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Missouri Athletic Trainer Gives Back to Those in Need

Article reposted from Monett Times
Author: Jared Lankford

An 8-day trip to Belize for Monett’s Amanda Harbaugh was for more than just pleasure.

Harbaugh, a CoxHealth athletic trainer in Monett, volunteered her time and expertise to help the Christian Sports Medicine Alliance (CSMA) provide medical support for a 150 international youth soccer players at the Coricader Games.

“I first found out about the Coricader Games through a Facebook group called Beyond the ATR (Athletic Training Room),” Harbaugh said. “It is a place for athletic trainers to gather and talk about things that aren’t necessarily related to our profession. This opportunity to help provide trainer support for the athletes was presented, and I felt like it was a way for me to reach out and give back.”

While working the games, Harbaugh, with four other trainers from the United States, noticed a huge need for safety gear that is standard equipment in the States.

“We were primarily with the 12-and-under national soccer players and we noticed that the Belize team was sharing shin pads and goalie gloves,” Harbaugh said. “The entire country has a population of just 330,000. There is just one sports store to serve the entire country and it isn’t that well stocked.”

Harbaugh said the girls volleyball team was practicing on concrete courts with no shin guards as well.

“Belize isn’t a third-world country,” Harbaugh said. “Most families are able to provide the basics of food, shelter and clothing, but there isn’t anything left over to purchase basic sports protective gear.”

This week Harbaugh is collecting small gear such as youth shin guards, goalie gloves, volleyball pads, deflated soccer balls, volleyballs and basketballs, collapsible cones and ladders.

“I will be taking donations through Thursday,” Harbaugh said. “I leave Friday to go to Iowa, where I will deliver the items to a family who will take them to Belize.”

For more information or to make a donation, people may contact Harbaugh at 417-872-8053.

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Athletic Trainers are football’s real ‘special team’

It’s every coach, player and fan’s worse nightmare at any football game.The whistle blows to signal the end of play and bodies begin to unravel, except one.

Everyone’s attention is immediately drawn to the player who did not get up, who lays there writhing in pain after suffering an injury.

I have watched countless football games and my stomach still twists and turns when I witness this scene unfold.

On Friday, Monett lost kicker Cameron Cody on the very first play of the game.

Cody made a touchdown-saving tackle on Lamar returner Anthony Wilkerson on the opening kickoff. Cody hit Wilkerson hard enough that he dislodged the ball and caused a massive dogpile at the Cubs’ 20-yard line.

As a sweaty mass of humanity dove for the loose pigskin, Cody took a helmet to the knee, according to Lamar coach Scott Bailey, who was closest to the play.

While the officials moved the players off the pile, Cody rolled to his back and gabbed his facemask with both hands.

Instead of the Cubs’ defense running onto the field, it was a different type of special team that was brought into action.

Cox athletic trainer Amanda Harbaugh went running onto the field, followed closely by athletic trainers from Lamar — all under the supervision of hundreds of deathly quiet fans.

Athletic trainers are taught to look for and recognize injuries that maybe subtle. Trainers provide untold cost savings to parents. They work to develop a plan with each coach with emphasis on proper nutrition, stretching, pulling and weight lifting, developing an injury awareness and therapy program.

They also serve as an educational tool for athletes, coaches and parents, getting athletes ready for the physical nature of their sport and preparing athletes to return to the game after and injury.

Most of all, trainers allow coaches to coach, and not have to play doctor on the sidelines.

When Matt Holt coached football at Pierce City, he said the greatest benefit for him was the relief of not having to make a split-second call as to whether an athlete was ready to go back into the game.

Holt said that his focus was about what was happening on the field. His biggest fear was not recognizing something like a mild concussion and then sending that athlete back into the game and then watching them make the injury worse.

The athletic trainer solved that headache for him.

Monett, on Friday, needed all of their insurance. Cody suffered a broken leg that required him to be transported to Kansas City for surgery. He has already undergone two procedures and is scheduled for another later this week.

For Cody, the road back will be long, but there will be a trainer with him every step of the way. It’s just one more advantage of being a Monett athlete.

Greg Gilmore, Cox’s athletic training coordinator summed it up best when he once told me: For the athletic trainer, success is not measured by the number of championships won by teams you are affiliated with. Success is determined by the number of athletes that are safe and healthy.

Jared Lankford is the sports editor of The Monett Times. He can be reached atsports@monett-times.com, or 417-235-3135.

 

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.monett-times.com/story/2229046.html