Tag: Florida Gulf Coast University

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FGCU Athletic Trainer guides student athletes back on the field

Article reposted from Eagle News
Author: Miguel Rodriguez

A student-athlete goes down on the pitch and grabs her knee as Assistant Athletic Trainer Alyssa Romasco sprints on the field to aid the hurt player, thinking about the injury she could have sustained and the road to recovery ahead.

Romasco, a native of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, works with student athletes who sustain season-ending injuries while performing in their respective fields.

“Season-ending injuries are pretty intense,” Romasco said. “It’s a long process, there’s obviously a physical and then a mental component, so it’s kind of a balancing act.

Romasco said when student-athlete get hurt, they can experience some stress as a result of not feeling a part of the team, and it’s a part of her job to recognize those signs and make sure the athletes stay on track with their physical demands.

Athletic trainer
Photo courtesy of FGCU Athletics

Although she’s worked with various student athletes, Romasco recalls working with men’s soccer player, Arion Sobers-Assue, who tore his meniscus in his left knee his freshman year and tore it again before the start of his sophomore year.

“Arion worked with several of our athletic trainers,” Romasco said. “For knee injuries, there’s a lot of components that you are trying to get back. As you get further along into the rehab process, you may try to make it a little more sport specific. For him, as a soccer player, a lot of the focus was helping his awareness when cutting.”

Sobers-Assue made his full return to the team in May and made an immediate impact, starting 15 games, scoring 11 goals and providing 11 assists.

“Alyssa (Romasco) helped me with little small details that I didn’t pay attention to,” Sobers-Assue said. “It made it a lot easier on me so I could just focus on doing the physical aspect of things. Even when I didn’t want to do it, they still made me do it because they knew it would benefit me in the long run.”

Making it to the second round tournament of the NCAA College Cup for the first time in program history, Sobers-Assue said that it was everything he had been waiting for, having the opportunity to play with his teammates and affect his team’s results with his play on the pitch.

Tearing her ACL on Sept. 10, freshman volleyball player Ciara DeBell started all nine of the games she played in before injuring herself in a game against Indiana.

DeBell said she didn’t have surgery to repair her injury until 12 days later.

Romasco said that with knee injuries like a torn ACL, it’s important to do prehab before the surgery to reduce swelling and to bring range of motion back to the knee.

“The first two weeks were hell,” DeBell said. “I can’t really do much and it’s very frustrating. It was challenging and I’m doing really well now.”

DeBell now has full mobility back in her knee and has rehab for at least an hour every day. She recently began to do squats and lunges to go along with her constant biking.

DeBell said it has been difficult to watch her team from the sidelines after enjoying success in her first nine games. However, she has enjoyed seeing her team make history in her absence.

“My team is my second family,” DeBell said. “I’m really proud of my team. and how they’ve done. We We’re able to actually get past the first round of the ASUN tournament for the first time since 2009.”

DeBell has plans to return to the court in March, hoping to play beach volleyball in the spring.

Romasco said once DeBell gets further down the line in her rehab, she and her staff will begin to incorporate more sport-specific exercises.

“If she gets further down the line, we try to start incorporating it a little more sport specific to volleyball knowing that the jumping is going to be a huge factor, as well as her landing mechanics,” Romasco said.

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Alyssa Romasco keeps florida gulf coast athletes healthy

We often wonder how big collegiate programs thrive for long periods of time. Well, for a structure to hold, it takes a firm foundation. The FGCU basketball program has grown expeditiously within the past few years. FGCU has even contested major Atlantic Coast Conference programs, such as Florida State, and made runs in the NCAA tournament. This recent success should go not only to the players and coaches but also to the medical staff as well. These really are the true unsung heroes.

Just recently, the FGCU women’s basketball team was able to see the return of one of its stars, Whitney Knight, after a foot injury kept her on the bench for several weeks. Major thanks should go out to the medical staff. Specifically, trainers such as Alyssa Romasco have helped bolster the basketball program.

Romasco is from Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania and is a member of the esteemed Nation Athletic Training Association. She has been at FGCU for three years as the assistant athletic trainer for the women’s basketball team.

“I love athletic training,” Romasco said. “The opportunity to do what I enjoy every day and be a part of a successful, disciplined and energetic team is exciting. In addition, I love visiting new places, so the opportunity to travel around the country with a fun group of people is a bonus.” She feels “the passion and drive to be successful both on and off the court is what unites the team.”

She feels the players see her as a respected staff member and mentor, as she does more than tape up the women. Romasco has an open ear for all the girls. It does the player a great deal when they have someone to talk to about whatever stress they may be going up against.

All in all, Alyssa Romasco has been a crucial component in this program’s recent success, especially in its recent run in the NCAA tournament. Romasco is the current athletic trainer for the women’s basketball team and the men’s and women’s tennis teams. She studied and obtained her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and physical education at McDaniel College. Romasco also has some experience as an athletic scholar.

She was a member of the McDaniel College swim team for her four years there. She also minored in sports coaching and athletic training. She went on to further her education by receiving her master’s in athletic training at the University of Arkansas — one of the big rivals for the FGCU women’s program. Her expertise goes even further than the hands-on experience with athletes. Romasco has worked on focused projects on the identification of things such as scapular dyskinesis, the alteration of the positioning of the scapula during shoulder movement, in athletic training programs.

She has also presented research nationally at the American College of Sports Medicine and internationally at the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association Conference. FGCU programs can thank more than their coaches and players for their success; it’s people like Romasco that get star athletes back on the court and healthy.

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Florida Gulf Coast’s Athletic Trainer Featured

Health is critical to the success of any sports team. Health is also important when you are winning. The FGCU men’s basketball team is on a five-game winning streak. Winning streaks can take a lot out of teams. They can get exhausted and injured.

That is why athletic trainer Nicole Neal is important to the team. Skill is always good when it comes to a team, but health is just as important. The way the Eagles fought down to the last second during their game against NJIT was all due to the health of the team.

“Nicole does a good job making sure that we are ready for every game, every practice, every treatment — to make sure we perform our best in the game,” said Julian Debose, a guard on the FGCU men’s basketball team.

Neal is also a hit with the staff.

“(Neal’s) always helpful, always in a good mood,” Assistant Coach Senque Carey said. “(It’s) something that carries over and gets us in a good mood.”

Overall, the health of the team has been good this season. There have been no major setbacks.

“We have been faced with a couple banged up guys,” Carey said. “(Neal)’s done a great job at getting extra time in with those guys, whatever was needed to get them back on the floor.”

Neal talks to the team and motivates them like a coach.

Neal has been with the FGCU men’s basketball team since 2014. She decided to go into the field of sports medicine because of an injury she obtained as a child playing soccer.

“The injury required surgery, and as a result of many hours of physical therapy, I became interested in the field,” Neal said.

High Point University, in North Carolina, accepted her into its athletic training program. She was committed from the very beginning because of her love for sports and her experience with injury. Her family pushed her, but she also had mentors to guide her along the way.

Neal earned her bachelor’s in athletic training from HPU. She also played on the women’s soccer team while there.

Her roles and positions changed through time. At HPU, she started out as a student, only allowed to observe athletes getting treated. As a senior, she was assigned to High Point’s baseball team.

“The day I walked into the athletic training room at High Point University, I knew sports medicine was the right choice for me,” Neal said.

Neal moved on to the University of Oregon, where she earned her master’s degree in exercise and movement science. At Oregon, she was assigned to the day-to-day healthcare of the women’s soccer team.

The last college she was at before she made it to FGCU was NC State University. She accepted a job as assistant athletic trainer and was responsible for the track and field and cross country teams. After some time, they moved her to associate director of sports medicine. She was there for 17 years and is currently working on her master’s degree in sports management at NC State.

The director of sports medicine at NC State had information that there was going to be a head athletic trainer position available at FGCU. That was Neal’s dream, so she applied.

“I took the job because, after coming to campus for an interview, I knew FGCU was the right fit for me in the journey to achieve my career goals,” Neal said.

Neal has no family down here, but she is making friends at FGCU.

“Of course, any change brings a little anxiety, but the staff and athletes made me feel very at home immediately,” Neal said.

During the current win streak, Neal is managing fatigue with modalities including NormaTec compression boots, massage therapy and cold water immersion. To end this season successfully, she wants to focus on new areas of healthcare such as strength and conditioning, nutrition and mental preparation.

FGCU is where Neal wants to continue her dream.

“I like FGCU because it is growing and striving to be among the best schools in the nation both academically and athletically,” Neal said. “The athletic staff and the sports medicine are aligned with the university’s mission and continually strives to achieve higher goals.”

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