday, Aug. 14, Swanlund, a full-time, experienced athletic trainer, said she always knew she wanted to have a career in some aspect in support of athletics. As she was preparing to enter her freshman year at Cal State Long Beach, she read a course description in the school’s bookstore that was “exactly what I wanted to do” — that is, major in kinesiology with a goal of becoming an athletic trainer.”

After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Long Beach State, Swanlund earned a master’s degree in kinesiology and sports administration at Fresno State.

Swanlund served as athletic director at Mission Prep in San Luis Obispo from 2011 to 2015, then decided to start a family and moved to the Fresno area where her husband took a job and Swanlund was a stay-at-home mom.

But now that she’s on board full time — “I always knew that Coast Union had been looking for an athletic trainer off and on” — her husband is a stay-at-home dad taking care of their 2-year-old son so she can tend to the needs of Bronco student athletes.

Asked how it feels to have the job she really wanted, Swanlund said, “It’s good. I hope people realize that what they see now will not be the same four years from now. It takes awhile to build a program,” which means working in a training room that she would “ultimately like it to be.”

I ALWAYS KNEW THAT COAST UNION HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR AN ATHLETIC TRAINER OFF AND ON.

Megan Swanlund, new Coast Union athletic trainer

She plans in time to acquire equipment and technologies that would allow her to do rehabilitation on campus. Currently the room she works in is rather Spartan, with only basic first aid supplies on hand. (In fact, when the ice machine kicked in during the interview, it was ear-splitting. The interview continued outside, and Swanlund noted that a new pump has been ordered for the ice machine.)

One of Swanlund’s immediate goals is to establish strong relationships with the student athletes, with their parents, and with physicians and other health-related professionals in the community.

When a player asks her what to eat before a game, she suggests, “a well-balanced meal, including carbs, hydrates, proteins, starch and vegetables.”

As to pregame preparation, she only tapes ankles for those athletes who are injured. If a player really wants his or her ankles taped, she recommends the student purchase an ankle brace. “Those will stay tighter longer than tape,” she explained. And moreover, she doesn’t have enough time or enough tape “to tape everybody, including the volleyball team.”

The interview ended with Swanlund emphasizing two things: First, she would like to have students who are not on teams volunteer in assisting her and learning what a trainer does; and, second, she sees how important it is to have good relationships with parents.

“The student athletes are minors, so from a professional standpoint, you need to communicate with parents. They know their kids best.”