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Texas athletic trainers are a vital thread in the fabric of sports

Article reposted from LMTonline
Author: Clara Sandoval, Laredo Morning Times

Sports have many entities that are vital to the success of the overall program. Athletic trainers are a group of individuals who work behind the scenes to ensure the athletes are healthy and ready to perform week in and week out. They are an essential part of every program whether it be at the high school or middle school level. Both LISD and UISD employ at least two trainers for each school.

The local athletic trainers include: Alexander’s Wendy Gutierrez, Mario Saldivar and Victoria Lee Whitaker; Cigarroa’s Paula Garcia and David Reidenbach; LBJ’s Cindy De Hoyos and Jojo Villarreal; Martin’s Amanda Mancha and Michael Rodriguez; Nixon’s Marines Perez and Adriana Rodriguez; United’s Gaby Enriquez, Mike Nanji and Carlos Salinas; and United South’s Jonathan Cortazzo, Melissa De Hoyos and Javi Valverde.

“Our athletic trainers play a vital role with our athletes,” United head volleyball coach Lety Longoria said. “From training them on what foods to eat for best performance and output, to keeping their bodies healthy, our trainers do an amazing job day in and day out. They take care of our kids and listen to what problems they may have, and they do whatever it takes to help them. They also put in additional hours every day and travel with us to all our games. They build great relationships with our kids and with us as a staff to guarantee the best help and support. We love our trainers.”

Athletic trainers can be seen roaming the sidelines during all sporting events and are ready at a moment’s notice when an athlete goes down with an injury. Before becoming trainers, one must be accepted to an accredited university and then apply to an athletic training program during their sophomore year. The athletic trainers must accumulate a certain amount of observation hours and then take the state health department written and oral exam. After that, aspiring athletic trainers must perform a task in front of a panel of four before becoming certified.

An athletic trainer’s main responsibility is to ensure the safety of the athletes and rehabilitate them after an injury. This can make for long 14-hour work days, which at times result in 60-hour weeks.

“Every job has its challenges,” De Hoyos said. “Day to day we deal with broken bones, career-ending injuries and concussions. One of the challenges I would say is helping an athlete cope and understand the limitations of their injury so that they can invest their time in recovery as opposed to returning to play. The busy nature and demand of our profession sometimes make balancing family and work difficult, but we make it work.”

Whitaker grew up around athletics and has been around football ever since her father took up coaching 35 years ago. After high school, she attended Texas State University where she obtained a degree and entered the athletic training profession. Besides being an athletic trainer, Whitaker balances a family at home that includes husband Ralph and daughter Cami.

“I am blessed because I have a family-oriented staff,” Whitaker said. “We have learned to adapt to each other’s personal schedules. A work week can consists of games, practices and special events. A varsity game can last until 11:00 p.m. or 2:00 a.m.”

Adriana Rodriguez is a graduate of the University of Texas and was set on becoming a judge before she found her calling as an athletic trainer. She has been in the profession for eight years now at Nixon.

“By the end of my freshman year, I was already an officer of a law student organization working at the capitol and I held a summer job with a local attorney,” Rodriguez said. “I had already taken a practice entrance exam for law school and scored in the higher range, and I was advised by my mentors to switch majors because most law school students had similar majors and I needed something to set myself apart. So I looked into different majors at the university and came across the bachelors in science of athletic training.”

At Texas, Rodriguez was able to work alongside athletes including Kevin Durant, Dexterr Pittman, Vince Young, Colt McCoy, Jamal Charles, Sanya Richards and Cat Osterman.

“My passion for athletic training also comes from the passion that my high school coaches instilled in me and the love for the sports I’ve had since my freshman year of high school,” Rodriguez said. “I feel that sports allowed me to bond — it being my first time in the United States — and succeed since I had something in common with those kids, coaches and teammates as they encouraged me to get better with my English.”

The majority of the Laredo trainers were athletes in high school or sustained an injury during their playing days, which resulted in them spending time in a training room. That led them to where they are now.

“I was very involved in sports during high school,” said Mancha, a 2012 graduated from Angelo State. “During those four years, I sustained a few injuries and saw what it was like behind the doors of those that went away when they weren’t able to play. My senior year (and his first year at AHS) was the year that I found my calling. Mario Saldivar was a big influence on why I became an athletic trainer and what university I chose to attend. He’s still been a mentor for me throughout my years as a high school athletic trainer.”

Garcia, a graduate from Texas State, has been around Laredo athletics for the past 24 years now and started out at United before making the move to Cigarroa. She started out in the profession when athletic trainers had to teach a class at the high school. Now they are athletic trainers all day and have a very busy schedule after school with practices and games. She relishes her job and enjoys helping athletes get back on the playing field.

“Being an athlete all throughout high school made me want to have a profession that dealt with athletics,” Garcia said. “Being able to help athletes recover from an injury and return to the sport they love playing is great.”

Follow @LMTNews on Twitter for the latest news on high school athletics and other local sports.

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Dallas ISD Making Athletic Trainers a Priority

Article reposted from The Hub
Author: 

Did you know that it’s a Dallas ISD priority to have a full-time, on-campus athletic trainer at each high school campus?

It’s true! Dallas ISD is among only 37 percent of public school districts in the nation that put such a high priority on athletic trainers. March is National Athletic Training Month, so it’s a great time to recognize the athletic trainers who protect and care for Dallas ISD student-athletes. This year’s slogan for the month is “Your protection is our priority.”

Ryan Peña, Sports Medicine Manager at Dallas ISD, has seen the benefits that come from an athletic trainer providing one-on-one availability to student-athletes.

“Managing injuries at school, rather than sending the patient to the emergency department, saves money and time loss,” Peña said. “Our trainers get the student-athletes back to activity safely.”

Whether at practice or at a game, athletic trainers have a wide range of responsibilities. From healing a sprained ankle to providing immediate emergency care in serious injury situations, athletic trainers are tasked with focusing on the health of student athletes. Being on campus every day allows athletic trainers to build relationships with their student-athletes and succeed in providing the necessary continuous care.

Just as professional and college athletes do, Dallas ISD student athletes have access to athletic-trainers that are motivated to care for and protect them.

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Astros Staff Take home top honors

President Mark O’Neal of the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) recently announced at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings the Houston Astros athletic training staff as the winners of the Major League Athletic Training Staff of the Year for the 2015 baseball season.

This award is given annually to one Major League Athletic Training Staff and is voted on by the full PBATS membership.

The Astros athletic training staff in 2015 included head athletic trainer Nate Lucero, assistant athletic trainers Rex Jones and James Ready. The three members accepted their award in Nashville this past week in front of the full PBATS membership.

About the 2015 winners PBATS President Mark O’Neal said, “Nate, Rex and James are so very deserving of this year’s award. Nate and Rex have been extremely valued members of PBATS for a number of years. When they brought James on staff last year we all knew they’d have one of the best groups in the league. We’re all very proud of the Astro’s staff and their ability to keep their players healthy and allow them to make a great run into the 2015 MLB playoffs. We wish Nate the best in Los Angeles with the Dodgers and Rex the best of luck in his future endeavors outside of baseball.”

Nate Lucero, who will be moving on to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2016, had spent his entire career in the Houston Astros organization. He began his career in baseball in 1993 at the rookie level with the GCL Astros. He also spent 1994 at the same level. Nate was then promoted to the Midwest League in 1995, where he spent three seasons in Davenport, Iowa with the Quad City River Bandits. Following his stint in the MWL, Lucero was sent to Florida with the Kissimmee Cobras of the FSL. After one year in Florida, Lucero was promoted to the Jackson Generals of the Texas League.

Lucero was also the recipient of the Texas League Athletic Trainer of the Year award that year in 2000 with the Round Rock Express. In 2002 Lucero was named the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator for the Astros organization, a position that was held until 2007, when he became the Strength & Conditioning assistant at the Major League Level. Lucero is a certified member of the NATA and a licensed athletic trainer in the state of Texas. Nathan and his wife Janet live in Manvel, Texas with their two daughters Isabella Feliz, and Sophia Rose.

Long-time assistant athletic trainer and former PBATS board member Rex Jones, who announced his retirement at this year’s winter meetings, had spent his entire athletic training career in the Astros organization. He received the call to the Major League in 1994 after spending 16 years in the Astros’ Minor League system, including five years as the organization’s director of Minor League athletic trainers. Jones started his pro baseball career in 1978 with the Class-A Daytona Beach club while still earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Missouri State. Jones was the head athletic trainer for the Class AA Columbus Astros from 1979 to 1983 before being promoted to Class AAA Tucson Toros in 1983. The Lockwood, Mo., native is a certified member of NATA, the Southwest Athletic Trainers Society, and the Greater Houston Athletic Trainers Society and is a licensed athletic trainer in the state of Texas. He and his wife, Annette, live in Manvel, Texas with their children Megan, Jeremiah, and Laura.

Joining Lucero and Jones on the staff was James Ready, who joined the Astros as an assistant athletic trainer in 2015. He spent the last three seasons as the Minor League Athletic Training and Rehabilitation Coordinator with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was responsible for overseeing all minor league athletic trainers and rehabilitation of minor league players. He also assisted in Major League rehabilitation efforts. Before that, James spent five seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ready was also an athletic trainer for the 2007 Arizona Fall League Champions the Phoenix Desert Dogs. He received a Master’s degree from Louisiana State University while working as a graduate assistant with the track and field team, as well as the football team. He is originally from Martin, SD and currently resides in Pearland, TX with his wife Nathalie.

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North Carolina Athletic Trainers train EMS and Coaches

Coaches from across the mountains took part in a clinic focused on sports medicine on Friday.

Mission Hospital athletic trainers hosted seminars in the Asheville High School auditorium and conducted demonstration drills for 135 area coaches outside on the sports fields.

The aim was to help coaches diagnose and recognize symptoms of injuries and illnesses during practices or games throughout the coming school year. Coaches of both men and women’s sports attended from area school districts and parks and recreation leagues.

“I think it’s important because, while we try to be at everything we can be, as far as practices and as far as games, we’re never there 100 percent of the time,” Matt Smitley said, a sports medicine trainer at Mission Hospital. “If we can empower them to use these tools and these warning signs than we can show them – or whatever it may be – to see this, can help get these patients, these student athletes, the appropriate care that they need.”

There was also a focus on sudden cardiac arrest throughout the one-day seminar.

According to statistics, Mission Hospital says that one competitive athlete goes into cardiac arrest every three days on average in the United States.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.wlos.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/mission-health-holds-clinic-coaches-22368.shtml#.Vc-09p1Viko