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Nicholls State Professor Lands in the Louisiana Hall of Fame

Article reposted from dailycomet.com
Author: Brent St. Germain

Gerard White has made a career of caring for student-athletes.

Since 1988, White has been practicing his trade at various colleges, including the University of Louisiana-Monroe and Delta State University. In 1991, his career took off after making the move to Nicholls State University.

White has been an instrumental figure in the Nicholls Athletic Department, serving as the head athletic trainer before helping the university establish its sports medicine program in 2001. Currently, he is serving as the assistant professor of athletic training and clinical education coordinator.

With more than 28 years of athletic training experience, White was recognized for his hard work by being inducted into the Louisiana Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame on June 3 at the Paragon Casino in Marksville.

After watching many of his peers receive the honor over the years, White said he was still not expecting the honor, which he received at the group’s annual state meeting.

“I have been impressed and looked up to them over the years, so it was strange to now be in that type of a role,” he said. “It’s such a strange situation where you never feel like you’ve done enough to deserve it, but I guess when you sit down and start putting things down on paper you start to realize what you have accomplished. It was really a humbling experience, especially coming from my peers.”

White is well respected by members of the Louisiana Athletic Trainers Association and recently served six years as its president.

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Athletic trainers worked behind scenes at summer camps

Thibodaux and Nicholls State University were a popular summer destination for many athletes.

Throughout the summer, many current and former football players and coaches made their way to the area. Included in that number were Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Lardarius Webb, Leonard Fournette, Tre’Davious White, Kendall Beckwith, Christian Hackenberg, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Trevone Boykin, future Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Mawae, Archie Manning, Pete Jenkins, Jake Delhomme and Jarvis Green.

Nicholls was also home to summer football camps, including the Manning Passing Academy, Pro Football Combine Camp, Lardarius Webb Football Camp and Offensive/Defensive Line Camp, which was the largest in the South and attracted a record 526 players.

While the players, coaches and counselors got most of the attention, one of the most important features to all these camps along with what they do for the area middle and high schools and Nicholls is the athletic training staff at Thibodaux Regional Sports Medicine Center.

Larry D’Antoni, coordinator of the Offensive/Defensive Line Camp, said his group takes great pride and responsibility in their work despite getting little attention.

D’Antoni said credit for that goes to Thibodaux Regional Chief Executive Officer Greg Stock, who puts a high emphasis on getting the best trained people for the department.

“These young men and women understand the responsibility involved with these camps, and with the Manning Passing Academy, we are dealing with athletes from across the country and around the world,” D’Antoni said. “For some of the local camps, the parents are close and we can have almost instant contact with them when something may go wrong, but when you are dealing with young men from 48 states and foreign countries, we have to play godfather and godmother for some when an injury occurs. We worked hard to make sure the athletes are taken care of in this heat.”

D’Antoni said the athletic trainers are doing more than just a job.

“We speak about having passion for our job, but it is really more compassion because we are having to deal with possible health issues for someone else’s child,” he said. “It’s a great responsibility and we take great pride in giving these camps the highest of care. But for us, it is an everyday responsibility in dealing with young men and women from area middle schools, high schools and Nicholls. It was a great compliment to hear from one of the top representatives of Gatorade that the staff at the Sports Medicine Center of Thibodaux Regional was the most organized he had ever seen at a camp.” For the Manning Passing Academy, D’Antoni said they are responsible for the distribution of 30,000 pounds of ice, more than 3,500 gallons of water and 3,400 gallons of Gatorade for about 1,200 campers and 100 staff members.

The staff at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Medicine Center is also responsible for supporting the athletes at the Offensive/Defensive Line Camp with 3,000 gallons of water and 200 cases of bottled Power-Aid drinks. Along with the water and drinks, they also help give out gummy chews and bars along with shakes to hydrate the athletes.

Athletic trainer Ryan Trahan said the heat and humidity of south Louisiana is unrelenting, so they keep a close eye on players that may be struggling with heat-related issues.

“All these camps are a little different,” Trahan said. “The Manning Camp is more like 7-on-7 drills, but the Offensive/Defensive Line Camp is very physical and it is different because of the size of the athlete also. Some of these bigger athletes have not trained in this heat. We try and keep a close eye on every camper, but we have to have some help from the coaches, other players out on the field and the counselors because we can’t see everything out there. The Manning Camp is spread out to so many fields, so our protocol if someone is showing symptoms of heat-related problems is we quickly load them up in a golf cart and bring them inside to cool off and hydrate them immediately.

“We strive to have a good relationship with everyone involved so they can trust us even when we may not be able to see what happens out on all these different fields and that also includes what we are do with middle school and high school games. We strive to get that constant interaction with players and coaches to help us,” Trahan added.

D’Antoni and Trahan said Thibodaux Regional Medical Center is sponsoring six “dunk tanks” to the area high schools this fall to help cool off and aid in the recovery of work outs.

“I have done this for years in filling up lined garbage cans to help athletes recover when they may have a heat-related issue and also after practices to sooth the muscles and rebuild back the circulation athletes lose in these workouts,” Trahan said. “These huge dunk tanks will really be a great training feature and a huge asset to the schools.”

Athletic trainer Annalise Himmel said the summer camps are great preparation work for the upcoming high school season.

“These camps come one after the other and so we are prepared for the high school year come August,” Himmel said. “The big difference is that I work mainly at Morgan City High School, and throughout my time there, I have established a good relationship with the players and coaches and they have trust in telling me if something is not right out on the field with an athlete. With these camps players are coming from around the country so you become vigilant in trying to see everything you can. It’s mostly heat cramps or heat-related illnesses. Some of these guys will skip breakfast to get in a little more sleep so we try and help out in getting fluids in them and making sure they eat correctly. If it is a head injury or a possible concussion, we go through the steps in trying to assess this quickly and we have great equipment and doctors at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center to diagnose and treat the player.”

Amelia Mason Castell, assistant coordinator for the Sports Medicine Center who is seven months pregnant, said she normally works outside for the camps, but she had an opportunity to work with Himmel going over medical information for the Manning Passing Academy.

“Some of these young men just don’t want to miss these camps and they show up with an injury and we have to make the decision along with our medical staff to hold them out,” Castell said. “Our jobs are to watch out for heat-related problems, possible concussions or head injuries, but it could be just about anything that goes wrong medically. I am not a mom yet, but the motherish feature kicks in.”

Castell said one story from the Manning Passing Academy displayed the compassion trainers and nurses show toward athletes.

“We had a player get hit in the eye with a football, and he was from out of state and his parents didn’t accompany him here,” she said. “We brought him to Thibodaux Regional and the emergency-room nurse iced down the eye, explained to the young man that he would have to take drops for his injury and also wear sunglasses. The young man didn’t know anyone else here and didn’t have a pair of sunglasses, so the nurse told him to meet her outside the stadium the next day and she would bring a pair of sunglasses she had at home. This job is not for everyone, but it goes to show the compassion and care we try to provide here.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20150812/PREPS/150819875/0/search?p=1&tc=pg