Tag: Green Bay Packers

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Jordy Nelson credits Packers athletic trainers for his impressive comeback

Article reposted from  ESPN
Author: Jason Wilde

When Jordy Nelson accepted the Comeback Player of the Year award at the NFL Honors event on the eve of Super Bowl, his brief acceptance speech included a thank you to two guys most of the viewing public had never heard of.

He referred to them only as “Nate” and “Flea” — considering the Green Bay Packers star wide receiver spent just 38 seconds speaking, perhaps he didn’t have time for their last names — but Nelson made it clear that athletic trainers Nate Weir and Bryan “Flea” Engel were instrumental in the remarkable season (97 receptions, 1,257 yards, an NFL-best 14 touchdown catches) he had in 2016.

And while it was obvious from his quick stage right exit that he didn’t want to spend another second in front of the audience, Nelson said this week that winning the award was important to him as a way to recognize what Engel and Weir did to help him overcome the torn ACL in his right knee that wiped out his 2015 season and put the rest of his career in doubt.

“I wanted to win the award for those guys,” Nelson said during an appearance on ESPN Wisconsin’s “Wilde & Tausch” earlier this week. “Because they put in a lot of work behind the scenes.”

Nelson, who considered his comeback a team effort from the very beginning, credits Engel and Weir not only with getting him through the grueling rehabilitation process throughout the 2015 season but with keeping him on the field for all 16 regular-season games after limited work in training camp.

Nelson did miss the Packers’ NFC Divisional playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys on Jan. 15, but it wasn’t because of his knee — it was because of broken ribs suffered in the team’s Jan. 8 NFC wild-card playoff win over the New York Giants.

“I didn’t miss a practice until I broke my ribs and then obviously ended up missing the Dallas game,” Nelson said. “That was one of the things I was most happy about, being out there on the practice field every week, every day, not missing one of those and being able to perform on Sundays.”

Nelson did more than perform. At age 31, he showed that he’s still an elite-level player, putting up numbers that compared favorably to his 2014 performance (98 receptions for 1,519 yards and 13 touchdowns).

Nelson said his approach to rehab was to view it like a typical football season, just with an unusual workout regimen set by Engel and Weir. The goal was to be ready for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener at Jacksonville, which he met. After that, Nelson and Weir had a daily program designed to regain his pre-injury form and keep him healthy for the entire season.

“Nate and I had a schedule all season of what we wanted to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday in order to be ready for Sunday, and we stuck to it for 20-some weeks and never skipped a beat,” Nelson said. ‘And I think that’s why I was able to progress throughout the season, continue to improve and stay healthy.”

Nelson admitted that he became frustrated at times with the Packers’ conservative approach to his comeback during the offseason — general manager Ted Thompson, coach Mike McCarthy and team physician Dr. Patrick McKenzie were varying degrees of cautious with him — but said he, Engel and Weir always felt good about their plan.

“The trainers and I were on the same page,” Nelson said. “You have the coaching staff and management upstairs, and then you’ve got Doc, who’s extremely conservative — which we hate, but we love at the same time because he takes care of our bodies [when] at the same time we want to go out there and play and practice. So it was a battle from that aspect.

“When we got to OTAs [in May], [the team] kind of backed me off and we kind of regressed in terms of what they were letting me do. So that was the frustrating part of trying to communicate with everyone else. The trainers and myself were on the same page, but trying to get everyone else to understand what I had been doing, what I was capable of doing and allowing me to do that. We eventually got to it. It took some time, some conversations, but we got to that point and we ended up ready for Week 1. At the end of the day, that’s what our goal was.”

While Weir and Engel got Nelson ready physically, it was up to him to get ready mentally — something that, in retrospect, he admitted was just as arduous at times, especially for the 2015 home opener against the Seattle Seahawks and for the season-ending NFC Divisional loss at Arizona, when the Packers were down to two healthy wide receivers at game’s end.

“When we opened up at home against Seattle … it really sucks when you’re walking down the hallway [outside the home locker room] and they [his teammates] take a right and go down the tunnel [to the field] and you keep walking straight to go up the elevator to the players’ suite in the south end zone. That was not the most enjoyable.

“And then the Arizona playoff game was another one. Those are the games you want to play in, and we got banged up with Davante [Adams] getting hurt in the Washington game [the previous week], Randall [Cobb] got hurt early in that [Arizona] game. We’re running thin on guys, and I’m just standing there. You want to be out there to help the guys and win games and make plays. Those were the games that really hit me in the gut last year of not being able to be out there playing.”

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UNO Athletic Training Student Interns with Green Bay Packers

Article reposted from University of Nebraska Omaha College of Education
Author: Samuel Wilkins

University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Athletic Training Student, Takeaki “Take” Ando, began the Fall 2015 semester determined to get an internship with an NFL team. He carefully prepared his résumé and cover letter, and sent them to each of the 31 franchise teams in the NFL. Towards the end of the semester, he reached out again to each team, seeking an internship. Take began to get rejection letters or emails back from the teams.

In mid-December, Take was sitting in the Dr. CC and Mabel L. Criss Library studying for final exams when he received a call from Nate Weir, an Assistant Athletic Trainer with the Green Bay Packers. This unexpected phone call caught Take off guard—he had not received any correspondence from the Packers. With no time to prepare, Take immediately stopped what he was doing and proceeded with the impromptu phone interview. After Nate checked his references, Take was officially offered an internship for the summer. He was one of only six athletic training student interns chosen to work with the Packers.

Nate was impressed with Take’s application, “Take made an excellent first impression when I first reviewed his application. His experiences prior to working in Green Bay made him an exceptional candidate for a summer internship with our staff. During the interview process it was evident that Take was a very well-rounded student who not only excelled in the classroom, but also in his clinical rotations. His passion for the athletic training profession was one of the most appealing characteristics that he possessed.”

The Packers internship was rigorous. Take was introduced to the facilities and to the expectations of interacting with athletes, coaches and medical staff. Take spent long days in the athletic training room, often times arriving at 6:30 A.M. and leaving at 7:00 P.M. His work included participating in injury treatments and rehabilitation programs, preparing for practices, covering practices, and monitoring strength and conditioning sessions.

“I really enjoyed working with the medical staff and the athletes. All of the athletes were nice and respectful to me,” said Take. When asked about his most memorable moment, Take smiled and answered, “standing on the sidelines of Lambeau Field before the first pre-season game against the Cleveland Browns. I got to take a picture with Aaron Rodgers!”

Nate had this to say about Take’s time with the Packers, “Take had a great work ethic. He was always willing to go above and beyond what was asked of him. It was very obvious that Take’s previous athletic training experiences prepared him for a summer internship with the Green Bay Packers. Everyday Take showed up to the athletic training room with a smile and was ready to work. He had a strong willingness to learn and improve his athletic training skills.”

Take expressed appreciation for his experience, “I want to thank the people that surrounded me especially Shannon, Sam, Dr. Rosen, Melanie and my friends, so I could get this opportunity.  Even though I am an international student and have barrier with language, everyone treated me as one of the teammates. I appreciate that I could work with Pepper, Flea, Kurt, Nate, Brock, Cole and other great summer interns. I would like to say thank you to the people I met during this summer working with the Packers. It was long and very busy summer, but the most memorable summer for me.”

Take has some advice for athletic training students interested in applying for NFL internships. “Be prepared to be busy and to work hard. Don’t expect the ‘fun stuff.’ It is important to be professional with the athletes, coaching staff and the medical staff.”

Take is finishing his last year in the UNO Graduate Athletic Training Program (ATP). He will graduate in May 2017 and plans to become a certified athletic trainer. His goal is to return to the NFL with another athletic training seasonal internship.

Learn more about the UNO Graduate Athletic Training Program (ATP) >>

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Bryan “Flea” Engel extends tradition of top athletic trainers

Article reposted from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Author: 

To most outsiders, the name Bryan “Flea” Engel means next to nothing.

Within the offices, locker cubicles and corridors of the Green Bay Packers’ administrative complex, however, Engel ranks as one of the organization’s best-liked and more important employees.

Engel is only the fifth head trainer in team history, one that dates to 1919. He was promoted in June 2015 to oversee probably the most experienced training staff in the NFL.

Two players, running back James Starks and linebacker Datone Jones, went so far as to say everyone on the team loved Engel, and nose tackle B.J. Raji said the same thing last year. In 2015, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and linebacker Mike Neal said they loved him, too.

“He’s one of the best people I know,” Starks said this week. “I don’t think anybody could ever say anything bad about ‘Flea.’”

A request to interview Engel, who is 42, the father of three sons and a native of Hanover Park, Ill., was denied by club officials, a spokesman indicated.

College scouts have always said that if you really want to know about a prospect, you better stop in the training room. Mike McCarthy, the Packers’ coach, likes spending as much time as possible there and in the weight room.

Even the healthiest of players are taped by trainers every practice, and when injury strikes and they’re most vulnerable it’s often the trainer who serves as confidant and treatment/rehabilitation supervisor.

“’Flea’ is a people person in the training room,” Jones said. “A lot of his work goes unnoticed here in Green Bay. We’ve had a lot of guys really beat-up and you see guys bounce back. That’s a (sign) we’ve got really good trainers taking care of us.”

Besides Engel, a seasonal/intern from 1997-98 and a full-time assistant since ’99, the staff includes Pepper Burruss, a 24-year employee who was shifted from head trainer to director of sports medicine administration when Engel was promoted; and assistant trainers Kurt Fielding, who is in his 29th season with the Packers, and Nate Weir, who is in his 12th year.

The combined 85 seasons of experience in Green Bay for the top four trainers places the Packers slightly ahead of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts as the most seasoned staff in the NFL.

Engel was named NFC assistant athletic trainer of the year in 2013. Given that award and his growing reputation in the league, it’s likely general manager Ted Thompson promoted Engel to prevent losing him and ensure he would succeed Burruss, who is 62.

In his 16 months running the department, Engel has tried to minimize change and sustain the remarkable continuity, players say.

“It’s good for the players,” said tackle Bryan Bulaga, whose seven-year career has been marked by one major injury after another. “When you see different faces all the time, as an athlete, how do you gain the trust in that person?

“When you’re diagnosed with a knee injury or a shoulder or a calf, you’ve got to build trust with the person that’s taking care of you and telling you what to do and rehabbing you. Keeping everything the same in there was a big thing.”

Engel, a kinesiology graduate of the University of Illinois, worked as a summer intern and then seasonal intern from 1995-97 in New England under coaches Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll.

In his seven years dealing with Engel, former Packers punters Tim Masthay saluted him for listening to players, staying abreast of latest research, experimenting with new technology and effectively providing treatment.

“In the past we had certain veterans that had things their own way,” Raji said a year ago. “I’m not a name dropper … some of the bigger name defensive backs. ‘Flea’ would have to oblige to them. He’s really paid his dues, and I think everyone’s happy he’s the head trainer.”

Training methods have come a long way, to say the least.

At some point in the team’s leather-helmet era, Dave Woodward became the Packers’ first official trainer. In an interview with Packers historian Cliff Christl, the late Herm Schneidman, a running back from 1935-39, offered his impressions of Woodward.

“He was a heck of a guy,” Schneidman said. “He brought a little machine with him that had a positive pole and a negative pole. You’d lie on the table and put the negative pole on your back, then take the positive pole and it would work every muscle in your arm or leg or back. In two days time, he’d have you running.”

Woodward died in 1940 and was replaced by Carl “Bud” Jorgensen, a native of Marinette and a graduate of Green Bay West High School. He was an equipment man starting in 1924 before becoming Woodward’s assistant in the mid-1930s. His 47-year career with the Packers ended in 1970, and six years later he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame.

In 1961, the cigar-chomping Jorgensen convinced Domenic Gentile, the basketball coach, history teacher and athletic trainer at West De Pere High School, to call Vince Lombardi and inquire about a job to help him out taping ankles.

Gentile went on to work part-time for the Packers until taking over for Jorgensen in 1969.

“He did not have any formal medical training,” Gentile wrote in his book, “The Packer Tapes,” that he wrote with Gary D’Amato in 1995. “He learned on the job, by trial and error, and he was terrific. Bud had an encyclopedic mind when it came to athletic training.”

A star athlete for the Hurley Midgets in far northern Wisconsin, Gentile later played football at Gogebic (Mich.) Community College and North Dakota State. Known as “Domo,” Gentile was a mild-mannered chap who served the team with distinction for 32 years.

“He’d walk into dinner at training camp and all the players would yell, ‘Domo!’” remembered Bob Harlan, the retired Packers president who joined the team in 1971. “He had that kind of popularity among the players.”

Gentile, who died in 2000, served as a critical sounding board and guiding light for scores of players during the post-Lombardi generation of losing. He’s on a lengthy list of candidates presently under consideration by officials of the Packers Hall of Fame.

“’Domo’ was so close to the players and a very capable guy,” Harlan said. “I’m not sure Pepper isn’t the same way.

“Pepper’s just a very talented guy. Smart guy, very personable, great people skills. Ron (Wolf) was very fortunate to be able to find him and bring him in.”

Burruss, a product of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., received degrees from Purdue and Northwestern before spending 16 years as an assistant trainer for the New York Jets. Wolf, the Packers’ general manager from 1991-01, had scouted for the Jets in 1990-91.

The NFL’s head trainer of the year award went to Gentile in 1992 and to Burruss in 2013. The Packers’ training staff was voted the NFL’s best in 2011.

“We’ve been very fortunate in that area,” Harlan said. “We’ve had very good people, surrounded by good doctors, too. It’s enormous to have guys like that. Players are just very comfortable with what Pepper tells them and what ‘Flea’ tells them.”

Engel’s nickname came courtesy of Frank Winters, the team’s starting center for most of an 11-year career that ended in 2002. Winters saw a striking resemblance between Engel and Michael Balzary, a.k.a. Flea, the renowned bass guitarist and co-founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the nickname stuck.

The beat goes on in Green Bay, too, from one effective head trainer to the next, and with zero interruption.

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Ryan Maurer, a summer intern with the Green Bay Packers

Article reposted from Vernon County Broadcaster
Author: Matt Johnson

Viroqua’s Ryan Maurer has a unique claim to fame that has reflected as well on himself as on the organization with whom he is linked.

Maurer spent six weeks last summer as an athletic training intern with the Green Bay Packers. Maurer said he earned a new appreciation for both hard work and the personalities of the men and women who wear the Green and Gold for Titletown.

Maurer’s parents are Rich and Karen and they helped get the Broadcaster together with Ryan as he returned to his studies at UW-La Crosse.

What follows are the Broadcaster’s Questions & Answers with Maurer about his summer internship.

Q: What is your age, what are you studying in college and where?

A: I am 21 years old and in my senior year of the athletic training program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Q: What is the program that got you hooked up to work with the Packers? How does the program work? How did you get chosen for the internship?

A: The athletic training program at UW-L is the longest standing accredited program in the state. Most years the Packers take one intern from our program. This year they actually took 2 from La Crosse. I sent in my cover letter and resume to one of the athletic trainers with the team. A phone interview followed and then shortly after I was selected.

Q: How long did the internship last? Where did you work at in Lambeau field and at the team’s other assorted facilities? Where did you stay? How many new friends did you make due to the experience?

A: The internship lasted six weeks. I got there a week before training camp started to just get familiar with things and do a few camp prep items. We stayed with the players in the St. Norbert dorms when they were there. When the players moved out of the dorms midway through training camp the team put us up in a hotel.

We worked primarily in the athletic training room at Lambeau but we had access to much of the facility including the locker room and weight room. We also worked down at the practice fields (both the outdoor one and the Don Hutson Center). Our duties in the athletic training room consisted primarily of carrying out the player’s treatment and rehab plans for that day.

We also did a lot of grunt work like reorganizing the stockroom. In addition, we were responsible for the setup and tear down of practices and games. This was a much more involved process than I anticipated it would be. We were typically down at practice about two hours beforehand getting everything ready from a medical/hydration standpoint. I was one of six summer interns that they had this summer. We all got along well and ended up learning a lot from each other.

Q: Who did you get to know the best on the Packer staff and what was your experience like overall working with the Packers?

A: The Packers medical director is an athletic trainer and a physical therapist named Pepper Burruss. He has been in the league for around 40 years (a few with the Jets but mostly with the Packers). He is a legend in the field of athletic training. It was awesome to get to know him and hear all of his stories. He has an absolute wealth of knowledge related to sports medicine

Q: Did you have a lot of access to the players and ever have any moments when you were having conversations with players about things other than football? If so, what was it like?

A: We interacted with the players quite a bit. It was important for us to maintain our professionalism throughout the time we were there, but we still had interactions with them on a “personal level.” They really were normal guys for the most part. They share a lot of the same problems and struggles the rest of the world does.

For me, being a fan of the team, it was cool to see what the personalities of these guys was like. For example, Eddie Lacy is arguably the funniest dude on the team. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes you laugh.

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Q: Do you have any single favorite personal story from your experience and if so, please describe it.

A: Randall Cobb was one of the players I really interacted a lot with. Early on in camp we started a routine where I would get his post practice ice bath ready for him before he got to the training room. This particular day it happened to be his birthday.

I was helping out another player while he was icing and he said across the training room, “Ryan, can you do me a favor?” I thought he was just gonna ask me to grab something from his locker for him, but this was not the case. I went over to him and he said “it’s my birthday but no one has sung happy birthday to me yet, would you mind doing that for me?”

It would have been impossible for me to say no to that request, so I obliged. He pulled out his phone, opened snapchat, and I sang happy birthday to him. I ended up having some other very cool interactions with him throughout camp. He was easily one of my favorite players I worked with in Green Bay. Just a very humble and genuine guy.

Q: What would you say were important things you learned along the way?

A: I definitely learned a new appreciation for hard work. I have always considered myself a very hard worker, but this internship definitely pushed me farther. We basically lived at Lambeau (which is not a terrible thing), since we put in such long hours and really only went back to St. Norbert’s or the hotel to sleep.

I also learned things as it relates to athletic training, too. I have already been able to take some of these things and apply them to my clinicals at UW-La Crosse working with the football team.

Q: Do you think you’ll have an opportunity to do such work again with the Packers? What are your career goals?

This internship allowed me to get my foot in the door, and I could apply for a season long internship if I wanted to. Right now my plans are go to physical therapy school after I graduate in May. I’m not 100 percent sure where I eventually hope to end up, but I know I want to work in sports medicine in some capacity. I love helping athletes recover from injuries and get back to doing what they love.

Q: What did your friends and family think of your experience?

A: I don’t think there’s a single internship a kid could do in the state of Wisconsin that would seem as cool to people as working for the Packers. My mom was glued to the TV during the preseason with her phone in hand trying to snap a picture of her son on the sidelines. I heard from a lot of people when I got back that they saw me on the sidelines or the field during a game.

One little boy came up to me and said “did you give Aaron Rodgers water? That’s soooooooo cool!” As school is starting back up here a lot of my friends and classmates have come up to me and said how happy they were for me that I was able to have this experience.

Q: How would you relate such an experience to your personal experience of growing up in Viroqua and in the Packer state? What was it like to be around all of the team’s many stars?

A: I am the biggest Packers fan I know. Ever since deciding to major in athletic training it has been my dream and goal to get this internship and get to work with my favorite team. So obviously this was a surreal experience for me.

Early on in camp Aaron Rodgers introduced himself to me and my fellow interns and asked what our names were and what schools we were from. It would have been easy for him to have forgotten this information. After all, we’re just lowly summer interns. This was not the case though. He remembered our names and where we were from all through camp, and would always say “hi” to us by name when we passed him in the hallways or saw him around the stadium. He’s an incredibly smart guy. He knew that the preseason game in San Francisco was the last one for many of us, so he came up to me during pre-game preparations in the training room and said “Ryan, remind me, I want to get a picture with you guys on the sideline sometime during the game.” He reminded me multiple times throughout the night, and towards the end of the third quarter he grabbed the team photographer, and then found me, and we took a picture.

I got to interact with a lot of great people in Green Bay, but Aaron was definitely one of my favorites. Besides the fact that he’s the best quarterback in the league, he’s also just a cool person to be around.

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Packers help pay for athletic trainers to be at Milwaukee football games

The Green Bay Packers awarded a $20,000 NFL Matching Grant to Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to provide a certified athletic trainer on the sidelines of each football game in the district.

Funded through the NFL Club Matching Certified Athletic Trainer Grant Program, the grant provides coverage through Midwest Orthopedic Sports Medicine, and will ensure an athletic trainer at 106 total games and scheduled practice visits throughout the season. As a result of the grant, more than 800 high school football players between 14 MPS high schools will have access to an athletic trainer.

“We’re banging bodies together. There’s most likely is going to be two to three injuries a game,” said Dr. Eric Pifel of Midwest Orthopedic Sports Medicine.

Returning to play too soon can have lasting consequences — which is why properly trained medical personnel are so important to today’s game.

“We have to have someone there to make sure when those symptoms of a concussion occur, that they’re out of the game and treated appropriately,” said Pifel.

For Milwaukee Public Schools’ 14 football programs, this season just got a little safer.

“It’s covering all of our trainers for freshman, JV, varsity football,” said Bill Molbeck, MPS Commissioner of Athletics.

Previously, MPS did not have certified athletic trainers staffing football games. That’s changed — and the NFL and the Green Bay Packers are picking up the tab.

“We’re going to be able to identify any of those injuries right away with someone that’s actually trained to deal with athletic injuries,” said Molbeck.

MPS will incorporate the cost of having athletic trainers present at each game into its budget plan for the 2017 season and moving forward.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Gridiron partnership: Packers help pay for athletic trainers to be at MPS football games